Chord Tonalities for Every Major Key

October 2, 2024 Logan | Founder of WGA

Updated 2024
Estimated time to read: 4 minutes

Chord tonality is a technical term for identifying if a chord is major, minor, augmented, or diminished. When we play chords in a major key, it would help to know if we’re playing the right tonality. Play an A minor chord when you should be playing an A major chord and you’ll know exactly why this is important.

Sections:

Chord Tonality Pattern for Major Keys
Key of A
Key of A# (A sharp)
Key of Bb (B flat)
Key of B
Key of C
Key of C# (C sharp)
Key of Db (D flat)
Key of D
Key of D# (D sharp)
Key of Eb (E flat)
Key of E
Key of F
Key of F# (F sharp)
Key of Gb (G flat)
Key of G
Key of G# (G sharp)
Key of Ab (A flat)
Wrapping it up

Chord Tonality Pattern for Major Keys

The question we need to ask is, “What are the chord tonalities of each of these chords?” In other words, how do we know which ones are major, which ones are minor, and which ones are diminished?

Each key has one root note that holds the group of notes together musically, and in turn these notes are related back to the root note. This one note is how we identify the key (i.e. key of D).

This is tonality in a nutshell.

However, when we go deeper into the individual chords, their tonality references the way they sound and function within the key. The available base chord tonalities include: major, minor, diminished, and augmented.

Augmented chords are the only ones that do not occur naturally in major scales (using only the notes in the key), so we won’t be seeing any augmented chords here.

Now, we’re going to use a pattern (no math involved) that simply tells us which chords are major, minor, and diminished in a major key. Here’s the pattern:

Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, Diminished.

Written another way using shorthand it might look like this:

M, m, m, M, M, m, d.

An upper case “M” stands for major, lower case “m” stands for minor, and a lower case “d” stands for diminished.

With this pattern, we apply each tonality to each note in the major scale. This tells us which chords are major, which are minor, and which are diminished.

Feel free to reference any major key tonalities outlined in the sections below.

Chord Tonalities in the Key of A

We can match the notes in the A major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of A.

A (A Major)
B (B minor)
C# (C# minor)
D (D Major)
E (E Major)
F# (F# minor)
G# (G# diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of A sharp

We can match the notes in the A# (they sound exactly the same as chords in Bb) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of A#.

The ‘x’ after a chord name means it’s a double sharp, and should be played 2 frets above the note name.

A# (A# Major)
B# (B# minor)
Cx (Cx minor)
D# (D# Major)
E# (E# Major)
Fx (Fx minor)
Gx (Gx diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of B flat

We can match the notes in the Bb (they sound exactly the same as chords in A#) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of Bb.

Bb (Bb Major)
C (C minor)
D (D minor)
Eb (Eb Major)
F (F Major)
G (G minor)
A (A diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of B

We can match the notes in the B major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of B.

B (B Major)
C# (C# minor)
D# (D# minor)
E (E Major)
F# (F# Major)
G# (G# minor)
A# (A# diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of C

We can match the notes in the C major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of C.

C (C Major)
D (D minor)
E (E minor)
F (F Major)
G (G Major)
A (A minor)
B (B diminished)

For more info, reference the post: How to Play Guitar Chords in the Key of C.

Chord Tonalities in the Key of C sharp

We can match the notes in the C# (they sound exactly the same as chords in Db) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of C#.

C# (C# Major)
D# (D# minor)
E# (E# minor)
F# (F# Major)
G# (G# Major)
A# (A# minor)
B# (B# diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of D flat

We can match the notes in the Db (they sound exactly the same as chords in C#) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of Db.

Db (Db Major)
Eb (Eb minor)
F (F minor)
Gb (Gb Major)
Ab (Ab Major)
Bb (Bb minor)
C (C diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of D

We can match the notes in the D major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of D.

D (D Major)
E (E minor)
F# (F# minor)
G (G Major)
A (A Major)
B (B minor)
C# (C# diminished)

For more info, reference the post: How to Play Guitar Chords in the Key of D.

Chord Tonalities in the Key of D sharp

We can match the notes in the D# (they sound exactly the same as chords in Eb) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of D#.

The ‘x’ after a chord name means it’s a double sharp, and should be played 2 frets above the note name.

D# (D# Major)
E# (E# minor)
Fx (Fx minor)
G# (G# Major)
A# (A# Major)
B# (B# minor)
Cx (Cx diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of E flat

We can match the notes in the Eb (they sound exactly the same as chords in D#) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of Eb.

The ‘x’ after a chord name means it’s a double sharp, and should be played 2 frets above the note name.

Eb (Eb Major)
F (F minor)
G (G minor)
Ab (Ab Major)
Bb (Bb Major)
C (C minor)
D (D diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of E

We can match the notes in the E major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of E.

E (E Major)
F# (F# minor)
G# (G# minor)
A (A Major)
B (B Major)
C# (C# minor)
D# (D# diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of F

We can match the notes in the F major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of F.

F (F Major)
G (G minor)
A (A minor)
Bb (Bb Major)
C (C Major)
D (D minor)
E (E diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of F sharp

We can match the notes in the F# (they sound exactly the same as chords in Gb) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of F#.

F# (F# Major)
G# (G# minor)
A# (A# minor)
B (B Major)
C# (C# Major)
D# (D# minor)
E# (E# diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of G flat

We can match the notes in the Gb (they sound exactly the same as chords in F#) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of Gb.

Gb (Gb Major)
Ab (Ab minor)
Bb (Bb minor)
Cb (Cb Major)
Db (Db Major)
Eb (Eb minor)
F (F diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of G

We can match the notes in the G major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of G.

G (G Major)
A (A minor)
B (B minor)
C (C Major)
D (D Major)
E (E minor)
F# (F# diminished)

For more info, reference the post: How to Play Guitar Chords in the Key of G.

Chord Tonalities in the Key of G sharp

We can match the notes in the G# (they sound exactly the same as chords in Ab) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of G#.

The ‘x’ after a chord name means it’s a double sharp, and should be played 2 frets above the note name.

G# (G# Major)
A# (A# minor)
B# (B# minor)
C# (C# Major)
D# (D# Major)
E# (E# minor)
Fx (Fx diminished)

Chord Tonalities in the Key of A flat

We can match the notes in the Ab (they sound exactly the same as chords in G#) major scale to the chord tonality pattern to determine the tonalities (major, minor, augmented, or diminished) of every chord included in the key of Ab.

Ab (Ab Major)
Bb (Bb minor)
C (C minor)
Db (Db Major)
Eb (Eb Major)
F (F minor)
G (G diminished)

Wrapping it up

There’s a lot of information here to absorb and learn to play on your guitar. Take your time and reference this post whenever you need to refresh your memory on the chord tonalities for any major key.