We’ll touch on that at the end but it’s best to keep things simple for now. Technically, there are actually more than 12 of each because some notes can have alternate names. C major or C minor, D major or D minor, Ab major or Ab minor and so on. Each type is a specific pattern which can be created starting from any note.Īs there are 12 different notes on the piano, there are 12 different places you could start either type of scale from, therefore we can say there are 12 major keys and 12 minor keys. A major scale or key is often thought of as a bright, happy sound in contrast to minor which has a darker, sadder bent to it. It’s almost like a colour palette you could paint a picture with. An organised group that work well and have a particular sound when used together. To understand keys, you must understand scales.Ī great way to think about what a scale actually is, is as a collection of notes that you can use to create music with. Major and minor scales are the 2 most common you will encounter. A piece of music in a major key means that it uses the notes from the major scale pattern as the backbone to create the music, whilst something in a minor key uses the minor scale pattern. When we use this phrase, we’re referring to either a major key or a minor key. Learning more about what it really means to be in a key will give you a much better understanding of music and a solid grounding from which to learn your instrument more effectively. There’s a few more important things you should know with this concept though to understand it fully and lots of other follow up questions students will often have. For example, in the key of C major means you are using the C major scale. There are 2 parts to the name, the root note of the scale and then the type of scale which begins from that note, major or minor.

So what does in the key of mean? ‘ In the key of’ means that the notes from a particular key or scale are the basis for the music. In fact, a subscriber to my YouTube channel left a comment recently saying exactly that.

When I start with a new beginner student, they’re quite often unsure though what that really means. In the key of C or in the key of E minor for example. The phrase ‘in the key of’ is something that most people have likely heard at some point whether they’re a musician or not.

Classical piano song e-flat minor run