Here is a list of the easiest keys to play on a keyboard. It also shows the easiest chords to play in each key.
The first and last chord in a piece of music tells which key the music is in. Music in the key of G starts with chord G for example. A melody usually starts with the root note of the key the music is written in, and nearly always ends with that same root note. Some sheet music does not show the letter name of the chord above the staff. So to see what key the piece of sheet music is, read the sharp or flat signs after the treble clef sign at the start of a stave. Those signs are the key signature. If there are no sharps of flats, the key is C or AM. Music in Am usually starts with note A. If there is a Bflat and no other sharps of flats, the key is F. If the key signature is just an Fsharp, then the key is G. How to read the most common key signatures is taught in the other book which goes with this one, ‘Rhythm time!’.
Music written in one key may have in it just a few sharps or flats which are not in its key signature. Those sharps or flats are called accidentals.
Musicians read which chord to play next by looking at the notes in the next measure of music. For example, if a chord is written as three notes on top of each other without and space between them, then that chord is named after the lowest note of the three.
Easy keys or scales with only one or two sharps or flats in them are: C and Am with no sharps or flats; G and Em which have only Fsharp; F and Dm which have Bflat; and keys of Bflat and Gm which have Bflat and Eflat in it. Those keys are played more than any others.
The easiest black keys to play are C sharp and A sharp minor, C# and A#m, which have no white keys in them.
Here is how to work out which chords belong to a key. Any key is made of major and minor chords and they can be numbered in alphabetical order. The first is the root chord. Say the root is for example C major.
Think of the letters in order: C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
If the first chord is major, the next two will be minor. If the first is minor, the next to will be major, the opposite. So in the key of C it is: C, Dm, Em.
The fourth and fifth chords are the same as the first. So here the fifth is F major and the sixth is G major.
If the first chord is flat, most of the others in the key will be flat. If the first is sharp, most others will be the same.
The sixth chord in a key is the opposite to the first. So in the key of C major, the sixth chord is Am.
The seventh chord is the same as the root but is usually diminished or sometimes flattened. Here it is B flat.
So chords in the key of C are: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and B flat.
The three main chords in a key are the first, the third and the fifth. In key of C, the main ones are C, F and G.
Musical pieces often end in a cadence. A perfect cadence is the fifth chord followed by the root chord. So a piece in the key of C ends with the chords G and C.
