Chords in Every Key

What Are Diatonic Chords?

The chords that belong to a key

Diatonic simply means “of the key”. A diatonic chord is one built only from the notes of a particular scale, so all of its notes already belong to that key. Because a major or minor scale has seven notes, every key has exactly seven diatonic chords — one resting on each note of the scale. These seven chords are the home team: they share the same set of notes, so they sound naturally settled together, and the overwhelming majority of songs are built almost entirely from the diatonic chords of a single key.

This is a different question from the one the circle of fifths answers. The circle of fifths shows how keys relate to one another and how many sharps or flats each contains. This page is about what happens inside one key — which seven chords live there, and what each one is. The two fit together neatly, and we will join them up at the end.

Knowing the diatonic chords of a key is the single most practical piece of harmony you can learn. It tells you which chords are likely to appear in a song in that key, which chords will sound “right” if you are writing your own, and how to label what you are hearing. Once the pattern clicks, you can name the chords in any of the 24 keys without memorising 24 separate lists.

How the Seven Chords Are Built

Stacking thirds on each note of the scale

To build the diatonic chords, you take each note of the scale in turn and stack two more notes on top, each a third above the last — that is, skipping one scale note each time. A chord built from three notes stacked in thirds is a triad, and a triad is the basic three-note chord behind almost all harmony.

Take the key of C. Start on C and skip to E, then skip to G: that gives you the chord C–E–G, a C major chord. Move up to the next scale note, D, and do the same: D–F–A, a D minor chord. Carry on up the scale and you generate all seven chords, ending on a chord built on B that turns out to be diminished. The notes never leave the key — you only ever use the seven notes of the C major scale — which is exactly why all seven chords belong together.

The interesting part is that the chords are not all the same type. Some come out major, some minor, and one diminished. That is not random: it falls directly out of the spacing of the major scale, and it produces a fixed pattern that repeats in every key. (This guide is about which chords a key contains rather than how to finger each shape on an instrument — for that, see our interactive piano chord finder, which shows and plays any individual chord shape in any inversion.)

The Pattern: I–ii–iii–IV–V–vi–vii°

One shape that fits every major key

Musicians label the seven diatonic chords with Roman numerals, counting up the scale from the home note. The numeral tells you the position; its case and symbols tell you the chord type. Capital numerals are major chords, lower-case numerals are minor chords, and a small circle (°) marks the diminished chord. In every major key the pattern is exactly the same:

Read across: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. The three major chords are the I, IV and V — the strongest and most-used chords in any key. The ii, iii and vi are minor, with the vi (the relative minor) being especially common. The lone vii° is diminished and slightly unstable, which is why it is the rarest of the seven in everyday songs.

Chords in the Key of C

The clearest place to start — no sharps, no flats

The chords in the key of C major are the natural first example, because C major is the only major key with no sharps or flats. Build a triad on each note of the C major scale (C D E F G A B) and you get the seven diatonic chords of the key:

So the chords for the key of C are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and B°. The three major chords — C (I), F (IV) and G (V) — are the harmonic backbone, and a huge number of songs in C use little more than those three plus A minor (vi). Because there are no sharps or flats to track, the key of C is the ideal place to hear how the I–ii–iii–IV–V–vi–vii° pattern sounds before you carry it into other keys.

Interactive Diatonic Chord Finder

Pick any of the 24 keys and see its chords

Choose major or minor, then tap a key. The finder shows all seven diatonic chords with their Roman numerals and types, colour-coded so the major, minor and diminished chords are easy to tell apart — plus a couple of ready-made progressions spelled out in that key.

Notice that whichever major key you choose, the shape never changes — positions I, IV and V are always major, vii° is always diminished. That is the whole point of the pattern: the chord names move, but their qualities stay locked in place. Each position also has a matching scale, or mode, that improvisers play over that chord — the ii is Dorian, the V is Mixolydian, and so on — which is simply the scale-side view of these same seven chords.

Diatonic Chords in Minor Keys

A second pattern: i–ii°–III–iv–v–VI–VII

Minor keys have their own seven diatonic chords, built the same way but from the natural minor scale. The pattern is different from major: i–ii°–III–iv–v–VI–VII. The home chord (i) is minor, the chord on the second degree (ii°) is diminished, and the chords on the third, sixth and seventh degrees (III, VI and VII) are major.

Take A minor, the relative minor of C major — it uses the same seven notes, so it contains the same seven chords, just reorganised around a new home note. The chords in A minor are Am, B°, C, Dm, Em, F and G. Notice these are identical to the chords in C major; what changes is which one feels like “home”. That shared-chord relationship between a major key and its relative minor is exactly what the circle of fifths lays out at a glance.

Every Major Key: Chord Reference

The seven diatonic chords of all 12 major keys

Here are the chords in every major key in one place, ordered around the circle of fifths from C. Every row follows the same I–ii–iii–IV–V–vi–vii° pattern, so the columns line up by type: columns I, IV and V are always major, and the final column is always the diminished chord.

The same information is in the free printable PDF further down, alongside the minor keys, so you can keep the whole reference by your instrument.

Every Minor Key: Chord Reference

The seven diatonic chords of all 12 minor keys

These are the natural-minor diatonic chords for each minor key, ordered from A minor around the circle. Remember the real-world tweak: the v chord is frequently raised to a major chord (a major V) to strengthen the return home.

Each minor key shares its chords with a major key — its relative major, three semitones up. A minor pairs with C major, E minor with G major, and so on right around the circle.

Worked Keys: G, F and A

Three of the most common guitar and song keys

Chords in the Key of G

G major has one sharp, F♯. Apply the pattern and the chords in the key of G are G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em and F♯° — that is I (G), ii (Am), iii (Bm), IV (C), V (D), vi (Em) and vii° (F♯°). The three majors are G, C and D, which is why “three-chord” songs in G lean so heavily on G–C–D. Add the relative minor, Em, and you have the four chords behind countless pop and folk tunes.

Key of F Chords

F major has one flat, B♭. The key of F chords are F, Gm, Am, B♭, C, Dm and E° — I (F), ii (Gm), iii (Am), IV (B♭), V (C), vi (Dm) and vii° (E°). The IV chord here is B♭, the flat that defines the key, and the I–IV–V of F, B♭ and C drives a great many songs in this key. F is a favourite key for brass and woodwind because it sits comfortably on those instruments.

Chords for the Key of A

A major has three sharps: F♯, C♯ and G♯. The chords for the key of A are A, Bm, C♯m, D, E, F♯m and G♯° — I (A), ii (Bm), iii (C♯m), IV (D), V (E), vi (F♯m) and vii° (G♯°). A, D and E are the I, IV and V, and the A–D–E backbone (often with F♯m, the vi) is one of the most common chord families in rock and pop.

If those three keys feel familiar, it is because they sit close together on the circle of fifths and share many chords — another reason the circle and the diatonic chords are two halves of the same picture.

Building Progressions From Diatonic Chords

How to combine the seven chords into music

Once you know a key’s seven chords, writing a progression is mostly a matter of choosing from them. Because all seven belong to the same scale, almost any order will sound coherent. A progression usually begins and ends on the home chord — I in a major key, i in a minor key — because that is the chord that feels like rest. Here are the workhorses, written first as numerals (so they work in any key) and then in C as an example.

I–IV–V — the three-chord trick

The I, IV and V are the three major chords of the key and the foundation of folk, blues, country and early rock and roll. In C that is C–F–G. Thousands of songs use little else.

I–V–vi–IV — the “four-chord song”

Add the relative minor (vi) and you get the most famous progression in pop: I–V–vi–IV, or in C, C–G–Am–F. Reorder the same four chords as vi–IV–I–V (Am–F–C–G) and you have another pop staple.

ii–V–I — the jazz cadence

Jazz and a great deal of standards repertoire run on ii–V–I — in C, Dm–G–C. The minor ii leads to the major V, which resolves home to I. This is the progression the circle of fifths explains so well, because each chord moves to the next by a step around the circle.

12-bar blues

The blues is built almost entirely on I, IV and V — in C, on C, F and G across a repeating twelve-bar form. It is the clearest demonstration of how far three diatonic chords can take you.

For why these chords pull towards one another — the harmonic motion behind a V resolving to I — the circle of fifths guide is the companion to this page. This page tells you which chords you have to work with; the circle explains how they move.

How This Fits With the Circle of Fifths

Two tools, one harmonic picture

The diatonic chords and the circle of fifths answer two different questions, and they are most useful side by side. This page answers “which chords are in a key?” — the seven chords and their types. The circle of fifths answers “how do keys relate to each other?” — how many sharps or flats each key has, which keys are neighbours, and which major and minor keys share a key signature.

They join up in three neat ways. First, the relative minor: every major key shares all seven of its chords with the minor key three semitones below, and the circle shows that pairing on its inner ring. Second, the I, IV and V — the three major chords you have met all over this page — are simply a key and its two immediate neighbours on the circle, which is why they sound so closely related. Third, the ii–V–I progression moves one step at a time around the circle. So if you have read this page, the natural next step is the circle of fifths; and if you arrived from the circle, this page fills in the chords that live inside each key it shows.

Printable PDF

Every key’s chords on one sheet for your music stand

Below is a free printable reference covering everything on this page: the I–ii–iii–IV–V–vi–vii° pattern, the seven diatonic chords of all 12 major keys and all 12 minor keys, and the common progressions written in Roman numerals. Print it at A4 or US Letter and keep it where you practise.

The PDF is completely free — no email signup required. If you find it useful, share this page with a fellow musician or teacher. And if you would like one-to-one help putting these chords to work, book a lesson — we cover theory, harmony and improvisation from first chords to advanced jazz.