Analyzing chord progressions is a skill you must learn if you want to be a serious guitarist/musician.-200x250.gif)
Many times in guitar playing you will get chord progressions written out by hand without key signatures or you might learn the song progression from a recording. In either case you need to establish what key or keys you are in to improvise effectively.
Diatonic Progressions
Here is the F Scale and the triads that go with it.
All major scales have three major chords and three minor chords. The diminished chord would not be a tonal center chord except in some forms of Jazz or Blues/jazz fusion
Here is the F scale with the 4 note chords that get a lot of use.
The I, IV and V chords are major chords but only the 5th chord(C,C7) can be a dominant chord. So if you see a C7 you are in F major. The I and IV are major 7th chords, a smoother sound.
If you have an F major chord in the progression you could be in the keys of F, B flat or C. If it was an F7 you would be in B flat.
A song for this key that comes to mind is Smooth Operator by Sade. vi-iii-ii-iii or Dm-Am-Gm-Am. The song has a minor tonality even though it’s from the major scale.
Keys and Chords
C
Cma7
Dm7
Em7
Fma7
G7
Am7
Bm7♭5
F
Fma7
Gm7
Am7
B♭ma7
C7
Dm7
Em7♭5
B♭
B♭ma7
Cm7
Dm7
E♭ma7
F7
Gm7
Am7♭5
E♭
E♭ma7
Fm7
Gm7
A♭ma7
B♭7
Cm7
Dm7♭5
A♭
A♭ma7
B♭m7
Cm7
D♭ma7
E♭7
Fm7
Gm7♭5
D♭
D♭ma7
E♭m7
Fm7
G♭ma7
A♭7
B♭m7
Cm7♭5
G♭
G♭ma7
A♭m7
B♭m7
C♭ma7
D♭7
E♭m7
Fm7♭5
F♯
F♯ma7
G♯m7
A♯m7
Bma7
C♯7
D♯m7
E♯m7♭5
B
Bma7
C♯m7
D♯m7
Ema7
F♯7
G♯m7
A♯m7♭5
E
Ema7
F♯m7
G♯m7
Ama7
B7
C♯m7
D♯m7♭5
A
Ama7
Bm7
C♯m7
Dma7
E7
F♯m7
G♯m7♭5
D
Dma7
Em7
F♯m7
Gma7
A7
Bm7
C♯m7♭5
G
Gma7
Am7
Bm7
Cma7
D7
Em7
F♯m7♭5
Chord Progressions
Suppose you have a progression in which you have two major chords one whole tone apart like B flat to C
The only place this happens in the major scales is the IV and V chord. If you look at the table you will see you are in the key of F major
Minor Chords
Only two of the minor chords in the major scale are used as a home base. The ii and the vi. The iii chord produces a minor flat 9 scale which doesn’t sound good
One popular minor progression is the ii-V(two-ive). C it would be Dm to G but usually Dm7 to G7, just extended chords which give more color to the sound.
I hope you found this page useful.
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