Diatonic chords
In C: Simple melodies · Major scale · How chords are built · Diatonic chords · Chord changes · Melody and chords · Independence
These are the chords in a key. How chords are built already stacked a triad on every note of a major scale, using only that scale's notes. C gave you C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B°. G gave you the same jobs with new letters. This page writes that family for every key, ready to grab: pick one and hear its seven chords. The concept is smooth voicing. Shared notes stay under the same fingers, and the rest of the hand steps.
Pick a key
C major — tap any chord to hear it. The gold ones (I, IV, V) are the primary chords.
Smooth voicing
The seven chords are a list of notes. A song is your hand getting from one of them to the next, in time. That move is the concept.
Play C–G–Am–F the way each chip stacks its chord, root on the bottom. C E G, then G B D, then A C E, then F A C. Every chord is the right one. The hand leaves the keys and jumps.
Now keep every note the next chord already uses, and let the other notes step.
| Chord | Root position | Smooth | What the hand does |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | C E G | C E G | the start |
| G | G B D | B D G | G stays. E and C step down. |
| Am | A C E | C E A | each note steps up |
| F | F A C | C F A | C and A stay. E steps up to F. |
From C to G, both chords contain G, so the finger on G stays down. E steps down to D. C steps down to B. B D G is still G — the chart still says G. The B on the bottom is only an inversion. From Am to F, C and A are in both chords, so those two fingers stay. Only E moves, up to F.
The left hand can play the roots underneath — C, then G, then A, then F — so the bass still names the chord. The right hand is the one that stays put. The same rule holds in every key. Shared notes stay, and the rest step. In G the loop is G–D–Em–C, and the hand does the same job with new letters. Chord changes loops this under real tunes, with smooth voicing already on.
Common progressions
These reuse the chords above. Pick a key first, then tap ▶ to hear the progression in that key — the chord names update automatically. Each ▶ plays the chords in root position, the way the chart spells them. Connect them the way the section above does, then practice the change on Chord changes.
Quick reference
The seven diatonic chords for all twelve major keys, listed around the circle of fifths (C, G, D… then the flat keys). Scan across a row to grab any chord — click any chord to hear it.
| Key | I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° |
|---|
Click a chord in the table…
Minor keys follow the pattern i ii° III iv v VI VII — e.g. A minor: Am B° C Dm Em F G (switch the key selector to any minor key above to hear them).
How to use it
- Voice them smoothly. A chart spells each chord from the root. Two chords in a row share notes. Leave those fingers down and step the rest. That is how a change stays in time.
- Start with I–IV–V. These three major chords harmonize thousands of songs. Add vi for the famous four-chord pop sound.
- Capital = major, lowercase = minor, ° = diminished. The vii° is rarely played as-is; it usually acts as a softer stand-in for V.
- Find the key of a song by which chords appear — if you see C, F, G, Am you're almost certainly in C major.
- Relative minor: every major key shares its chords with the minor key starting on its vi (C major ↔ A minor).
- Want a symbol this page never uses — sus, 6, 9, a raised or lowered note? That catalog is Other chord types. Curious why the qualities line up this way? That's the modes.
- Ready to change chords? Take these into Chord changes and loop them under real tunes, in any key.