How I quickly learn songs in all 12 keys

So this isn’t going to be easy but if you’re committed, you can learn to play in ALL 12 keys… not just one.

I’ll lay out 2 ways to do it. One way, I learned about 16 years ago and still use at times.

The other way is more involved, but will help your understanding of music a lot better.

So the shortcut vs the long road (that’s worth the trip).

The shortcut

Ok, so you have four chords that you picked up online and you want to learn them in the other 11 keys.

The first way is pretty simple.

Just take out a notebook and reserve a few pages for each major key. Better yet, get a folder, 12 tabs, and label them according to the major keys.

Now, take the chord progression you just learned in one key, let’s say “C major,” and get to work with these steps below…

(Oops, before I present the steps, let’s lay out our basic chord progression)…

Chord progression:
C major – G major – A minor – F major (repeat)

(Again, this is in the key of “C major”).

Reference:
C major = C+E+G
G major = G+B+D
A minor = A+C+E
F major = F+A+C

1) First, we’re going to move this chord progression up a half step. Remember that half steps are from key to key with no keys in between. So a half step up from C is Db.

2) Literally, you just move EVERY finger you have held down up a note. It’s that simple. And because you’re moving everything equally, the chord names stay the same.

So the “C major” chord becomes “Db major”
The “G major chord” becomes “Ab major”
The “A minor chord” becomes “Bb minor”
The “F major chord” becomes “Gb major”

(Now, I chose to go to the key of Db rather than C#. Had I said “C#”, these chords would be C# major to G# major to A# minor to F# major… which looks just like the C major progression but with sharps. But Db major is much more common than C# so I went with Db.)

So again, C+E+G (C major) becomes Db+F+Ab (Db major)
G+B+D (G major) becomes Ab+C+Eb (Ab major)
A+C+E (A minor) becomes Bb+Db+F (Bb minor)
F+A+C (F major) becomes Gb+Bb+Db (Gb major)

3) Basically, you take this approach all the way up the piano. But don’t forget to write these chords down in your notebook under the appropriate major key. If you’ve separated the major keys by tabs, even better so you can flip back very quickly when you need it.

4) The key is to not only write them down (because it’s true, if you write something, you’ll remember it a lot more than just reading it)… but you also want to play it in the new key about 10 times. If you think writing helps you to remember, “doing” takes memorization to a whole new level.

For some, all it will take is writing and playing it a few times and you’ll remember the chords forever. Others may have to refer back to the notebook a few times to warm up the memory.

(For my more experienced players, obviously you’ll replace these simple major and minor chords with more intricate ones but the process and rules for memorization will apply to you as well.)

At the end of the day, you’ll end up with 12 pages of chords, all written out in their respective keys.

5) Go in this order and use the “flat names” for the black keys (trust me, it will be much easier. Later on, you’ll use the sharp names of the black keys when playing in minor keys):

C
Db
D
Eb
E
F
Gb
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
C

The more involved way

The other way is to really understand “what’s going on,” as Marvin Gaye would say.

Let’s look at this C major chord progression again.

Chord progression:
C major – G major – A minor – F major (repeat)

Now what’s really going on here?

Using numbers can really allow us to see what’s going on without confining us to one particular key. It’s the universal language.

1) Convert the major key into numbers. Take the scale and put a number under each tone.

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2) Figure out which numbers go with the chords you’re using in the progression

C major – G major – A minor – F major

C major = 1
G major = 5
A minor = 6
F major = 4

See where I got the numbers?

Straight from the scale. C is the first tone of the scale, G is the 5th tone of the scale, A is the 6th tone of the scale, and F is the 4th tone of the scale.

3) Write your progression out using numbers instead of letters. Letters help you to play in ONE key. Numbers help you to play in ALL keys.

1major – 5major – 6minor – 4major

All I did was replace the letters, not the chord type. The chords stay the same.

4) So now, before this can work like magic, you need to make sure that you know all your major and minor chords. You can learn them by following the lessons on this page.

5) Lastly, you just go to your new major key and apply the formula: 1major – 5major – 6minor – 4major. Of course, this requires that you also know your scales as numbers. But by doing it this way, you’re actually understanding how music works rather than just moving everything up a half step (which can work too, obviously).

6) Feel free to follow the circle of fifths pattern going counter-clockwise while learning your progressions in new keys. In other words, you learn your new keys in this order: C major, then F major, then Bb major, then Eb major (rather than in half steps like we did in the first method). See the circle of fifths chart for details.

Why? Because you’ll notice that by learning the chords in C major first, then moving to F major — you’ll actually play majority of the same chords because major keys that are neighbors on the circle are closely related and share majority of the same notes (in fact, the difference in the C major scale and the F major scale is actually just ONE note so it’s not surprising that playing the chord progression in F major almost feels the same as playing it in C major).

Let’s see…

C major:

C major – G major – A minor – F major

F major:

F major – C major – D minor – Bb major

(We actually already know 2 of the chords from our previous key. And truth be told, “D minor” is also in the key of C so had our chord progression been a little more intricate, we might’ve had that chord in common too)

Summary

So there you have it… two ways to learn your favorite chords and songs in all 12 keys.

Now, I only demonstrated this with 4 chords. Your songs will certainly have more chords. That’s why it’s important to take it step by step, chord by chord, and make sure to write and rehearse what you’re writing on the piano so you can ingrain it in your memory and you’ll be just fine! :)

Until next time,
Jermaine

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3. The secret to playing minor chords quickly
4. Opening and closing your songs with “2-5-1″ progressions!
5. How to transpose stuff…
6. How to Add Bigger “3-6-2-5-1″ Progressions to your Songs!

Tagged as: modulating, playing in all 12 keys, transposing, transposing chords, transposition