How to Build Your Own
Chord Progressions - Part 4 - Changing Key

In this final part, we'll look at the dreaded changing key. When you change key, you effectively change the tonic chord. So, if you started a progression in E major, and changed key to F# major, the chord scale would be adjusted accordingly so F# major becomes the tonic (I) chord.

Changing key is more psychological though - you just know when a song changes key.

It's not that simple though! You could just change key to anything from any chord, but most of the time it will sound so dis-jointed, so out of place that you could ruin the "journey" of the progression. Changing key has to be smooth, logical and bring your song to the next level. This lesson will show you how to accomplish this, with examples.

Wait just one minute while I tune my guitar...

First and foremost, bare in mind that a lot of the most widely loved songs don't change key at all! A lot of them just keep it simple and stick to the chord scales we've been looking at. So don't get the idea all the songs you write need to change key a hundred times to be "epic".

Only change key when you want a change of direction in your song. Key changes compliment the following quite well...

• Change in tempo or rhythm

• When you switch a guitar effect on or "up" the tone of your guitar

• When the vocalist wants to go for that climax (er...I mean like a crescendo or something)

• When you've been playing the same progression for a while through a song and want it to sound fresh again.

The easiest way to plan a key change is to first look at the notes of the chord you're playing just before you change key. So, if we started off in the B major chord scale...

We can also start on this chord (although progressions don't always have to start on the tonic chord as we saw in part 3) and use the chord scale to build a simple B major key progression...

Click the tabs in this lesson to hear

As I said before, the notes in the chord just before you change key and move out of the chord scale are important here. So if we look at Emaj7 above, and where our index finger will be barred, we could keep our index finger there and try moving to Ab major (which is not part of the B major chord scale) and make that the tonic for the new key. Ab major can be barred from the E string using the index finger in that same position as Emaj7 was in the tab above.

It's not so much that the fingerings are similar, that's just convenient - what matters is that you are "borrowing" notes in Ab major from that previous Emaj7 chord so it smooths the key change out.

Once we've found our "key change chord", we can build a progression using that new chord as the tonic. So in this case, Ab major becomes chord I, take a look and listen below...

---------Side note-----------------------------

Incidentally, by using the chord "merging" method above, you are in fact borrowing notes from the scale of the original tonic chord. So, in the example above, we started with Bmaj7 as the tonic, with B Ionian as its relative note scale. This scale can be played through any chords within that chord scale, but when we change key, the scale does too. The "merging" notes above are essentially notes from that initial Ionian scale! The non-merging notes are from the new scale which starts when we change key.

You'll soon start to realize how the 7 modes and chord scales work together almost mathematically.

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Here's another quick example of a key change using the note merging method (again, the merging notes are highlighted in red)...

This is a technique used a lot in jazz to change key seamlessly and is quite simple.

Basically, you start on the tonic chord of the scale and change key straight to the ii chord of the new chord scale. This naturally then leads on to the tension chord of V before the return to the new tonic.

The great thing about this method is you can pretty much jump to any ii chord as long as you use 7th chords (changing key from a triad to another triad is often too abrupt). Below is an example, starting on B again...

Another way to change key and mood in a snap of the fingers is to switch the chord from its natural major or minor voicing to the other. The change can be with the tonic chord or any other chord in the scale when it seems to fit with the mood you're trying to create.

First, minor to major as a gateway into a new minor tonic. So if we start in E major and start a progression in that chord scale we can experiment with the switch...

Another example could be switching the tonic almost immediately. So you could start the progression, or even the whole song, on the major tonic and switch it to minor. This is always a good effect as it can catch listeners off guard...

Another great thing about the major/minor switch is you can switch it right back to change the mood again.

Following these past 4 lessons, you should be aware of the most dominant tension chords within a chord scale.

We learned that the IV and V chords in a progression are key tension chords for returning back to the tonic (I).

Let's take a closer look at that V chord - we can use it to change key by switching to the V chord of the new tonic.

Take a look at the examples below and listen to how the switch to the V chord positions us smoothly into the new chord scale (a key change)...

Let's look at it used in a similar way in a take on Jamiroquai's Space Cowboy...

The important thing is, it doesn't sound too harsh, like it's come from nowhere. It's a smooth transition, highlighting the natural tensions of the chord scale!

Try your own "V chord gateways". Start your chord progression in one key and, where appropriate, position your new V chord where you think it sounds good - you're now ready to re-affirm the new key from that V chord.

If you've been following this properly since the 1st part we've come along way and you should now be equipped to create that perfect song. String 'em altogether - chord scales, gateway chords, key changes, major key, minor key etc. and you should be able to get very progressive with your music (if you're a prog-rock fan, then all the better).

Also, don't forget that great songs can be written by just randomly playing chords, placing your fingers in unusual positions - don't completely restrict yourself to scales all the time. If you like what you hear, play it for god sake!

Thanks for sticking with it, I hope the rewards are very clear to you now! If you need to recap, use the links below to go back to the theory page and go back to the part you need. They'll always be there to help you out.

See you soon...