Guitar Keys Chart

How to use this guitar keys chart

1. Find your key in the left column. Each row is one key and the 7 chords that songs in it are built from, numbered I to vii.
2. Look for the rings. A ringed, shaded chord is an open grip, with at least one open string ringing. The rest are barre chords. The number on the right counts the open ones out of the 6 chords songs actually use.
3. Tap the key to get its chord boxes underneath, its key signature, its relative key and, if it needs one, the capo position that turns it into shapes you already know.
4. Tap any chord to hear it, or press "Hear the key" for I, IV, V and back home.
5. Switch to minor keys, or to 7th chords, and print the whole chart as a two-page PDF. Free, no email.

Why this chart is different

Most guitar key charts are a music-theory table with a guitar photo on top. They list the letters. A guitarist wants to know whether a key is going to hurt, and that comes down to how many of its chords are open shapes.

• It marks open and barre chords, cell by cell. No other key chart we found does this, and it is the whole reason a player looks one up.
• It ranks the keys by how they play. Sort "easiest first" and the order is worked out, not remembered: G and C at the top with 5 open chords each, D next with 4, then A and E with 3.
• It gives the capo route for every awkward key. B♭ major has 1 open chord out of 6. Capo 3 and play G shapes and you have 5. The chart works that out for all 24 keys and only suggests a capo when it genuinely adds open chords.
• It is checked by machine. We found published key charts with wrong cells in them, including one that prints the V chord of A♭ major as a minor chord. Every chord here is compared on every build against a table typed out by hand.
• Every chord plays, and the PDF is free. No form to fill in, and you can embed the whole chart on your own site.

How it works

A key is a seven-note scale, and stacking every other note of that scale on each step gives the seven chords. In a major key the pattern of chord types never changes:

major key:  I    ii   iii  IV   V    vi   vii°
            maj  min  min  maj  maj  min  dim

minor key:  i    ii°  III  iv   v    VI   VII
            min  dim  maj  min  min  maj  maj

So in G the chords are G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em and F♯°. Each chord's letters come from the scale in order, which is why F♯ major's seventh chord is written E♯° and not F°. The chart spells every key that way.

The guitar layer is a simple rule. A chord counts as open when its standard first-position grip rings at least one open string. That makes 8 major and minor chords open: C, D, E, G, A, Am, Dm and Em. F is not on the list. Its usual grip is a full barre across the first fret, and anyone who has fought it knows that. One allowance: a V chord can always be played as a dominant 7th without changing the harmony, so in E the B counts as open because B7 is. Minor keys can raise their v to a major V (switch on "Major V"), which is what most minor-key songs actually do: E or E7 in A minor.

The diminished chord is printed but left out of the count, because it hardly ever turns up in pop, rock, folk or worship songs. A capo route is offered only when the key itself has fewer than five open chords, and the chart picks the lowest fret that gets you to five or more, because every fret of capo costs you neck and brightens the tone.

Three ways players use it

Picking a key for a singer

The song is too low in G for your singer, and every key above G is harder: A has 3 open chords, B♭ has 1. Use the capo line instead. Capo 2 with G shapes is A, capo 3 is B♭, and you never left the shapes you know. That is also how the chord transposer works if you want to move a whole song sheet at once.

Learning which chords go together

A beginner who knows G, C, D and Em already knows most of the key of G. Show them the row and the missing pieces are obvious: Am is open and easy, Bm is the first barre worth learning. Our guide to beginner guitar chords covers the open shapes in the right order, and the easy guitar songs list gives you something to play with them once they are under your fingers.

Working out the key of a song

Find the row that holds every chord the song uses. C, G, Am and F only all sit in C major (and its relative, A minor). The chord progression generator goes the other way: pick a key and it writes progressions from its chords.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest key to play guitar in?

G major, closely followed by C major. Both have 5 open chords out of the 6 that songs use. G edges ahead because its I, IV and V (G, C and D) are all open, while C's IV is the F barre. In minor keys, A minor and E minor are the easiest, with 5 each.

What are the chords in each key?

Every major key has three major chords (I, IV, V), three minor chords (ii, iii, vi) and one diminished chord (vii°). Every minor key has the same chords as its relative major, starting from a different place. The chart lists all 12 major and 12 minor keys, and you can switch to 7th chords to see the four-note versions.

Which guitar keys need a capo?

Any key where most chords are barres: B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, F♯ and B major are the 6 hardest. The usual routes are capo 1 with G shapes for A♭, capo 3 with C shapes for E♭, capo 1 with C shapes for D♭ and capo 4 with G shapes for B. The chart checks every capo position from 1 to 7 and shows the best one under each key.

What is the difference between a key and a chord?

A chord is a few notes played together. A key is the family a song lives in: one scale and the 7 chords built from it. "The key of G" means G is home and the song mostly uses G, Am, Bm, C, D and Em.

Can I print this guitar keys chart?

Yes, free. Page one has every major and minor key with the open chords marked; page two has the key you selected, with chord boxes and its capo route. It prints sharp at any size.

Related tools

• Interactive Circle of Fifths: the same keys as a wheel, with each key's signature on the staff.
• Chord Transposer: move a song to any key, with the capo maths done for you.
• Beginner Guitar Chord Chart: finger-by-finger diagrams for the open chords this chart rings.
• Barre Chord Chart: every chord this chart leaves unringed, with the easiest way to play it.
• Browse all free musician's tools by Julian

Gear that helps

The picks beside the chart change with the key you select. For barre-heavy keys, a capo comes first, then a clip-on tuner, because a capo pulls the strings slightly sharp when it clamps. For open-chord keys, fresh acoustic strings matter most, since open chords ring every string. Choosing a guitar to learn on? A low, comfortable action is what makes barre chords possible: see the best beginner acoustic guitars, or the best acoustic guitars for a step up.

Sources and methodology

• Diatonic chords. Major and natural-minor harmonisation per Open Music Theory (Vanderbilt and Ohio State, CC BY-SA), cross-checked with musictheory.net. Spelling follows one letter per scale degree.
• Open and barre. Standard tuning E A D G B E. A chord is open when its standard first-position grip rings at least one open string. The grips are shared with our chord progression generator, and each one is checked to sound exactly its chord's notes with the root in the bass.
• Ranking and capo. Editorial, by Julian, applied as a fixed rule: open chords out of the 6 everyday chords, then how many of I, IV and V are open, then fewer sharps or flats. Capo routes are tested from fret 1 to 7, and each one is checked to sound the original key.
• Verification. Every build runs more than 5,000 checks: all 24 keys against hand-typed tables, all key signatures, every chord grip the chart draws, every capo route and every number quoted on this page. If any of it drifts, the site does not build.

Open and barre are judged on standard tuning and the common first-position grips. Your hands may disagree with a ranking; the chords themselves are not opinion. Reviewed by Julian Reyes, MM (Berklee). About Julian · Last reviewed November 2, 2026.

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  &middot; Reviewed by Julian Reyes, MM (Berklee)
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