For a better idea on what I mean by pitch, you can hear the different pitches used in music by playing the Chromatic Scale "shown on the diagram below" on your guitar.

Pick up your guitar and play the big E string, which is the top string and biggest string on the guitar. Playing this string open is the "E" note. Now play the 1st fret, this is the "F" note. Play the 2nd fret, this is the "F sharp" note with the "# " symbol. Continue up the guitar neck playing each fret as you go along, until you reach the 12th fret. The 12th fret is the "E" note again and the scale notes start repeating itself in the same order. "in a higher scale tone"

Now did you notice each note of the chromatic scale as you played it had a different sound pitch. The pitch got higher as you moved up each fret on the guitar.

In music there are 12 different pitches, which are the 12 notes that make up the music world. Known as the "Chromatic Scale" shown in the diagram above.

The musical keys are based upon this chromatic scale, and named after each note in the chromatic scale. Each musical key has it's own pitch, it's own set of notes,chords, and scales that are within that key.

There are 15 major keys in music. Also there are 15 minor keys in music. For instance, theres a E major key and a E minor key. Both keys are in the same pitch, but each of these musical keys have there own distinct set of chords, notes, and scales that make them very different in sound. So in the music world there is 30 musical keys. 15 major keys and 15 minor keys.

You can hear the difference of the major key and the minor key. Take for instance the song "House of the Risin Sun". This song was created and played in the key of "A minor". Where as the song "Johnny Be Goode" was created and played in the key of "A major".

I've created charts for each key, showing the 7 main chords in that key, the notes that make up the chord, and what position that chord holds in the key. You can look at these charts by going to Major Key Chords or Minor Key Chords

Each musical key also has several different type of scales within the key. You can see the different types of scales in each of the keys by going to Music Scales in the Keys

For more information on scales & how there constructed go to the Constructing Music Scales-Chords Intro section located on this site.

Link back to Guitar Scales Introduction