What key is easiest to play on guitar?

G major. Its chords, G, C, D and E minor, are all open shapes with no barre. C major is a close second.

How do I know what key a song is in?

Usually the chord it starts and finishes on. If the chords are G, C and D, the key is almost certainly G.

What does a capo do to the key?

It raises every string by one half step per fret. A capo on fret 2 turns your G shapes into the key of A, with no new chords to learn.

Guide

Beginner guitar keys

A key is the home a song keeps returning to. It decides which chords appear and which notes sound right. Five keys cover almost everything a beginner plays: C, G, D, A minor and E minor. Here are the chords in each one, and what to do when a song is in a hard key.

What a key means

Play a song and stop halfway. The chord your ear wants next is the home chord, and that names the key. A song in the key of C starts and usually ends on C.

The key comes from a scale. The chords in the key are built from the notes of that scale.
Major keys sound bright. Minor keys sound darker.
Three chords do most of the work: home, the one a fourth above it, and the one a fifth above it.
Guitar keys are not all equal. Some fall on easy open shapes, some need barre chords.

The five easiest keys on guitar

Key	Main chords	Also common	Song here
C major	C, F, G7	Am, Em	Ode to Joy, Twinkle Twinkle
G major	G, C, D7	Em, Am	Silent Night, Minuet in G
D major	D, G, A7	Bm (barre), Em	none yet
A minor	Am, Dm, E7	C, G, F	Greensleeves, Für Elise
E minor	Em, Am, B7	G, C, D	none yet

The chords you actually need in each key, and a song on this site that uses them.

The key of C

The key of C. Most beginner songs live here. Tap a chord to open its page.

In words: C major is x 3 2 0 1 0. F major is 1 3 3 2 1 1 (finger 1 flat across fret 1). G seven is 3 2 0 0 0 1. A minor is x 0 2 2 1 0. Numbers are frets, thick string to thin, and x means do not play that string.

C is the friendliest key to read about, because its scale has no sharps or flats. On guitar it has one snag: the F chord needs a finger laid across several strings.

The key of G

The key of G. Every chord is an open shape. Tap a chord to open its page.

In words: G major is 3 2 0 0 0 3. C major is x 3 2 0 1 0. D seven is x x 0 2 1 2. E minor is 0 2 2 0 0 0. Numbers are frets, thick string to thin, and x means do not play that string.

Many guitarists find G the easiest key of all. Nothing in it needs a barre, and the chords sit close together under the hand.

The key of A minor

The key of A minor, the darker cousin of C major. Tap a chord to open its page.

In words: A minor is x 0 2 2 1 0. D minor is x x 0 2 3 1. E seven is 0 2 0 1 0 0. G major is 3 2 0 0 0 3. Numbers are frets, thick string to thin, and x means do not play that string.

A minor uses the same notes as C major, starting from A. That is why a song can drift between the two and still sound at home.

When a song is in a hard key

Songs in E flat or B flat fall on barre chords. You have two ways out, and neither is cheating.

1
Use a capo
A capo clamps across a fret and raises every string. You keep playing easy open shapes, and the song comes out in the higher key.
2
Change the key instead
If you are singing on your own, move the whole song to a key that suits your voice.
3
Let the player do the sums
The key control on every song here shifts the song up or down, and tells you where to put a capo to keep the easy shapes.

Tip

How to find the key of a song

Look at the first and last chord. Nine times out of ten one of them is the home chord, and that is the key.

Play a song in G

Try it now

Silent Night, chords mode

Silent Night is in the key of G: G, D7 and C. Three chords, slow beat, three beats to a bar.

Open the song

Questions people ask

What key is easiest to play on guitar?: G major. Its chords, G, C, D and E minor, are all open shapes with no barre. C major is a close second.
How do I know what key a song is in?: Usually the chord it starts and finishes on. If the chords are G, C and D, the key is almost certainly G.
What does a capo do to the key?: It raises every string by one half step per fret. A capo on fret 2 turns your G shapes into the key of A, with no new chords to learn.