Key

Music Theory

The key of a song tells you which note feels like "home" and which scale the melody and chords are drawn from. A song in the key of C major uses the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B and primarily the chords built from those notes (C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim).

The most ukulele-friendly keys are C major, G major, F major, and their relative minors (Am, Em, Dm). These keys let you use mostly open chords with simple fingerings. Keys like E♭ or A♭ often require more barre chords.

You can identify a song's key by looking at the first and last chords (often the key chord), the chord that feels most "resolved," or the scale used in the melody.