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Tomus

Key reference

The key of C major

no sharps or flats · C – D – E – F – G – A – B

C major has no sharps or flats. A piece in this key draws on C, D, E, F, G, A, B and treats C as home.

The seven chords below are the ones built from those notes alone, which is why they sound like they belong together.

The key signature

𝄞
The key signature of C major, which is empty.

Order of sharps

  1. F♯
  2. C♯
  3. G♯
  4. D♯
  5. A♯
  6. E♯
  7. B♯

This key signature has no sharps or flats.

The notes of the key

These are the notes of the major scale on this tonic. See the C major scale for the degrees and step pattern.

C – D – E – F – G – A – B

The seven diatonic chords

Build a triad on each degree using only notes from the key and the qualities fall into a fixed pattern. That pattern is the same in every major key, which is why progressions transpose so cleanly.

DegreeRomanChordNotesFunction
1ICC – E – GTonic
2iiDmD – F – APredominant
3iiiEmE – G – BTonic
4IVFF – A – CPredominant
5VGG – B – DDominant
6viAmA – C – ETonic
7vii°BdimB – D – FDominant

Adding sevenths

Stack one more third on each and you get the seventh chords of the key.

RomanChordNotes
ICmaj7C – E – G – B
iiDm7D – F – A – C
iiiEm7E – G – B – D
IVFmaj7F – A – C – E
V7G7G – B – D – F
viAm7A – C – E – G
vii°Bm7♭5B – D – F – A

Common progressions in C major

These are the same shapes you meet in every major key, written with this key’s chords.

I – V – vi – IV

  1. CITonic
  2. GVDominant
  3. AmviTonic
  4. FIVPredominant

I – vi – IV – V

  1. CITonic
  2. AmviTonic
  3. FIVPredominant
  4. GVDominant

ii – V – I

  1. DmiiPredominant
  2. GVDominant
  3. CITonic

Related keys

RelationshipKeySignature
Relative minorA minorSame signature
Parallel minorC minor3 flats
One step sharpwardsG majorOne more sharp
One step flatwardsF majorOne more flat
Neighbouring keys on the circle of fifths share six of their seven notes.

Related

All major keys