Are chords enough to determine a key?

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Sometimes chords are enough to understand what key a song is in however it’s not always the case.

To get a complete picture or to instruct musicians who might be attempting to play a song you’ve written it’s important to understand some theory so that you can accurately describe what you would like your music to sound like as well as to interpret ‘instructions’ from other composers correctly.

Theory is a good toolbox of things we can use to build an idea however it is also a language used to explain or describe something to someone after it has been created. The creator/composer may not necessarily know the theory behind what they’ve created as they may have simply played whatever sounded good. We however, use theory to analyze, discuss and recreate what they’ve done.

I’ll say that while it’s pretty safe to play either C major or A minor scales over the following progression :

| C . . . | Am . . . | F . . . | G . . . |

The composer could throw in a twist and say that the Am is meant to be a temporary modulation to a ii chord in the key of G Major. It’s odd but not necessarily incorrect if it was created that way. That would be an important instruction to include in the chart.

If you love playing, why not also learn the language of the instrument so that you can communicate successfully with other musicians!

Rock on! 😎👍