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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → playing in different keys
Hi all, as a novice, I have a novice question. What does the term "key" mean? I understand that the key of G contains the G,C and D chords and the key of D contains the D,G and A chord, but how does it apply? Does it mean that when songs are in the key of G, they should only contain G,C and D chords? Not sure how to apply this to music.
junas welcome to Chordie the key is based on the scale and is always the root tone a easy way to explain it is to use the alphabet A B C D F G A take the first letter A this will be the root tone or 1st in other words the key an easier key to understand is C it has no sharps or flats these are the notes in a C major scale CDEFGABC notice there are two C's the first is the root the second is one octave above the formula for a major scale is 1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 this means from C to D is one step or interval D to E is 1 step or interval E to F is 1/2 step or interval F to G is one step or interval G to A is one step or interval A to B is one step or interval and B to C is 1/2 step or interval this formula works with any major scale and also the reason there are sharps and flats to keep the intervals at 1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 hopefully I have made it clear this is only scratching the surface but its the basic part of music theory if you number the notes or intervals as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 then C is 1 D is 2 and so on so when you hear or see 1 4 5 in the key of C the chords are C F G the relative minor is taken from the 6th tone of a major scale and in the key of C the 6th tone is A so its Am or A minor put these chords together C Am F G and you have a progression play these chords and you will be playing whats called "Do wop" oldies like me 
I would like to add that all songs have progressions with the exception of some Indian Ragas and other songs that have only one chord but a progression means to change like progress this is what most songs do they start and move thru a sequence of chords and end and the kind of chords and how there used is callled an arrangement.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → playing in different keys
