Most songs are built on three chords: the one on the home note (1, Do), the one a 4th up (4, Fa), and the one a 5th up (5, Sol). In G major that's G → C → D → G. Here are their roots in position 1, and they're all under your hand.
The 4 feels like a step away from home. The 5 feels like it has to come back. Play the roots on their own and you can already hear the story.
The same in E minor: Em → Am → Bm → Em. The 5 of E minor is B, and the chord on it is Bm, the first chord in this course that needs a barre (that's stage 2). Until then, play B7: open, easy, and it pulls home to Em even harder.
Why 4 and 5? Put the twelve notes in a circle, each a 5th above the last: C G D A E B… Every key's 1 sits between its 4 (one step anticlockwise) and its 5 (one step clockwise). Pick G on the circle below: C and D are its neighbours. That's the circle of fifths, and it's the map for the rest of this course.
E major
Key signature 4 sharps: F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯
How to read it
Clockwise each key is a fifth higher and adds one sharp (or drops a flat). Anticlockwise is a fourth higher and adds a flat.
Rings. Each major shares its notes with the minor inside it (its relative minor) and the diminished chord on its 7th.
The chords of a key are the lit slice: three majors side by side (IV I V), the three minors under them (ii vi iii) and one diminished (vii°).
Neighbours differ by one note, so modulating one step round sounds smooth. Moving anticlockwise is resolving: V to I, and ii V I walks two steps home.
Secondary dominants. The major one step clockwise of any chord is its dominant (V of V: D to G in C major).
Try this
Play G C D G and Em Am B7 Em, four strums each, saying Do Fa Sol Do as you change.
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