I am curious about the key selection setting when making a BIAB chord sheet progression.

I know all will not agree with this music theory perspective, but some consider there to only be 12 keys in music (12 major/relative minor pairs or key signatures).

If one adopts this perspective then the question arises as to what BIAB is doing if you select, let's say, the key of C vs. the key of Am.

In that major/minor pair, the notes are all the same, the diatonic chords are all the same, but the feeling of "home" is different depending on how you write the progression.

For an example let's say I MAINTAIN this 12 key perspective and want to write a chord progression with the C/Am pair with Am being the feel of "home". I am a guitar player and using Nashville notation I might write a chord progression as 6- 4 1 5 (Am F C G) (these numbers maintain the major numbering perspective as a standard)

WHAT will BIAB do and WHY if I choose the key setting for this chord chart as either C or Am?

(hopefully this discussion will not morph into a debate as to whether 12 keys vs many more keys is the "correct" model, but will just help me understand what happens with picking one or the other key designation of a relative major/minor pair in the BIAB settings). Thanks so much.

Last edited by Moonbeam9067; 12/14/25 10:23 AM.