The Key of E at the Guitar Seat

Called in E, a tune has E – F#m – G#m – A – B – C#m – D#° available to it before anybody substitutes anything; the parallel minor, E minor, offers Em – F#° – G – Am – Bm – C – D instead. The two-five-one that closes most choruses is built out of three of those seven.

The guitar seat carries the comp — the changes stated in three and four notes behind whoever is playing the melody, which in practice means dropping the root and playing the notes nobody else is covering — the third and the seventh first, everything else only if it fits under the hand.

Learn where the ii, the V and the I fall in E until the hand goes there without asking, and the substitution rules become edits to something you already know rather than new material.