What key?

B

billabob

New member
Anyone know wat key these chords would be in?

e-2--2--4
b-4--2--7
g-4--4--6
d-2--4--4
a-2--2--4
d-2--2--4

An a minor scale sounds pretty gd over it. not sure wether thats the key tho, im not too gd with theory at all :P
xxx
 
What is the number system after the notes?

As naturals these notes all fall into the Key of C Major or A minor, but if the numbers represents positions on a key or fret board then it could be all together different.
 
Honest question, if you can't figure out the key of the song, what use is the information going to be to you?
 
diminished 4th are you sure Greg? what about the overtones in the sub octave of the root while adding the 9th to a G# minor?






:cool:
 
FunkDaddy said:
Honest question, if you can't figure out the key of the song, what use is the information going to be to you?
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Well i dont know well, any theory at all. However, if i can find out the key of these chords i can look up a few scales in that key and then start to make some relations between certain chords and the scales that work well over those chords. (at leaste thats the plan)
xx
 
Greg_L said:
G#minoradd9dim4
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To me it sounded like either an F demented or a D demolished. :(

billabob, you listed these chords: E, B, G, D, A and D.

Are those all major chords, are some minor or what?

9 times out of 10 (at least) the final chord of a song is the key the song is in. Not always, and there's certainly no rule to that effect.
 
the notes of your chords are as follows

chord 1: E B E B D# F# or in scale degrees (1 5 1 5 7 2) chord name: Emaj9(no 3)

chord 2: E B F#B D# F# or in scale degrees (1 5 2 5 7 2) chord name: Emaj9(no 3)

chord 3: F#C#F#C#F# G# or in scale degrees (2 6 2 6 2 3) chord name: F#5 add 9

so in the key you have....

E F# G# (A or A#) B C# D#

if it's an (A) then the key would be: E major or (C# Minor)
if it's an (A#) then the key would be: E lydian or (G# Minor)

but i'm no theory expert...

did you say earlier that an (A Minor) scale sounds good over it or just a (minor) scale?
 
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so in either key the difference is one note.... A or A#

G# Minor = B major

and in B major the notes are:

B C# D# E F# G# A# Notes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Degrees


now a comparison of A Minor and A Lydian (aka E major)...

A Minor: A B C D E F G
A Lydian: A B C# D# E F# G# (aka E Major)

so if your playing A Minor at least 3 of the notes you are playing are in key and the other 4 are only a half step off :)

or to put it another way A Minor is about half the right key
 
billabob said:
Anyone know wat key these chords would be in?

e-2--2--4
b-4--2--7
g-4--4--6
d-2--4--4
a-2--2--4
d-2--2--4

An a minor scale sounds pretty gd over it. not sure wether thats the key tho, im not too gd with theory at all :P
xxx
Click to expand...

to help everyone else not familar with TAB out:


_____________FRET #'s

(e String) -2------2------4
(b String) -4------2------7
(g String) -4------4------6
(d String) -2------4------4
(a String) -2------2------4
(d String) -2------2------4 (tuned to Drop D)

chord_____1_____2_____3
 
fifths.gif


this may also help... maybe


Notice that..... E major has 4 #'s and B Major has 5 #'s (the difference is the A or A#)

your song, depending on weather or not A is natural or sharp, is in either of these key signatures.

but if you play in B major and start on E (aka 4th degree of B major) (like the first note/chord of your song) then you will be playing E Lydian.


confused yet?
 
For me, as soon as I hear the first chord, which I write as" E∆7(no 5) ", it doesn't matter what chords you play after that, I'm feeling E major.

You can play any note over any chord and it will sound great, it's just a matter of how you do it. C# can sound super-musical over a C chord in the right place in a certain song. There are no notes you can't use at any time.

I personally never, ever think scales when I play or solo. What I do is an adult (I hope) version of a kid going "tra-la-la", no deeper than that. "Playing" music should be like when you were a kid a were "playing" sandbox, no cerebral stuff.

I heard an odd concept: when you play a note, it's the note you play after it that makes it sound good or bad.

I had a guitarist friend who died. He was a gigging fool for a long time, didn't know much theory but was good enough to play with the Brecker Bros when he was 19. He once told me of a basic philosophy: he said that if you hit a "bad" note, either go up or down one fret. He said that their were gigs when he played like that all night!
 
dintymoore said:
For me, as soon as I hear the first chord, which I write as" E∆7(no 5) ", it doesn't matter what chords you play after that, I'm feeling E major.

You can play any note over any chord and it will sound great, it's just a matter of how you do it. C# can sound super-musical over a C chord in the right place in a certain song. There are no notes you can't use at any time.

I personally never, ever think scales when I play or solo. What I do is an adult (I hope) version of a kid going "tra-la-la", no deeper than that. "Playing" music should be like when you were a kid a were "playing" sandbox, no cerebral stuff.

I heard an odd concept: when you play a note, it's the note you play after it that makes it sound good or bad.

I had a guitarist friend who died. He was a gigging fool for a long time, didn't know much theory but was good enough to play with the Brecker Bros when he was 19. He once told me of a basic philosophy: he said that if you hit a "bad" note, either go up or down one fret. He said that their were gigs when he played like that all night!
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but what he didn't tell you was that going up or down one fret from a bad note puts you in key :)

if you are playing a "bad" note your typically out of key

if you are playing a "good" note your typically in key

notes "outside" of a key that sound good leading up to a correct/"good" sounding note are called passing notes or leading tones. (aka the "blues" scale)
 
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also the first chord he is playing is nothing but e and b which are 1 and 5 in E major. he adds a D# which in E major is a maj 7th note.

E major 7 is a correct chord for the key but the chord he is playing is not (without the 3rd or G#) a Major 7 chord, it is a 5 chord with an added 7.


that being said dinty it sounds alot like a Major 7 chord so i understand the slight differences are subtle.

6 or half -dozen lol :)
 
themdla said:
also in the first chord he is playing is nothing but e and b which are 1 and 5 in E major. he adds a D# which in E major is a maj 7th note.

E major 7 is a correct chord for the key but the chord he is playing is not (without the 3rd or G#) a Major 7 chord, it is a 5 chord with an added 7.


that being said dinty it sounds alot like a Major 7 chord so i understand the slight differences are subtle.

6 or half -dozen lol :)
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The chord I wrote was E∆7(no 5)... I meant E∆7(no 3)... :(

note: the "∆" is the same as "maj" if anybody is wondering. So E∆7 is the same as Emaj7, it's just faster to write.

So I owe you one, actually two (5 minus 3). :)
 
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themdla said:
but what he didn't tell you was that going up or down one fret from a bad note puts you in key :)

if you are playing a "bad" note your typically out of key

if you are playing a "good" note your typically in key

notes "outside" of a key that sound good leading up to a correct/"good" sounding note are called passing notes or leading tones. (aka the "blues" scale)
Click to expand...

All dead on.

It should be noted too that there are times when you can play a "bad note" and not resolve it and it can sound fine.

I played with an old jazz pianist and when he saw a C chord he'd be playing clusters of notes around C and it was amazing what "bad " notes he could use that sounded musically cool.

I think the secret isn't "what note?" but "when?".
 
dintymoore said:
The chord I wrote was E∆7(no 5)... I meant E∆7(no 3)... :(

note: the "∆" is the same as "maj" if anybody is wondering. So E∆7 is the same as Emaj7, it's just faster to write.

So I owe you one, actually three (5 minus 3). :)
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whoops! :)

yes you are correct... E∆7 (no 3rd)

hey how do you do that triangle thing? (i just copied yours)
 
dintymoore said:
All dead on.

It should be noted too that there are times when you can play a "bad note" and not resolve it and it can sound fine.

I played with an old jazz pianist and when he saw a C chord he'd be playing clusters of notes around C and it was amazing what "bad " notes he could use that sounded musically cool.

I think the secret isn't "what note?" but "when?".
Click to expand...

truer words have never been spoken!

all the stuff i'm spouting is standard diatonic theory but if it sounds good and isn't diatonic then F--K the theory lol :D
 
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