I feel dumb for asking: How do I find out the key of a song?

[Chris.]

Yep. Haha. Tuning some vocals and apparently I can just hit the key of the song and it auto corrects it so I wanted to try it out. But I don't know how to find out the key of the song. I don't know what chords are being played or anything, either, because it's not my music.

 

[mikemorgan]

Usually the first 4 bars of any verse.

 

[iqi616]

I presume you don't play an instrument if you're asking this question. Do you have a keyboard and at least know the note names?

 

[Nightfire]

Play around until the note sounds right. Theres only 7 white keys and 5 black ones to try.

 

[drossfile]

if you have no experience with instruments, this will probably confuse you.

but if you spend enough time with it (preferably parked at a keyboard doing what nightfire suggested) it's the most definitive thing for what you're asking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths