question for music theory nerds

little guy said:
soooooooo... would the "transition progression" look like this:

C F Am G7
C F Am G7

C F Am D7 (the transition from the key of C to G)

G C Em D7
G C Em D7

G C Em G7 (the transition from the key of G to C)

would this work as a way to transition back and forth between the keys of C and G?
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Yes. Simple and direct.

I should have read this before I posted as you were already describing what I later suggested, sorry.

BTW, regarding transitions to new keys, a modulation is a different animal than a key change. Both could be called "transitions" although that term is more often applied to phrase structure than harmony, IME. You can always just change keys, especially to a closely related key, and don't really have to have a harmonic preparation and pivot chord.

I think it's good to stay loose about this kind of thing, personally.

Tim
 
Handsome Al said:
This picture helps to make perception clearer...

Audio perception... i.e. the way out brain interprets sound is like visual perception in that often the same input can be processed in more than one way to reach multiple conclusions...

To switch key you've got to make the image flip!
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I think it's a good comparison, Al. To understand the picture/tonality each way the eye/ear has to get oriented a certain way so it makes sense.

Tim
 
Timothy Lawler said:
BTW, regarding transitions to new keys, a modulation is a different animal than a key change. Both could be called "transitions" although that term is more often applied to phrase structure than harmony, IME. You can always just change keys, especially to a closely related key, and don't really have to have a harmonic preparation and pivot chord.
Click to expand...

thanks tim.

modulation.. that's the word
 
Timothy Lawler said:
Oh, and for the record... I'm not a nerd. But I posted anyway. :D

Tim
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i understand that just because you may be an ace at music theory doesn't make u a nerd. i'm just jealous that i'm not a "music theory nerd" :D
 
I'm not sure that switching from the Key of C to G is good songwriting thing to do. Switching from C to C# or C to Am makes more traditional sense. You might try just singing up a fifth (i.e. When you sing a C, sing G, etc.).

In any case, a simple way of switching keys from C to G would be to resolve back to C and then stick a D7 in there. To be really elegant you could stick an Am in before the D7 or a C#dim.
 
the example chord progression isn't part of any song i'm writing. i just chose that C to G modulation as an example because the keys were so similar
 
Lots of people have given plenty of solutions/suggestions, so I won't repeat them. I would just also add that a good way is to study how your favorite songwriters have done it. That could shed some light on it.
 
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