What Key Am I Playing In????

  • Thread starter Thread starter Raydio
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Raydio said:
Autotune also has a lil option on there in which you can play notes to a melody via MIDI and it will configure it self or something like that. Maybe that will help. But in the mean time... I would like to know when Im playing in whatever key; any more tips at least??
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Yeah Radio,
I have used that option before. I just basically played what the person was singing and Autotune changed the scale or whatever,, but mostly when I am in the studio, I dont really have time to be playing around and learning stuff. Im gonna set aside one evening when I dont really have a session scheduled and play with all the things I have been reading about in here.

Malcolm824
 
Raydio said:
But in the mean time... I would like to know when Im playing in whatever key; any more tips at least??
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Take a beginner music theory course at your local community college. I'm not trying to be an elitist just letting you know that what you are asking is something that probably only 20% of musicians even understand. It is not that difficult but you have to understand all the variables and memorize a lot of stuff. It is what studying music is all about. If you are good at self study then get a comprehensive theory book and dig in.

Your question is like asking "I don't understand spanish but how can I tell which words are verbs?"
 
Re: Re: Re: Autotune

Myx62 said:
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Hey, you from Corvallis? I love that town, lived there from 98 to late 2000 while doing my MS degree at OSU in Forest Science. Just wanted to say hello to a Corvallian.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Autotune

cstockdale said:
Hey, you from Corvallis? I love that town, lived there from 98 to late 2000 while doing my MS degree at OSU in Forest Science. Just wanted to say hello to a Corvallian.
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Yup, I like Beaver, I mean the Beavers...Im not a student, but do work at HP. Dont tell anyone though.
Myx
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Autotune

Myx62 said:
Yup, I like Beaver, I mean the Beavers...Im not a student, but do work at HP. Dont tell anyone though.
Myx
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you been in Corvallis for long? I knew a bunch of people at HP who played Ultimate in the city league...
 
If you were going to spend a lot of time living and working in China, it would be really useful to learn some Chinese. Similarly, if you are going to spend a lot of time interacting with musicians, it would be equally useful to learn the language.

You will always hear people bragging about how they have become very successful while remaining totally ignorant. But just remember that sometimes those people aren't as ignorant as they want their fans to believe. (Kind of like middle class rappers bragging about their gangsta roots). The other point is, if you insist on remaining ignorant, you better be sure you are extra-talented to compensate.

As far as keys go, try thinking of the key as the chord which brings the song back home, or to rest. If you find the chord that gives the song its final resolution, chances are that is the key.

By the same token, most (but not all) songs will end with the final melody note on the root of the key. Meaning a song in Bb will tend to end on a Bb. This is much more useful than looking at the first note of a song, which (I am sorry to disagree with Tex) could be almost any note. As an example, one of the most popular first chords of a song is the ii minor (as in a ii-V-I progression). The melody note on that chord will be related to a scale tone generated by the ii chord, not the "I" (which would be the key). I can name you numerous examples of famous songs that start on any note of the scale. But most of them still end on the root of the "I" chord.

Anyway, there's tons of basic music theory books out there, many of them aimed at rock and pop musicians.

Good luck!
 
I don't think it's really accurate to say most songs have the melody end on the key note. It's probably more accurate to say most songs will end on the root, 3rd or 5th.
 
It is not accuratet to say ALL, but it is quite accurate to say MOST. And the beauty of it is, that would be true for essentially any style of western song music - classical, country, rock, blues, jazz, showtunes, etc.

I don't have actual statistics, but i would dare to guess that the actual percentage of songs that end on the root note of the tonic chord would be somewhere between 80-90%. Don't believe me? Do a random survey in any collection of sheet music. (Pick any songbook you like.) I'm sure you will find at 10 songs that end on the root for every one you find on the fifth. Maybe a lot more...

And it's certainly FAR more accurate than looking at the FIRST note of a song, which was previously suggested.

Now, there IS a tendency in traditional tango music to end on the fifth, so perhaps moley is from Argentina! (Jazz singers often "remelodize" the original ending note, replacing the root with the ninth... but that's in improv thing.)
 
littledog said:
I don't have actual statistics, but i would dare to guess that the actual percentage of songs that end on the root note of the tonic chord would be somewhere between 80-90%. Don't believe me?

No, I don't! :D

Of the music I listen to, I really don't think 80-90% ends on the root.

Now, there IS a tendency in traditional tango music to end on the fifth, so perhaps moley is from Argentina!

lol, no, England :)

(Jazz singers often "remelodize" the original ending note, replacing the root with the ninth... but that's in improv thing.)
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Well I do play a lot of Jazz.


I'll tell you what, I'm listening to Joni Mitchell at work today, and I'll do a little survey of how many songs end on the root. Maybe I'll do the same with some more songs when I get home...
 
You don't have to believe me. Just check any fake book or collection of songs.

I just grabbed one at random:

"Columbia's Colossal Fake Book (more than 1000 songs)"
This is a collection of popular songs from the last 80 years.

I will start right with the letter A:

Aba Daba Honeymoon
Key: C
Last Note: C

And I Love You So
Key: C
Last Note: C

Adam:
Key: D
Last Note: D

All I Do Is Dream of You:
Key: C
Last Note: C

Ain't No Sunshine:
Key: Am
Last Note: A

Adios Mariquita Linda
Key: Bb
Last Note: Bb

ARE WE DETECTING A PATTERN HERE YET???? (By the way, none of these songs STARTS on the root of the tonic.)

Since you play a lot of jazz, here are the most universally well known (and most played) of the songs starting with "A" and "B" taken from the Real Book (5th edition):

A Foggy Day
A Night In Tunisia
All Blues
Alice in Wonderland
All of Me
All of You
All the Things You Are
Alone Together
Angel Eyes
Anthropology
April in Paris
As Time Goes By
Autumn in New York
Autumn Leaves
Beautiful Love
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
Black Orpheus (Manha de Carneval)
Blue Room
Body and Soul
But Beautiful

ALL of the above end on the tonic root. (Perhaps none START on the tonic root.)

And here's THREE that end up on the third:
Au Privave
Blue Monk
Blues for Alice

And TWO on the fifth:
Blue Bossa
Bluesette

Here's ONE that ends on the (b)5;
Boplicity

Notice a trend here? Every one of the examples ending on a note other than the tonic root were composed as instrumental songs, not vocal ones (with lyrics). Music that was written purely as an instrumental (no lyrics) has a somewhat greater tendency to end up on a note other than the root of the tonic, although that would still be the most frequent option. So if we limit ourselves to SONGS rather than instrumentals, the sampling shows 100% ending on the tonic root!!!!!! Even if you include purely instrumental songs, the figure in this sampling (20 out of 26) is about 76%.

If you still think I'm full of shit then I will assume that your position is based on some sort of blind religious faith or mystical experience, or else you are not talking about the popular song repertoire (which is what most of us here tend to deal with) so further discussion based on statistical evidence is probably useless. For everyone else, though, the "last note" method should be a good first indicator of key, especially if you don't otherwise have a clue.
 
lol!

Well, I guess you're right...

But, if you had been just talking about standards, originally, I probably wouldn't have disagreed with you.

I'm not surprised at how many of those standards do end on the root.

I guess when I said that your claim was exaggerated, I was thinking about the kind of Pop & Jazz that I mainly listen to. I listen to a lot of late 50s/60s Jazz, and 70s fusion and the like, e.g. Herbie Hancock, Miles, Coltrane, for example - and Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius etc. A lot of which is more adventurous, harmonically, and doesn't necessarily end on the tonic at all, and in some cases - what is the tonic anyway? :D

And as for the pop side of things - Joni Mitchell's mid to late 70s stuff (BTW, having said I'd listen to see if they end on the root, I completely forgot to check!), and Steely Dan, are what I'm particularly listening to at the moment. Again, definitely the more adventurous side of things.

But, if you're talking about standards, and mainstream pop, then I guess you're right...

The thing is, I'm just very wary of any people saying things like "most songs do this"... which is why I picked up on it.
 
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