How to determain a song's key?

[holyguitar]

It is not an easy task to learn all 12 key's but it might be very beneficial to determine a song's key. Although it is not necessary for persons who are not song writers or playing guitars for their hobby but it helps a lot. I tried to learn something about it but it can take a lot of time. Just need to know that how to determine popular songs keys. Any thoughts?

[olly]

A good way to start is to work out the first chord of a given song.

Most of the time the first chord will be the key. So if the first chord is a C then the song is likely to be in the key of C Major.

Usually in music the first and last chord will be the same. This is not always true as there can be key changes within songs

[surfville]

Learning it should be very important if you want to be good at guitar playing and also if you want to work with other musicians. Beside if you love music then you will pursue learning this.

[loveguitar]

yes start working on the the first cord of a song and work your way from there. The fact is that most of the time, a song will start and end on the same chord, and that is usually the key like olly said.

Sometimes there are exceptions but rare. For songs that fade out, note the the first chord in the song, and the last chord at the end of the chorus.

[beemaster]

Learning all the keys is very important if you ever plan on playing with other musicians. They can be difficult to remember some times but they are good to know.

As to finding the key of a song. Do what everybody else has said. Look at the first and last chords of the song. Almost every song will start or end with will be the key that it is written in.

[Instructor]

The answer of the "first chord" of a song, is not correct. Look at Sweet Home Alabama - it's in G but it starts on the V, of D. It "resolves" to G.

The answer is what note does the song want to "resolve" upon? That is the central determinant of what makes the "key" of the song.

Instructor

[olly]

The answer of the "first chord" of a song, is not correct. Look at Sweet Home Alabama - it's in G but it starts on the V, of D. It "resolves" to G.

The answer is what note does the song want to "resolve" upon? That is the central determinant of what makes the "key" of the song.

Another great post.


It can be hard for a beginner (or even an advance) player to hear how or where it resolves to define the key. The easy option is to look towards the first or last chord of the song as often this is the key. This is not the case all the time and the song above is a perfect example.

So how would you suggest one listens for the resolving note?

[Instructor]

Great question.

I think it comes down to the ears. Play along with it and when you sense a pitch is "the home note" try and hunt and peck to find what pitch that is. Then play it as a bass note over the rest of the changes, and verify if they seem to still somehow "work". Without a foundational background in harmony and theory, it can be very difficult to objectively say, "do this and you'll know without a doubt this is the key".

In truth, lots of practice, developing your ear to match pitches, and experience is needed to fully be able to do this and get better at it. The ability to apply theory helps bridge that gap substantially.

Instructor

[NicolaePaul]

Another way i used to determine the key is simply take a passage and see of what notes is it made out of.

For this you must know, same as instructor told you, the guitar theory.

I simply take the notes and try to what mode, it is and build the tonality from there. This usually helps me.

You have to know the modes by hear and then everything simplifies a lot.

Paul

[NicolaePaul]

The easiest way is to learn the circle of fifths, take a piece of paper and write it 4 times a day and soon you will start to know this effortlessly, by the number of flats and sharps it has

[Steve Brown]

Look for the number of sharps or flats on the ledger lines.

[olly]

Look for the number of sharps or flats on the ledger lines.

If you have the sheet music then yes, but what about by ear alone

[polyal]

if you know the chords of a song does it matter what key its in ..... and if i wrote a song
with 3 chords say A D and E who says its in A if im the author why cant i say its in the key of D
...its my song so thats the key ...if you want to do it in C then the chords are G C and D and it wont make the slightest bit of difference...or will it ????????????

it seems the only significance to what key it is.. is when its written to sheet music
so the musician can play the correct notes ( looking at the stave and knowing which are sharps and flats

and in our world i think sheet music is bottom of the list

a rule of thumb is ..the first chord of the verse is the " key " its in ( 99% )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_(music)

[zonshti]

Look for the number of sharps or flats on the ledger lines.

+1

but there are song especially in jazz where there are multiple key centers