SongTrellis
Music and Musical Know-how For You

Author:  Charles Schoonmaker Posted:  10/31/2007; 2:04:15 PM Topic:  Key of a song explained Msg#:  5358 (in response to 5357) Prev/Next:  5357/5359 Reads:  364

   Yikes !!!  My head is still aching from trying to glean usable info from this one.. You know I love ya Dave, but I think you've topped yerself this time .. so please let me suggest a simpler way of determining the Key of a tune.. (as taught to me by a number of trained professional musicians. ).  

  Simply play a tune through to it's logical tonic finish and look at the root of the chord you end-up on ..perhaps 99 % of the time, that note defines the key you have been playing in.  Many tunes begin with one apparent root and end in another, Jerome Kern's beautifully composed " All the Things You Are " is an excellent example.. Trust me,  if you begin this one in a C#m, you'll end up in an E which is the actual key base relevant to the initial C#m.. Just remember, where you wind up is probably where you've actually been all along.. and if Dave is truly a nice guy, he won't slap me silly for stepping on his act....

As always, Chas

• Re: Key of a song explained, David Luebbert, 10/31/2007; 5:35:22 PM

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