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Old 07-31-2008, 12:18 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Default Theory; finding what key a song is in (need help).

Hey there, this is my first post, so don't go too hard on me.
I just started learning music theory on my own; I play guitar, for the most part. I taught myself modes... learned intervals from a guitar teacher back in the day... and know the major scale, minor scale(who's even counting that), and pentatonic scales (same with that). So, as you can see, I don't know much music theory, haha

That's why I've searched for help!

I've always asked my friends, that play music as well, how to tell what key a song is in... none of them ever give me a theoretical explanation. Some said whatever chord is played the most... YEAH RIGHT!... is what I thought to that.

So, with that said... how does one know what key a song is in?

This is my hypothesis, with little knowledge of music theory I have...

Whatever major scale the song is in; the root note of that scale is the key of the song.

Is this right?

Anyways, thanks to anyone who can be of some help towards this!

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Old 07-31-2008, 03:17 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skinnyboy23 View Post
Whatever major scale the song is in; the root note of that scale is the key of the song.

Is this right?
Yeppers.
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Old 09-24-2008, 06:32 PM   #3 (permalink)
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the root of the last chord of the song will be the song's key most of the time
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Old 09-25-2008, 01:33 AM   #4 (permalink)
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the key sig will also tell you

heres a helpful link

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Old 09-25-2008, 03:12 AM   #5 (permalink)
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If you want to get deeper into theory and finding keys (which isn`t always as straightforward as suggested) try looking up the Circle Of Fifths on wikipedia. Print out the Image, you can see how different chords and scales can be connected - thats only one approach, theres different ways of looking at it - plus playing differrent types of scales (as you`ve mentioned) with the same tonic will give a song many different `feels`.
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