Hi, I have recently started learning guitar and hence came into contact with a few musical terminologies which go above my head. After reading some music theory here and there i do understand bits and pieces about scales and chords now (thank god for that) This is wat i understand (please correct me if i am wrong )-- If "Song A" is in the key of Cmaj it technically means that i can pick up a few chords frm Cmaj scale and strum along and it should sound ok musically. Also i can solo using the Cmaj scale notes but the basic problem is How do i know without asking someone which key a song is in ? Hope my question is clear. Abhi
1st of all...... u dont need 2 mention Cmaj, u say C n its understood dats Cmaj........for minor u can say Cm for ur query...... yes wht u say is partly true cuz most of the songs are completely based on a single key, but u cant say which song may hav chords of different keys(few of dem) also if u try 2 strum chords of different keys together they produce a different effect on your ears which people would say is an out-of-key music..unless u know wht u're doing n to figure out key of a song, u need to hav lots of practice mostly about min of 6-7 months........ear-training thats called,..
Just so, u understand some stuff about the key of a song- You must've heard "layla" by clapton... God! the key of the song changes in that... Listen and see if u can spot the change... So its not even that an entire song would go in the same key... No rules you see... Yea, how to know which key the song is in? -You gotto be able to "figure it out"... for an initial exercise try this: play the song in the speaker in a volume low enough that you can also hear ur guitar.. Then choose a string, say the 1st string if the song is high pitched.. then keep playing note by note and see the ones that fit so well to the song... You would find atleast some three notes goin well... Say u get a C note that goes so well: then try playing around the notes of C major scale...
