What Key Is It In?

With minimal reference to music theory Nick gives a few tips on how to work out what key a song is in - just by careful listening... Oh! And maybe a bit of humming!!

Abridged transcript:

One of the practical problems any musician has to solve is how to determine the key of a piece of music. And this is something I get asked about a lot.

What key is it in? It’s a simple question, but one that has a surprisingly complex answer if we want to go into all the details of a full and complete answer. And the full and complete answer will only make sense after you have scaled the heights of the Music Theory Pyramid.

Instead, I want to Demonstrate some practical ways you can work this out, just by careful listening.

There are three different things you can focus your listening on, that will all help you determine what key a piece of music is in. You could listen to the melody of the song…

You could listen to the chords … though, in this song they are pretty low in the mix so not easy to hear clearly… or you could listen to the bass line… in this song the bass is heard very clearly – so I would probably choose to focus on that first.

In each case, what you are listening out for is the point at which the music feels like it comes to rest – a sort of neutral point.

In the case of the melody – let’s check for this a line at a time. I hear the first line as
…but this phrase is left hanging isn’t it? There is clearly more to come – The next phrase feels like it completes what the first phrase started so, that’s a definite contender for a keynote. But let’s see whether this is reinforced by what comes next … well that sounds very much like we have the right note – the note A here.

So, the melody suggests to me that the key note is A. Now let’s see if the chords back this up…
Well the song sounds like it starts on the A major chord and this is followed by F#m, D and E . And, if we listen to each of these chords, we can hear quite clearly that only as we play the A chord does it sound like the sequence has come to rest. It’s kind of like the end of a sentence.

Finally, let’s listen to the bassline
This has a very circular feeling to it doesn’t it? But it clearly returns to a point of rest at the end of the circle, coming back to the starting note – A.

So, all three parts of the song agree and point towards A as the being the key note. But as well a specific note, a key also has a property we call tonality – it can be either Major or Minor.

In this particular song, the guitar chords are quite low in the mix, so it is worth checking that we have got the tonality right. We can do this quite simply by replacing the A major chord, with A minor - we instantly hear that our assumptions about it being Major were correct.

So, that is the basic procedure for determining the key of a song without recourse to music theory knowledge. But, I know that not everyone finds it easy to hear the pitch of a note that they listen to. So, here is a practical tip to help the procedure.

As you listen to a song, hum along with it and, as soon as it reaches its rest point, stop the music, but keep humming that note like this. Then play up the chromatic scale on your guitar and listen out for the note that chimes in with the note you are humming.

Finally, check the tonality by trying the song against both Major and Minor chords for that key note like this: . In this case C#m clearly sounds right and C# major definitely sounds wrong.

So, a few tips there for determining what key a song is in. Of course, the chord sequences and basslines of most songs tend to start on the key chord – but this is by no means true of all songs – there are many exceptions. And as far as melodies are concerned, I would go so far to say that starting a melody on a key note is the exception rather than the rule.

So, developing the knack of hearing where music comes to rest is a vital part of your development as a musician. It takes most people a fair bit of practice to gain confidence in their ability to do this.
But this skill can be greatly backed up by increasing your understanding of music theory as well. Using your ears alone, it will often take many minutes to work out the key. Back this up with solid music theory understanding and not only is this time reduced to seconds, but you will then immediately be a in a very strong opposition to go ahead and work out the details of the music in full – its bassline, chord sequence and melody, with minimal effort and in little time.

So, I recommend a visit to the Secret Guitar Teacher site where you can take advantage of our free trial membership offer and explore our easy-to-follow Guitar Music Theory course. See you again soon!

[legendarygames]

Amazing. Thank you so much sir. From Brazil!!

[jonathanrebecca]

You make it so obvious. I'm impressed. Looking forward to try this with my favorite songs. Thank you

[peterbridge]

I know the very well presented in interesting lesson, but as a tone deaf bass player who is actually hard of hearing, I'll just let somebody say we're playing this in A or whatever and I'm away if I can remember the next chord so I always assume that meant it was in A.

also with the power of the internet, unlike when I was a teenager I look online and it might give the chords or I'll look at play along tracks. and I just assumed that the first chord represented the cat was in maybe small complicated than that, but I've been living in a wonderful falls paradise 😁😊

[cavaturnagesh]

Thanks for this cool way of determining the key. I just play the tune of the song and this gives me the key instantly. Of course, I practice scales, modes and arpeggios for an hour every day, and that helps a lot in this process of identification.

[whiteybluesy]

It's awesome to have you back here on youtube and with an upgrade in HD ;-) I bought the music theory courses on your site and I can recommend these to anyone serious about playing the guitar.

[oneeyemonster]

Some of my favorite songs use the throw me off...or confuse me...
Now that I know what the (N6) is...
Most of the it just a chord gets inserted.
A harmonic min b2....Bb Major chord will simply get insert..
So I think it might be in F Maj/minor.
But it's still in C Major/Amin.

or Crowed house....Dont dream it;s over...
It starts in E you lift your pinky to play the b7, after
which is the b2 of C# Harmonic min b2
Im used to G#7 into C min....( that might throw some people off)

or the Harmonic MAJOR
In Sleep walk....I use the C Harmonic Maj to mimic the slide guitar.
it;s Ab into C ion G# into A.


or the bridge to Falling in love with you by elvis...
The song is in C Major....
the Bridge goes....E min....B7
The A7 into D

E melodic min....to me.

Other times...the prelog..or the beginning of a song will be in different keys
then shift key...such as Under the bridge ....

or we are the champions by queen...it starts in C minor
but it'll shift key to FMajor/Dminor...when it goes into the chorus.
F Maj C Maj....C# dim E dim into F Major

then to get back to C minor...I used F Full diminished into the C minor chord.
B dim into C minor.


Yeap...like you said....it;s easy once you climb up the latter and comprehend it.
It used to drive me nuts...To save my sanity...I learn music theory.lol