What key is this song in?

[mcmurray]

Ok gents let's try this again.

 

I've chosen the simplest rock song I can think of right now, ACDC's Livewire.The entire song is in one key and the harmony is entirely powerchord based;

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_2cnD2_ul0

 

What's the key? How did you come to your answer?

 

Note: this is not a trick question.

 

Hint: listen to the bassline.

[Gilliangirl]

I voted B major but I should have voted 'I don't have a clue"

[Paging Page]

I am lousy at this.

 

How DO you guys figure this out?

 

I just realized (DOH - and I'm a huge fan) We Are the Champions changes keys from verse to chorus when I looked at the sheet music.

 

DUH

 

 

SO..... theory training anyone?

 

Is it something you're born with or can you learn? :blink:

 

I found the opening notes to Stairway all by myself by listening to it with my guitar in hand.... pretty plumb pleased with myself I got that far without a tab.......... or anybody next to me showing me... LOL!!!

 

And I know Bohemian Rhapsody is in A-flat because I've looked. That opening piano riff is over A-flat major.

 

But generally I'm really lame at just picking up and following along on keys or whatever to the radio.

 

I can play (keys) in just about any key no sweat - and transpose or switch keys -- may take me a minute but I'm getting the hang of it in the past year or two (recovering from years of Bach & Beethoven piano lessons... LOL)

 

But hearing a chord and going "Oh.... nice F minor variation there dude".... that's not me :)

 

Linda

[Paging Page]

I voted B Major because:

 

-- It's a major key (I know that much)

 

-- A demo producer I know told me A-flat is tricky on guitar, and, the band is AC-DC after all.... LOL

so I picked the simpler key to play

 

 

Silly me, I gotta look up which album that is to figure out if it's Bon Scott singing, or the next guy after Bon died.

 

(still working on my Rock History 101)

 

L

[mcmurray]

Linda - this is basically how I do it, although now I just hear it immediately without much thinking;

 

1. Listen for the tonic note i.e. the most stable sounding note within the piece of music - the 'home-base' note, if you like. The tonic gives you the key note, for example if B is the tonic then the key is B-something.

 

2. Listen for the tonal quality of the song, to put it simply - major sounds happy, minor sounds sad. Technically speaking, this is governed by the 3rd of the key, if it's a minor 3rd, the key is minor. If it's a major 3rd, the key is major.

[mcmurray]

I voted B Major because:

 

-- It's a major key (I know that much)

 

What is the 3rd note of the B major scale? It's Eb. Play an Eb while listening to the song.

 

Does it fit? Does it sound right?

 

What is the 3rd note of the B minor scale?

 

Does it fit?

 

Something to think about :)

 

ps: it's Bon singing. I wouldn't have chosen the song if he wasn't

[Paging Page]

Linda - this is basically how I do it, although now I just hear it immediately without much thinking;

 

1. Listen for the tonic note i.e. the most stable sounding note within the piece of music - the 'home-base' note, if you like. The tonic gives you the key note, for example if B is the tonic then the key is B-something.

 

2. Listen for the tonal quality of the song, to put it simply - major sounds happy, minor sounds sad. Technically speaking, this is governed by the 3rd of the key, if it's a minor 3rd, the key is minor. If it's a major 3rd, the key is major.

 

 

Good points!!

 

I can get major/minor typically no sweat - and know enough theory to know the middle note is down a half-tone in a minor chord. I can usually hear the "home" chord. I know my I, IV, V and the other four are minors in our traditional do-re-mi scales.

 

But I'd have had to fetch a guitar or get over to the piano to figure out and HEAR whether that boring bass line (gosh that'd be a drag to play in RockBand, LOL!) is playing a B, A-flat, G.... still working on doing that by ear.

 

Some chords I do recognize... I love E minor, and C major should be easy for most any piano student. LOL.

 

High-five on that's Bon --- good on ya -- I thought so............. miss him............ :)

 

Linda

[Paging Page]

What is the 3rd note of the B major scale? It's Eb. Play an Eb while listening to the song.

 

Does it fit? Does it sound right?

 

What is the 3rd note of the B minor scale?

 

Does it fit?

 

Something to think about :)

 

ps: it's Bon singing. I wouldn't have chosen the song if he wasn't

 

 

Weeeeelll............. I've been sick for 2 weeks and just sitting up in bed trying to feel a little better....... haha -- so I will do my homework properly, Teach, when I'm more up and around.

 

If I had a little more ooomph I'd open my Gibson tuning app on my iPod and make it play an Eb for me. LOL

But........ hitting the hay soon. I'll be back.

I love theory lessons.

I'm a geek that way.

 

Didn't learn it with the John Thompson piano method I was taught from wee-high. But figuring out just a few basics has taken my playing, ability to memorize, and understand a piece of music in ways I never thought I could. So yeah. I'm listening!

 

Linda

[Paging Page]

So..... what you're saying is ............ maybe that's in Minor and I'm completely flat out wrong...... hahahaa that would be funny.

Good for me to laugh at myself

[mcmurray]

 

But I'd have had to fetch a guitar or get over to the piano to figure out and HEAR whether that boring bass line is playing a B, A-flat, G.... still working on doing that by ear.

 

By all means use an instrument to verify, I don't have perfect pitch so I use a tuner/guitar/piano/etc to nail down the key name.

[Andy R]

well I will work it out as i answer( intentionally the long way) So hear A5 E5 and B5 A G Major and a B that sounds better as a minor......after the G Major.....and what sounds like an f# major

 

SO working from A5 I get A E

The E5 gives me E B

The Bf gives me BF#

The G Major gives me G B D

The F# gives me F# C#

 

So From this I See 7 different notes and F# C# Which is in the key of D Maj SO Lets see if this works out D, E, F#,G, A, B,C#,D

 

So it would have a key signature of D Major but B is more dominant in the Song So I will Go With B Minor which is the relative minor of D Major

 

B minor final answer

 

 

Andy

[stein]

I am completely tone deaf today...I can't even pick out the notes to the vocal right now. It happens sometimes.

 

Not only that, I can't think very well, but just wanted to say I am at least appreciating the thread, and at least tried.

 

I choose to say that it has a I IV V progression that is E, but the root is B, and the B minor pentatonic seems to work.

 

Final answer...B minor.

[Andy R]

I think I can finally explain this and the Judas priest question as to why a "KEY" is considered major or minor and in the end you need to forget about actual "minor chords"

 

Now I ironically I am going to explain how a minor chord is built When we want to make a minor chord we Use the 1st note that we want to be the root so lets pick G. Then we need to first find the notes in a G major scale and we will use the first note we will use the 3rd not but we will lower it by a half step to change the interval from a Major 3rd Interval to a Minor 3rd interval and we will use the 5th note and that will make a G minor "chord"

 

So we use this formula to make a Major scale: W,W, H, W,W,W,H (Keep an eye on the order of Whole Steps and Half Steps) So Starting on

 

WS= Whole Step Interval/ distance HS = Half Step Interval

 

G WS to A WS to B HS to C WS to D WS to E WS to F# HS to G If We pick the the 1st note G, the 3rd note B, and The 5th Note D we have the notes of a G Major Chord G,B,D

 

The Distance (How many half and or whole steps away) from one note to another note is called an interval

 

So when We make a Gminor chord the formula is to lower the 3rd interval from the root note by a half step So if we start with a G Major we have an interval G to B and it is currently 2 Whole Steps away. We know that the 3rd note ( interval ) from The root determines if the Chord is Major or Minor. So this Interval is Called a Major 3rd ( Root note then 2 Whole Steps is Major 3rd)

 

So in this Case we will lower the B to Bb so we have just changed the interval from G to B 2 Whole Steps to G to Bb which is 1 and 1half step away from G and would now be a Minor 3rd Interval

 

So if we look Back at the Major scale we started with we Had W,W,H,W,W,W,H but when we changed the 3rd to make it minor we changed this order of Whole Steps and Half Steps to W,H,W,W,W,W,H The thing to note is that We Changed from W,W,H, (major) to (W,H,W) minor So here is how we apply what we just learned to the Question of "What key" this song is in.

I know for sure that it has the notes D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#, D Which is a Dmajor Scale (WWHWWWH) and in the "Key" of D Major .

 

But I also know that it Centers around the B So If I change the Root to B and maintain the Notes of the Key of D Major I need to shift the Grouping of Whole Steps and Half Steps So that B is in the beginning.

 

If we do this we end up with B,C#,D,E,F#,G,A,B So we end up with ( WHWWHWW ) This happens to be the Formula for a Minor Scale as well. notice when we shifted the order the Key It now starts with a minor 3rd interval just like when we made a minor chord?

 

So we now consider the "KEY" to be minor! Forget about what chords are or aren't Major or Minor it is the Key its self that is considered minor!

 

So I Stand By my Ascertain that the "KEY" of this song is B minor!

 

Andy

[mcmurray]

If we do this we end up with B,C#,D,E,F#,G,A,B So we end up with ( WHWWHWW ) This happens to be the Formula for a Minor Scale as well. notice when we shifted the order the Key It now starts with a minor 3rd interval just like when we made a minor chord?

 

Bingo.

 

The 3rd of the key is the single most important note that determines whether the tonality is major or minor.

[mcmurray]

B minor it is.

 

Thanks for playing