I know a bit about keys and what they're for and what they mean. So if I was to drop from A to G, for instance, I'd basically play everything two frets down, and vice versa (I know it's more complicated when it comes to chords, but this isn't about that).
However, I've been asked to audition to play bass for a band that has a pretty extensive set list. They've also sent me a list of the keys they've changed a lot of the songs to (presumably so the female singer can manage them). I have no problem with that.
However, when I did a search for the original keys that the songs were in, so I can work out how to change them, I found something called Keyfinder. No idea how accurate it is (which is why I'm asking for help), but it says that the keys that most of the songs on the set list that have supposedly been changed to are actually the original ones.
Obviously, I don't want to get there having learned something in the wrong key, so how do I check what key a song is in? If I've got the original sheet music, I should be able to tell from the sharps and flats on the stave, but what if I can only find some chords with no stave?
Apologies for complicating such a basic question, but this is a level of music theory that's always made my head buzz, and I've never quite managed to figure it out properly.
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IMPORTANT NOTE - Online chord/ tab pages are uploaded by amateurs just like you and me and there are, unfortunately, loads of mistakes to be found. You will need to use your own ear to spot the errors, so only use the online pages as a starting point..Do not take them as 100% accurate!
Alas, probably the most foolproof method is to firstly work out the basic parts in the original keys - from the recordings themselves on Youtube, Spotify etc etc - then re-learn them in the new key by dropping or raising each part by the required interval. Yes, that means learning the song, in effect twice - once for each key - but playing along to the record in the original key is the best way to double check your workings out before you come to transpose the track.
One thing I have learned over the years after much trial and error is MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE SONG BEFORE YOU START LEARNING IT. In other words - spend time listening to the song and getting familiar with it before you even pick up an instrument. Get a good broad picture of the song in your head before getting into the details. You don't want to start putting the jigsaw together before you look at the picture on the box.
http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0063560
Sometimes I buy a proper transcript - but also useful is the preview. On the right had side you'll see that the piece is in the original published key. It then gives you other options of, say +2, or -3 and tells you the key signature when the change has been made.
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
Occaisionally you get key changes that are a pain, maybe something on bass with a prominent open low E and they move it to D so do you play it an octave up or tune down or buy a five string or just say no can do..?
ICBM said: Find the original song on Youtube and play along with it in the key you've been given. If it doesn't sound hideous it's the same key . If you are struggling then live versions ( or even other people's cover versions) on YouTube can throw up mixes that can hilight parts or you can just look at their fingers ' he's playing it all at the fifth fret so the notes must be there somewhere...'
And just to finish my smorgasbord of obviousness, if there's any doubt then find out which version of a song they are doing. No good practising the Don McLean version of American Pie if they are doing the Madonna version.
It's not so much working out what the key changes are, as trying to work out what it's in to start with, because what they've told me is a bit odd.
Here are some examples. They play Dakota by the Stereophonics. According to all the sites I've seen, it's in E. But they say they've changed the key - to E. Valerie by Amy Winehouse is in Eb, but they say they've changed the key to Eb; Vertigo by U2 is in A, but they say they've changed the key to A; Teenage Kicks is in D, but they say they've changed it to D; Use Somebody by the Kings of Leon is in C but they say they've changed it to C.
That's what's confusing me. I'd get back to them about it, but I don't want to look like a twat before I've even turned up for an audition. (Unless it's some elaborate trick to see if I'm paying attention...)
Does it really matter, though, what key a song was recorded in, so long as you know what key they want you to play it in?
And the list of key 'changes' is separate to the main list and only contains the ones they've 'changed'. There are at least a dozen not on the 'changed' list, and the changed list includes at least three or four that have changed.
I might be able to have a listen to the tracks and tell you what key the original is in and therefore how far up or down the neck you have to move to play it in the key they supply.
Up to about 20 would be fine, more than that and it will take me too long.
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FWIW I try and be as precise and clear as possible in band emails. Our singer on the other hand just throws out random punctuation marks??? You see, was that a question!! No??? Neither were any of those?? !! Saturday! [random word; it's like Tourettte's] [assorted emoticons] A phone call clarifies.
And for learning stuff in different keys, once you've sussed what they are, I'm gonna be predictable and suggest Transcribe! if you're not already using it because you can simply key shift everything in the software. So simple it doesn't even take two seconds to do it. I literally use it for every learning task: key shifting, slowing down, looping difficult sections etc.
Don't think of frets, learn the instrument in notes. You gotta know where the notes are. Thinking in terms of moving frets is the wrong way, the fretboard is just a load of notes, always see the notes not the positions
Think about song in terms of intervals ..... so with or without you for example is 1. 5. 6, 4, often written as I - V - Vi - IV
So lets do that in the original key of D and we get D - A - B - G ....... lets imagine that's a bit low for the singer and he \ she wants to try it in E.
It's just maths, now we got E - B - C# - A ......... now you can think oh I just added a tone to every note but it's actually better just to visualize the intervals from any given starting point. Otherwise moving a song from A to C for example means adding a tone and a half to every movement and that requires more thought.
It's the ability to see a common rock \ rock song in intervals that enables you to instantly be able to play it in most instances and it's the knowledge of intervals that enables you to switch key instantly.
Valerie verse is first and 2nd chord then bridge is 4th \ 3rd \ 4th \ 3rd \ 4th \ 3rd \ 5th - chorus 1st and 2nd again
So lets move that to C, very common key for male vocal
Verse C and D, .... bridge F \ Em \ F \ em \ F \ em \ G ... chorus C and D ...... chords are maj 7 and 7th in flavour but you get the idea
Anyone who takes the hump when asked a basic question like that is not someone you want to be in a band with.
The trick comes when you want to stick with open shapes, or the original has some particular open string chord inversions which are difficult to replicate in a different key just using barre shapes. That's where a capo comes in handy I guess, in which case you can still use the same chords, just at different positions of the fretboard.