Rick Beato has a good little vid on U-tube for finding the key of a song in double quick time...
https://youtu.be/zfaobb14oMENotes:
1. The video initially discusses the more advanced seventh chords, progressions and subsequently identified key changes.
Tip: Search for the dominant chords to get a better grip on the associated key.
2. From 7:15 onwards, the easier (non-seventh) chords are studied, for “.. you rack (?) players out there..’
Tip: Search for two major chords a whole step apart - this will correspond to the IV and V chords of the progression and, thus, the key should be quickly identified thereafter.
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So "Stepping Stone" is in D?*
*I suppose it's not far off E minor so there is that
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I really like Beato but I have to say I find his whole approach to this most peculiar. It’s like finding out what a book is about by counting the instances of every word, sorting the list, and taking the top 10. Surely you just have to listen to the music and sing the home key? What he’s showing, very precisely, is the construct behind the music, the theory underpinning it, which is excellent, but the method of recognising home is to listen to where the music points you.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I should say that I know very little about music theory, but the way I do it is exactly as you said, listen to where the music points you. Looking for the IV/V chords is just a shortcut.
On the subject of SHA I asked a proper classically-trained musician what key it was in, and the answer she gave is G major, but the vocal melody and some of the guitar parts are in a different mode (I forget which).
Anyway, Ed King says it’s in G.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
They’re wrong anyway but that’s fine! At least, they’re partly right - you can force it into either key depending on how you play it. But perhaps that’s for another thread.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Using the whole step apart thing from the OP, it seems to give G as the key but using the "just listen to where it takes you" mentioned by a few people, I'd say D.
I tend to get lost when the notes of the chords don't fit into any single key that I can find.
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This is what i was trying to say earlier. The best way to determine the key is to listen to where the home note is (D), not to find two major chords a tone apart. You’re 100% right.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
?
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I've heard of chords being "borrowed" from the minor version of the key it's in - is that still applicable if it's what's meant to be the home chord? Could the song be in D minor even though the D minor chord has been replaced by a D major?
If so, I don't know what it is but want to.
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In a chord progression that is wholly within one key then it works fine- you have a Dm7 G7 C Maj7 progression then you can take the dominant chord and go down a 5th and find your key- in this example it would be C major.
Ok, well how about this then:
How do you know when it modulates key and when the dominant chords are secondary dominants, which is a chord that is dominant to a chord other than the tonic?
Using a dominant as a way to work out the tonic has very limited use.
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