finding the key by ear

[albert_d]

The key for this week would be D. I don’t recall if he mentioned it but perhaps he did on Monday? That bass open note on the open D string is my clue. Also the scale work on Wednesday is a D major and minor scale.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @campfire , on Thursday’s “learn video” Tony mentioned something about the song wasn’t in a “key” per say, but it was “modal”, referring to modes. Keep in mind that in FW 1 & 2, Tony never talked about modes because he felt that they were a lot to do about nothing – meaning, a lot of work to teach/learn for a very small fraction of the music that’s out there. So he didn’t even say the “mode” that he thought the song was in. But I’ve done my own research in the past and since have taken a class that touched on them, so I’ve received a small amount of education on modes as well. Take a look at the link I’ve given below to get a better understanding:

https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/modes/

Perhaps after looking at the resource, you can guess what mode the song is in, my guess is D dorian (dorian is a minor mode), and the D major chord is being used as an “accidental”, but see what you think!

[N-lightMike]

So first of all, @campfire , we need to understand what Tony means by “key”. Since almost no one understands what a key is, or at least they ignore what they know and propagate the MIS-use of the term key, it makes this search a little bit of an investigation.

So forget what “key” really means, and recognize that almost everyone means what diatonic scale, or mode the piece is in. And what THAT really means is, what note are we using as our home, our tonic, our tonal center.

So all Tony is really asking for is “D”. That’s the tonal center.

To go beyond that is to open up a discussion of music theory. Tony likes to avoid that as it usually causes more confusion than enlightenment. And part of the reason for that is because of the misuse of the term “key”. Of course, that’s just part of it. Then there is the total misunderstanding of modes. The “key” of C is not the same as C major. C major is a mode. A minor is a mode. And therefore, we can now eliminate the silly argument of whether A minor is a key. Of course it’s not. And neither is C major. They are both in the “key” of C. In the key of C, C is the fundamental, not the tonal center. In C major, C is the tonal center.

This all becomes even more confusing since this Thursday’s chord progression is not diatonic, that is, it doesn’t stay in a single “key”. Best guess since there can be different interpretations, is the key of C. That means I agree with @Bill_Brown that the mode is D Dorian. But another possibility is to call this the key of G and so this is D Mixolydian. Either way, he’s clearly not using the chords of D major (Ionian) and so it has a “modal” feel. Also, he’s using both D major and D minor, which automatically will give a feeling of modulation (changing keys).

So, let’s remember who we’re talking about: Tony. I’m quite sure all he wanted was to identify the note and/or chord that is being used as the tonal center. That’s why “playing by ear” is so superior to music theory most of the time.

Remember that music theory is simply a set of terms and definitions that allow us to analyze and talk about our music. This chord progression was derived by trial and error to find what sounded right for the song. Not by deciding a key and a mode and variations there of.

So when an instructor on YouTube, who’s analyzing a George Harrison song, says George did this or that because… they’re full of dog do do. George was listening to the sounds of different chords as he came up with his song. He wrote his songs like pretty much everyone else, by ear using trial and error. What sounded good. Period.

There are people who write songs using theory, and those songs sound like that. They never make it to pop hits for a reason.

MG 😀

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

Hi @campfire

Lots of great advice here already- I’m just offering the quick answer to your specific question here.

If you click on the Thursday lesson link on the main daily lesson screen, you will see the heart icon (favorites list) to the lower left of the play screen. Just to the right of the heart, is the little music icon where you can access the TAB/music for that exercise/lesson. When you open that, you’ll see the music above the TAB. If you check the key signature on the music, you can see what key it’s in. This will be accurate no matter what mode the piece is written in.

You can check the key signature for any TAC lesson all week- I think the intent is to use the Wednesday material to practice identifying the key by ear, then check your answer afterwards, by looking at the music notation attached to the Thursday lesson.

If you’re not sure how to read the key signature (no sharps/flats = Key of C Major, 1 sharp = Key of G Major, etc) just look up “The circle of fifths” with an image filter and most diagrams include the key signature secret decoder ring 🙂

Hope that helps!!

C

[campfire]

thanks Bill, i put the cite in my favorites

[campfire]

thanks Carol. I looked up Circle of Fifths and it was complicated, for now.

thanks N-Light Mike .Getting better by ear so I’ll keep that and practice LOL, tight. if musicians went by theory, they wouldnt reach the charts.

thanks to all for responding!!!