What key is this in?

[jeungblut]

Could somebody please identify what key this is in? Its for a project

[hansba]

Just guessing Bminor

[GirTheRobot]

My recommendation is to grab whatever your native instrument is, and play around on it. Where does this piece seem to sort of "resolve"? Where is the tonic/home chord? It certainly comes to rest and has cadences, so it's not like the key is particularly ambiguous.

Good luck!

[Bobbotov]

Hmm, sounds like Dmaj to me.

[Baxter]

Hi, jeungblut:

I would also say it is in B minor. The first chord of the phrase is Bm9 (B minor 9th), and so is the last chord. But, with all of the parallel motion and circle of 4ths stuff, as well as using a sub-dominant instead of dominant in the bass against the final tonic chord, making the last chord a kind of Bm9sus4, it is kind of nebulous and difficult to pin down. I can see why you would ask.

Baxter

[tapper mike]

I'd love to read about the project. What is it social experiment where you get other people to figure out songs for you?

Or is it a harmonic analysis lesson.

Or is it create sample pads then try to impress others with lack of musical ability.

[jeungblut]

Thanks for all the kind replies and help with my query.


As for you Mr. Tapper Mike:

I'm in the process of learning musical theory and find it helpful to test my ability at recognising chords/key. I also find it helpful to try and recreate sounds etc. from other peoples tunes that I like. In no way am I trying to rip off someone elses sound by doing this. I'm just trying to learn about how a certain genre and style is made and feel that this is an effective way to do so.

Do you have a problem with this? If there is a legitimate reason why I should not be doing this, please do say..

[Hink]

jeungblut, unfortunately a small % of the music cafe has an odd sense of what is right and wrong with the internet. It seems a small portion of the people here believe that the concept of asking for advice on the internet is some sort of negative attitude and a false sense of entitlement. However some of these same people feel it is okay to use the internet in an attempt to be as offensive as possible...sad but true and worse there are some people who might have not always been this way but jumped on the band wagon to fit in.

Do not let it stop you from posting your questions, there are plenty here who will help you with the answers you need or help you find the answers for yourself without attacking you. If need be just mute those who wish to be insensitive and rude as their insensitivity, lack of tact and insecurities are their problem and not yours.

I agree with GirTheRobot fwiw

[Bobbotov]

Thanks for all the kind replies and help with my query.


As for you Mr. Tapper Mike:

I'm in the process of learning musical theory and find it helpful to test my ability at recognising chords/key. I also find it helpful to try and recreate sounds etc. from other peoples tunes that I like. In no way am I trying to rip off someone elses sound by doing this. I'm just trying to learn about how a certain genre and style is made and feel that this is an effective way to do so.

Do you have a problem with this? If there is a legitimate reason why I should not be doing this, please do say..

It is in the key of Bm. I thought Dmaj with a sixth which has the same notes as Bm7. In any case, the sequence is Bm7, Bm7/A, Am, Am7/G, Gm7/F, Gm7/D (repeat). Those would sound like this:

http://soundcloud.com/bobbotov/key-test/s-FkehD

Bm9 would have a C# which is not in the chord I hear.

I think what Tapper Mike is alluding to is the fact that so many come to KVR to have other people do their work for them. The reality is you cannot learn much by having others do the work for you and you can develop better ear training by doing it yourself. These chords are simplistic compared to some Jazz chords which can get quite complex and are difficult to transcribe without a lot of experience.

Next time try it yourself. Record the track into your DAW and then try to noodle out the chords with your favorite VST. You may have to play it numerous times but it is a great exercise.

[JumpingJackFlash]

I'm in the process of learning musical theory and find it helpful to test my ability at recognising chords/key.

So, what key did you think it was in before you posted then? What chords did you think it used? - Were you right?

If not, will knowing the answer now help you to do something similar in the future?

[jeungblut]

Thanks for all the kind replies and help with my query.


As for you Mr. Tapper Mike:

I'm in the process of learning musical theory and find it helpful to test my ability at recognising chords/key. I also find it helpful to try and recreate sounds etc. from other peoples tunes that I like. In no way am I trying to rip off someone elses sound by doing this. I'm just trying to learn about how a certain genre and style is made and feel that this is an effective way to do so.

Do you have a problem with this? If there is a legitimate reason why I should not be doing this, please do say..

It is in the key of Bm. I thought Dmaj with a sixth which has the same notes as Bm7. In any case, the sequence is Bm7, Bm7/A, Am, Am7/G, Gm7/F, Gm7/D (repeat). Those would sound like this:

http://soundcloud.com/bobbotov/key-test/s-FkehD

Bm9 would have a C# which is not in the chord I hear.

I think what Tapper Mike is alluding to is the fact that so many come to KVR to have other people do their work for them. The reality is you cannot learn much by having others do the work for you and you can develop better ear training by doing it yourself. These chords are simplistic compared to some Jazz chords which can get quite complex and are difficult to transcribe without a lot of experience.

Next time try it yourself. Record the track into your DAW and then try to noodle out the chords with your favorite VST. You may have to play it numerous times but it is a great exercise.

Thanks, that is really helpful and much appreciated. I will definitely try it myself next time. My apologies for being a bit of an amateur, I didn't think that simple question would cause quite a stir. I realise that a lot of people probably want others to do their work for them, I know that is what i was asking but my intention was to learn, not to take advantage. Anyway, I feel I have learnt a lot from this thread and that is the purpose of this forum so happy days! I'll get back to my theory book

[Fox Crazy]

Y'know, some people learn differently than others.

Personally, I do well when I'm given the answer in full detail so that I can pick it apart, play with the parts and put them together in different ways in order to reverse engineer whatever it is I'm trying to figure out. Playing pointless guessing games will get me nowhere, even if it's amusing when I happen to be right.

This isn't third grade math class. This is not a quiz. And to be quite blunt, if you don't know what x chord sounds like to begin with, you're not going to be able to guess it. Sure, it's easy to say "yeah, that's probably minor, sounds minor" but telling a B from a D isn't easy without an intense amount of practice, and even then you're expecting everyone will be able to do that. Which is foolish, because if you're going at things from a composing angle, and not a performing angle, you don't need to know what it sounds like (even if it can be useful), you need to know what it is and how it works.

[Nanakai]

Which is foolish, because if you're going at things from a composing angle, and not a performing angle, you don't need to know what it sounds like (even if it can be useful), you need to know what it is and how it works.

Huh? You don't need to know what music sounds like in order to be able to compose music? How exactly do you know how something "works" musically if you don't know how it sounds?

The OP is exactly the kind of question every one of us should be answering on our own. Regularly. You don't need perfect pitch, you just have to sit at an instrument and try to copy what you're hearing. It's really not the most difficult thing in the world.

[jancivil]

As for you Mr. Tapper Mike:

I'm in the process of learning musical theory and find it helpful to test my ability at recognising chords/key.

Do you have a problem with this? If there is a legitimate reason why I should not be doing this, please do say..

it's going to help alleviate that sort of notion about what you're doing if say you had offered your idea of what the key is. The thing is, this happens all the time, people just swing by and seem to expect someone else will provide for them what they won't sort for themselves.

[jancivil]

Y'know, some people learn differently than others.

Personally, I do well when I'm given the answer in full detail so that I can pick it apart, play with the parts and put them together in different ways in order to reverse engineer whatever it is I'm trying to figure out. Playing pointless guessing games will get me nowhere... And to be quite blunt, if you don't know what x chord sounds like to begin with, you're not going to be able to guess it. Sure, it's easy to say "yeah, that's probably minor, sounds minor" but telling a B from a D isn't easy without an intense amount of practice, and even then you're expecting everyone will be able to do that.

Which is foolish, because if you're going at things from a composing angle, and not a performing angle, you don't need to know what it sounds like (even if it can be useful), you need to know what it is and how it works.

you have a bizarre and mistaken notion of how music works, if you think 'how it works' is different than 'how it sounds'; and if finding the sound, differentiating it from other sounds is 'pointless guessing games'.

I don't see anything other than a justification for preferring to be told the answer and as if you're going to avoid 'an intense amount of work'. If you don't know what 'x chord sounds like' how are you going to work with it? 'reverse engineer' it? When you can't tell by your ear. FYI: composers are performers first. This notion you're going to compose and you can't distinguish things by ear is in serious error.