You guys know what the key is for this song? Is it A, or Am - or something else. I must be missing something with the chord progression...
DenverEd wrote:Correct me if I am wrong. Am is not a key - it is a scale. I always thought the key of a song had to be one of the twelve notes?!?!?Starting on the 2nd degree of G Major...
DenverEd wrote:Correct me if I am wrong. Am is not a key - it is a scale. I always thought the key of a song had to be one of the twelve notes?!?!?I think in the ultra proper musical theory pro phd world of music theory you are correct.
DenverEd wrote:I grew up playing the piano. Anytime I didn't see any sharps or flats in the key signature, I was taught that this was the key of C. I suppose it could also be the key of Am - but no one every learned me that.......They learned you wrong. But if you really want to oversimplify reading sheet music it's the same thing - either way you are playing all white keys. They were teaching you the mechanics of playing but not the musicality - a common problem among piano teachers IMHO.
3stepbend wrote:ok...so can someone explain something...if this is indeed Am (which seems right, based on the scales being used), how can the B7, E7#9, and D be explained. The chords for Am would be:The B7 is what's known as a Secondary Dominant. It's a common technique where you change a diatonically non-dominant chord (meaning one that follows the proper key signature of the song, like you outlined above) into one with a dominant structure, in order for it to resolve to a different chord than the tonic. II7 is the most common example, resolving to V. Dominant-structured chords always resolve down a 5th, following the circle of 5ths. Or for our string-based thinking, same fret, one higher-pitched string. G7 resolves to C, A7 resolves to D, etc, whether the G7 or A7 belong in the key or not.
Am
Bdim
C
Dm
Em
F
G
I could understand possibly using the B7 as a substitue for Bdim, just not sure how the others fit or why
3stepbend wrote:Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll admit, some of it makes sense and some of it doesn't (to me that is). I need to study it a bit. Hard to do without my guitar, and while at work 8^)Forget the sharps and flats