Finding the key

[MicahC]

 
E||--------------------------|--------------------------|
B||--------------------------|--------------------------|
G||--------------------------|--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|
D||--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--|--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|
A||--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--|
E||--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|--------------------------|

          
--------------------------|----------------------|-------||
--------------------------|----------------------|-------||
--5--5--5--5--3--3--3--3--|----------------------|-------||
--5--5--5--5--3--3--3--3--|--5----5----5----5----|-------||
--3--3--3--3--1--1--1--1--|--5----5----5----5----|-------||
--------------------------|--3----3----3----3----|-------||

How would I find the key of this chord progression? I would take the root note and then figure out what scale it fits in......right?

I'm getting F Major

[RNRCRAZYKNIGHT]

It's G Minor.

Scott

[MattyG]

Yea G minor.
You're knid of right with F major too though, as this could be G dorian, which is the second mode of F major.

You can analyze the notes in the chords etc, but with this simple little progression I just used my experience, heard the chords in my head and figured it was G minor.

When playing the progression over and over you should be able to hear which chord sounds like the 'root' of the progression (the key center).

[MicahC]

Alright, thanks to you both.

So, would it be a I-III-IV-III progression? Powerchords don't have thirds so I'm a little confused on how to figure them out.

[Homebake]

it could be a G dorian that goes, 1, b3, 4th, 1. or F major, or, G aeolian, or G phrygian or whatever you want to call it. there aren't enough notes to really decide, you need some 6th's and 9ths.

also, you don't need thirds to find out what progression it is. you just need 1 note. whatever the bass note is in a chord or powerchord is all you need to find it.

[MattyG]

Originally Posted by MicahC

Alright, thanks to you both.

So, would it be a I-III-IV-III progression? Powerchords don't have thirds so I'm a little confused on how to figure them out.

Like I said, you can use your intuition to figure out the key of this example or analyze the actual notes.

e.g it starts and finishes with a G power chord (G5) so that is a pretty big clue already.
Now to figure out whether it is major or minor - there is a Bb in the next chord, which is the b3 in Gminor - this would suggest the key is Gminor in one form or another.

Due to a lack of other notes your options are left very open so pretty much any form of Gminor would work here.

Regardless of what mode we speculate, it is safe to conclude this piece is G minor - the mode is irrelevant.

Yes it's 1-3-4-3-1, but depending on which mode you want to use this will affect the tonality of the 3 and 4 chords in terms of major or minor tonality, so I wont even go there.

e.g if it was aeolian, the 4 would be minor, if it was dorian the 4 would be major.