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The Key of a Song
From easy to hard: Bed of roses, Always with me, always with you, Satin Doll.
First lesson here is the I IV V-progression (or it's roommate I V IV). In Bed of Roses it's quite easy to determine the key because in the verse and chorus there are certain spots where you feel "home". "...in a bed of (F) roses..." From there you start to build the chrods and degrees to check if you are on the right track. For example:
Bed of roses.
Form: AA B AA B C Solo A BB etc...
A:
Bb F Bb F Am Bb F Bb(sus) Bb C F C/E
IV I IV I III IV I IV* IV V I V
Nothing odd here. Except Bbsus chord whitch doesn't belong to F major. We'll just say it's a borrowed chord from Bb major, thus the scale is Ionian instead of Lydian.
B:
Dm C Bb F Dm C Bb F Bb F Bb F F C Bb
VI V IV I VI V IV I IV I IV I I V IV
On a simple song, the simplest degrees are usually right. So if I'd done something like this: Bb C F = I V/V V in the key of Bb, leads to a more complex solution (not good).
Another example, Always with me, Always with you.
Form: AA B A Solo A etc...
A:
B E F#(sus) x3 G#m11 E F#(sus) F#
I IV V, VI IV V
No problem. The B major chord clearly defines this songs "home base", and the other chords line up nicely. In the B section the tonality changes to B minor.
B:
Bm Em F#(sus) x3 G(maj7#11) Em F#(sus) x2 F#
I IV V, VI IV V
Don't panic. Even if the key changes the functions stay the same. But all the chords come now from B minor instead of B major.
For the advanced, here's a few more progressions to ponder:
Basic: II V I Dm G7 C
Tritone substitution: Abm G7 C or Dm Db7 C or Abm Db7 C
Relative cadence: F#m B7 C or Fm Bb7 C
All the chords above can be treated as dominant chords also so if you such things on your way don't be suprised.
Let's look at the Satin Doll.
Form: AABA
A:
Dm G Dm G Em A Em A Am D Abm Db C C (Emb5 A)
II - V II - V II-V/II* - II-V/V** SII-V*** I II-V/II
So it goes in C!
* means: II-V for the II degree. As you can see the D chord comes after the Am. The release chord (D) doesn't have to come right after the tension chord (A7), so we'll put the Am there and call it chord emission.
** means: II-V for the V degree. Do you see a G chord there? It's in there, but diguised as the tritone substite cadence Abm Db.
*** means: tritone substitution for II-V
The fun just started.
B:
Gm C Gm C F Gm C Am D Am D Dm G Dm G Em A
II-V/IV - - IV RII-V/II* II-V/V II-V II-V/II
(II V II V I) in F
* means: relative II-V to the II degree. Again, the Am chord is just added between the tension (C) and the release (D).
If you find any of this confusing, it is. A good way to get a hang of this stuff is to learn all your chord degrees in major and minor harmony. After that, try to figure out keys and degrees from your favourite pop tunes and then moving on to the harder sh*t. Hope this helped, and if it didn't, hope it aroused your curiosity about this subject.
Also, if you want me to help on a difficult tune or something, feel free to ask questions.
ej.
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