Keys

Leibundgut17 · Post by **Leibundgut17** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 6:52 am

I just randomly read a thread where they talked about keys...can anyone explain me what a key...i.e. if a song is in a certain key, Eb....i really have no clue bout that stuff...thanx

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 3:33 pm

ive never had theory lessons or anything, but...

i think if a song is in, say, Em, it uses chords made from notes from the Em scale
if youre into reading music i can give you some info on key signatures

so yeah, idont know much about this stuff, fatty fatjack can be much more elaborate

Appfro · Post by **Appfro** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 3:42 pm

each key has assigned notes. it goes by half steps and whole steps. there are 2 natural half steps in a scale.

ie
C whole step D whole step E half step F whole step G whole step A whole step B half step C

that is the C maj scale and those are the notes that are allowed to be played in the key of C major. E and B have natural half steps to the next note so if you did a differnet key it would go

key of A major
A whole step B whole step C#(Db) half step D whole step E whole step F#(Gb) whole step G#(Ab) half step A

so A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G# are the only notes that you would play in the key of A major. that's a BASIC explination of what a Key is.

the way i remember where the half steps are are on my hand. if you count your knuckles. start on your index finger knuckle, and everytime you get to your ring knuckle it's a half step, all others are hole steps. i hope that makes since, fatjack explained it to me, but im not a teacher. ask him or Grock if that's too hard to understand. i admit, it's hard to grasp at first. but it gets easier...then it gets a lot harder.

Leibundgut17 · Post by **Leibundgut17** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 1:18 am

Appsoldier wrote:each key has assigned notes. it goes by half steps and whole steps. there are 2 natural half steps in a scale.

ie
C whole step D whole step E half step F whole step G whole step A whole step B half step C

that is the C maj scale and those are the notes that are allowed to be played in the key of C major. E and B have natural half steps to the next note so if you did a differnet key it would go

key of A major
A whole step B whole step C#(Db) half step D whole step E whole step F#(Gb) whole step G#(Ab) half step A

so A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G# are the only notes that you would play in the key of A major. that's a BASIC explination of what a Key is.

the way i remember where the half steps are are on my hand. if you count your knuckles. start on your index finger knuckle, and everytime you get to your ring knuckle it's a half step, all others are hole steps. i hope that makes since, fatjack explained it to me, but im not a teacher. ask him or Grock if that's too hard to understand. i admit, it's hard to grasp at first. but it gets easier...then it gets a lot harder.

sounds difficult but makes sense..i prolly wont look into it much more since im a beginner and that stuff come a lil later...but thanx

Appfro · Post by **Appfro** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 12:19 pm

ive yet to find a really good source for learning music theory except one on one person to person. that's the best way. classes suck, books suck, it's all too complicated for me.

grock · Post by **grock** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 3:53 pm

Appsoldier wrote:ive yet to find a really good source for learning music theory except one on one person to person. that's the best way. classes suck, books suck, it's all too complicated for me.

i have to agree that one on one is the best. but i thought my class i took was pretty enlightening. of course i went to many office hours and actually hung out with the prof who taught the class and got a lot of one on one talking about theory over lunch and stuff.

taylordb · Post by **taylordb** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 5:21 am

grock wrote:
Appsoldier wrote:ive yet to find a really good source for learning music theory except one on one person to person. that's the best way. classes suck, books suck, it's all too complicated for me.
i have to agree that one on one is the best. but i thought my class i took was pretty enlightening. of course i went to many office hours and actually hung out with the prof who taught the class and got a lot of one on one talking about theory over lunch and stuff.

What was the class that you took....I'm thinking of taking one myself.

t41 · Post by **t41** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 5:37 am

taylordb wrote:
grock wrote:
Appsoldier wrote:ive yet to find a really good source for learning music theory except one on one person to person. that's the best way. classes suck, books suck, it's all too complicated for me.
i have to agree that one on one is the best. but i thought my class i took was pretty enlightening. of course i went to many office hours and actually hung out with the prof who taught the class and got a lot of one on one talking about theory over lunch and stuff.
What was the class that you took....I'm thinking of taking one myself.

i'm taking music 101 and it's actually quite good.

grock · Post by **grock** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 9:53 am

taylordb wrote:
grock wrote:
Appsoldier wrote:ive yet to find a really good source for learning music theory except one on one person to person. that's the best way. classes suck, books suck, it's all too complicated for me.
i have to agree that one on one is the best. but i thought my class i took was pretty enlightening. of course i went to many office hours and actually hung out with the prof who taught the class and got a lot of one on one talking about theory over lunch and stuff.
What was the class that you took....I'm thinking of taking one myself.

just music theory I at purdue. I am thinking about taking Music Theory II for the spring but i understand the Theory II teacher is a nazi...

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 12:41 pm

i cant wait til college when i can talke some of therse classes

sunglassesatnight · Post by **sunglassesatnight** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 1:27 pm

Apps-Not all books suck. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory is very good for a solid understanding of basic theory. In depth, though, not so good. But scales, chord building and naming, modes, keys, transcribing to another key, cadences etc. are all covered well.

borocks · Post by **borocks** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 2:25 pm

I bought a book too. Don't know the name, but I think it was perfect to learn the basics..

fatjack · Post by **fatjack** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 10:28 pm

slimerdmb24 wrote:Apps-Not all books suck. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory is very good for a solid understanding of basic theory. In depth, though, not so good. But scales, chord building and naming, modes, keys, transcribing to another key, cadences etc. are all covered well.

sometimes its better for some people to have an actual instructor, a book cant adjust the way it teaches by analyzing the student

borocks · Post by **borocks** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:59 am

you probaby need more time to learn something without a teacher... but I think you adjust yourself when you practise a lot

Appfro · Post by **Appfro** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 10:10 pm

slimerdmb24 wrote:Apps-Not all books suck. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory is very good for a solid understanding of basic theory. In depth, though, not so good. But scales, chord building and naming, modes, keys, transcribing to another key, cadences etc. are all covered well.

yea, i didn't mean to say all books suck. i actually learned how to play from guitar for dummies. it was awesome, i recommend it to anyone. but for advanced stuff, FOR ME it is better to get some one on one help. i have The Complete Guitarist, and it has some great theory stuff in it, but it's a little too advanced for me.