Do you like to guess what key a song is in?

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TheMidnightJudge
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19 Jan 2008, 9:14 pm

Right now I'm trying to figure out what key the radiohead song "15 Steps" is in. I thought it was a relative minor of E flat, but it has a c#.



SirJoseph
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19 Jan 2008, 10:46 pm

yes i do. with some songs its really easy, but in others theyll throw in an out of key note or chord or change keys for the chorus or something


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JohnHopkins
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20 Jan 2008, 11:05 am

It can still have non-diatonic notes in it. Having a C# in it doesn't stop it being in Eb. A song is in the key it's in, and that's that. Non-diatonic notes just make it sound different.



Alex440
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22 Jan 2008, 3:34 am

Yeah, it could be modal. I'm too lazy to go find a recording of the song so I can't tell you.



SirJoseph
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22 Jan 2008, 11:17 am

doesnt the key depend on the third note/chord anyway, or at least the tonality of the opening chord? and arent modes just based on keys? i taught myself some music theory by reading online so if im wrong please correct me.


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JohnHopkins
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22 Jan 2008, 1:49 pm

Loosely speaking yes and no, but especially nowadays, wmusicians and writers including myself deliberately avoid what is 'correct' or conventional when writing a song. Bands have been ending on fourths and sixths since the sixties, and even that is 'wrong' as far as music theory.