How can you determine what key a song is in?
In: 1
Western music is founded on a fundamental idea: establish a “tonal centre”, which can call “home”. Then take the listener away from home, which creates a sense of tension. Play with that tension, and then resolve things by returning home.
Not *every* piece of music follows this formula, because someone might want to break away from the norm. But it’s common enough to be the norm that someone breaks away from.
So listen for the song establishing a tonal centre at the beginning and returning to it at the end. Be aware that the writer might actually shift the tonal centre during the song, changing the notion of where “home” is; often this is one step up.
So, when you figure out what the home is, you’ve got your root note. Now look for a 3rd, and see whether the 3rd is a major (4 semitones above the root) or minor 3rd (3 semitones above).
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