What method do you use to find the right key?

[Gospel Musick Player]

When I'm trying to find the right key that someone is singing in I usually tap each key until I find the right one. Yet, I don't think that this is the most efficient method of doing this considering what happened to me today: I was playing and I tapped the key of C, but later learned that the singer was in Bb, and just happened to be on the C note at the time.  So I was wondering if anyone has any methods they use to find the right key.

For preaching also please share your methods. I usually try to hum or repeat what the preacher says to myself to try to find the right key. Sometimes it sounds right to me but it doesn't be right. Please help 

[CJKeyboardPlaya]

[csedwards2]

When I'm trying to find the right key that someone is singing in I usually tap each key until I find the right one. Yet, I don't think that this is the most efficient method of doing this considering what happened to me today: I was playing and I tapped the key of C, but later learned that the singer was in Bb, and just happened to be on the C note at the time.  So I was wondering if anyone has any methods they use to find the right key.

For preaching also please share your methods. I usually try to hum or repeat what the preacher says to myself to try to find the right key. Sometimes it sounds right to me but it doesn't be right. Please help 

You have to pick up alot more songs to recognize when the chord is going here to there. Simple, but its what has to be done. Because heres the thing, in Bb if she hit a C it could have meant she was singing a passing note or she was singing a chord from the Cmin chord or the F chord which I know, and you must know to be a ii and a V. She could have been also doing a lot of other stuff, but what you have to be able to hear is what the sound quality of a ii chord sounds like. what the sound quality of a V chord sounds like. Id start with trying to recognize V's They are much easier, seeing as though its thery last important chord before a I chord about 70% or more of the time. Also, you have to know what a one sounds like. And then learn the rest.

Another simple thing to do is to play a run from the scale you believe it to be, over the song, but again you have t o know exactly where to try this out. If its run you would do over a V, then it must be played over the five, which speaks to chord quality recognition again.

I wish we were talking, reading this is probably harder than hearing it explained.

Music is based on a lot of patterns. But dont wait till sunday to hear a new pattern to see if you can recognize it doc.

[under13]

To me it depends. 80% I dont have seach for the key. I can walk to the piano jump right in and start playin. Other times I just hit one (softly) note and I hear the relation. If its wrong, then Its usually one note off.  Or I play a chord ,and 1 chord can be used in a few different keys, so I use that chord to figure out which key I'm in. I'm able to do that because i'm familiar with were the notes are on the board, just as a singer knows where the notes are in her vocal range. You should try practicing in the dark.

What a lot of people do when backing up a peacher, is do a quick run down the board, and they listen for the key that the preacher is in.

Do you know all the major scales? If you do then it will make it a lot easier to not only find the key, but know what key you are in. I used to always think that F# and C# were the same key. And I never knew the difference between E and B. But as you learn which notes belong in the scale, you will know which key you are in.  

[spider5]

Until you developed the ear to recognize what key someone is playing in immediately, what you can do is wait until they finish that first verse and listen to that last notw, and that will put you in the key that the singer is singing in.   

[chevonee]

This is an EXCELLENT question that I have yet to find the answer to. There just has to be a better to find the correct key than what I'm doing which is essentially the same thing that you're doing. I hope that someone provides an understandable answer for us because I would love to learn an easier way myself.

If im not mistaken... this has been posted before... try a search right quick...

What do you search for.....How to find the right key that someone is singing in??? LOL!! Just kidding

[under13]

Until you developed the ear to recognize what key someone is playing in immediately, what you can do is wait until they finish that first verse and listen to that last notw, and that will put you in the key that the singer is singing in.   

Yup, When I wasnt sure of what key I was in, I would just wait till I play the cadence or turn around, and The last note that you resolve on will be the key you are in

[Virtuenow]

I use the staggered method.  As soon as I catch a half step that sounds right, I know i have the right key.  Sometimes it is not so much a staggered search as it is "scale-walking".  When I hit 2 notes that are a half step apart, and they sound perfect for the song, I know I just hit the "7" and the "1" of the key.  That seems to be the primary way I find the key.  It has worked thus far.

[elio]

This is my method:

I play the melody and exclude all the keys that don't match. For instance, say the song is "I Need Thee", and the singer sings
I C
Need E
Thee C
How F
I Nee.. E
..eed Thee D
Then I know that C, D, E and F are part of the scale of the key we're in. Out of the 12 possibilities, only 2 contain all these notes: C and F. So, by now I know that we'll be in one of those two keys.
After this, I either play both chords (Cmajor and Fmajor) and decide the key or, more often, the key just 'jumps' at me by the placement of my hands.

But note how, by simply playing four notes, the choice has been reduced from 12 to 2.

For this method to work, you have to be able to 'see' patterns on your keyboard without thinking. This is achieved by practicing scales. If you know your scales and your chords your hands will simply 'fall' into the right position without a thought.

So, my advice to find the key you're in: practice scales.

[Craig G]

I try my hardest to listen for the "1" of the song...that usually gets you close enough from there.

[Fenix]

What i do, and it works perfectly for me, is just have the bass player find the key for me. He plays fretless bass so he is used to stuff like that.  For some reason, string players can find keys much faster than pianists.

When i'm playing guitar, i can find keys much faster than when i am playing the keys.

You can also just play around with the melody very softly and wait for the end of the song. The note at the end is usually your home key.

 

[T-Block]

but what you have to be able to hear is what the sound quality of a ii chord sounds like. what the sound quality of a V chord sounds like. Id start with trying to recognize V's They are much easier, seeing as though its thery last important chord before a I chord about 70% or more of the time. Also, you have to know what a one sounds like. And then learn the rest.

This is probably my main method of finding the key right here, recognizing the right sound quality.  A 2-5-1 will sound like a 2-5-1 no matter what key it's in.  A 7-3-6 will sound like a 7-3-6 no matter what key it's in.  Get the picture?  This is where praticing your progressions/patterns can come in handy.

[chevonee]

This is probably my main method of finding the key right here, recognizing the right sound quality.  A 2-5-1 will sound like a 2-5-1 no matter what key it's in.  A 7-3-6 will sound like a 7-3-6 no matter what key it's in.  Get the picture?  This is where praticing your progressions/patterns can come in handy.

That is so true!!! As much as I practice my progressions mainly the 3-6-2-5-1 and the 7-3-6-2-5-1-4 in every key, I shoulda knowed (int) this. Thanks for gettin me scr8 my friend.

What i do, and it works perfectly for me, is just have the bass player find the key for me. He plays fretless bass so he is used to stuff like that.  For some reason, string players can find keys much faster than pianists.

When i'm playing guitar, i can find keys much faster than when i am playing the keys.

You can also just play around with the melody very softly and wait for the end of the song. The note at the end is usually your home key.

 

Yeah I became spoiled from having a bass player. He always did the dirty work...I felt necked (int) when he left... But that was about 2 yeahs (int) ago though I'm pretty much on my own now...

[jonesl78]

I try my hardest to listen for the "1" of the song...that usually gets you close enough from there.

This is my 1st method,

This is my method:

I play the melody and exclude all the keys that don't match. For instance, say the song is "I Need Thee", and the singer sings
I C
Need E
Thee C
How F
I Nee.. E
..eed Thee D
Then I know that C, D, E and F are part of the scale of the key we're in. Out of the 12 possibilities, only 2 contain all these notes: C and F. So, by now I know that we'll be in one of those two keys.
After this, I either play both chords (Cmajor and Fmajor) and decide the key or, more often, the key just 'jumps' at me by the placement of my hands.

But note how, by simply playing four notes, the choice has been reduced from 12 to 2.

For this method to work, you have to be able to 'see' patterns on your keyboard without thinking. This is achieved by practicing scales. If you know your scales and your chords your hands will simply 'fall' into the right position without a thought.

So, my advice to find the key you're in: practice scales.

This is my second method

[Gospel Musick Player]

Thanks ya'll. I do know my twelve major scales and practice every now and then but not every time I practice, and I did notice this keyboard player Saturday using the chromatic scale run down to find the right key, but he had a pretty good ear in my opinion anyway (he was a bassist).

So as far as I can see these are some of the  things that help you find the right key:
1. Using the 1st and 5th verses of a song to find the key
2. Using the Chromatic Scale
3. Practicing and recognizing progressions and patterns
4. And practicing Major scales

[Virtuenow]

This is probably my main method of finding the key right here, recognizing the right sound quality.  A 2-5-1 will sound like a 2-5-1 no matter what key it's in.  A 7-3-6 will sound like a 7-3-6 no matter what key it's in.  Get the picture?  This is where praticing your progressions/patterns can come in handy.

Thanks T-Block, I can't wait until I am able to do this!

[csedwards2]

Thanks T-Block, I can't wait until I am able to do this!

Im telling you, just pick up more songs. More, more, more.

Its no coincidence that T-Block is one of the biggest chord posters around, not to mention a Mod. That brother knows boatloads of songs.


Thanks for all your hard work around here doc.

[Maestro87]

The easiest way, I have found, is to listen and think.  If the song ended right now on this note/chord, would it feel at rest?  If so, then I am 90% sure that that is the key.  That is how I know where my tonal center is.  When you start modulating or have songs with wicked progression like the end of "Set Me Free" things bet a bit more hectic.

[Mysteryman]

Sometimes I wait because some people tend to waver between keys when they start. I have found the times when I have been practicing alot in every key I can go straight to the key. I know if you are a musical scholar like jazz musicians it doesnt matter what key because they could play a chord containing the notes the singer is using. So that just goes back to a well trained ear.

[T-Block]

Im telling you, just pick up more songs. More, more, more.

Its no coincidence that T-Block is one of the biggest chord posters around, not to mention a Mod. That brother knows boatloads of songs.


Thanks for all your hard work around here doc.

You're welcome man.  I wouldn't say that I know boatloads of songs though.  Honestly, I really don't know too many songs, I just know a boatload of patterns that can be applied to those songs.  Once I do a post on songs with the chords from the CD, I usually don't  play it that way.  Why?  Cuz i forget em, LOL.  What I don't forget is the pattern.