What is the key of this song? Please help!

Hi guys, I'm doing a school assigment of song analysis and recognising the key of a song
is one of the tasks... I'm clueless! I tried to read the tutorials and work it out
but it's just not happening. I was wondering if someone was able to tell the key by looking
at its chords (chords is all I have, no tabs, no sheet music). The song has never been released
so there will not be anything on the interent about it. The chords below are the
first part of the song (intro, verse, chorus). I would really appreacite it,
thanks in advance!


D min
G maj
C maj
D min
G maj
F maj
d min
g min
c maj7
d min
a# maj
c maj7
d min
a# maj
c maj7
g maj
d min
g maj
f maj
g maj
d min

The song finishes with G min

I dont have time to go over this whole thing but just by looking i would say
Cmin DONT take this advice,im.just throwning out my guess.

Which set (of chords) is the intro, the chours and the verse? At least give us that, eh?

And welcome.

Id say mostly C. But it modulates.

I would say you should probably do your own homework. Asking for help and asking someone for the answer are two totally different beasts.

eh, we can give him some pointers to get on the right track...

A#. think about it. how many keys have an A#?

key / sharps
C / none
G / F#
D / F#, C#
A / F#, C#, G#
E / F#, C#, G#, D#
B / F#, C#, G#, D#, A#
F#/ don't even worry about F# i hate F#

BUT --- how can it be in the key of B with a C, D, and G natural?

i don't know. you are the one studying music, you tell me!

but i will say that up until the A# you have:
Dm, G, C, and F. to me that looks like ii, V, I, and IV...

I absolutely agree with this.

The way my guitar teacher taught me was to find all the NOTES you are playing, and then put them in order, then walla!

Intro
D min
G maj
C maj

Verse
D min
G maj
F maj
d min
g min

Chorus
c maj7
d min
a# maj
c maj7
d min
a# maj
c maj7
g maj
d min
g maj
f maj
g maj
d min



I would normally do my own homework myself but I study music BUSINESS, and this is just something we have to do because.... i have no idea why! I don't play any instruments or read music in any way so it's a bit hard to comprehend it over night. I tried too but it was getting me nowhere hence I asked for help with this one even if 'help' is the actual answer

BBT: Can you rephrase that? I don't quite understand.
-----
I'd really like to be able to figure this out...hmmm.

Find out all the notes in the chords, arrange them in order, and then play them and you'll get the key.

Say we have a G, C, and a D (chords)
the G has a G, B, and a D
the C has a C, E, and a G
the D has a D, F# and an A

so if we play the notes in order:
A B C D E F# G
We end up with a G scale (or Eminor, if you want to swing that way), starting on an A.
as a generalization, the first chord often holds the key of the song

Although its not the way a "music theorist" would do it, it works usually.. unless you play out of key chords

Use the puzzle system guys.
w w h w w w h

Use the puzzle system
w w h w w w h

[reg] Use the puzzle system
w w h w w w h

w w h w w w h

ok,sorry about the spam,idk what the hell happened.Anywho.i posted my response to this on my profile,Check.it out,it should.benefit everyone.

help me out here, applying the Puzzle axiom gets us to what key? what key is the song in???
TIA

So wait, you are doing music business, but have no interest in music? No wonder the music industry is crap :-P

No offense, if you want to do business in something, you should at least understand it.

To answer your question, the intro is in D dorian, your verse is in D dorian, and your chorus is C Mixolydian. And I'm assuming you transcribed it to chords yourself. Your "A# major" is really a "Bb Major".

You modulate into the chorus from the verse. that's what that Gmin does.

I never heard anyone say that it's the "puzzle" axiom. It is true you use wwhwwwh, but that's to find the Ionian of the scale. When you find the mode you've gotta push it around. I have a tendency nowadays to look at the chords to figure out the key. It's not the best way to do it, but it works.

^^^Jeff,a key cant be a modal name,its either maj or minor.
@ tiny,go to my profile and look.if i use the puzzle for the intro i get 3 chords from cmaj,a 2-5-1.THe ionian chord scale in triads goes

w   w   h   w    w   w   h

maj-min-min-maj-maj-min-dim

 C   D            G        

^^those are the chords were given.so fill in the blanks and youll have a maj scale.1-2-5 or a 2-1-5 whatever way its in cmaj.like jeff explained,its alot of other things,but i would call it cmaj personnaly.I too tired to figure out the rest,but ill be here to answer more wuestions.

is this because the first note played is a D? (differentiating "D Dorian" from, say, "C Major")

i agree that you should understand music if you are getting into music business, but what practical application does determining what key/mode a song is in based on its chords have? i really don't think this will ever come up in the real world...

@gshredder & @gx1327

I basically say that a song is in a key based on the starting chord and the resolving chord. So yes, it may be C major, but along with that, it's focusing on the Dorian mode. You can sort of inherently assume the Major/Minor key from what's given. I'm just trying to be a bit more specific.

And yes, based on the starting/resolution note, I'm saying that it's D dorian... (It's still C major... just a mode of C major).

As it may not come up in the real world. If I'm working with you and you know ** about music, I'm less likely to believe what you have to tell me.

Well,dorian would be a minor mode/key.It would be acceptable to say that his progression was derived from The D dorian mode,thats fine.But his question was to find the key of the song,D dorian is not a key,its a scale in the minor family.You could say it was in the key of D min,but that wouldnt be incorrect.The only answer.i can.come up.with is that its in.Cmaj.

M/(*-+)
gs2112