A little help from you friends

thejamesd · 08-28-2012, 06:53 AM

Hey everyone, I'm James and I need a little help in music theory. When I was a kid I had a few lessons to learn to play the guitar but then we couldn't afford it so I had to quit. That means I have a pretty limited knowledge on keys, chords, scales or whatever else is related to music theory. I've been a music enthusiast my whole life though and the last year I've been experimenting with a music production software called GarageBand from Apple. I've produced a few decent tracks but now I'm getting into sampling music from other records but it's hard to "marry" a sample from a record with a sample from another record simply because I don't know what key they are in. Many of them are listed – if they are popular recordings – on the internet on sites with guitar chords etc. like "The Show Must Go On" by Queen, which is obviously a really popular song. But I also own music by lesser known artists and their songs' keys aren't listed anywhere. Any ways I could possibly figure out the key/scale myself? Or maybe a software where I import the sample and it figures out the key/scale for me, like another DJ software I happen to use to figure out the tempo/BPM.

Also, in the software I use the loops automatically change their key to the one that you use on your current project. For instance, if my project is in "C minor" then a hypothetical "D major" loop will change to "C minor" automatically. But that isn't possible with loops from record samples unless you know the original key and scale of the song you're sampling. This initially led me to the assumption that when instruments play together like in a band/orchestra, they all must be playing on the same key – please do correct me if I am wrong. I myself however have mixed a track that comes from 2 different samples both on different keys – from the first one just the piano and from the second one the drums, the bass and the synths – and it happens to sound wonderful and that was pretty much when I first started wondering if it's really necessary for all instruments to be on the same key when they play together.

Thank you for your time, it means a lot.
– James

Trollheart · 08-28-2012, 08:45 AM

I have no idea if this is anything close to what you're looking for, but might be useful?
Musical Scale Finder Tool

08-28-2012, 06:53 AM	#1 (permalink)
thejamesd Groupie Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 1	A little help from you friends Hey everyone, I'm James and I need a little help in music theory. When I was a kid I had a few lessons to learn to play the guitar but then we couldn't afford it so I had to quit. That means I have a pretty limited knowledge on keys, chords, scales or whatever else is related to music theory. I've been a music enthusiast my whole life though and the last year I've been experimenting with a music production software called GarageBand from Apple. I've produced a few decent tracks but now I'm getting into sampling music from other records but it's hard to "marry" a sample from a record with a sample from another record simply because I don't know what key they are in. Many of them are listed – if they are popular recordings – on the internet on sites with guitar chords etc. like "The Show Must Go On" by Queen, which is obviously a really popular song. But I also own music by lesser known artists and their songs' keys aren't listed anywhere. Any ways I could possibly figure out the key/scale myself? Or maybe a software where I import the sample and it figures out the key/scale for me, like another DJ software I happen to use to figure out the tempo/BPM. Also, in the software I use the loops automatically change their key to the one that you use on your current project. For instance, if my project is in "C minor" then a hypothetical "D major" loop will change to "C minor" automatically. But that isn't possible with loops from record samples unless you know the original key and scale of the song you're sampling. This initially led me to the assumption that when instruments play together like in a band/orchestra, they all must be playing on the same key – please do correct me if I am wrong. I myself however have mixed a track that comes from 2 different samples both on different keys – from the first one just the piano and from the second one the drums, the bass and the synths – and it happens to sound wonderful and that was pretty much when I first started wondering if it's really necessary for all instruments to be on the same key when they play together. Thank you for your time, it means a lot. – James

08-28-2012, 08:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	I have no idea if this is anything close to what you're looking for, but might be useful? Musical Scale Finder Tool __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018