Members Herr Masel Posted March 13, 2006 Members Share Posted March 13, 2006 I was playing along tp the buena vista social club, and there's something I don't understand. According to me, the first song (chan chan) is in the key of Dm and the chords are Dm, F, C7, Gm, A. I was improvising on F (= Dm, and all their modes) and the D pentatonic. This is pretty "standard", but on the second song (de camino a la vereda) the scale is Eb (=Cm), and the chords are something like Eb, Fm7, Ab6, Cm6. This is not exactly right but it sounds close enough. The thing is the root note is not C but Eb, so if you play C pentatonic or minor it actually sound like Eb major. What makes up the difference between the two songs? I guess it's the progression? I know for instance that lowering a pentatonic scale a step and a half will give it's relative major scale, but working with that reasoning in the second song sounded wrong. This sounds pretty amaterish, but how could I play along with the second song and make it sound minor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jazzbo Posted March 13, 2006 Members Share Posted March 13, 2006 Originally posted by Herr Masel This sounds pretty amaterish, but how could I play along with the second song and make it sound minor? The first song is in a minor key and the second one isn't. The difference is that D is the central note of the first one, and Eb is the central note of the second one, not C... The second one probably isn't going to sound minor no matter what you do, that looks like a pretty major key progression... but you can try playing Eb minor pentatonic over it, it will work to some extent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herr Masel Posted March 14, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2006 Thanks, but just so that I'm sure, the only things that determines the key or root are the chord progressions and maybe melodies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jazzbo Posted March 14, 2006 Members Share Posted March 14, 2006 Someone else posted that the last chord of a song is usually the key... I think that is a good indicator... the song generally takes off from a certain chord and eventually returns to it... that chord is the key...a lot of times you will see a major chord a fifth higher than that chord right before the last chord... so in the first example you give, the progression takes off from Dm and goes to an A (fifth higher) that returns to the Dm... that's how we recognize it as Dm... also all the chords come from a D minor scale the other progression takes off from Eb and comes back around to Eb... if it had taken off from C minor it could have been C minor but as it is it looks like Eb... as you learn songs in minor keys and major keys your ear will learn to distinguish the minor tonality from the major tonality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herr Masel Posted March 14, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2006 I can easily tell the minor and major sounds apart, and I know the different minor and major scales, it was in relation to the chords and what makes them what they are that I was after, which you answered, so thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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