Members modulusman Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 One of the bands I play with just recently started playing Low rider by war. I believe that the song was in the key of F since that is the first note of the bass line. Guitar player says G since the horn part starts on G. Needless to say the first time we played this it was a trainwreck because he said key of G so I started it on G instead of F. The notes to the bass line are F G Bflat C D F D F D F G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 One of the bands I play with just recently started playing Low rider by war. I believe that the song was in the key of F since that is the first note of the bass line. Guitar player says G since the horn part starts on G. Needless to say the first time we played this it was a trainwreck because he said key of G so I started it on G instead of F. The notes to the bass line are F G Bflat C D F D F D F G. G would have an F# in it, no? Maybe he meant G minor? What chords are major/minor in the progression? That could be a good clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 I consider it to be in G ... the primary chordal rhythm is based around the typical "G" rock pattern (and it's pretty much the only chord in the song) - and the horn riff is based around a "G" chord as well (using the dominant 7th (the "F") as the accent note). With that much pointing to it being in "G" - I would tend to think of it as being in "G" and consider the first note of "F" as simply being a pickup note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mutha Goose Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 The Gary Hoey instrumental version is in Gm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 I've always considered the song to be in Gm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted July 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 Found this sheet music on line. http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=mn0077787 I guess I was wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crustee Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 it's in G. The reason the first note is an F is because the main riff just runs right on up the ol' Pentatonic box on a fretted instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 Found this sheet music on line. http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=mn0077787 I guess I was wrong. I was informed here that published sheet music is often wrong about the "actual" key. I showed sheet music showing "Another Brick In The Wall" to be in the key of Dm only to be informed it's really in the key of C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 I was informed here that published sheet music is often wrong about the "actual" key. I showed sheet music showing "Another Brick In The Wall" to be in the key of Dm only to be informed it's really in the key of C. Do what you want. It's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crustee Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 I was informed here that published sheet music is often wrong about the "actual" key. I showed sheet music showing "Another Brick In The Wall" to be in the key of Dm only to be informed it's really in the key of C. this post reeks of butthurt. Did I miss some drama recently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 this post reeks of butthurt.Did I miss some drama recently? Someone over-applied beginner's music theory, and guido over-reacted to it. A lot of "over-ing" as is typical here. I'd say "Low Rider" is in the lowest key your singer can hit that vocal in, but with the notes given, it'd probably be called "G minor", though that riff was born outside the world of Western European music that we base our key designations on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted July 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 Someone over-applied beginner's music theory, and guido over-reacted to it. A lot of "over-ing" as is typical here.I'd say "Low Rider" is in the lowest key your singer can hit that vocal in, but with the notes given, it'd probably be called "G minor", though that riff was born outside the world of Western European music that we base our key designations on. WE actually moved it up to A since he was having trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crustee Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 WE actually moved it up to A since he was having trouble. That's the beauty of a song like that. You can transpose it anywhere, and it's still relatively easy to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 it's in G.The reason the first note is an F is because the main riff just runs right on up the ol' Pentatonic box on a fretted instrument. ^^^ This ^^^The song is in the key of "G" but the guitar and bass are using "G Pentatonic minor" for the bass line and single note stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benzem Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 G The F 'n G is quite common, pardon my french. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 I was informed here that published sheet music is often wrong about the "actual" key. I showed sheet music showing "Another Brick In The Wall" to be in the key of Dm only to be informed it's really in the key of C.We always have done it in Dm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 25, 2012 Members Share Posted July 25, 2012 We always have done it in Dm. No, you just think you have. Technically you've been playing it in C major. Or so I was told. And is a theory which I understand and is probably technically correct, although I believe it's equally technically correct to say that there are no hard and fast rules to key signatures and there's another, equally valid theory that says the key is pretty much whatever the songwriter/transcriber says it is. But from a practical standpoint, anyone who actually PLAYS the song would call the key to be "Dm". Because anything else would be largely counterproductive to the goals of the musicians performing the song. Except us, as we actually play it in "Em" (or "D major", as the case may be), but that's another story altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 No, you just think you have. Technically you've been playing it in C major. Or so I was told. And is a theory which I understand and is probably technically correct, although I believe it's equally technically correct to say that there are no hard and fast rules to key signatures and there's another, equally valid theory that says the key is pretty much whatever the songwriter/transcriber says it is.But from a practical standpoint, anyone who actually PLAYS the song would call the key to be "Dm". Because anything else would be largely counterproductive to the goals of the musicians performing the song.Except us, as we actually play it in "Em" (or "D major", as the case may be), but that's another story altogether. Why would anyone say it was in "C"? Is it because there's a C, F, and G in the song? Was that arguement that it was D Dorian (the 2nd mode of C)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 Why would anyone say it was in "C"? Is it because there's a C, F, and G in the song? Was that arguement that it was D Dorian (the 2nd mode of C)? Yes that was the argument. The theory (as I understood it--others here who understand theory better could explain it better) is that you notate a song in which key has the fewest accidentals. Since you'd have to have a B-natural every time you played the G chord if the song were in Dm, then Dm wouldn't be the correct key. It would be "C" because that way you could get through the whole piece with no accidentals. Interesting? Yes. Useful in a practical/gigging sense? Not so much. At least not for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I agree. I've never heard anyone say ABITW was in C but I suspected that was why if they did. The song clearly wants to resovle to Dm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I think key signature does not equal key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I think key signature does not equal key. I believe I've heard that before also. But not sure EXACTLY what that means when the two are different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I agree. I've never heard anyone say ABITW was in C but I suspected that was why if they did. The song clearly wants to resovle to Dm. At the time of this discussion I looked up sheet music online and, interestingly, while all the 'full score' sheet music was notated in key of Dm, much of the single note/instrument sheet music was notated in key of C (with the first note of the song still being "D") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EightString Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 Gmaj, not minor. Listen to the harmonica riff that starts on the B (major 3rd) to hear why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Funkwire Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I think key signature does not equal key. Yeah, I've hashed that out in the past. I did up a set list for the band...I always put the keys of the song next to the title. Habit more than anything else. I put 'Hey Jealousy' by the Gin Blossoms as in the key of A. The bass player busted my balls and said it should be in D. I said, yeah...it STARTS on a Dsus2, but it's not in D. The chords are Dsus2, E, F#m, A...clearly, it's in A to me. He never agreed with me. I kept putting in the key of A on the list. I said if he wanted it in D, he could go to the trouble of putting the lists together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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