what key is this progression in-- I-V-b7-IV

[Still.ill]

for example--- G-D-F-C--- D-A-C-G ---A-E-G-D

 

i see them used in a lot of popular music songs..

[mrbrown49]

It's in the key of I obviously, with a b7.

[tlbonehead]

what are you asking?

[calclown]

It's in the key of I obviously, with a b7.

 

[Meowy]

I is the key

[ottobahn]

 

for example--- G-D-F-C--- D-A-C-G ---A-E-G-D i see them used in a lot of popular music songs..

 

 

The key would be the tonic of the I chord. If G is the I chord then the key is in G major.

 

Was that too simplistic anyone? I'm not well versed in theory but that one might be a slam-dunk.

[jelloman]

 

The key would be the tonic of the I chord. If G is the I chord then the key is in G major. Was that too simplistic anyone? I'm not well versed in theory but that one might be a slam-dunk .

 

 

...it is...

[mrbrown49]

Let me elaborate...

 

In the major scale a triad built on the 7 is a diminished chord. That's two minor thirds stacked on top of one another. Now with the flat 7, that triad becomes a major third with the same minor third interval as before over that. Essentially a standard major chord but built on the flat 7 of your key (I).

 

The only thing different between the key of that chord progression and the standard major scale is that the 7th note of the major scale is flattened. So it's the key of I, with a flat 7. Depending on the other content in the song it may only be flattened over that b7 chord though.

[linthat22]

Can you tab that out?

[warriorpoet]

I say put I in a 6/4 inversion just to blow everyone's mind.

[warriorpoet]

Oh, and resolve that puppy for gosh sakes.

[mrbrown49]

I say put I in a 6/4 inversion just to blow everyone's mind.

 

[warriorpoet]

fiddled with it a'bit. Hope y'don't mind

 

IM13-V9-bVII7-IV13-V7/vii-vii(/dim.)-IM7

 

[Will Chen]

When you start looking at blues music (and derivatives as well as modern rock, many times there almost isn't a key. What do I mean? The "blues" got it's name from the "blue" IN-between notes which are ambiguous to the key for example using both the major and minor 3rd and 7ths. We've become accustomed to the tonality but if you actually try to strictly enforce a key signature, so many notes are accidentals which will simply fall outside the key. For simplicities sake, we simply say "blues in G" which signifies the ambiguous key and typically 16 bar format.

 

If you wanted to get into strict theoretical analysis using your simplified examples (you didn't include chord values which would likely give clues to the key) each of you examples could easily be correctly fitted into a pure major of what you have identified as the IV for example as A-Em7-G-D or V-ii-IV-I. In other words, the first chord doesn't always signify the actual key of the song.

[Raskolnikovs axe]

the whole point of using numerals to represent the chords is that you are describing the progression *without* reference to a key. If you see something like I-V-b7-IV you can put it in any key you want.

[warriorpoet]

When you start looking at blues music (and derivatives as well as modern rock, many times there almost isn't a key. What do I mean? The "blues" got it's name from the "blue" IN-between notes which are ambiguous to the key for example using both the major and minor 3rd and 7ths. We've become accustomed to the tonality but if you actually try to strictly enforce a key signature, so many notes are accidentals which will simply fall outside the key. For simplicities sake, we simply say "blues in G" which signifies the ambiguous key and typically 16 bar format. If you wanted to get into strict theoretical analysis using your simplified examples (you didn't include chord values which would likely give clues to the key) each of you examples could easily be correctly fitted into a pure major of what you have identified as the IV for example as A-Em7-G-D or V-ii-IV-I. In other words, the first chord doesn't always signify the actual key of the song.

So mixolydian

[Still.ill]

 

When you start looking at blues music (and derivatives as well as modern rock, many times there almost isn't a key. What do I mean? The "blues" got it's name from the "blue" IN-between notes which are ambiguous to the key for example using both the major and minor 3rd and 7ths. We've become accustomed to the tonality but if you actually try to strictly enforce a key signature, so many notes are accidentals which will simply fall outside the key. For simplicities sake, we simply say "blues in G" which signifies the ambiguous key and typically 16 bar format. If you wanted to get into strict theoretical analysis using your simplified examples (you didn't include chord values which would likely give clues to the key) each of you examples could easily be correctly fitted into a pure major of what you have identified as the IV for example as A-Em7-G-D or V-ii-IV-I. In other words, the first chord doesn't always signify the actual key of the song.

 

 

yeah i was wondering why playing the d major scale actually worked better

[3shiftgtr]

When you start looking at blues music (and derivatives as well as modern rock, many times there almost isn't a key. What do I mean? The "blues" got it's name from the "blue" IN-between notes which are ambiguous to the key for example using both the major and minor 3rd and 7ths. We've become accustomed to the tonality but if you actually try to strictly enforce a key signature, so many notes are accidentals which will simply fall outside the key. For simplicities sake, we simply say "blues in G" which signifies the ambiguous key and typically 16 bar format. If you wanted to get into strict theoretical analysis using your simplified examples (you didn't include chord values which would likely give clues to the key) each of you examples could easily be correctly fitted into a pure major of what you have identified as the IV for example as A-Em7-G-D or V-ii-IV-I. In other words, the first chord doesn't always signify the actual key of the song.

 

Clarification point:

In academic music theory, the b5 is the "blue note". It is added to the pentatonic minor, making it the blues scale. The ambiguous sound you talk about is the evolution of the sound of this scale used as melodic content over major chords. As blues was being born in around the early 1900's, this was it's sound. While this is an "outside" sound, it implies the mixolydian mode: you have major 3rd in the chords and a b7 in the scale. With the addition of the b5 and the b3rd you have a lot of clashing intervals creating a somewhat polytonal situation.

 

In modern blues playing, dominant chords are usually used on the I, IV, and V chords, and some mashup of the Mixolydian mode, the blues scale and the Dorian mode are used. But it evolved from the early 1900's blues sounds of the pentatonic minor with a flat 5 used as melodic content over major chords.

 

Of course there are tons of variations.....

[hecticone]

Wow a lot of knowledge here I am very impressed.

[Jkater]

The blues got its name after the word "blue" which means "sad". No fancy or wordy music theory behind that one. The "blue note" got its name the same way and yes it belongs to the blues' vocabulary. I might add that the blues was born rather borned on cheap, self made guitars with no intonation to speak of and one wonders if that blue note didn't just happen right there...