Best Ever Albums

Re: Favourite key changes

indieshins — Mon, 4 Oct 2021 20:11:29 GMT

Author: indieshins

Posted: 10/05/2021 00:11

The Beatles have a lot of good ones. If I Fell is one that hasn't been mentioned yet and it's one of my favourites.

Re: Favourite key changes

Keatownrodriguez — Mon, 4 Oct 2021 19:44:59 GMT

Author: Keatownrodriguez

Posted: 10/04/2021 23:44

Link

Definitely not the greatest but it was the first that came to my head and it does make me very happy[/youtube]

Re: Favourite key changes

Luigii — Mon, 4 Oct 2021 16:21:43 GMT

Author: Luigii

Posted: 10/04/2021 20:21

Skinny wrote:

Thong Song.

This is correct. Thread is done.

Re: Favourite key changes

Skinny — Mon, 4 Oct 2021 16:16:32 GMT

Author: Skinny

Posted: 10/04/2021 20:16

Thong Song.

Re: Favourite key changes

JOSweetHeart — Mon, 4 Oct 2021 10:26:19 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 10/04/2021 14:26

Another good one in my opinion is this one at the 2:24 mark.

Link

God bless you and Josh always!!!

Holly

Re: Favourite key changes

JOSweetHeart — Mon, 4 Oct 2021 04:53:13 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 10/04/2021 08:53

I love the key change at the 3:13 mark of this song.

Link

God bless you and the late legend's family always!!!

Holly

Re: Favourite key changes

Anonymous — Fri, 1 Oct 2021 06:03:27 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/01/2021 10:03

Yann wrote:

theblueboy wrote:

Good question, Layla and Penny Lane are good examples. I can identify the key change on both and yeah they are really nice..

It’s hard to think because it’s a subtle thing. Good Vibrations maybe (on “I dont know where but she sends me there”) though is it actually a key change? Idk

Maybe the key shifts in God Only Knows each verse- a bit like in Walk the Line. I’m not sure though and would need to listen more carefully.

Maybe There, There by Radiohead. Again, I’m not certain if it’s a key change as it’s quite subtle, but there is a chord that seems to land from another planet about half way through and sounds great.

Yes key changes are more or less obvious. We have in mind the big ascending key changes at the end of songs (Earth Song, Man in the Mirror, My Heart will Go On, I Wanna Dance with somebody, etc). More subtle key modulations (often between major an minor mode) can occur between verse and chorus or bridge (Africa, Life on Mars, Come on Eileen, McCartney's Take it Away, While my Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness is a Warm Gun, etc)

Nice explanation, a quick glance at the chords to Good Vibrations suggests related key changes/ modulations going on i.e. verse (E minor) ; chorus (G major); bridge (E major). So it goes from the minor key to its relative major then changes the original key from minor to major. (The actual chords/keys I looked at were a step down from this but I rounded them up for simplicity, nobody wants to hear about Eb minor!)

Anyway, not the obvious transposition of an entire melody through a key change but I would have previously guessed they are basically key changes, but maybe they are better described as modulations?

Full disclaimer: my analysis could be way off as I have done zero music theory in the past 24 years!

Re: Favourite key changes

Anonymous — Fri, 1 Oct 2021 04:45:14 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/01/2021 08:45

theblueboy wrote:

Re: Favourite key changes

craola — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 11:55:36 GMT

Author: craola

Posted: 09/30/2021 15:55

Link

Re: Favourite key changes

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 11:49:21 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/30/2021 15:49

Harry Nilsson- Without You

A classic key change to emphasise the final chorus. A good one.

In general though, I agree with EyeKanFly that nice key changes probably sound so right that you don't usually notice them.

Re: Favourite key changes

EyeKanFly — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:45:20 GMT

Author: EyeKanFly

Posted: 09/30/2021 14:45

Link

This video has an incredible analysis of variations on a them and how key changes can evoke a change in tone within a song, focusing on Franz Schubert's Erlkönig which can be found in full here:
Link

It's a classical analysis, and I'd love to see something similar with a pop/rock/jazz song. I can think of lots of examples of bad key changes in pop songs ("I Wanna Be Sedated"...) but few examples of good ones. Though to be fair when a key change is done well it's often less noticeable (to me at least).

Re: Favourite key changes

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 06:55:47 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/30/2021 10:55

Good question, Layla and Penny Lane are good examples. I can identify the key change on both and yeah they are really nice..

It’s hard to think because it’s a subtle thing. Good Vibrations maybe (on “I dont know where but she sends me there”) though is it actually a key change? Idk

Maybe the key shifts in God Only Knows each verse- a bit like in Walk the Line. I’m not sure though and would need to listen more carefully.

Maybe There, There by Radiohead. Again, I’m not certain if it’s a key change as it’s quite subtle, but there is a chord that seems to land from another planet about half way through and sounds great.

Re: Favourite key changes

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 02:06:25 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/30/2021 06:06

hwcolum wrote:

I've always been fascinated by the fact that every verse of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" is in a different key, with the transitions being accomplished via those fabulous "Mmmm..." 's.

Yes, interesting!

Re: Favourite key changes

hwex9000 — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 22:34:11 GMT

Author: hwex9000

Posted: 09/30/2021 02:34

I've always been fascinated by the fact that every verse of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" is in a different key, with the transitions being accomplished via those fabulous "Mmmm..." 's. It shouldn't work at all, but it does - I'll bet a lot of people don't even realize this, even if they've heard the song a million times. I know it took me a long time.

Favourite key changes

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 17:01:10 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/29/2021 21:01

Usually I'm not so keen on key changes. Sometimes I feel it's like a musical equivalent of colour clashing... But I must say some are extremely creative.
The beginning of Leila comes to mind, just after the intro, when the verse begin: really gives a fantastic rush.
And, of course, the key change of the Penny Lane's chorus (at 6:22 in this video, there's a simulation of the chorus without the key change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7MImrsCbo&t=12s)
What key changes do you like of find interesting?