key signature

how do i figure out what key a song is in if i know the chords that are being played?

find the dominant 7th. ex. C7 would be the dominant 7th of F major.

or the long boring way of find all the notes in each chord and puting them into a scale

excuse my ignorance, but what the heck is the dominant 7th? i think its time to know

1,3,5,b7

major 7th means 3 and 7

minor 7th means b3 and b7

dominant 7th means 3 and b7

in the diatonic major scale(and others) there is only one dominant 7th if you know it you know the scale. it's the fifth, for example if you had a dominate E your in A Ionian. these is a little more to it but that sums it up at least




keys and scales are two different things. the key is the tonal center while a scale is just a formula to work with. generally, in rock at least, the key is the root of the first chord. but to keep things simple you can do what G-master says to play the right "blanket scale" if you will.

ok what are 1,3,5 b7?

oo boy

the numbers are intervals

now western harmony is largely based on thirds. so now you get your scale that's say the dominant scale of the diatonic major, Mixolydian(1,2,3,4,5,6,b7). and where going to put it in the key signature of C meaning if you know your modes where using G mixolydian scale(G,A,B,C,D,E,F). now you get your root(generally used for harmony while tonic is used for melody) or 1 which is G. now you go up a third interval from G. seeing that the scale where using we go up a major third interval and get B. Then from b we go up another third interval a minor third interval(diminished is probably the right word but i think it helps to understand) to d. now we got G,B,D a G major triad. now we go up another third from D to get F(the b7) to get G Dominate 7th or G,B,D,F/1,2,3,b7.

i just hope that is readable cus I'm not in the mood to prof read and i can't speel

a dominant 7th is the fifth chord of the major scale. i cant really explain it. just look up C7 on the chord section compared to CMaj7 or cMin7

Holy jesus theory is hard...how long did it take before u knew all of this?

It doesn't take long. If you are interested you can learn all you need in a few months.


Though, if you want to be really fluent, it takes years and years of practice.

Definitely go into classical work. It will help your theory out tremendously.

I want to learn theory so bad!! its insane. But right now i feel like its to much.
I don't know what dominant is, dim, aug?...what the hell is that!chord progression, i hear it all the time, but waht is it?
it gives me a headache i just want to learn it all NOW!!:P

Unfortunately we can't learn what we want to instantly. Music is a very long process and requires A LOT of patience. Plus it's really dangerous to rush ahead, so try and study everything piece by piece. I agree with JustJeff, if you study classical, you'll be on a better start to understanding more theory.