Key Modulation

[EggBeater]

Hey Guys, I'm a newbie on this forum, but I've noticed that there are quite a few smart people around here. Well guys, it's time for you to shine! I have a question about key changes. I know that there is some formula that takes the 7th key as the "changing key" to be used for going to another key, but how exactly does that work? I have some music theory, but I can't seem to find any sure way (whether complex or simple) to figure out (while improvising) how to change to another key. Thank you for your time and energy. Kudos.

S@m:)

[nate95366]

Sam,

there are formulas for key changing, and I know quite a few of them. There's enough of them, though, that I don't want to make a huge post listing all of them that I know of. If you can come up with a couple "scenarios" for me, I'll work you through them...(e.g... I want to change from B Major into B flat minor...)

Nate

[guitarman]

Like Nate said, it's kind of complicated to list a bunch of ways to do it, but here's a thought. Listen to some songs that have key changes in them. Figure out the chords they use throughout the key change and use them for your purposes. Make sense?

-Aaron

[EggBeater]

Yeah, thanks very much for your reply. Let's say I'm going from D Major to a flat key, oh let's say Bb Major, how would I do that? Mostly, my application is for changing keys on the fly. However, I guess i will learn this after much practice and stuff with songs that already have key changes in it. Particularly, I know of one formula that uses the Dominant 7th of the key that one is changing into, it works some of the time, but isn't really good enough for me. (if you change on the fly...and it sounds bad, ure in a bit of trouble ;-). Thanks again.

[nate95366]

I've got to pick my wife up at the airport tonight, so I'll have you a key change tomorrow morning sometime, Eggbeater

Nate

[nate95366]

Here's a list of some of the possibilities (and a tonal "rhyme and reason" explanation)

1. D -> F -> Bb
This one's the simplest that you can do and still be tonally "ok."
It's got a rough feel to it because the transition is really abrupt, but it's perfect if you don't want to lose any momentum in the song. Musically, this is just jumping to the 5th of the new key, which also happens to be the 3rd of the old key.

2. D ->Fsus4 ->F -> Bb
Just a bit more complex than #1 for a more rounded, mellow approach. Doesn't loose much momentum either, especially with well-thought-out rhythm***

3. D -> Eb -> F -> Bb
This takes advantage of the D minor scale (which is still ok to play off from in snippets when you're in D major), going from the root to the 2nd to the 5th of the new key and then to the root in the new key.

4. D -> G -> F/A -> Bb
Hmmm.....the 4th of the old key is the 6th in the new key, so why not play with the relationship?

5. D ->A -> Bb
5th in the old key is the 7th in the new key.....a direct transition, almost. Be careful, as this one will throw off most listeners unless you lead it well vocally.

6. D -> C -> Bb
This is called "stepping it down." You can see the chords and their bass notes step right down, in melodic order, from D to Bb.

As you can see, there are many possibilities (and many, many more that I don't list here). There are two big "families" in this case. Family 1 relies on the 5th in the new key - thus, the last chord before you get fully into Bb is an F of sorts. Family 2 relies on the other tonal relationships between the two keys, so there's some other chord immediately preceeding the Bb.

*** rhythm is EXTREMELY important when you're changing keys. You have to decide how many beats to give each chord in the change sequence (and once you've done that, just how you'll strum or pick the change to correspond...). Play some of these with different note values placed on each chord (whole, half, quarter, etc...) and you'll see just how different the feel can be between changes with the same chords and different rhythms.

[MRGREEN23]

Good transitions Nate !!!

I think you covered all the based. The simplest being the first one (go to "F", and then to "Bb"), but the other modulations look pretty good.

Mr. Green....23