Basic patterns and principles?

[cmusic]

Hey!
I ask musicians how do they pick up on a song so quickly and they tell me that they apply the basic patterns and principles when playing a song. what are they?

And how do you find the key of a song?

 ???

[4hisglory]

The basic patterns are basically progressions.  I would say mainly the 7-3-6-2-5-1 Progression.  Learn that in every key and you will be well on your way.

To find the key....you just have to listen very closely.  The chords in the song will (typically) resolve are one pitch (key).  What I do is start with like C.....the chromatically go up until I find the pitch that is happening in the song.

You mainly just have to practice listening and you will get it.

[cmusic]

Thanks soooo much....
thanks for the info.. i had been trying to figure out what that meant for the longest :-)

as for hearing the key, does that mean that you are listening for the strongest chord or note that you hear the most?

[4hisglory]

Welll,......basically.  Typically, the songs start on the  Major chord (I chord) so if you listen for that, you should get it.

But with the contemporary songs, its not as easy because they a going in and out of keys all the time.

The main thing is you just have to dive into it and start listening.

[ABOVEALL]

Another piece of advice would be to become familiar with your intervals.  The distance between the tonic, or key note, and other notes.  If you are in the key of C the distance between and itself is Perfect Prime or 1.  C to D is a M2nd.  C to E is a M3rd.  If the song is in Bb and you are feeling around F, you can begin to recognize that there is P4th and you can adjust to Bb.  I relate intervals to familiar tags.  That F to Bb is the same as "Here-Comes-The-Bride."