What key are your songs usually in?

[toppart]

I've been giving this a little more thought lately and ended up choosing a lower key for one of my songs. Listening to a bunch of trance tracks I notice most of the main notes of the basslines are in the E1 to A1 range which translates to 41hz to 55hz. That makes sense to me since kicks sound nice and thumpy in that range too. So how low or high do you usually go? And is it not really ideal for dance type songs with bass notes to extend below the 40hz range? ie. Too much subbass

[DarkPlasma]

I've been having some weird addiction in C minor. But now my tunes starting to sound the same for some reason
Gotta work with more keys...

[OurDarkness]

All of my songs are in minor keys! Preferably D Minor or Bb minor.

[organsymphony]

the first key i tend to reach for when improvising always seems to be D minor. It is comfortable for some reason.

[sashbash]

Originally Posted by n***N

I've been having some weird addiction in C minor. But now my tunes starting to sound the same for some reason
Gotta work with more keys...

that's funny...me too. whenever i sit down at a keyboard, the first thing i play is ALWAYS in C minor.... i have to play it for about 1/2 hour just to get it out my system. for some reason my ears must prefer that key...i blame my russian roots and their damn minor chord folk songs.

[dan p]

Duh,um lets see,all white keys!Funny how when you add a few black keys things start to get less m...,diatonic.
Try the black keys more often,for some reason they feel more moody to my own personal listening space,but can be a pain in the ass to play in for most.
Keeping guitars in mind,its easier for them to play in simpler keys because of voicings.Really depends on what space you are writnig in,but bottom line, a good musical experience is always welcome!



Dan P

[Basic Elements]

I often use Eb minor, B minor, Ab Lydian and Bb minor

[octatonic]

I pretty much sequence everything starting in Eb pentatonic (all the black keys on the keyboard) and then start shifting things around as I need.
This is to mitigate my way too crappy keyboard skills (I'm really a guitar player).

[smallisbeautiful]

Originally Posted by organsymphony

the first key i tend to reach for when improvising always seems to be D minor. It is comfortable for some reason.

That's the saddest of all keys...

[iangomes]

I never really think of what key I'm using before hand... I just come up with an idea and try it in a few different keys and see what I like.

[Jens]

Originally Posted by smallisbeautiful

That's the saddest of all keys...

Can't imagine Lick My Love Pump in another key!

[clusterchord]

in minor most often its Cm or Ebm, sometimes Dm and Bbm. in major, most often its A or D. bcs of modes i often use, fingering suits me better than standards like C or G. and, placebo or not, they "sound" better to me.

[Tony Ta Bassko]

f#m / gm - sounds the best on electro house i think.

[sctt_stone]

Every key feels different and you can wright to the key for effect.
Thats what the classical guys did.

That being said. If its a aggressive song I am usually in E minor if it is pensive its usually more like c#minor or A minor. I also like b minor for pop stuff. I dont know why but its a fun key to me.
I usually avoid major keys unless its a key change from the relative minor for use as a bridge or something like that.

But you know a lot of times I will start out writing something thinking its in one key and then when I figure out thats its really another key it kills the flow for me.
I used to do that a lot, like start a progression of F and think it was in f then figure out that I was really in a Minor but focusing on the 6 instead of the tonic.

[filin]

c diminished is my go-to

[shephurd]

..lol.. wow.. I would have no idea what so eva what key my beats are in?
I just make music, and if it sounds right then I keep it..dfegad

[Doktorfuture]

mine are in the key of awesome

[timbreman]

Usually E minor and A# minor harmonic.

[jude]

all my stuff (DnB or breaks) is in C minor. it just feels right for down tempo stuff

[benyah]

C minor, that suits my vocal range the best.

[The_BeatHood]

Dm,Em,Fm,Gm,Am,Bm and sometimes Cm but the subs are too low

[Beermaster]

Originally Posted by Kundara

Dm,Em,Fm,Gm,Am,Bm and sometimes Cm but the subs are too low

Wa ha haaa ! !!

[alexp]

Originally Posted by Doktorfuture

mine are in the key of awesome

HA!

Thats wicked.


I seem to have some sort of love affair with D.


alexP

[Reptil]

D or E major!

[wiglad]

Mostly Cm, but every once in a while I dabble in R#. Just for that certain sexy mood.

[Shim]

I've been flirting with Bm lately....
I'm ususally comfortable in Cm, but I figured I'd check out how the other keys feel when you really get into them.
I think you can make any key sound good/feed off of it's character, but it really makes a difference if your fingers are comfortable thumbsup

[sctt_stone]

Would that be the key of R. Kelly?dfegad

Originally Posted by wiglad

Mostly Cm, but every once in a while I dabble in R#. Just for that certain sexy mood.

[timbreman]

Originally Posted by sctt_stone

Would that be the key of R. Kelly?dfegad

lmao! I think he meant to say is the key of "S Major" as in Majorly Sexy! Gawd!! Dont people learn Music Theory anymore????

On a seperate note I read somewhere that Mariah Carey's latest album is called E=MC squared as in Mariah Carey times 2. Apparently musicians know a ton of math as well!! After all everyone knows that what it really means is Mariah Carey divided by 2 and then multiplied by the square root of 0....Geez ppl get a clue!!

[robd]

I find that different instruments have certain keys that are easier to gravitate to when you're just jamming out on them. Sometimes I take a melody from jamming and try it in a few different keys to see if one works better, but I usually wind up sticking with the original.

A lot of my melodies, though, I just whistle or sing into a pocket recorder when they pop into my head, and then I just figure out what key they're in later. I wind up with a lot of random keys like e-flat minor that way, and the folks I play with sometimes get a bit testy when I insist that, yes, they really do need to, say, alternate between those two low notes on their oboe with their pinky, and that no, it wouldn't still sound pretty much the same if I moved it up to e-minor.

[Eloheim]

My goto is usually D-minor, like a lot of others here. Although I'm thinking about using Em instead because I'm starting to add my real bass guitar and I dont wanna tune down to D at the moment.

Another one i use is the minor blues scale i think. I use it in C.
[C D# F F# G A#]

Btw, all the different minor keys should sound exactly the same, I beleive. The only difference is the range of pitches they cover. Although that could matter of course...