How To Change Key: 3 Methods from Easy to Hard

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Getting Started with Music Theory FREE course Want to learn some music theory, but don't know where to start? Try our free 'Getting Started with Music Theory' email course. You'll learn the basics of scales, keys, chords, rhythms, and structure in your music. thinkspace.ac.uk/signup/getting-started-with-music-theory/

[@winstonsyme5899]

Does the pivot note have to be in both keys? In the example, you picked the third, but said you can use any note. But does the note have to be in both keys?

[@ChrisMuellerMusic]

@@winstonsyme5899yes. That is why this works.

[@MttHny]

This was very insightful! Exactly the video I've been needing to see. You are the man! Thank you so much

[@alleyway3215]

At 4:29, you demonstrated the pivot chord modulation. I love using secondary dominant pivot modulations. They feel quite accessible most of the time. I also love using the modal pivot chords. Say, a bVIII in Gmaj which is also a bIII in Amin. Those can be especially colored with Oooohs and Aaaahs.

[@14theguitarman]

Incredibly useful! … Thank you ✨

[@johnmac8084]

Entertaining as well as informative, thanks Guy 😅

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@chrisg5271]

Can’t honestly say I really understood but kind of made sense ! Well I enjoyed it sounded cool

[@SqueamishCactus]

Always love learning new stuff and Guy explains it so well. He truly is a maestro. ❤👍

[@thomaswindfeld728]

This is brilliant, thank you guy

[@zandel_zandel]

At 1:56 stopped to say this: already looks a great video! Subscribed.

[@denselman]

Thanks!

[@wtpwtp]

What piano keyboard are you playing on?

[@bernardraconte6355]

Merci beaucoup pour toutes vos vidéos (from France, near Chateauneuf du Pape !)

[@ericleiter6179]

This video was alot of fun...isn't the Titanic bit just another harmonic slide-reinterpreting the E major's G# as an Ab???

[@sjlearning149]

One really cool way I like is using the chromatic parts of the minor scale 1 -> 7 -> b7 or the chromatic parts of the blues scales 4->5b->5 to introduce notes that can be a part of a key change. For instance 1 -> 7 ->b 7 -> 6 in the bass and then using the major IV back to minor i suddenly puts you in dorian or 5->b5->4->3 in the bass can switch you into major with a nice minor iii - major I tranition.

[@nedim_guitar]

This is very helpful. I've been working on a rock sort of song for a while now. I like the effects I'm using and where I'm going. I come onto the major 6th chord and I know that's is not parallel minor, but I don't know what it is. It could just be a key change, and this, now major chord, could be I, IV or V. So, I need to sing it and figure out where I want to take it.

[@swessels]

New MIDI keyboard? Love the way you explained this.

[@chrismoule7242]

saved in my Music list - thank you.

[@joegrint6280]

Very interesting - thanks Guy!

[@jorisguitars]

Great video and lesson!!

[@alyamin3458]

Thank you so much Guy! I've been subscribed for a while now and your videos really help me become a better musician, love from Egypt.

[@ronaldrayner5049]

Great fun ,using D in C - reason to believe ,Tim Hardin etc. ,I Play a C chord(key of C) ,go to an A major then to F ,not exactly a key change ,outside of this explanation ,but I didn't watch it through , Try E harmonic minor ,somewhat Middle Eastern , has at least one shared chord with the key of F ,so Em to B flat major ,C and F , get back in reverse B flat to Em ,might also work with a Neapolitan minor 6 . This guy knows his stuff ,I liked to seeing the Circle of fifths ,It makes finding the entrances and exit a lot easier. I'll watch this vid again and again.

[@ccostantyt]

From Italy ... What an amazing way to explain this😃!

[@stiffiron]

Another great video!

[@CesarDMarin]

This is amazing! Thank you for the video! I have learned about but you have explained it better...

[@ToCoSo]

Always such great tips and reminders!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Thanks

[@Kevhuman]

Could you cover using tritone substitutions and bridging chords ? Pls

[@onlyeyeno]

Thanks for another very enjoyable and entertaining video. Though I must confess that I know close enough to nothing about music and even less about composition, and I come here only because I very much enjoy the tone and manor that the concepts are presented. I enjoy listening to (and watching) all "masters of a craft" who have the ability to demonstrate, describe and explain their "craft" in an approachable way. And if I from time to time even manage to pick up some small morsel that gives me a tiny bit more understanding of subject presented, then that's just a bonus :) Best regards.

[@jmurray2018]

Hey GM in non music related news we had to changes keys as apposed to changing a key when our door lock busted.. So that’s what popped into my head. Anyways hope your ok and y’all not burning the midnight oil too much you looked a little tired and we can’t have our rockstar with a lack energy when putting on those glassy shades of awesomeness 😎 (understandable if you’ve been running up and down Italian mountains - though that looked remarkable like a gentle hill.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

gentle hill...mountain..... who's counting

[@jmurray2018]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation well with that nimble footwork it looked like you were tip toeing thru the tulips 🌷 on a gentle hill instead of trying to recover from a Punta San Matteo climb. Maybe we get to see you on dancing with the stars one day.

[@PeteMel1875]

Great video 👍

[@taggartjs]

You simply must do a video about your awesome studio building with which I’m obsessed. I’m planning on building one of my own and yours has inspired me to no end. Oh, and I love the videos, too. Very informative, sir!❤

[@davidsinclair699]

Thanks Guy. Really interesting material and ideas for me to play around with.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Have fun!

[@JanBLarsson]

Guy's take on Titanic swiftly changes every key to EASTER! Enjoy the holidays. Really needed this video now :)

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Glad it hit the spot

[@hellion_spitfire]

Guy, could you please tell me what settings you changed for the keyboard sensitivity? I have the same Keylab mk2 keyboard. Thanks for your videos, always very nice

[@joeldavidpalmer]

Super clear and, as always, an inspiration. Now, get to work, me!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Thanks - go for it

[@alfredodark6480]

It helps when you road-splain it.

[@MartinJG100]

Great stuff, Guy. Cycling through keys is a really interesting technique and adds so much to the piece. PS - 2:46 :)..

[@netuno60]

Very good Guy! Whaaat!? Yes, it was a very good video Mr.Guy. Thank you for all you have teached me.

[@mantrapotro]

Amazing as usual ! 🖐🏻. Thanks a lot Guy 🙏🏻

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

My pleasure!

[@meljames172]

Very interesting video, unfortunately I am still trying to work out where C0 key switch is on an 88 key piano, let alone changing modes. Not quite there yet, but eventually!

[@GediRitter]

Some portions of this video are so weird.... AND I LOVE IT xD

[@Darkest_of_Winter]

Hey Guy!! I think I might have to lift that C & C#m progression…

[@alexchristodoulou]

Very nice, thanks!

[@jonos138]

I'm not expert at this, but i go with the feel and decide where I'm passing through or changing key. But here is the biggest tricky one I find. Let's say your writing a song, you pass through a chord, or change key, how do you then work the chords so you can end up back in the original key you started. If that makes sense? A lot of great song do this and find that last chord after a key change that brings them back to the original key they started in.

[@robertdraper145]

You can rationalise the return to the home key using pivot chords/ pivot notes in the same way that Guy modulated away from the home key, but it can sound rushed if you go ‘straight home’. You may need to utilise a ‘stop off’ passing key or two along the way to smooth out the journey back. It often helps if you modulate to the flat side of the home key just before returning home, as this lifts the music when returning to the home key (due to the sharper nature of the home key), rather than descending down to it - e.g. if the home key is C major, modulate through F major or d minor before returning to C, using the techniques Guy demonstrated.

[@Geo-Dome]

Just confirming, changing key is like Cmaj, then go to Fmaj or minor but changing mode is like going from Alloniun, to say mixalidium or locriation.... yes? but with better spelling

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Yup more or less

[@DaveB0wer]

Enlightening, thank you! I’m off to make some noise.

[@nobodyofconsequence9930]

OMG . I feel like I just spent a day at Disneyland! Not really sure what happened but getting back in line for the next ride. Thanks

[@alexchristodoulou]

Isn’t also the dim7 a common way to jump to other keys?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

In that dim7 sounds like a bit of a harmonic car crash anything would sound good after that

[@alexchristodoulou]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation 😂

[@genuinefreewilly5706]

Absolutely, sadly its not so fashionable these days, and neither is jazz. If you like it use it. Symmetrical scales and intervals are cool, they allow you to move to any key

[@dungeonsdierolls7617]

The dim7 of a key functions in the same way as the dominant 7th - they have three out of four notes in common.

[@genuinefreewilly5706]

@@dungeonsdierolls7617 There are no rules as to where dim chords or half dim chords resolve to or go to, there are only 3 of them. Perhaps symmetrical intervals and scales are really in the realm of physics and math more than music. Yes they can clash and be jarring. I could care less. I love them. Spread voicings in different positions can sound really go. Dim chords are the msg or umami of music but for whatever reason not popular these days and neither is jazz

[@vaibhavsingh2615]

Sir i want to ask you when thinkspace academy are coming up with its complete orchestral bootcamp?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

thinkspace.ac.uk/courses/#bootcamp

[@vaibhavsingh2615]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation it's shows me be notified when new dates are announced

[@musiceclipse]

There are always more ways to do anything. One method of key change I did in a student composition of “Easter music“ as I started with a theme in a minor, which we can call the Gethsemane theme just before the ending there is an extended pedal on C, and the same set of notes comes back as the “resurrection theme“ but it is now in C major. You might call this the Clark Kent method. All that changes is the clothing.

[@MreenalMams]

Do non-musicians perceive key changes..?

[@ceasetheday87]

I would like to think so. You don’t have to know music theory to have a perception of sound. It’s like being a passenger in a car while blindfolded. Sometimes the car stops abruptly so it’s definitely noticeable and jolting but, other times, the car slows slowly so it’s less noticeable. Key changes are probably similar feeling. Only difference between a musician and non-musician is the blindfold is off for a musician.

[@zarkymusic]

@@ceasetheday87 or like at a concert the light shows, noone realises about what's actually happening there, cause you focus on the music, but if it sucks in comparison to a very good light show, you will have a different feel of it, it's there, and you see it, but you don't realise it's doing anything with you

[@johannborchersfriends]

The piper always gets paid in the end.

[@grahamtruckel]

Did I catch a snippet of "Windmill in Old Amsterdam" at 8:25?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Oh my lord that takes me back

[@qldsafari]

Wow, this is like opening Pandora’s box, awesome thank you!

[@PeteGeorges]

I like this Guy! Pun intended. Smart and funny ;-)

[@dirtyharry1881]

11:21 It is obviously from C# minor to Ab not from E major.

[@DanIel-fl1vc]

I think dropping a fifth is an option too. I think in all cases the "key" is build up to it so it doesn't come as a surprise.

[@dungeonsdierolls7617]

He did that in the video. He sequenced from I to IV, which is going downward in the circle of fifths.

[@DanIel-fl1vc]

@@dungeonsdierolls7617 Did he, maybe I didn't pay attention. In my head I think of it as V to I. Choose pivot chord, move a single note and go down a fifth.

[@dudleyspikeclarke1355]

Your Leonardo DiCaprio impersonation was just uncanny.... I think you have missed your calling...

[@LP-music]

Let me guess... Monte Amiata?

[@anatomicallymodernhuman5175]

As Melanie sang, you’ve got a brand new key.

[@bethenyruefsongs]

I definitely relate to Dr. Strange...😝

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Ha!

[@JxH]

The NSA requests that you do not change encryption keys.

[@JxH]

The NSA just called back to apologize for the misunderstanding. Please disregard previous. ;-) !!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

ha ha ha

[@MikJames-d1g]

Sometimes you just gotta put the theory aside and Shia Labeau that 💩 Theory is a mathematical perspective, a way for nerds to dilute the process of composition. The only way I use theory these days is to avoid blatant cliches.

[@davidskolik5303]

LSD trip if anything.

[@diiosaodiiosa]

the pointless trip to a mountain in italy to explain g major.. i thought guy had become too serious at first, but then i realized that it was all just another one of his tricks

[@SirWhiteRabbit-gr5so]

It's not pointless, it's a business expense on the taxes.

[@diiosaodiiosa]

@@SirWhiteRabbit-gr5so hes a genius

[@DarkSideofSynth]

How to change key: Simple. You go to a locksmith and buy a new one. There. I've just shown you music theory is useless Joking. It is VERY useful, and sometimes even fun!

[@joaquin6957]

'promosm'