5: FINDING THE
LAST NOTE AND FINDING THE KEY
The best way to train your ears is to start with songs and tunes that are repetitive and not very complex. It does get easier, believe me. I have successfully used nursey rhymes, TV jingles, and especially 1950s –1960s pop songs as ear training vehicles for both these stated reasons – repetitive and not very complex.
As with most things in life, when someone comes up with a winning formula that makes money, we are suddenly swamped with imitations – some good, some better, but most infinitely worse. The period 1955 – 1963 was a very fertile breeding ground for teen pop, written to a formula, with such artists as the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Dion, Ricky Nelson, and many others. The songs were usually constructed something, but not always, like this:
INTRO-VERSES-CHORUS-VERSE-BRIDGE (or SOLO)-VERSE-CHORUS (repeated to OUTRO)
To find the song’s key, and therefore the chords used, I always listen for the last note of either the Verse or the Chorus – or both, as they are very often the same. This is usually the Tonic Note (Keynote, Root Note, Home Note – you choose the nomenclature) and therefore gives you the song’s key. Find it by sliding up and down one of your guitar strings until you hit the note that matches it. It isn’t 100% infallible, but close to it with a vast number of songs. Reason? Listeners to popular music do not like it when the melody is unresolved. Try singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to someone without completing it and see how uncomfortable they get! Resolution in music is crucial, and finding the final note of the Verse and/or the Chorus is a very convenient trick.
4: THE CHROMATIC SCALE
6: THREE G-MAJOR CHORD SHAPES
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