I learned a little trick many years ago about finding the key of a song I'm listening to or trying to play along with that's come in handy for me on hundreds of occasions such as jam sessions, playing along with recorded music and even picking up on the key of "Happy Birthday" at cake cutting time.
It goes like this:
Listen along...with guitar in hand...until a verse, chorus or even an instrumental song "resolves" to the last note. Find the corresponding note on the high E string. That note is (almost) invariably the key signature of the song.
For instance, if the last note resolves to the note on the 1st string, 5th fret, the song is in the key of A (could be Am).
At that point, you can either go back to the A shape in the 1st position, or as I do, just start off with an E shape bar chord on the 5th fret and you're off to the races.
If you're unclear about the meaning of "resolve", or which note is found on which fret of the high E string, I'll leave it up to you to do a little research.
Hope this works for you.
|