Quote:
Originally Posted by rt_peasant
This is perhaps a music theory question. I'm learning to play Danny's Song by Loggins & Messina. The song starts out with 4 bars of D. I think this normally establishes the key of the song as D major.
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Yes. 99% of the time - in rock - if the first 4 bars of a song are all on the same chord, it's a safe bet that's the key.
There's still that 1% though... And in jazz and older pop, it's a lot more than 1%.
The real key of the song is whatever chord "sounds like home". That's why - as love the guitar said - the
final chord of a song is a safer guide. Provide the song has a clear final chord that
sounds final.
A famous example of a song that neither starts nor finishes with the key chord is Waterloo Sunset. It starts and ends (fades out on) the V chord. But you can hear how that opening chord resolves to the key chord when the vocal starts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rt_peasant
When I look at the chords in the song, I see
D C Bm E7 A G
I recognize the D Bm A G as belonging to the key of D, but not the C and E7. Am I correct in saying that this song is in the key of D major, and is there a term for the chords that are outside the key of the song?
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There is. Outside chords tend to come in two categories, and this sequence (neatly) has one example of each.
C is a "borrowed chord". It's an example of the rock convention called "mode mixture", or "borrowing from the parallel minor". A major key will commonly have a bVII chord (like this), and might also have a bIII or bVI (F or Bb in this key), even a minor iv (Gm in this key) - which all come from the "parallel" key (D minor).
E7 is a "secondary dominant". Labelled as "V/V", which means "dominant of the dominant". A key can have up to five secondary dominants, and V/V is the most common. As you can see, it leads directly to the V chord, A. Compare with how it sounds if you use Em or Em7 instead, and you'll hear the secondary dominant effect.