Regarding Keys

[Scootch]

There are some songs that I just can’t figure out the key.

One that is puzzling me right now is The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald. Chords are Asus2 Em G D Asus2

Maybe Am? Em? Even G might fit.

The guys I play with want to know the key, even though they’ll play whatever the want anyway. Plus they tend to believe the Key is always the first chord. I explain not always, they disagree then I’m getting out my circle of fifths, etc. but I digress...

Anyway, TWOTEdFitz? What key would that be and why?

Thanks...

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Scootch

There are some songs that I just can’t figure out the key.

One that is puzzling me right now is The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald. Chords are Asus2 Em G D Asus2

Maybe Am? Em? Even G might fit.

The guys I play with want to know the key, even though they’ll play whatever the want anyway. Plus they tend to believe the Key is always the first chord. I explain not always, they disagree then I’m getting out my circle of fifths, etc. but I digress...

Anyway, TWOTEdFitz? What key would that be and why?

Thanks...

This is a good question, partly because this song is ambiguous, but partly also because it comes down to what we, you (and/pr your friends) mean by the term "key". Do we mean the scale the chords come from? Do we mean the tonal centre? (Or do we just mean the first chord? )

The correct meaning is the tonal centre - but that's not always why people ask this question. Usually they want to know the scale (for improvisation purposes), and the tonal centre is mostly irrelevant.

Anyway in this case - and going with those chords, which are a tone lower than the Gordon Lightfoot key I know - the tune is in A mixolydian mode. There's a nice technical term to baffle your friends with!

So in this case, they'd be right that the first chord is the "key", except of course (as Asus2) it's ambiguous as to major or minor. I.e., the keynote is very clearly A, but there is no clear guide, in the melody or in the rest of the chords, as to whether the 3rd of the A would be C or C# (i.e. dorian or mixolydian). But I think C# seems to fit better than C does. The backing chord that comes in the instrumental break at 1:38 in this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A - definitely has a major flavour (B in this key, slightly sharp of concert) more than minor.

Of course, all you really need to decide (with your friends) is what the chords are - which you've done (for this key). Maybe then which fret to put the capo on to best suit your voice(s). What to call the "key" (or "mode") is merely an academic question, not a practical one.

If you (or they) want to improvise, then the scale is simply the scale of the melody, or the notes in the chords: A B D E F# G. No C or C# is involved. As I said, I think C# fits better (mixolydian suits the stirring Scots flavour of the tune), but there could be a case for C (darker). Use your ears, and your aesthetic sensibilities.

[Scootch]

Wow.
Thank you, Jon.