Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Golden Lady

The outro of the Golden Lady takes a half step every time it repeats.
-Mick

Monday, July 19, 2010

Think

The Blues Brothers Band takes Aretha from A to Bb on the "Freedom!" part.
-Kristen

Woman

John takes it up a half step on the last verse. Yoko probably hates key changes.
D to Eb.
-Frankie

Monday, July 12, 2010

Long Hot Summer Night

Many people remember Jimi Hendrix for either his being one of the best electric guitarists in the history of music and/or as one of the last true innovators on the instrument. These people are right, but it's also important to remember that Jimi was also an exceptionally talented songwriter. Electric Ladyland's "Long Hot Summer Night" is a prime example. A rock/R&B tune, it starts in C and then modulates a whole step up to D at about 1:50, at which point Jimi DESTROYS a guitar solo. Sometimes, you can't mess with the greats.
-Mike Oxman

Walk The Line

This song seems like your simple 1-4-5 in F but Johnny shows you how slick he really is by jumping keys to Bb and then later to C, walking the key change line like a champ and using the 1-4-5 in more ways than one. Notice that in this video, Johnny has to reaffirm the key he is in by singing a note with the opening chord of each phrase. And he's whoop most guys in a cocaine inspired bar fight.
-Nick Antastasi

Monday, July 5, 2010

Surfer Girl

The teenage girls in this video must really love key changes. Brian Wilson awkwardly sings one of my favorite Beach Boy songs.
Coming out of the bridge, we jump up a half step from D to Eb.
-Tony Trov

Saturday, July 3, 2010

And I Love Her

Great Lennon/McCartney composition from their early years. I think that too often the early period of Beatles songs are underrated in their composition and arrangement, overshadowed by their later work. The lack of a drum kit on this song is absolutely mesmerizing, the interplay of the acoustic guitars is angelic, and the key change out of the bridge for the guitar solo and outro is uber-ballin. Quoth the wikipedia: "A majority of this song switches back and forth between the key of E and its relative minor C#m. It also changes keys altogether just before the solo, to F. It ends, on the parallel major of the key of F's relative minor, D. This technique is known as tierce de Picardie and had been used in the past by some composers, including Bach." Not bad for a couple of kids.
-Nick Anastasi