WorshipGTRWorshipGTR

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Newsletter

    Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated.

    What's Hot

    WorshipGTR Review of Minuendo Lossless Earplugs

    August 15, 2023

    Dialing in Reverb on the Fractal Audio FM3 (*Bonus Sound Samples)

    August 4, 2023

    From Hard Rock to a Heart of Worship

    June 2, 2023
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • Welcome to WorshipGTR Magazine!
    • Stay in the Loop
    • Write for Us
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    Facebook Instagram YouTube
    WorshipGTRWorshipGTR
    • Featured
    • Gear
      1. Electric Guitar
      2. Acoustic Guitar
      3. Bass Guitars
      4. Guitar Amps
      5. Effects Pedals
      6. Parts & Accessories
      7. Manufacturer Interviews
      8. View All

      Gretsch G5622T Electromatic Center Block Double-Cut Electric Guitar Review

      February 8, 2022

      Choosing an Electric Guitar for Worship

      July 17, 2021

      Gretsch G6609TFM Players Edition Broadkaster Centerblock Electric Guitar Review

      September 9, 2020

      Eastman SB56/N-GD Gold Top Electric Guitar w/ Lollar P90’s Review

      August 12, 2019

      Martin Authentic Lifespan 2.0 Acoustic Guitar Strings Review

      January 9, 2021

      Martin D-28 (2017) Re-imagined Standard Series Acoustic Guitar Review

      March 15, 2019

      Martin Guitar to Debut Three New X Series Dreadnought Guitars, Along with New Premium Classical and Ukulele Strings at Winter NAMM 2018

      January 22, 2019

      Martin Guitar to Debut Three New Authentic Series Models, a New FSC®-Certified Acoustic-Electric Model, and Several Limited Edition Models at Winter NAMM 2018

      January 18, 2019

      Fishman Expands Fluence Line with Multi-Voice Bass Pickups

      January 10, 2019

      Lollar Announces Release of ’70s J-Bass Pickup Set

      January 9, 2019

      One Control Launches the Blue 360 Bass Preamp

      December 19, 2018

      Mesa/Boogie Introduces the Subway WD-800, Subway Ultra-Lite Cabinets, and Subway Preamp

      December 7, 2018

      Vox Unveils the VX50 GTV and VX15 GT

      January 15, 2019

      Fishman Launches the Loudbox Mini

      January 10, 2019

      Blackstar Announces the Studio10 Series

      January 10, 2019

      Orange Amplification Unveils the Pedal Baby 100

      January 10, 2019

      JET Pedals Releases The Red Sea

      November 13, 2022

      Staff Pick: RJM Music Mastermind PBC

      August 9, 2021

      Temple Audio Duo 24 Pedalboard Review

      August 16, 2019

      Cusack Screamer Fuzz Germanium Limited Edition Effects Pedal Review

      August 14, 2019

      WorshipGTR Review of Minuendo Lossless Earplugs

      August 15, 2023

      Martin Authentic Lifespan 2.0 Acoustic Guitar Strings Review

      January 9, 2021

      Temple Audio Duo 24 Pedalboard Review

      August 16, 2019

      Martin Guitar to Debut Three New X Series Dreadnought Guitars, Along with New Premium Classical and Ukulele Strings at Winter NAMM 2018

      January 22, 2019

      Manufacturer Spotlight Interview with Barefoot Buttons

      April 2, 2018

      Manufacturer Spotlight: Analog Endeavors

      October 18, 2017

      The Jackson Audio Prism Boost/Overdrive Pedal is Here

      December 2, 2016

      Manufacturer Spotlight: Noble Amplifier Company

      July 26, 2016

      WorshipGTR Review of Minuendo Lossless Earplugs

      August 15, 2023

      JET Pedals Releases The Red Sea

      November 13, 2022

      Gretsch G5622T Electromatic Center Block Double-Cut Electric Guitar Review

      February 8, 2022

      Staff Pick: RJM Music Mastermind PBC

      August 9, 2021
    • Music
      1. Reviews
      2. Interviews
      Featured
      Album Reviews

      Rattle! – Elevation’s Viral Easter Release is a Must Listen

      WorshipGtr TeamApril 16, 2020
      Recent

      Rattle! – Elevation’s Viral Easter Release is a Must Listen

      April 16, 2020

      Children of Light Album Review

      May 16, 2017

      An Afternoon with Temple Veil

      December 5, 2016
    • Learning
      1. For Worship Leaders
      2. For Sound Guys
      3. Stage Design and Lighting
      4. View All

      How David Reveals the Heart of Worship

      May 10, 2023

      The Tension Between Art and Worship

      May 3, 2023

      How to Know You’re Growing Closer to God

      April 26, 2023

      3 Tips and Tricks for Learning to Play with Tracks and In-Ears

      January 23, 2023

      3 Tips and Tricks for Learning to Play with Tracks and In-Ears

      January 23, 2023

      Easter – Embracing the Stress

      March 9, 2018

      Getting Team Buy-In From Your Worship Band Members

      January 12, 2018

      The 1 Piece of Gear You Should Not Overlook – The SGI Box

      September 5, 2017

      5 Affordable Stage Design Elements

      June 2, 2017

      How David Reveals the Heart of Worship

      May 10, 2023

      The Tension Between Art and Worship

      May 3, 2023

      How to Know You’re Growing Closer to God

      April 26, 2023

      3 Tips and Tricks for Learning to Play with Tracks and In-Ears

      January 23, 2023
    • Spiritual Development
      1. Verse of the Week
      2. View All

      Jeremiah 7:2

      April 25, 2016

      Psalm 100:2

      April 18, 2016

      John 4:23

      November 16, 2015

      Isaiah 25:1

      October 23, 2015

      Easter – Embracing the Stress

      March 9, 2018

      Bridging the Gap (Between Traditional and Modern)

      June 14, 2017

      What I Have Learned and Am Still Learning About the Worship Wars

      December 28, 2016

      The First Time I Ever Led Worship

      December 27, 2016
    • JET Pedals
    • Contact Us
    WorshipGTRWorshipGTR
    For Worship Leaders

    Basics of Music Theory: What Key am I Playing In?

    WorshipGtr TeamBy WorshipGtr TeamAugust 16, 2017No Comments7 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    The basics. These are the foundations of music that many people never get a chance to learn. When I was growing up, I remember our school never had music theory classes. This confused me, because my church always had music programs to teach kids musical instruments and musical theory. Since I was 6 I had workbooks and all that good stuff trying to teach music theory. But for many who were either not in band, or didn’t have a church crazy enough to have music theory classes alongside Sunday School, some of the most basic elements of musical theory have never been a part of the worship training repertoire . This is the first in a series of articles that takes a look at the basics and attempts to explain music theory in an easily digestible way. Bear with me, it is not easy, but I am going to give it a shot. If you have never hear some of the following, it may be a bit foreign, but it may be useful someday.

    First, some terms. Almost all of our Western music is built on primary chords. This is distinctly different than Eastern music (which is why Chinese music, for example, sounds so distinct to us). The primary chords are the I (one), IV (four), and V (five) chords. They are also referred to as the Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant chords respectively. For our purposes, the one, four, and five terminology is what we will use with the Roman Numerals above. Another term is the term “step.” Music (at least as we conceive it) is built on a series of tones we place into a matrix of rules constructed over thousands of years because they constitute what we perceive as pleasing sounds. There are infinite amounts of tones in-between what music theory suggests is correct. But music theory exists because it has structured music in a way that makes it intelligible, reproducible, teachable, and above all, pleasing to the human ear. These “steps” constitute what we call pleasing sounds for various reasons. They are separated into whole and half steps. And when we play music we use a combination of these whole and half steps to produce pleasing music. If we hit the wrong combination, it sounds, well…wrong. One last thing just to complicate things.

    I have always been a visual learner, so a keyboard helps me.  I have placed an arrow at what we call “middle C” (which I will explain why it called c in a bit).

    Starting at middle c, each successive key to the right constitutes a half-step. Middle c is considered 1, the black key to the right is a half, then the next white key is a half etc. Two halves, of course, make a whole. Now in music, the combination of steps that sounds pleasing to us is whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. That is 7 notes. We call it a scale (technically a major scale, but we will avoid this differentiation for the basics). For reasons unknown to me, the musical theory guys of old decided to assign letters to these 7 notes. The first 7 letters of the alphabet a,b,c,d,e,f,g. When you get to the 8th, you begin to repeat the whole process again (this has to do with doubling the frequency and such…don’t worry about it here just know it repeats and the 8th note that is repeated is called an octave). You can see this reflected in the layout of a piano. Whatever note you start on for a scale is the key you are in.  In the key of c (which is why I started at middle c above) you only play the white keys. Therefore, if you count, the keys are laid out in the whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half layout, before the pattern is repeated. This is why the keyboard pattern repeats itself.

    So musical tones are separated into steps that are representative of wave lengths. These are then combined in the whole step half step patter to produce a series of notes that sound pleasing to us. This is a key, and it represented most basically with a scale (The whole step-half-step pattern).

    Now onto the I, IV, V chords. If you start at C (arrowed above) and count with C as 1, the keys would look like this.

    • C=I
    • D=II
    • E=III
    • F=IV
    • G=V
    • A=VI
    • B=VII

    Remember back in the second paragraph I said music was built on primary chords and they are the I, IV, and V chords? In this key, the I chord is C, the IV is F, and the V is G. These constitute the primary chords for this key, which is determined by which note is the root of the I chord…therefore C in this case.

    But when you change the key (the I chord), the pattern stays the same, but is overlaid in a different place on the keyboard. Starting on B this time, and again counting up with the whole-half pattern, we are forced to include the black keys. These keys are either considered sharps or flats of their corresponding letters. For example: the key to the right of the F key, is considered F sharp (F#). Remember the first pattern of the scale is a whole step so the second note must be a black key. If we start on a B, the whole-half pattern reveals the 7 letter scale as this:

    • B=1
    • C#=2
    • D#=3
    • E=4
    • F#=5
    • G#=6
    • A#=7

    Therefore, the I, IV, V chords are B, E, and F#.

    So how do you use this to determine the key in which you are playing? You must memorize the available keys and what notes are in each key. It seems like a lot at first, but once practiced becomes very easy to do. Then, you can determine by listening to the notes you play, vs the notes everyone else is playing in, to determine if you are in sync.

    A visual tool that many musicians have used is called the Circle of Fifths. It looks like this:

    It is essentially a visual representation of what you would find if you graphed out the keys on a piano using the whole-half step pattern. It is represented in 5ths because of the correlation between sharps and flats that are added as you move up  every 5th step.

    Start by assessing the music, and feeling around for the note or chord. I always start with a G chord because so much worship music used to be in G back in the day it is habit. But if it sounds out of place, I work it through a scale by playing A chord, B chord etc. When I find the one that fits, I assume that may be the root chord and I play the presumed IV and V to test the theory. If that doesn’t work, at least I know I have one of the three. And from there I can determine what key I am in. For example; if I play a G chord and it works I only have 3 options from that point. It is either the root (I) chord and that is my key. If it is the IV chords I know (from experience and memorizing the keys) that it is the key of D. If it is the V chord it is the key of C. This process can be used for any chord as long as you know your keys.

    Hopefully that was even remotely helpful. It is a lot to attempt to discuss in an article, and I tried to cover all the basics I could think of. If I did not, please let me know in the comments below. Also, be looking out for the next article where I will attempt to discuss rhythm. It should be a bit easier to digest, but who knows.

    bannerfeatured featuredhome music theory nashville number system
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    WorshipGtr Team
    • Website

    Related Posts

    WorshipGTR Review of Minuendo Lossless Earplugs

    August 15, 2023

    From Hard Rock to a Heart of Worship

    June 2, 2023

    How David Reveals the Heart of Worship

    May 10, 2023

    The Tension Between Art and Worship

    May 3, 2023
    Add A Comment

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Stay in the Loop

    Signup for our monthly newsletter and stay up to date on the latest worship guitar news, resources, gear and more.

    Editors Picks

    Worship Leader’s Review: Alclair Tour Triple Driver In Ear Monitors

    January 29, 2018

    5 Tips for Building Comradery on Your Team

    August 9, 2017

    Simple vs. Complex: My Experience with Analog & Digital Delays

    February 21, 2017

    The Nightmare Before Christmas (Worship)

    December 1, 2016
    Top Reviews
    Advertisement
    WorshipGTR
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    • Welcome to WorshipGTR Magazine!
    • Stay in the Loop
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Write for Us
    © 2023 WorshipGTR

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.