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Me playing Coldplay songs on the piano. Comments


Kacey

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I got a bit of a shock when, on the X&Y sheet music, the song was in the key of A! i thought the chords fitted perfectly to G!

 

is it okay to have Em chord in the key of A? (there's no G note in A key, only G#-thats way E major in A key)

I know Keys are only guidlines but does it sound okay musically?

 

Hi DeusEx

Im interestd to hear that your X & Y sheet music also said it started in the key of A..... Is this like an officially published book? Id since started to think the start is in the key of D... D makes more sense..... apart from main progression there is also the brief other part at the very start (& elsewhere) where there's piano melody too..... this is: A G F"M This chord progression wouldnt really be in the key of A& if it was it wouldnt sound like a nice natural progession downwards asit doesin the song.

 

To answer your question: Its the best question to ask in relation to the topic... Normally in the key of A the E chord would be chord V {the A chord is chord I}..... like chord I & IV, chord V is a primary chord & therefore is major not minor. However sometimes this rule can be reversed for certain effect - but chord V & I are not usually used for this... usually chords II, III, IV or IV might be reversed......

 

Bottom line when determining keys - the key you are in is the one that sounds "like home" - like the other chords want to go home to that chord.

 

So yeah I wonder if your transcription is by professional dudes? Im only an amatuer but my mom is a piano teacher & it was her that suggseted its in D and then I believed she was right .

 

Kasey - its hard to getyour head around this chord theory stuff but its worth it. I got a book called "The Songwriting Sourcebook" by Rikky Rooksby. It took time to work through but wasnt too hard to digest.

 

Cheers......

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Speed of sound

 

Yeah it's the official X&Y book' date=' however the sheet music is just published by guys is suits in officies yeah? I mean the bands dont like write them?[/quote']

 

Hi, ah it is an official book..... those dudes in the suits are usually right as they are professional transcribers....

 

I'd be interested to see the music to see if they make any indications on the music that the key is changing....If you're interesteed you could check it out yourself....

IE: (1) The key signature (written at far left at startof each line) may change throughout the song.... from 3 sharps to 2 or 1 sharp..... { indicating key changes from A to D to G.....or (2) the music may feature "accidental" marks alongside a sharp or flat that has been added in..... to indicate that a note must espcially be sharpened here as in that key signature it would normally not be sharp.... this ondicates the sound of the key is steppiong outside of the originally notated key.

 

I bet the music features one of the two points above.

 

 

After more reflection since the first chord of the song is A major you could say that sets the tonality (or the sound of the key) as being in A..... but as soon as they get to the first D chord ( A Em Em D) - the 4th chord ofthe song) - the tonality starts to sound like D. Later they make it sound like its in D (when the song stops dead & pauses on the D chord) and then later like its in G .....

 

This song is the most harmonically ambiguous song Ive ever seen - and Ive looked at a lot of famous songs. Queen's "Bohemium Rhapsody" may change key 4 times but they are more obvious changes.... "Speed of Sound" is more subtle but the efffect of the changes are very important to the song. Its so subtle someone on this forum describedthis song as very simple when in fact theharmony underlying it is very complex.

 

Interesting stuff.

 

Yo Petra - whatdid you mean the music or the sheeetmusic is vague...... ? Just curious....

 

Cheers.

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