HELLO THIS IS MY FIRST POSTING ON THIS SITE SO IF I POST WRONG I HOPE YOULL FORGIVE ME. I PLAY GUITAR BY EAR, AND HAVE BEEN TRYING TO LEARN WALK THIS WAY. WITH THE HELP OF U TUBE I LEARNED THE RIFF AND CHORS FOR THE VERSE AND CHORUS. THE RIFF SOUNDS TO MY EAR LIKE IT STARTS IN E AND ENDS IN A POWER CHORD. BUT THE VERSE IS IN C7TH AND THE CHORUS IS IN C13 AND F7TH? WHEN I TRY TO GO BACK TO THE INTRO RIFF IT DOSENT SOUND RIGHT! TO MY EAR THE VERSE SHOULD BE DONE IN SONG IS IN THE KEY OF E. PLEASE HELP ME TO HEAR WHAT I.M MISSING! YOUR HELP WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED! IT DRIVING ME TO DISTRACTION I AM QUESTIONING MY EAR! :( THANK U VERY MUCH :D
Welcome to the party - don't write in block caps, it's bad net etiquette.
The main riff is chromatic and the chord at the end is A5, so tonally it's ambiguous. It could be in E, based on the 6th and 4th string Es in the first bar but the A5 has quite a potent sound at that point.
The chorus uses F7 and C7 according to what I've just looked up on guitaretab.com - C7 is a chord in the key of F and F7 is in the key of Bb, so you pays your money and takes your choices on that one - and there's a C13 in the verse. C13 is a dominant extension, based on C7 so again it could easily be in F at that point.
If we say the main riff is in E and the verse and chorus in F (allowing for the F7 being a blues-style use of the tonic 7th) then you have a very simple movement from one key to another between the riff and the vocal.
There's a danger of reading too much into key structures in this kind of material. A lot of stuff you hear on the radio sounds great but wouldn't pass muster in a classical music style analysis. Just enjoy the song and accept you probably know more about music theory than Joe Perry.
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
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Welcome Fartyman. ^ Hows that for help?
Well done, Allen. A real class job.
Thank u very much Allen! :D I didnt know what ambiguous meant , so i looked it up . means open to interpretation? I of course want to play it right by the book, but if i do it doesnt sound right. Oh and thanks for the heads up with block letters! there again i,m not sure what a block letter is? I figure it must be capital letters, so as u can see i stopped that! hope i am right! thanks for the quick reply!! :D hope u have a great weekend! kepp on pickin and a grinnin :D
Hi and welcome to Guitar Noise
"Ambiguous" in this case (concerning the A5 power chord that ends the intro riff) (or any power chord for that matter) means that the tonality is neither major nor minor. Likewise the part of the intro riff that centers around the E5 (or E power chord, if you will) is also tonally ambiguous. So both could be considered minors and both Em and Am are part of the key of C, which is what the verses and choruses pretty much are in terms of tonality.
That A5 is also used to set up going back into the intro riff. You'll notice if you listen that between the chorus and starting up on the riff again there is a short guitar solo beginning with the line "...just give me a kiss..." (played pretty much in the C blues scale, by the way) that then ends with a hit of the A5 right on the line "...like this..." which then sets up the guitar for the E5 / A5 introduction riff again. This same thing happens with the solo after the final chorus.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that whatever note you are hearing is the root chord. E certainly is the root of E, but it's also the fifth in A, Am or A5 and it's the third of C. Also, it's important to know that many songs modulate, or temporarily change keys. When that is the case, the transitions will sometimes sound strange if you're not used to it.
Alan did a great job of explaining things, but I hope this helps, too. Again, welcome to Guitar Noise. You may not have looked around at the rest of the website but we've more than a thousand articles on all sorts of topics here, particularly when it comes to theory and soloing. You might find some help in those as well.
Looking forward to seeing you around on the boards.
Peace
David
Thank u very much David! Your explanation was so helpful! This song had me going! Hope u have a great week! Keep on pickin and a grinnin :D :note1: :note2:
