Ok, I'm starting to understand keys, scales, and how they go together (I think) Let's take a really simple song, and one of my favorites - Territorial pissings by Nirvana. Ok, the first chord is A5, and the rootnote of that chord is A, so therefore the key is A.. right?
So if the key is A, and say I wanted to create my own solo for that song, how do I determine what scales I should use?
Thanks.
NYN
I might be going about this the completely the wrong way, im not quite 100% sure I know what I'm doing :P
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One powerchord is not always the best way to determine the key. That could be A major or A minor, or it could be a chord other than the I of the key.
But if you determine for sure the key is A major, then you have many options. You can solo in the A major scale, use the F# minor (the relative minor) pentatonic, or many others but the two here are probably the most common.
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There are all sorts of things involved in determining the key, but that is a good start. You should have a look at the other chords that are being played.
Many rock songs have a simple I-IV-V progression, in A it would be A-D-E - the quality of those intervals will be different, depending on whether the key is A maj or A min. A major will, generally, follow the sequence Amaj, Bmin, C#min, Dmaj, Emaj, F#min, G#dim, so the I-IV-V would be Amaj, Dmaj, Emaj, but any of those chords would fit into an Amajor key.
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I think this song is written around the D minor pentatonic using Major chords -> A F & D,not power chords.You could use the D minor pentatonic to solo over those chords.
I'm just hearing the song in my head and going by memory here so I could be wrong,but I doubt I am...
I should note that I've never even attempted to learn this song before.I'm totally going on memory and hearing the song in my head.I don't even own the CD at the moment or a recording of it so there's no way I could even check and verify this.
The funny thing about rock and roll is that even if the song is A maj, you can still solo around the A minor pentatonic.
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general thoughts on studying rock and roll tonality is..
either go to relative mode, or tonic major/minor, usually pentatonic.. no restrictions though..
rock and roll songs dont really go through modulations.. its usually in an interlude it will use another key.
