Saddest and Happiest key

well key, I'd say Cmaj is the happiest, but my criteria is the scale, the happiest scale is the maj pentatonic, and I think the phrygian mode can be pretty sad sometimes

Is this a post for Spinal Tap quotes?

Amin is pretty well known as the romantic key, isn't it?

And since romance almost always sstarts off happy but usually turns ugly, then Amin could in fact be thought of as the key of multi-personalities. Happy...Pissed off...Hmmmm. At least in my romantic history it would! :lol:

Dmin is sad for me because it always makes me think of Randy Rhoades playing the song Mr. Crowley. Sad that it was such a great song and that he was gone so soon afterwards.

How about the most irritating key? That's easy. Anything in any key sung by William Hung. Not that he sings in the key that the song is being played anyway.

Ah - Am has that Spanish feel to it.

D gets my vote for the uplifting key of the year award

Em for the miserable end of the scale (sic)

Best,

A :-)

How about the most irritating key? That's easy. Anything in any key sung by William Hung. Not that he sings in the key that the song is being played anyway.

Skeleton key.

I think C minor sounds really sad and it seems to have alot of feel. But then again C major is pretty bright.

Happiest = A Lydian
Saddest = Eb Aeolian

Eb Aeolian is what many many sad songs and funeral marches are written in.

well, since I transcribed the "Ode to Joy" theme to my guitar, I've decided that Cmaj's crown will not be broken

ode to joy is part of the fourth movement of beethoven's 9th symphony... which is in D minor.. i dont know the 9th inside out but i know its in D minor.. and what i can guess from beethoven he doesnt really do unexpected things.. the only major i think he would use would be D major (tonic major) or F major (relative major)

First of all, no specific key(in terms of root note) shows hapiness or sadness. In other words, no major scale sounds happier than any other major scale(in theory). That would be like saying a B sounds better than C. No, you cannot judge a scale or notes quality out of context. Now, what throws most people off is that the human ear is prone to certain things. For example, for whatever reason, the human ear likes to hear flats, rather than sharps. Also, the main reason things are written in specific keys is becuase different instruments are built with a certain octave placement in mind. For example, the oboe never goes above high c, and rarely below low B. The guitar on the other hand, can do much more than that. You get into trouble when you start detuning instruments in to octave placements they are not designed to be in. That's why many recording engineers have trouble mixing and recording all these nu metal bands, they tune everything down to Bb, when the guitar is supposed to be tuned to e.

So, in my oppinion. the saddest and happiest TYPES of scales are as follows.

hapiest-major pentatonic
saddest-5th mode of natural minor(also called the spanish or gypsy scale)
also, whole tone scales sound pretty depressing to me.

I remember when I was in school... I read a 19th theory work that attached emotions to various keys. I can't recall the writer, but I remember thinking it was a lot of hooey at the time.

Apparently, the book I read wasn't the only one - there's a Yale website that looks at characteristics of musical keys by various writers and theories.

I also recall that some conductors would have an orchestra tune to a non-standard (other than A=440) pitch to better reflect the 'harmonic structure of the universe'... I personally think it's the musical version of UFO hunting, but to each their own :)

Hey, that link said that C major was 'Gay & Warlike'.

Can it be both at the same time?

Which is it? Gay? or Warlike?

Yeeeeeoww, I'm lost now! :lol:

At the time that was written, gay meant "happy".

So, the major scale sounds both happy and aggressive.