Analizing the key tonality

I've been looking for a good guide on this but couldn't find one anywhere.
I'm tabbing songs, and I
d like to be able to figure out their key, but I have no idea how to do that, can anyone give me pointers?
Also, hat about songs like Flight of the Bumble Bee, that are mostly chromatic, how do you figure out the key then?

though flight has tons of chromatic inflections, it very much has a key....you could look up sheet music for that to find the key...i'm sure any store that has sheet music will have it. it was originally composed for the violin which is a C instrument and so is guitar so you wouldn't have to worry about transposing it or anything...maybe changing the octaves....i'm not sure. it might also be written in a different clef like alto or soprano clef instead of treble.....but i doubt that, violin normally stays with treble.

for finding keys, you have to basically just use logic and the theory you know to figure it out. there's this workbook series called master theory...it's a good starting point to familiarize yourself with the keys and all.

Originally Posted by: tehplatypus
for finding keys, you have to basically just use logic and the theory you know to figure it out.

Yeah I get that part, I'm just not sure how it's done in practice...
Let's take the song I'm tabbing: Summer Dying Fast by Cradle of Filth..
Most of it is chromatic D-C#-C-B progressions..
C-9-10-9-10-9-9-10-9-7-6
G-7-7--7-6--6-5--5-5-4-4
And
C-9-8-7-8-
G-7-6-5-6-
(everything's tremelo picked).
What do I make out of this?

There's a lead part that goes:
D-A-A#-A-G-D-D#-D
Which is the only normal progression except for the solo, and another riff that's also chromatic:
G-2-555-4-3--2-555-4-6
D-0-333-2-1--0-333-2-4

What do I make out of all this?

Originally Posted by: LordLuziferYeah I get that part, I'm just not sure how it's done in practice...
Let's take the song I'm tabbing: Summer Dying Fast by Cradle of Filth..
Most of it is chromatic D-C#-C-B progressions..
C-9-10-9-10-9-9-10-9-7-6
G-7-7--7-6--6-5--5-5-4-4
And
C-9-8-7-8-
G-7-6-5-6-
(everything's tremelo picked).
What do I make out of this?

There's a lead part that goes:
D-A-A#-A-G-D-D#-D
Which is the only normal progression except for the solo, and another riff that's also chromatic:
G-2-555-4-3--2-555-4-6
D-0-333-2-1--0-333-2-4

What do I make out of all this?

umm, can you explain to me your tabbing method? what's C and G? is that the open strings detuned or something?[/never does drop tunings]

I think it's in D minor and A minor. Each sequence being repeated in the two keys. The sheet music I have seen is written without key, however the chords played behind the chromatic phrase relect those two keys.

Yes the song is down tuned a whole step, thus the 5th string is C and 4th a G.
noticingthemistake: by 'the chords' were you referring to the keyboard parts? Can I see that it's in these two keys without them (I haven't begun tabbing them yet)? If so, how? What gives it away?

Originally Posted by: LordLuzifernoticingthemistake: by 'the chords' were you referring to the keyboard parts?

Yeah.

Can I see that it's in these two keys without them (I haven't begun tabbing them yet)? If so, how? What gives it away?

The part most people aspire to play is the chromatic runs. The harmony of the guitar would be pretty stupid obviously. Just looking at that would led you to see the chromatic run starts on E and ends on A. So it's a chromatic scale in A. The last note always being the key note.

You can here the shifts in the key center if you listen to the harmony. The beginning in A minor, the first chord actually being Emajor (V of Am). When you here the harmony repeating the same pattern, you can also hear a shift in key, which is in D minor. That's what gives it away. However if you were to look at the actually score it would be hard to see since the whole score is filled with chromatic tones (the harmony too). The last chord played in the whole piece is an A minor chord. In classical music, the last chord is always the tonic.