the notes don't sound right o.O

How can I figure out if a songs in a Major or Minor key just by listening to it?

Most likely you are singing out of key. When your singing, or even humming and you get to a part that sounds funny keep strumming that chord and raise/lower your tone untill it sound right with the guitar.

I figured it out. But yea, it wasn't out of key, but I was singing a note that my ear thought was higher, but it was really lower. It took me like an hour to find that one note xD. But next cuz I don't want to post a new topic, how do you tell if a song is in a minor or major key? I mean just by listening to it

Hrmm.. I find that the melody I come up with on the guitar by itself is generally different to the one I come up with when I sing-a-long with the rhythm. I like to think of it as the singer's melody as compared with the musician's melody. You should be able to work out the "structural tones" no matter what the type of melody.

The structural tones are those notes that HAVE to be there. These structural tones usually fall on a dominant beat of a measure. All the other notes in between are just there for colour and to smooth out the melody.

Let's take the first line of Twinkle Twinkle:

Twink-le Twink-le Litt-le Star
C C G G A A G


The first line is how it's traditionally sung and taught to children. You could just play the C once and let it sound until you need to change to the G, then let the G sound until you change to the A and so on.. these are the Structural Tones of this melody.

Now to spice it up a little more:

Twink-le Twink-le Li-i-it-le Star
C C G G A B C B G


This is a very simple example of course.. but you can see that when I got to "Little" I naturally wanted to embellish it by adding a couple of extra notes in there. However, the structure of the melody is still intact... this is how you play a cover song in your own style.. you maintain the structure of the song but spice it up with your own style.

hrmm I can't get the notes to match up with the lyrics there.. I've edited it a couple of times but it just makes it worse. Let me know if it's too confusing.

Thanks light. But I figured it out, but I will remember that next time I need to figure out my melody. But my next question is how can you tell if a song is in minor or major by ear?

Originally Posted by: oib111Thanks light. But I figured it out, but I will remember that next time I need to figure out my melody. But my next question is how can you tell if a song is in minor or major by ear?

The greatest influence that I can recommend, whether you like them or not (Doesn't Matter), is the Beatles...Hands Down. Regardless of your style in music, grab a handful of Beatles songs to learn from. It will change the way that you hear yourself play music. Many claim that Hendrix may have been the greatest guitarist that ever lived. So be it, He was Great.... I claim that John Lennon may have been the Greatest Musician that ever lived.....He changed the face of music. McCartney's creative talents shined with Lennon, but His solo career lacked the Magic, IMO (still a great songwriter though, with all that experience)....Lennon had songwriting within his soul. His ability to place an Incongruent message within a song at the right moment was brilliant (By adding a Major Chord sequence to a minor progression and enhance from sadness to happiness in just one word of the Lyrics he felt was necessary).
Here are a couple of notable songs from the Beatles that you can start listening and hearing what it is they do best... One thing you can recognize with many of their songs is; If the Lyrics sound somewhat saddened, they most likely are playing in minor....Happy and upbeat, Major.
1. A Day In The Life.........Song starts off minor....then comes an instrumental interlude and the happy part goes Major,,,,,Then the song finishes minor.
2. I Feel Fine..............Major and upbeat....................
Listen to how the Beatles use Vocals to dictate many of the songs characteristics.

The Beatles.. definitely.. another good example of Major-minor is in their song "We Can Work It Out".. The song was great already and then John decided to add a minor section to contrast with the happy Major section, the opening line of the bridge starts with "Life is very short and there's no time.."

When I talk about Music Appreciation to people, they sometimes think I simply mean listening to music.. or listening to music I wouldn't normally listen to. That is partly true.. but what I am really doing is ACTIVELY listening. Most people just passively listen to the music, even if they are singing along themselves. Actively listening to a song means that you are looking for all the different parts that make up the song. It can be very technical, very spiritual/meditative or a combination of the two.. but it definitely isn't just listening to a song for the pure enjoyment of listening to a song.

When you listen to artists, such as The Beatles, listen to the song passively for the first couple of times you have heard it.. and then from that point forward, actively listen to it and get as much as you can from it.