Changing Keys

I am working on changing keys in a song I'm writing. To get some ideas on how to do this, I have been looking at some songs that do it, and I'm a little stumped. In Born to Run, Springsteen plays in E for a while, and then in the bridge before he changes to F, he is playing D, G, A, and C chords. None of those except A actually fit into the key of E. How does that work?

There are tricks to switching keys within a song. There are many ideas that people have explored and written in text books to explain how to do this. However, most of the time it is the songwriters' ears that really make the change work. Where as some artists have a more intellectual approach (Beatles, Steely Dan, etc), the vast majority use their ears and write not knowing what key they are playing in or what chords really go together (by way of knowing theory.) Their honestly isn't a right or wrong way to go about it. Springsteen I am assuming simply uses his ears and heart to write his songs, and in that confidence makes music that comes across very authentic when theory wise it may seem a little confusing.

Theory isn't meant to run your life, but to give you a medium to communicate with other musicians. Write what you think sounds good, even if it doesn't always line up in one key.

From my own songwriting perspective:

The song is in E. You've basically got E, A, D with some inversions and bass movement.

But after the sax solo, there is a psychedelic section (D - G - A - C) -- all major chords -- which takes you to another world with unexpected magical-sounding modulations. Where is it going? The whole point of it is to tonally confuse you, build suspense, and to get away from the main key of the song for a bit. That's the whole point of a bridge. We're not in the same world we were in, and where are we going next? Where is the house going to land? Let's find out!

So, it just so happens that the C at the end of that series of major chords (D - G - A - C), if you think of C as a V, resolves to: F! F is also half a step higher than E, which gives you a rising feeling, hearing the chorus played back higher than it originally was. Aha! Exciting.

Then there's the chromatic thing moving down, with the whole band playing it in unison, dropping you back off in the original key of E. This is a common trick. Anders actually covered this same type of idea recently in a GuitarTricks Channel video on YouTube. (Add random chromatics to get from one place to another.)

The point of all of this is: you decide where you are (Key of E), where you're going to go (key of F) and why (to take it up higher as a climax and make it more exciting). Then you fill in the space, connect the dots (by using modulations, chromatics). It's just all tension and release. So that doesn't just answer the "How" but also the "Why."

Someone else might have a different take on this, but in reducing the song down to essentials, that's pretty much what you've got.

-Carl.

That helped a lot. I'm fascinated in songs that can take you on that kind of a ride, so I'll use your answers and see what I can come up with. Thanks again.

Here are two things that I find useful in this type of songwriting approach. These are two types of creative ideas that really help make some interesting movements within your songs;

Secondary Dominants
Secondary Dominants are dominant 7th chords that are not part of the key you are playing in, but create a nice movement to a chord that is. You can also use these to change keys in a song. For example, in the key of C; G7 is your V chord. G7 leads you C. Plain and simple. However, say an A7 appears. What context does that have? Seeing as that dominant 7th chords can lead you to either major or minor chords, the A7 can take us to Emi; which is in the key of C. But, we can also go to that A7 chord and have it take us E major. There we have a change in key that sounds natural and intentional. You can also just stick dominant 7th chords in there and have them not lead to where they are supposed to go. This is dependent on you and your taste. However, it is all about intention and confidence. If your ears truly think it sounds good, you will play like that and it will. Try using secondary dominants as a way to change keys.

Diminished 7th chords
Try and stay with me here. Diminished 7th chords consist of 4 notes; the root, b3, b5, and bb7 of a chord. Let's use Gdim.7 as an example. Those notes are:

G, Bb, Db, E

Now within that chord, we have 4 different tri-tones (the 3rd and b7th of a 7th chord.) In this case, a Gdim.7 chord can be used as a substitute for any of these 4 dominant 7th chords;

G and Db = Eb7
Bb (A#) and E = F#7
Db (C#) and G = A7
E and Bb = C7

Now, what keys do these all lead too? Here is how that pans out;

Eb7 = V chord of Ab
F#7 = V chord of B
A7 = V chord of D
C7 = V chord of F

Now you have four keys that all have a common thread. Ab, B, D, and F now have something in common. You will find when you break this down that you have nearly every possible major, minor, and diminished triad available to you. Therefore, you have now opened up your world of possibilities in songwriting.

However you want to approach it, those are a few techniques that hopefully are not too complicated and might work for you. Let me know if you grasp this OK. I know it's a little crazy.

Good luck! :o

That does make sense, and it turns out I have been about 90% there in a couple songs I have written already. I used the dim. chords, but never realized what a short leap it is to go from there into another key. Thanks a lot.

Great! Glad you are already using these techniques. I stumbled across the diminished technique a while ago, and really have tried to put it into motion.

Best of luck on your creative pursuits, and feel free to post any more questions.....

Great thread. I like that idea too Douglas. I'll be experimenting with it for sure.

Originally Posted by: Douglas Showalter
Diminished 7th chords
Try and stay with me here. Diminished 7th chords consist of 4 notes; the root, b3, b5, and bb7 of a chord. Let's use Gdim.7 as an example. Those notes are:

G, Bb, Db, E

Now within that chord, we have 4 different tri-tones (the 3rd and b7th of a 7th chord.) In this case, a Gdim.7 chord can be used as a substitute for any of these 4 dominant 7th chords;

G and Db = Eb7
Bb (A#) and E = F#7
Db (C#) and G = A7
E and Bb = C7

Now, what keys do these all lead too? Here is how that pans out;

Eb7 = V chord of Ab
F#7 = V chord of B
A7 = V chord of D
C7 = V chord of F

Now you have four keys that all have a common thread. Ab, B, D, and F now have something in common. You will find when you break this down that you have nearly every possible major, minor, and diminished triad available to you. Therefore, you have now opened up your world of possibilities in songwriting.

However you want to approach it, those are a few techniques that hopefully are not too complicated and might work for you. Let me know if you grasp this OK. I know it's a little crazy.

Good luck! :o

Let me make a slight correction to this statement. It was recently brought to my attention that I explained this concept a bit incorrectly so let me make an adjustment.

When spelling a Dim.7th chord, the following notes apply;

1, b3, b5, bb7

That being said, you want to make sure when spelling out this chord that you name everything harmonically correct. In my example, I used a G dim7 chord as my reference. I spelled it like so ;

G, Bb, Db, E

The correct spelling is actually:

G, Bb, Db, Fbb

This being the case because this is how it would read on the staff, and that is ultimately what dominates how we name notes in music. E and Fbb are the same note, but in the context of this chord Fbb is what is harmonically correct. I apologize for this mistake and hope this clears this up a little bit. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and hopefully this concept benefits those reading this forum.

Thanks! :eek:

nice conversation...I've never really looked at the technical side of crafting progressions...usually just rely on the ear...but knowing these things could definitely take your song somewhere that your ear may have simply missed...