How To Know What Key To Sing Songs In
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 12. 2016
- Many singers show up to auditions or jam sessions and have no idea which key they sing their song in. This is unacceptable., and is easily remedied. Let me teach you how to choose your key, so this situation stops happening.
If you'd like to support me, you can do so at this link: www.paypal.me/AimN
www.aimeenolte.com - Hudba
I recently wrote a song in the Key of G major. I did this because It was comfortable for me to sing. But after reading through jazz music books I saw all the songs that were done in Ab. So I tried it. The transposing was a little tough but I got through it. I cannot believe the difference in the sound of the chords from G major to Ab. It made a world of difference. So beautiful.
Randomly came across this video and I was just thinking what a pleasant personality this person has and then seen the comment from Riku Soikkeli from 3 years ago saying, "....You seem like such a warm-hearted and genuinely a good person that watching you goofing around is like a holiday." Definitely your personality shines through. Liked the content too. Thank you.
I love learning from you. You seem like such a warm-hearted and genuinely a good person that watching you goofing around is like a holiday for the soul (not downplaying your keen professionalism). Thank you for these videos!
Riku Soikkeli
Exactly!
Hi Aimee, I’m so glad I’ve found you. I’m 58 years old and have been singing since I was a little girl. It’s truly my passion. However, I’ve never taken voice lessons and wish I would have when I was little. I want to learn how to control my voice, exercise it properly. I’m also an alto. I love singing blues! It seems to come so naturally for me. Anyhow, I’m going to look at more
of your videos and look up Rick Beato to learn the notes. Thank you so much
I just started playing the Uke and now I've realized I have to learn how to sing. Not tone deaf (officially) but I'm pretty crappy. Of course, the song I chose is in key of A which I cannot hit. Your quick method has given me the courage to carry on and continue with my learning. I'm going to give this a try. Thanks very much. :)
Aimee, you will appreciate this one. I was gigging (on keys) at church with a new worship leader who showed up with song written in Eb, but he wanted it in Bb. The soprano chimed in that she would prefer it up in E (not happening!) and the guitar player suggested G (of course). I'm listening to all this, all the while hoping they don't settle something like B, and look down to realize that besides the key nonsense, the thing is written in 5/4 time. EEK! Ah the joy of being a hired gun :)
+Martin Fredstrom Lolol
Aside from vocal comfort, I often choose a key based on its "personality." Some people insist this is b.s. but I honestly believe that keys have individual personalities and many are instantly recognizable to me aurally: C, D, Dm, E, Eb, F, and G, for example. If I hear a song in these keys, I can tell right away. And when I write songs, I'll often choose a particular key based on the intended emotion of the piece. If I want to write a love song, I'll probably choose D. If I want to write something "sophisticated" in the manner of a standard, I'll probably choose Eb. If I want to write a pop song, I'll go with G or E. If I want to write something melancholy (without going minor), I'll choose F. And some keys annoy me. I dislike B (and not because of the accidentals -- I don't accompany myself) and Ab. Something about them just rubs me the wrong way. I don't have perfect pitch but I do have this weird ability to identify keys and will defend to my dying day the claim that changing key, even just a half step, can completely change the "color" of a song.
Maybe you have some form of synesthesia or something like that? Because to me all keys sound the same. I can recognize the sound of a down tuned guitar, though, but that has to do with the timbre of the instrument, not with the key itself. Playing the song in a different key of course changes the sound a bit since different instruments sound a bit different in different registers. But again, this I think has more to do with the register, not with the key itself (and in this case a half step difference one way or the other wouldn't make a difference).
But yeah, different people have different abilities. To someone with a perfect pitch, and especially to someone with chromesthesia, the key probably matters a lot. To me which key I choose has to do with the instruments. For example if I want to write something for guitar, I pick a key that allows me to use certain chord voicings (so keys like Eb and Ab will most likely not work, unless the guitar is tuned down a half step). Or if there are horns, I will probably not choose a key like A major or E major.
I can't argue that keys don't have personalities because just because I don't hear a difference between different keys doesn't mean this applies to everybody. But I can argue that 12 tone equal temperament has made keys lose the characteristics that they had back when 12 tone equal temperament was not in use.
This sounds SO interesting!
In early classical music, every key had its own code. Especially in baroque opera, like Handel or Vivaldi. The villain sings in a different key than the hero, for instance, and audiences knew that and expected it. Some keys were for arie de furie, others for the soothing arias, or the ones of hope or joy or triumph. Now we only have major and minor, but it used to be much more complex. Earlier than that, they used modes, of which only major and minor scales survived, the old aeolian and mixolydian modes, but there were eight of them, each with its own scale signature for half and whole steps. Worthwhile your research.
*............I believe the reason each key has it’s own “flavor” is because of “equal temperament tuning “. Your not really shifting up and down in frequency with 100% correspondence. Mary McPartland, a famous jazz piano player agrees with you, I heard her discuss this subject one time....*
For you. Of course other folks hear things differently.
I started doing this lately and it's basically the best thing to happen to my singing. I would often sing a song by Bruno Mars and hit all the right notes, but sound like crap. But if I lower the key... so so much better!
The most important thing is to sound good, not have the biggest range or sound technically good!
Vulnerable Growth how would you have adjusted if you started at your lowest note but his high notes was still too high for you?
Still nice to extend your range though, and have more options. Surely the muscle training helps with all your range ?
How do you know if you hit the notes? Using an app on my phone to monitor if I do. But it's kind of annoying when learning a new song, gotta memories all the tones in the song
I love your channel Aimee! You're a natural teacher. This is been a question mine for many years as well, and I'm glad that you did video cast on it. This helps me out tremendously . Thank you, Aimee! Keep up the good work! :-)
Carter Bailey thanks so much for your kind words, Carter. Glad to have an awesome new viewer!
Thank you. I have been a musician for two years and I haven't worked with a lot of other musicians. I have actually only worked in an ensemble once for my first year of Jazz last year. Even as a bassist, I like learning about other instruments and singers. This was really helpful to make me understand more about singers.
You have a beautiful voice and easy to follow teaching style. Thank you for this!!!
The child walking through the door way in the background messed me up for a second thought I was gonna have to report it to nukes top 5 lol 😆 🙃
Thanks so much for these video lessons you put up, vocals have always been my weak point, but your lessons on vocals are working out nicely! Thank you
You are really a good teacher. I love the way you teach. Thank you for sharing with us. 🙏⚘
You are a super real person and therefore learning from you is super easy. Thanks for the lessons
This series of videos is really useful, practical advice from a professional. Fantastic.
Irish Muso thanks so much!
WONDERFUL! Very simple and easy to impliment in my songs. I really was overcomplicating this for myself, thank you.
Great video Aimee! Really great and easy to follow explanations, unlike some of the vids on CZcams. Will have to check out your website
As a singer I have always done that instinctively, choosing my key based on where the lowest note sits comfortably in my voice. Thanks for explaining that.
I love this vid, well done Aimee. This just opened up a lot for me as a good songwriter and singer, and how to help myself lol =)
Amy you are wondrous. Very sound advice. Friendly and efficient.
I love these pointers and your personality 👌. Thanks for tips
You are such a great teacher so relaxing...
What a beautiful voice, Thanks for this video. I've been working on vocals for a couple years now and struggle in different areas.
Thank you Aimee, you helped me find some good keys on some songs that had a huge range. 😀
Great advice!
I'm really glad you mentioned the issue of keys for the instrumentalists. A lot of vocalists who don't play an instrument don't realize just how troublesome some transpositions can be. I am not much of a piano player but from what I've heard (correct me if I'm wrong, please) a whole step transposition is challenging. On a guitar there are some keys that are fairly rough and may be impossible if open string cowboy chord voicings are called for, Eb being a great example, which requires retuning the entire instrument a half step down. Even fairly good players won't be able to play things in a different key totally out the gate.
Vocalists, learn to play an instrument or two. You don't need to be especially good at it, just enough to get some appreciation for what those of us accompanying you do.
Thanks for all the great videos!
Regarding picking the key...I do the same, except I look for the *high* note and place it where I can sing it comfortably and with the appropriate volume, sustain, etc, as it usually is a sort of climax for the song.
I guess I've done this all my life because my problem is reaching the high notes of the songs. Then, thinking about it now, if we base the key on one's low note, we could be wasting a lot of our high range if the song doesn't really demand a lot of range. I believe the song would sound nicer using as high a key as we comfortably could. (at least pop music).
Thanks for this explanation. Excellent video!
You have a beautiful voice. Love your speaking voice as well.
Great info Aimee. I play at a weekly jam that is more like a singalong with perhaps 6 females and 6 or 8 males and often 5 or 6 instruments. As we do hundreds of songs of all genres key choice is always an issue especially with written chord sheets and sometimes opposite genders wanting the lead.
We find that if musicians really don't want to transpose on some, it is played to one lead singer's range and everyone else sucks it up and finds their right harmony note for the melody or chord backup and usually it is really great with 3 or 4 part harmonies popping out of the blue. So in an informal (esp. nonjazz) setting everyone can still usually get happy and learn some backup harmony construction.
But as an observation after many years: I am astonished by the number of good amateur singers and even musicians that really have absolutely no idea of their usable vocal range e.g. maybe A2 to E4 for a guy or F3 to C5 for alto ladies. If a singer knows their range by note name, and then takes a little trouble to learn how to identify a scale tone note (for the highest or lowest note in a melody), they can then quickly know which key is probably their best for a piece without even going to an instrument. They would just name the key after humming through it in a few seconds like you do. But learning scale tone identity seems to be an insurmountable hurdle for so many, so often the band just finds the key by the usual trial and error, with continual frustrations, transposing goofups, and delays. And yes, brass showing up at basically a guitar/mandolin type jam is always an exercise in futility for the uninformed! Oh, and as a guy I usually look for the high note not the low. Appreciate your great advice.
This is brilliantly simple and accordingly clever
Nice, as always. As a guy, I guess I always check on the highest note first. As an acoustic guitarist, some songs sound particularly cool with a certain voicing with some open strings (e.g. Simon & Garfunkel). Fortunately, a capo can help going up. Bet, going down may set the capo so high, that the guitar starts to sound like a mandolin, throwing off the vibe of the song. Then sometimes, you stumble across an even better voicing. I was backing up a female lead singing Adele's Someone Like You in A (I believe that's the original key), which is mostly a piano song, and I had a guitar. But I stumbled across a really nice "piano-like" voicing. Stretching instrumentally to meet the singer can uncover some cool stuff.
Yes I do wonder. Thank you for this video.
Love this. As an example - everything is fine (for the pianist) in Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (3 flats) until you hit bar 16 "So I chaffed" (5 sharps). Back to reading the notes.
At one point she was just having a conversation with me
I like your middle register and love your vibrato! Reminds me of Joanie Sommers who has a very specific and understated vibrato.
I stumbled onto this video five minutes ago and I can't turn it off now. Between your voice and everything else you have going on, I just.. I'm speechless. You're like a mythical siren here to both hypnotize our minds and vaporize our souls. You're so pretty I might cry. Now show this comment to your husband and tell him he's cooking dinner tonight 😆🥰
Great video! Really glad I found this channel.
I tend to do the opposite and find the highest note on the song, and find what note that is relative to the tonic. I then choose a key such that that note is around an F natural (a half-step in either direction, for flexibility), since I know that's as high as I like going. So if I'm singing As Time Goes By, the highest notes is the 2, so I'll put the song in Eb. It's just useful to know what your limits are.
I agree. That's what I always do as well, Stephen. I have a bass range, so I usually go close to as high as I comfortably can. Her method though is as she says, a good quick fix, especially for singers who don't have a big range.
Very helpful thank you for the video and the info
This is great, thank you
You have such a lovely voice!
Yes key is KEY (pardon the pun) to sounding much better! If you strain to hit notes it sounds it. Keep up the encouragement beautiful.😍
Wow! You have an amazing voice!
Beautiful teaching.
*.......Don’t forget about capos for guitar, and the transpose key on the piano. These allow your fingers to play in any key, but get any other of the 12 keys sounds. Also for newbies on guitar and piano, just use trial and error. Play a key that’s easy for you and try to sing in that key. Unfortunately it’s hard to figure out how to shift up and down your voice from the studio (radio play) version of a song. Also if you are having trouble singing a different key than the recorded version then look for covers of the song on CZcams and see if you like the key of those covers and play and sing along to those covers in a different key....*
This is a great technique. Solves so many problems
Thanks! You are entertaining. I will be watching more videos.
Aimee,
I think you are a great teacher and this is a great video containing "sound" advice. (sorry) I do feel that it's helpful to mention that when you were matching the notes to Frank's version of "Fly with Me", you were already an octave higher than he was. Transposing by an octave in either direction might provide satisfactory results as well without changing key at all. My vocal range is in the bass. I will often drop the melody by an octave rather than changing the key. It can sound a lot less energetic than the original, but as someone mentioned above, guitar parts sometimes only sound right in the original key, or moved by no more than a semitone or two. It's a really great video.
Cheers.
~BHH
I really like your way of presenting the video, keep going, nice video
As a vocalist with minimal ability, I can say that those minimal half step changes are often crucial to getting a lot out of something that is so little. If someone else were playing and had trouble, I may would attempt to sing in a different key. I would have to determine all factors involved at the moment. Bb, B and C are sweet spots for many songs I sing and yes, the key of B may be a difficult key in which to perform, but it is sometimes crucial to get the most out of my voice. As an instrumentalist, I can say that some keys are more challenging than others, but I always approach them with the mindset that they are all the same and they can be conquered. I will play where it is needed and I will conquer the piano and not let the piano conquer me.
thank you very much aimee!
Hi, again, Aimee. I've been working on this for a couple weeks now. As a guitarist, I always wrote the guitar part first and if I added a vocal, it had to be in that key. (Well, as a kid, I didn't know what a 'key' was.) And I learned standards in their most common keys. And I just thought I was a bad singer. Still not great by any means, but when I do "All of Me" in Ab instead of C and "Satin Doll" in F instead of C and "Honeysuckle Rose" in D instead of F, they sound okay. Woo hoo!
Mark Rhodes that's a great point. Maybe people don't realize how important it is to find a comfortable key or what that even means. Something to think about.
I assume that the jazz musicians like the flat keys because many of them play Bb and Eb instruments. (I'm sure you know all this, Aimee! But for my own practice and for other readers, here's some info.) So if their music is written in C, it sounds in Bb or in Eb, and to get their music to sound in C, you have to write in in D (two sharps) or A (three sharps). If you want it to be in a sharp key, you're adding sharps to the ones they already have. If you have two sharps (D or Bm), then they have four sharps (E or C#m for Bb instrument) or five sharps (B or G#m for Eb instruments).
you are so great!
Thanks Aimee.
Brilliant!!! Thank you :)
Thanks Aimee 😘
Thank you so much; I really appreciate it. When you get older; your voice goes lower. It is a mess if you can't find the right key.
this was so helpful thank youu
Hi, Aimee. Was looking for advice on this subject yesterday and found your video. Very helpful. Already helping me. (And they said I was beyond help....)
Mark Rhodes i'm so glad! Thanks for letting me know, Mark.
You're welcome, Aimee. I moderate a jazz guitar forum and posted your video there in a thread on this topic. Turns out several people there already knew about you. I also posted your "Day I Put My Real Books Away" video in a thread of its own because that topic---Real Books vs. learning by ear---comes up a lot.
Mark Rhodes I went to see John Clayton last night and when I approached him after the concert to shake his hand and thank him, HE RECOGNIZED me and told me he has SEEN this video. Mind blown! I was on cloud nine all night. Still am. Maybe you made that happen!!
Aimee, that's so cool! May you remain on cloud nine all week!
Gosh your voice is beautiful!
So cool video! Thanks again Aimee! Love your videos!
I do this:
Example with Autum leaves:
1) Know my range, low and high notes comfortable. F3 - C5 (bass/baritone)
2) See the sheet music and do this:
Autum leaves: Original Key : Em
low note: B3
high note: D5
Starts in : E4
3) I choice, i can sing in all tones that are in the range of my low and high voice, so i have option: Dm(more high) - C#m - Cm - Bm - Bbm(more low)
4) I choice Cm (optional) and do this:
Key to sing: Cm
low note :G3
high note : B4
I start in: C4
Optional: I'm looking for youtube videos that are in the same key, and play with my flute in that keys and the rest of they. :D
Kevin Rodriguez Pando - Tácrash itv
Yeah, any singer who is unwilling to move a half-step to accommodate their accompaniment, simply isn't a team player.
I just like your accent. Very soft pronunciation
Lovely
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Whether it makes sense to choose 1) The absolute best key for my voice 2) The key of a famous recording that suits my range 3) The “standard” key, which most often will sound wrong stylistically 4) A key that suits my voice and is in a “relative” key to the standard key. I’ve been sticking to 4 lately.
great info
2:28 "come fly with me, let's fly lets fly away" is right where I like to sing & tune into.
I'm working on a song now, but I go for high sparkly chorus. I can go down easily an octive & a bit, below middle C (so I'll be safe down there) but I don't sing down there, which to me sounds very deep.
The partly written song is a bit like the soprano part of Time To Say Goodbye, the part Engligh version of the Italian hit Con Te Partiro. Who my teacher (of many years ago) recorded (Johnathan Welch). My song will be in English though. It's about a lady who, while suffeing depression who wrote a song this year.
She wasn't well enough to perform it, so I did, @ our choirs prformences. But she made the last performance & we were so proud.
My song is really about anybody who uses music as therapy, to make life just a liddle bit better.
Very interesting talk, Aimee. I'll start humming or singing a tune a cappella; when I get to the piano, 9 times out of 10 the song is in the key of F or Bb. So maybe instinctively the selected key in our heads is something we can handle on low or high side.
Sinatra was a bass voice, seems like much of his selections in Ab - Pennies From Heaven, my fave is Bing Crosby.in ballad form.
too good! Thanks!!
I have an admission to make. If a vocalist wants to sing a song in B natural, I'll whisper to the bass player to make it B flat... BUT I WON'T TELL THE VOCALIST. (Let's keep this to ourselves, shall we? I could lose my union card.)
Richard Adamson I'll never tell! 😂🙌🏼
haha, just check if the singer has perfect pitch first!
Makes sense. They'll figure it out😂
Why would you do that?
Thats what I was going to say.. You'll find out real quick! But seriously, who would be such a diva to demand B?! only someone who has never played an instrument?
Thank you
I've just found the American Nigella Lawson. Aimee is to music what Nigella is to cooking.
very interesting informative and helpful.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas Aimee. I enjoy listening to your take on music and different ways to play.
Asher Mandrake you're welcome, Asher! Thanks for watching.
Nice.. Sound advise may work for some but that's the beauty of music..
Perfect 👍👍👍
You are great.
For what the musicians like playing, it depends a lots on the instrument. Guitarists like E. Pianists like C. Horns like Bb.
I'd also suggest that you try not just the low note but the high note. That will give you a range of keys you can sing it in which is really useful for putting together a set that doesn't all sound the same. Just be careful about going with the extremes...
I've got a couple deep songs I can only sing when I've got a cold and a a couple high songs I can only sing when I am warmed up. Personally I like singing in Bb. It's the only key that I can sing most melodies either high or low. There are some good apps that will transpose the songs on the fly for you so you can sing along with them even if the original key doesn't work for you.
nacoran *.....Don’t forget about capos for guitars, and the transpose key on a piano....Thus on either instrument you can play Key of “E-shape”, but actually play in any key....*
Yeah, but despite capos you'll probably find more guitar players playing in E than anything else. I'm a diatonic harmonica player, so when I go to grab a harp those are the first ones I try when I'm playing along with a song on the radio and I don't want to take the time to look it up. If I'm watching a video or playing live I look for the capos if I can't just ask someone. If I'm trying to work it out on my own my next step if that's not right is to try to decide how close it is to see how many steps around the circle of fifths I need to jump.
Pretty voice
Hey Aimee, awesome video, really helpful stuff. But what if you aren't singing a song and just want to warm up your voice? I've been using a tuner when I try to get warmed up, but I wonder if I should be setting it to a certain key. I'm trying to get into singing and all that. Oh and do you have perfect pitch?
Look up Sara Leib, My Favorite Vocal Warmup on CZcams. She will help you with this! :) Also, I have a video called Developing Perfect Pitch that answers your question! ;)
Band in a Box can be helpful for finding key, because it will play it in any key. But you do need to know the chords to type them in. Actually iRealPro will do that also, but it's have to type into iRealPro than into BinB
I love your voice
Oh my God!!!!!!!! turn around... there's someone in the house. PS. thank you for the lesson.
Hi, If I feel more confortable singing with a capo on the second space of a uke, dices It determines the key I should be singing on?
i am a musician of 33 yrs..I usually tell them if you can hit the highest note..or sing the highest note of the song and if you cannot sing it/or its too high, then thats not the key for your voice.
Your voice is so nice. Vibrato❤️❤️🎶
Found it very interesting cheers 🍻
"The man key" LOL
Hi Aimee. Need some advice: I play in a ukulele band and most of the singers are altos. However, we play singalongs at public events, so what key and/or note range should we be shooting for? Do we shoot for our altos' key so we can sing strongly or try to sing in the public's range?
Is that house where they filmed Insidious? Or is it just where the inspiration came from?
your voice is wonderful and your presencee so appealing
I was trying to sing the scales earlier while listening to a pitch training video (for training the ears), but I had my tuner in my hand and noticed that my “do, re, mi” seemed to be coming out as G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G instead of the C key that I was listening to. So would that mean that I naturally sing in a key of G? Or, rather, G-flat perhaps, since I sing low-alto?
Nice Aimee!
So i sang Ride by Lana Del Rey and I realised that whenever she sings high i sound too high and cant hit higher notes and the same with her deep voice, i realised that my natural key is the best but then i lose all that raspyness that lana has in studio version ( she sings live quite normal - no raspyness or super deep voice), what im asking is if i expand my range lover about A2 i think, will it still be a good idea cause now i can sing pretty good at g3 i think. idk if i should adapt or sing in my own way, and the fact that studio version is way different thatn live (propably heavily edited) sounds weird to me.
Beauty, talent and humour in one package - wow!
Wow thank u
hi ihave somes songs on youtube iwont to know if iam singing with tension in my voice
Which link can I click on to get the unison chord pack? Will it work with Garageband?
Hi Aimee, I am a rank amateur - playing guitar in a band of 25 old folks. My voice is BASS with a limited range say A2 - C4. (100Hz - 270Hz.) My question is - If the band wants to play song X in Key Y - is it possible that I just can't SING that particular song with them....the Key selected just doesn't fit my vocal range?