4 Inventive Key Changes in Pop Music

when you think of a key change in pop music you probably think about something like this [Applause] a big dramatic shift up for the last chorus probably a semitone a tone or a minor third it's the classic trick right how do you make the chorus sound interesting again for the Lascaux even though we've already heard it about two or three times you change key but this doesn't have to be the only type of key change in pop music some of the best key changes in pop music are so well crafted so well woven into the fabric of the song that they're hidden in plain sight so today I'm going to look at four examples of incredibly well-crafted key changes in pop music starting with so Billy Jones uptown girl starts quite simply and diatonically in the key of E major but when we hit the pre-chorus and suddenly jump up into the key of C mate see [Music] so the way that Billy Joel has modulated here is called chromatic modulation this is taken the B chord is the five chord in the key of E and sort of slid up to the new key of C major because those two chords are only a semitone apart it works really smoothly so now that we're in C major we get a standard one six two five progression and this helps establish that new key Center but just then we modulate again this time with a two five one perfect angles into the key eight major once in a major we almost get another one six two five progression but this time instead of the five chord which would have been e the B minor turns into a B major instead and acts as the five chord for our new key our modulation back to the original key of E major so the modulation here back to E major is hit home by the vocal melody as well when we have the B minor chord the vocal melody is revolving around D D natural but then as it turns into a major chord the vocal melody starts using D sharp instead which helps prepare us for the move the E major and this D sharp is the leading tone in E major so it guides us up really nicely into E major for that chorus so that's it a verse in E major a pre-chorus that went through C major and a major that modulated back to E major just in time for the chorus and that's what I think is so exciting about this song is that every single chorus we modulate up into it unlike the conventional key change where you just modulate for the last chorus uptown girl gets to modulate every single chorus without ever getting any higher now I don't think you can do a video about key changes in pop music without talking about the Beatles so the Beatles song I'm gonna talk about today is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds so Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds begins in a major but at the end of the verse we get our first modulation into the pre-course where this D minor chord which we've had throughout the rest acts as a pivot chord taking us into the new key of B flat major so pivot chord modulation which is what's going on here is when you have a core that works in both the original key and the new key and you use it to bridge the gap between the two and then lucy in the sky with diamonds this pivot chord modulation is underpinned as well by putting a C in the base of one of those D minor chords which creates this line walking down the D minor C landing in the new key of b-flat and the C helps prepare us for B flat because C natural doesn't appear in the original key of a major but does appear in the new key of B flat so it gets our ears ready for a new key so now in the key of B flat major we get this progression we get B flat which is the one chord C which is the major version of the two chord and this C works as a secondary dominant chords taking us to the next chord F which is the five chord in the key and the F chord takes us back to the root so this progression feels very much in at this point but then we get the C major again and this time it's not followed by F major and therefore is not really functioning as a secondary dominant so this time the C major chord is actually pulling us sort of away from the key of B flat major and this is doubled down on by the next chord G major which is also not in B flat major so now we're really starting to feel that we're not in B flat major anymore then to really hit this home the melody which is just impending a D at this point moves down to the B natural so we're definitely not in B flat now for getting a B natural instead of a B flat and then we finally reached this D major chord which is also not in B flat and it actually almost feels like we're in D mixolydian at this point I guess because we've had that D pedaled throughout the melody all the way through the last few bars but we're not in D mixolydian and we learn this just as the chorus kicks in and the chorus kicks in with a one four five progression in G major which is repeated three times so this really hits home that we're now in the key of G major and this would explain that mixolydian field we had before because D mixolydian has all the same notes as G major so that's what we were feeling there we're feeling the preparation for G major but with its focus on D at the time and what's great about this key change into the chorus is it's not just a harmonic modulation but it's also a metric modulation which is when you change time signature so the time signature for the song so far has been three four but as we move into the chorus we kick into four four just as we change key into G so really drives through into this chorus and finally to cap off the key change adventure which we've been on we move from the five chord of G major which is D back to the verse which is an a major and this is again a pivot chord modulation because that D major is present in both G major where we're coming from and the destination of a major and this works incredibly smoothly because D major is a really call chord to both those keys it's the four chord in the new key of a major and it's the five chord in the old key of g-major so number three on my list is [Music] we've only just begun was introduced by the carpenters in 1917 and although it wasn't written by them the most famous version certainly by them so much like Uptown Gayle the verse of we've only just begun is purely diatonic just sitting in the key of a major but at the end of the second verse instead of the perfect cadence resolving back to a the song jumps from the 5:40 major to a new tonic chord F sharp major [Music] [Applause] they we then stay in F sharp major for four bars switching back and forth from the one chord F sharp to the four chord B keeping us clearly grounded in F sharp major but then after just four bars we have another southern modulation of a major third to beat black major at the end of these four bars we have the clever bit on the penultimate bar of the bridge the song suddenly jumps to the chord B minor a sudden unprepared junk from the chord of B flat major to B minor would usually sound kind of odd and stark however the melody here is used ingeniously to bridge the two keys basically two bars before the modulation we hear this vocal phrase ending on a DS now this is over an e-flat major chord so the D works as a major seven and sits nicely in the key hearing this melody here sets up our expectations for the next two bars and sure enough we get the same basic melody again but this time that D is over a different corner foreign for a method forward B minor 7 and even though B - seven doesn't belong in our key of B flat major the note in the vocal that D natural does belong in B minor 7 and also belongs in B flat this allows the odd modulation to work so seamlessly by emphasizing one of the only notes which is present in both the current key of B fire and the destination of a major now the final touch that assures that this odd modulation works so perfectly is by adding an extra bar of B minor 7 C this bridge is nine bars long whereas usually eight bars would be the obvious choice adding another bar of B minor seven at the end of the bridge enables the key to be really well grounded before we re-enter the verse so the verse is in a major and we want our listener to know that we're in a major before we actually arrive there and that's what this extra bar helps to did [Music] now the final son we're going to talk about today is god only knows by the Beach Boys and The Beach Boys are another one of those bands who are well known for their inventive key changes so what's so special about the key changing in God Only Knows is there almost feels that we never change key at all let me show you what I mean so even from the intro this song doesn't really know what kids in we start at a major chord so that's the first of the key center we would latch on to but we quickly get this D sharp that belongs not in a major but an E major so I'll be an E major here well it seems that way but it still sounds like we're in a major but before we have too long to think about that we move up to the chord of D major for the verse and D doesn't belong in a major and it does belong in a major so you might now argue that we are now in or have always been in the key of a major but all of the notes used in the chords and the melody here work pretty well in either a major or D major so are we in D major or are we in a major one moment that would suggest the key of a major more than D is this b -6 in the second bar of the verse so b -6 is a b minor with a G sharp on top of it and G sharp works diatonically an a major but would be chromatic in D major however I think this verse is in D major and this is because of one small thing that happens before the verses even begun [Music] you see there we get achieve natural in that little melodic line that leads us up into the verse and G natural doesn't belong in a major it doesn't belong an E major but it does belong in D major so I think the presence of this G natural helps orient our ears just before we hear the verse into thinking we're in the key of D but on top of all of this eight bars into the verse we get what looks like another key change so halfway through the verse we've hit this emajor core and along with this in the melody we also have a deep shot and that doesn't belong at a major or D major but it does belong in E major so a D sharp and E major chord it now seems like we're in the key of E major and that's actually hit home pretty clearly by the two chords that happen before the senior agent so we get this f-sharp minor and we get a b7 and this forms a two five one progression into E major so this is contextualizing the E major chord as our new tonic chord not just the five chord of a major or something else like that to reinforce this we then get the C diminished seven which is almost note the note the same as a b7 so it acts very similarly and then we get another a major chord so it's almost like we get a two five one five one progression in E major which would certainly make any song sound like it's an e but finally we get to the chorus and we land I would say quite certainly in the key of a major so once we're into this chorus everything from the chords to the melody seemed to point to the simple key of a major the chord before the chorus as well this a sharp minor seven flat five sort of acts as a pivot chord for a modulation into a major so an a sharp minor seven flat five is just a C sharp minor triad with an a sharp in the base a C sharp minor is present in both the keys of emajor and the destination of a major so the chorus is in a major but the chorus only lasts for four bars and then we're back into the verse back into D major and we even get this line again with the G natural that reorients our ears to hear this verse in D major so I can already hear people clambering to their keyboards to write in the comment section whether this song is in D major or a major or a major or some combination of all three but my point is that the key of this song is ambiguous and that's what makes it sound so rich and so interesting is that the line between these three related keys gets blurred so most points in the song it could potentially be more than one key god only knows is a perfect example of the type of key change I wanted to show you in this video today that sort of sophisticated well-crafted key change that's hidden in plain sight in the middle of the song not like this sort of crass end of chorus key changes you get today and I don't really know why pop songs have stopped doing these key changes because you may have noticed all of my examples are from before the 80s even the latest example uptown girl is actually inspired by the music of Frankie Valli and the four seasons so that it's actually kind of calling back to the music of the 50s and 60s in the fifties sixties and seventies key changes like this were incredibly popular and in recent years they've virtually disappeared thanks for watching if you can think of any other really interesting key changes in pop songs please put them in the comments below because I'd love to find some more so when you're thinking amenity you you you you wait it comes it comes out of you without really designing it does it well it's almost an unconscious you know I believe that songwriting is an unconscious thing but I don't think that anybody can really concentrate on music and write music I think it comes from a higher place in your mind I'm almost sure of that I promise bad it comes from the heart yes I'm from the heart it's not it's like your heart rise to music your brain you can see these keys and you can relate to how the different chords relate to each other but I think the real music we made comes from your heart [Music] [Music]

Channel: David Bennett Piano

Views: 925,744

Keywords: uptown girl, billy joel, lucy in the sky with diamonds, the beatles, we've only just begun, carpenters, god only knows, beach boys, anaylisis, analysis, music theory, key change analysis, chords key, modulation, the best key changes, key changes in pop music, modulation in pop music, interesting key changes, key change

Id: oQ81Sz38Acw

Length: 14min 58sec (898 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 25 2018