What key is this Chord Progression in?

Question

I made it up myself.

I really like the way i play it.

It goes like this:

0--------

2--------

0--------

2--------

0--------

X--------

0---------------

3----------------

0----------------

2----------------

3----------------

X----------------

Then G Bar Chord

and Then Open D and while playing that hammer on G note on the higher E string

yeah i just made up this chord progression.

i know all the Chords in the key of G but i just dont know

this key since im playing almost an entire A chord and i know that the A chord is not in the key of G

can someoe please tell me in what key this is?

thanks

Answer 1

record the song then play a Gminor pentatonic scale along with the recording if the notes aren't sounding good play the Aminor pentatonic over them, and then a Cmin and finally a D min one of these four chords is key, can't really tell without hearing or seeing it written as it would be played.

Answer 2

Well, it's a tough one. It suggests A mixolydian and it definitely IS in the key of A! It doesn't suggest C as a tonic at all and G only when you apply such a cadence.

Sooo, as the above answerer suggested, a bass line could do a bit of change, as well as you can modulate to any key throughout the song, but it starts off in the key of A (particularly mixolydian).

Just for record, A mixolydian goes like this: A B C# D E F# G (not G#!)

You have a very nice chromatic use in there, and that is the second chord (Cadd9), to be exact, this one is a chromatic mediant (an upward minor third relation (A-C)). More about chromatic mediants, neapolitan chord and aug6th chords here:

http://www.smu.edu/totw/chromat.htm

The actual progression is: A7 - Cadd9 - G - D (with Dsus4 suspension).

Another good move was that suspension of D major in the last bar. It nicely resolves back to A.

The problem with the key of G is that it doesn't start with a G chord, therefore can't be considered G major. It is, in fact, one of the modes of D major scale, A mixolydian, with two sharps. Of course, you can resolve it back to G.

Hope I helped.

Answer 3

A7 - Cadd9 - G - D - Dsus4

The first chord is an A major chord with a b7 added. The proper terminology for this chord would be an "A dominant 7" chord, or Adom7, or even just A7.

The second chord is a Cadd9. To the people who responded with "Csus" or "Csus2", you'd be right if the third wasn't already present - see that fourth string, second fret?

The D chord starts as a major chord (I'm assuming you meant D major, right?) and the hammer-on to the third fret of the first string turns the major third into a perfect fourth interval, thus giving us (D G A), which is Dsus4, although it could also be seen as an inversion of Gsus2 (G A D).

Okay, enough quibbling about the progression itself. On to the key signature.

First, we need to count sharps/flats. D major has an F#, so that's a sharp there. A7 has a C# in it, so there's another sharp. However, Cadd9 has no C# (obviously) so we have two tonalities present in this progression (ie, this progression is not strictly diatonic). We have no flats present, so that makes things a lot easier.

One sharp is G major / E minor. Two sharps is D major / B minor.

So yeah, after a bit of thought, I concur exactly with the answerer who said that it was in the key of G major with an accidental in the A7 chord. Since that particular sharp only appeared once, it can be safely considered a slightly ear-tweaking accidental, and not a determinant of tonality.

Saul

Answer 4

Well there's no definitive answer to this since all of the chords fall in the key of C and G.  So it largely depends on what you choose it to be.  For instance you may have the bass play something that's in the key of C or G behind it or have another instrument solo over it using scales from either key.  Another thing to consider is that all of the notes in a chord that you play aren't necessarily going to be in that key.  Sometimes you can extend out of that key to create interesting contrasts.  This is one of many things that keeps music interesting.  You would have to inform all of the other players though because they might play a clashing note as you play the chord.

Also you may have modulated from one key to another at one point.  The first chord is an A chord with an added b7 which is not in the key of A.

Note: The chords are A w/ b7, Cadd9, G Maj, D (and sussing the D into a Dsus4).  The second chord is NOT a C sus2 as the person above me suggested.

Answer 5

that's pretty.  it's sorta between a cmajor a gmajor.  you could rail some a minor licks over it, or e minor.   i don't think an Amajor anything is gonna 'fit' with all three of those open chords in an ionian based scale.  maybe some harmonic minor but that's for the theorists.  

why do you need to know?

A7-Csus2-G-D if that helps..

Answer 6

I believe it is in the key of G.

You simply have an accidental when your are using A7 instead of Am.

Those first two chords are A7 and Csus.