| steven 35638 01.05.2008 22:11 |
I have yet to enhance my ability in recognizing different keys and chord progressions, which I shall perfect upon majoring in music education. So, could anybody, if anybody, help me out in figuring out the key and chord progression Freddie used in 'My Melancholy Blues'? I am determined to compose a song in the style of this song. It sounds so beautiful and mellow, it's one of my favorite compositions. |
| ...assdude.... 39702 01.05.2008 23:08 |
a key to the back door and a key to the front door. |
| JacquesDaniels 02.05.2008 02:31 |
The key is Eb major. The chord progression can be found at Andy's Queen Page: link |
| Poo, again 02.05.2008 07:11 |
It's interesting how Freddie always chose the most annoying keys to write songs in. |
| liam 02.05.2008 09:12 |
why is Eb hard to play in, ive often heard it is and ive heard it is quite hard to replicate on guitar aswell. |
| Micrówave 02.05.2008 11:37 |
Actually, It's quite preferrable from a piano point of view. I'm sure glad I don't have to bring two pianos to the gigs, like you guitar players do!!!
JacquesDaniels wrote: The key is Eb major. The chord progression can be found at Andy's Queen Page: linkThose chords are missing a lot of 7s and 9s. |
| steven 35638 02.05.2008 12:22 |
JacquesDaniels wrote: The key is Eb major. The chord progression can be found at Andy's Queen Page.Thanks for your help and guidance. However, I would like to point out that the song is most likely in c minor, since it starts out on that key's tonic. |
| Hitman 02.05.2008 12:43 |
Micrówave wrote: Actually, It's quite preferrable from a piano point of view. I'm sure glad I don't have to bring two pianos to the gigs, like you guitar players do!!!It's not too annoying carrying 2 guitars....it's the amp the heaviest part :P |
| ludwigs 02.05.2008 12:51 |
Yes agreed! Although the stave has the 3 flats it is very suggestive of having that C minor 'feel'. The bluesy b5 notes linking in the F#/Gb dim etc.. Where the chorus comes in does 'brighten' the piece for a short time. It is much easier to play pieces like this using a keyboard (and Im not a proper piano player at all!!) The chords suggested by Pinter and Bill are very close. Sadly the midi-files are not correct-very good as a ballpark help but still wide of the mark. An altogether BRILLIANT song!! |
| Sebastian 02.05.2008 13:33 |
As for the key: - The opening chord is Eb(5) - Abm appears there a lot, and it works much more logically as iv to Eb than as vi to Cm. - The ending of the pre-chorus is on Bb, which (especially for its placing) acts more naturally as dominant to Eb than as VII to Cm. - Chorus has Eb > G7 > Ab > Abm progression, which agains is much more logical as I > V/vi > IV > iv than as III > V > VI > vi, considering it's not resolved to Cm at any point. - The resolution (title phrase) is Fm > Gbdim > Abm > Bb7 > Eb, working much better as ii > biiidim > iv > V > I than as iv > bvdim > vi > VII > III. Besides, that's a triumphant perfect cadence (e.g. live), strongly implying that the key was Eb all along. OTOH, one could always regard the vocal 'intro' (or pre-chorus, or however you want to label it) as a brief modulation to the relative minor. Tonality's quite weak there: in fact, you could even interpret the second phrase ('my baby left me for somebody new') as some sort of key-change to Dm (with picardy-third beginning), then to Fm, and then finally to Eb as the chorus begins. In that case, we'd have a nice Eb > Cm > Dm > Fm > Eb chain of keys (most of them very brief) which would, if anything, strengthen the point about Mercury being able to make clever music catchy (or catchy music clever), especially considering the nice pivot chords he put there. But it's actually a matter of interpretation. |
| Yara 02.05.2008 18:53 |
<font color=black>Steve wrote: I have yet to enhance my ability in recognizing different keys and chord progressions, which I shall perfect upon majoring in music education. So, could anybody, if anybody, help me out in figuring out the key and chord progression Freddie used in 'My Melancholy Blues'? I am determined to compose a song in the style of this song. It sounds so beautiful and mellow, it's one of my favorite compositions.I love this song. If you do compose it, I want to be the first to listen to it! Way to go! Such a beautiful tune. |
| steven 35638 03.05.2008 00:08 |
Thanks, Yara. I sure hope I can compose something worthwhile. It's often the case that my inspiration runs dry and my writing feels forced. Don't get me wrong though, I have written about 6-8 compositions that have memorable melodies that came from some sort of inspiration in my four years of writing. There have been times when I come up with something great and all of the sudden I lose interest in it and stash the music papers some place for another day. Man do I wish I could write when I want to write! I can't wait until I can finally go to school for music, and music alone. I absolutely abhor distractions such as English, History, etc. Well, I like the classes, but hey, music's my thing. I wish I could devote more time to it. |
| Yara 04.05.2008 19:05 |
<font color=black>Steve wrote: Thanks, Yara. I sure hope I can compose something worthwhile. It's often the case that my inspiration runs dry and my writing feels forced. Don't get me wrong though, I have written about 6-8 compositions that have memorable melodies that came from some sort of inspiration in my four years of writing. There have been times when I come up with something great and all of the sudden I lose interest in it and stash the music papers some place for another day. Man do I wish I could write when I want to write! I can't wait until I can finally go to school for music, and music alone. I absolutely abhor distractions such as English, History, etc. Well, I like the classes, but hey, music's my thing. I wish I could devote more time to it.You seem to be doing just fine. But, may I say something? It's not really an advice because I'm not qualified to give it, but a tip, ok? A friendly tip. You do seem to like and enjoy music a lot. As an art form, however, music is not isolated from other art forms or different kinds of knowledge. I think in no way you should regard English and History as distractions! No, no, no! By no means. In fact, you can draw a whole lot of inspiration from both fields: Literature and History. Studying English is studying language, and music is partially a language too. It's important not to be confied within the specifics of the musical language - it's important, in my view, to reach out for other sources to better understand and do music. Literature helps you dealing with your own experiences, it's a great source of knowledge, a most invaluable device; History too! "Killer Queen" is fun because the sexual connotations overlap perfectly with the political ones and you can't make sense of the latter without making sense of the former: the song can be interpreted as an allusion to "penis" or to bullets: both are promiscuous, are never at the same address, they please Kruschev and Kennedy as well, both are - or should be lol - precise... It's very simple, plain historical knowledge, but it makes for the fun of the song: the "perfume from Paris" is quite funny if you think about it. The French occupied Indochina before it became a battle ground between the U.S and the Soviet Union. So, it's nothing sophisticated or deep, but it's fun! It's an unforgettable and priceless lyric! lol OK, this was just a silly example, there are much better examples, in fact. Opera, for instance, deals with history, literature and myths. And so on. That's it, congratulations, keep going and I wish you the best! It seems to me you're doing just great, I enjoy your thoughtful posts. |
| steven 35638 05.05.2008 10:30 |
Yara wrote: You do seem to like and enjoy music a lot. As an art form, however, music is not isolated from other art forms or different kinds of knowledge. I think in no way you should regard English and History as distractions! No, no, no! By no means. In fact, you can draw a whole lot of inspiration from both fields: Literature and History. Studying English is studying language, and music is partially a language too. It's important not to be confied within the specifics of the musical language - it's important, in my view, to reach out for other sources to better understand and do music. Literature helps you dealing with your own experiences, it's a great source of knowledge, a most invaluable device; History too! ... That's it, congratulations, keep going and I wish you the best! It seems to me you're doing just great, I enjoy your thoughtful posts.I understand perfectly where you are coming from. Music is a universal art form; language, history, mathematics, literature, physical education, and so forth. Music has indeed helped me to succeed in other subjects, as throughout my academic career I have gotten, for the most part, straight A's. Even in college, I have a 4.0 average. I also believe that mathematics, language, history and the like help us improve as musicians. I apologize for making that silly statement up there, it made me look ignorant, for lack of a better term. Thank you for the thoughtful comments. I enjoy your wonderful posts as well, I feel that you are on a level far beyond your age in regards to wisdom and knowledge. I have said it before, and I shall say it again: never leave, Queenzone needs people like you to keep the sanity well and alive. |
| Haystacks Calhoun II 05.05.2008 12:00 |
Playing in those keys is actually really easy piano wise. Plus, I think that the chord progressions in the odd ball keys sound better. |
| Yara 05.05.2008 13:23 |
Steve, It didn't make you sound ignorant, it just made you sound eager to be able to dedicate more of your time to music, that's all. It's passion for music, you have it, you have been "infected", and now it's for good! (I hope...) :-))))) Wish you well! |
| steven 35638 05.05.2008 15:43 |
Thanks, Yara. :) |