In My Life

Call me crazy, but I firmly believe every musical key has its own unique identity.

They are like different people to me, each with their own distinct personality.

My scientific-minded friends may say “Look dude, it’s just a difference in frequency”. But nope, in my opinion every key has personality.

I believe when you’re a composer and you’re choosing a key to compose in, it’s more than just about i) whether it fits the singer’s vocal range or ii) whether it’s easy to play (like C Major, yeah baby!!!). No, there has to be far greater consideration than just that.

(But I’ll have to be honest and admit that there are many times when I choose a key because of its simplicity to play.)

Have you ever sung a song in a certain key, and then one fine day you decided to transpose to another key just for the fun of it, and you suddenly felt that the song had a totally different “feel” to it? I certainly have.

Anyway, without further ado, let me now talk about what I think of some of the keys which are closer to my heart.

Of course, the way I perceive these keys may be different from the way you perceive them. It’s a personal perception kind of thing…like how the names “Cindy” or “Kelvin” might conjure up different thoughts to different people.

…

C Major

The evergreen. This key never gets old. The safest-sounding, never-goes-out-of-fashion key you can think of. If it were a colour, it would be white. Easy to play, easy on the ear, and easily recognisable. Clear, concise and clean-cut sounding. You can never go wrong with C Major. It’s almost like the “universal” key.

Difficulty Level: 0/5 for piano, 2/5 for guitar

Notables: Sonata in C Major K545 (Mozart), Etude Op.10 No.1 (Chopin), Let It Be (The Beatles), Imagine (John Lennon), One (U2), Don’t Look Back in Anger (Oasis)

D Major

The romantic key. In my opinion, D Major is the key of “romance”. If you wanna write a love song, it’s a good idea to use D Major. It’s got a warm, intimate, sentimental feel to it. Maybe it’s the F# in the third degree of scale, I dunno. Nothing beats the feeling of hearing a D chord go to F#m (and then to G and A).

Difficulty Level: 2/5 for piano, 1/5 for guitar

Notables: Canon In D (Pachelbel), Open Arms (Journey), Think of Me (Andrew Lloyd Webber), Pass It On (Christian Fellowship song)

F Major

Classic sounding. Good for church hymns and epic songs. There’s a certain element of “spirituality” and “richness” to this key, for some reason. F Major is like your grandfather’s leather couch - quaint, old-fashioned and classy.

Difficulty Level: 2/5 for piano, 4/5 for guitar

Notables: Hark The Herald Angels Sing (Christmas Carol), The Lord’s My Shepherd (Church Hymn), Bridal Chorus (Wagner), Hey Jude (The Beatles), Ben (Michael Jackson)

G Major

Slightly less romantic than D Major, but brighter-sounding. It has a more optimistic quality to it. Valued for its “brightness” of tone. Apart from C Major, I think G Major is one of the most popular keys to play music in, cos of it’s relative ease to play on both the piano and guitar.

Difficulty Level: 1/5 for piano, 1/5 for guitar

Notables: Ode To Joy (Beethoven), Making Love Out Of Nothing At All (Air Supply), The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Bob Dylan), Live Forever (Oasis), I Remember You (Skid Row)

A Major

A Major is not a key which I encounter very often. Hence, I find it a bit unfamiliar and awkward. However, I do feel that it has it’s fair share of “brightness” to it. I think it’s because of the C# note in the tonic chord.

Difficulty Level: 4/5 on piano, 3/5 on guitar

Notables: Ticket To Ride, Here Comes The Sun, In My Life (all by The Beatles), The Greatest Love of All (Whitney Houston), Love Will Keep Us Alive (The Eagles), Polonaise in A Op.40 No.1 (Chopin)

Gb Major

Tread with caution! Because of its treacherous difficulty level, Gb Major is hardly ever used unless really necessary. It is used when G Major is perhaps a bit too “bright”, and the key just needs to be brought down ever so slightly. It naturally has a slightly darker and more “mellow” effect than G Major…but that being said, it’s amazing how Chopin managed to bring out the full brightness and brilliance of the key in his famous “Black Keys” Etude.

Difficulty Level: Are you kidding me?!?

Notables: Candlelight Carol (John Rutter), Impromptu in Gb Op.90 No.3 (Schubert), Etude Op.10 No.5 “Black Keys” (Chopin), Etude Op.25 No.9 “Butterfly” (Chopin)

Bb Major

A good alternative to C Major. Bb Major might be commonly used when perhaps C Major is a bit too high for the vocals…so Bb Major is a nice key to bring it down to. There is a bit of a “mellow” and “rich” quality to Bb Major which I like. You can always feel the difference whenever you bring down a song from C Major to Bb Major.

Difficulty Level: 3/5 on piano, 4/5 on guitar

Notables: For the Beauty of the Earth (John Rutter), Edelweiss (Rodgers & Hammerstein), I Could Have Danced All Night (Lerner & Loewe)

Eb Major

I have a particular fondness for using Eb Major when composing. Not necessarily in the main key of the song, but sometimes I modulate to Eb Major in the middle portion of a song (I’ve done that at least twice already). Sometimes I just plain compose a song in Eb Major. It has a special quality to it which I can’t really describe, to be honest. It’s slightly “romantic” at times, and it also has its fair share of “clarity” and “brightness” because of the Eb and Bb in the tonic chord. All in all, I am quite fond of Eb Major. It never fails to create some magical surprise whenever I use it.

Difficulty Level: 3/5 on piano, 5/5 on guitar

Notables: Can’t really think of any at the moment!