Recently, I demonstrated the most important step when learning a new song: to identify the key of the song.

Identifying the key is just that – the key to unlocking several types of vital musical connections.  These connections will enable you to play by ear, transpose, create melodies, enliven your chords, and more.

But until now, I haven’t demonstrated how to actually identify the key.

It’s not always a straightforward process.  It’s part science, but there’s an art element as well.  In fact, two musicians could look at the same piece of music and come up with different but defensible answers.

In the video below, I explain how you can use both an artistic and a more scientific (OK, music theory) approach to determining a song’s key.

In the video, I’ll use a Chord Reference Sheet.  It is a cheat sheet for any basic chord and very useful for identifying song keys, as you’ll see. You can register to received the PDF for free by clicking the image below.