Theory question about major key signatures and relative minor and relationship to R&B

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dksucharda

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Theory question about major key signatures and relative minor and relationship to R&B

So I am really interested in trying to write some R&B. Specifically, Neo soul, (supposedly soul music and R&B). Anyway, to do this I have been studying a lot of theory. Out of interest of what key signatures other R&B songs are written in I went to music notes web site and looked at the key signatures of some Justin Timberlake songs. Here are some examples of what I found. His new song Mirrors is 3 flats or key of E flat major or C minor (I don't think it is called C flat minor?). Another example is Suit and Tie which is 2 sharps or key of D major or B minor. I have other examples, but you get the point. My question is how do you know which one it is? I assume since it's R and B its minor, also these songs sound minor. But how do you know?
 
dksucharda said:
So I am really interested in trying to write some R&B. Specifically, Neo soul, (supposedly soul music and R&B). Anyway, to do this I have been studying a lot of theory. Out of interest of what key signatures other R&B songs are written in I went to music notes web site and looked at the key signatures of some Justin Timberlake songs. Here are some examples of what I found. His new song Mirrors is 3 flats or key of E flat major or C minor (I don't think it is called C flat minor?). Another example is Suit and Tie which is 2 sharps or key of D major or B minor. I have other examples, but you get the point. My question is how do you know which one it is? I assume since it's R and B its minor, also these songs sound minor. But how do you know?
Click to expand...

links to the sites (I can't be assed googling for the info myself - been out for hours and winding down slowly)???

on the point about E[sup]b[/sup]/Cminor: you are right it is definitely not called C[sup]b[/sup] minor which requires something like 10 b's and you might as well call it B minor with 2 #'s

Mirrors is in the major for the intro (based on the 8'+ epic at youtube)


Intro

I-V-IV-IV-I-V-IV-IV-I-V-vi-IV-I-V-IV-IV

rel minor with passing chords taken fro the harmonic minor ([sup]#[/sup]v[sup]o7[/sup]) indicated using the rel major

sometimes it is ii7 in place of IV in the following
verse
vi-iii-IV-V-vi-iii-IV-IV-[sup]#[/sup]v[sup]o7[/sup]-vi-iii-IV-V-vi-iii-IV-IV-[sup]#[/sup]v[sup]o7[/sup]
vi-iii-IV-V-vi-iii-IV-IV-

chorus (-V) is a passing chord from IV back to I
I-V-IV-IV(-V)-I-V-IV-IV-I-V-vi-IV-I-V-IV-IV
I-V-IV-IV(-V)-I-V-IV-IV-I-V-vi-IV-I-V-IV-IV-[sup]#[/sup]v[sup]o7[/sup]

etc

Suit and tie is in the minor based on the epic 5'31" at youtube


[sup]b[/sup]VII[sup]7[/sup] ////|| i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup] / / / | v[sup]7[/sup]/ / / | [sup]b[/sup]VII[sup]7[/sup]////||

i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | i[sup]7[/sup] / / / | [sup]b[/sup]VII[sup]9[/sup] / / / | [sup]b[/sup]VII[sup]9[/sup] / / / || etc

in the second section the i[sup]7[/sup] is prefaced by vii[sup]7[/sup] as a grace chord in that funky style of playing, and the [sup]b[/sup]VII[sup]9[/sup] is prefaced in the same way with VI[sup]9[/sup] the 9th chord could in fact be a [sup][sup]6[/sup]/[sub]9[/sub][/sup] chord and so could the v[sup]7[/sup]

this reminds me a lot of the Style Councils Shout it to the top

 
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I dont think it matters if its minor or major. I do primarily R&B and soul, and I had a song that had a "sad" sound/vibe to it, and it was in a major scale. You can use any scale for R&B....If your asking how to tell what key the songs are in by listening, I think you need to do some ear training, which im currently doing. Practice perfect pitch, and relative pitch....they have a lot of apps for the iphone that i use....
 
For a simple answer: the easiest way to tell whether a song is in a major or minor key is to listen to it. Your ability to discriminate between major and minor chords by ear will only approve through practice though, as previously mentioned.

Otherwise, you can look at the start and end of phrases. Phrases that end Bflat-Eflat are obviously in Eflat major, whereas ones that end in F-Cm are obviously in Cm.
 
Everyone seems to have some good pointers in here. Listening for tonic comes with practice. Sometimes phrases will begin with tonic or end with tonic or not have the tonic in it at all. What you need to listen for is the sound that resolves the phrase. It should sound like a period at the end of a sentence.
 
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