DJ Basic(s) - How to Find the Key of Your Songs

Hi all, this time i will talk about how to find a key of a song. You can use free piano software from djprince.no in its download page, or if you have a budget get the Mixed in Key software (this is the best and you won't need to read further of the post).

You’ll want to start playing the song loud enough so that you can hear both the piano and the song at relatively equal volumes. The goal is to find the “root” key (the single key that blends in the most with the song at all times). This can be harder than it initially appears since the root key can actually turn out to be just part of the chord for the key of the song, or just not the right one at all so be sure to double check. It also helps to play keys both higher up in the register as well as the lower.

After you have found what you think is the best candidate for the root key, your next goal is to find the chord that best fits with the song. This for me, was much much harder than finding the root key. If you are using the piano program from DJ Prince’s site, all you need to do is select either major or minor from the auto-chord button on the bottom right. If you’re using a normal piano or something similar, you’ll want to play the 4th and 7th keys up for a major chord (i.e. a C major chord would be C - E - G) and the 3rd and 7th keys up for a minor chord (i.e. a C minor chord would be C - D# / Eb - G). What you will need to do is play both the major and minor chords for the root key to see which best blends with the song. Now here’s the kicker… if you’re like me you may have screwed up when you found the root key… to make sure you get the right key of the song you’ll also need to play the major and minor chords for the notes 5 steps up and 7 steps up (the perfect fourth and perfect fifth keys). To find these you would count each key as 1 step moving up the scale.

For example if you were using G as your root key, the key five steps up would be C (the perfect fourth) and the key seven steps up would be D (the perfect fifth).

At this stage you should be checking a total of 6 chords for the key of your song. The first 3 are your major chords. One is the major chord for you root key, one is the major chord for the key five steps up (the perfect fourth), and one is the major chord for the key seven steps up (the perfect fifth). The other 3 are your minor chords. One is the minor chord for you root key, one is the minor chord for the key five steps up (the perfect fourth), and one is the minor chord for the key seven steps up (the perfect fifth). The chords for the perfect fourth and fifths may or may not sound better than your initial idea of the root key. If they do sound better than go with it - it most likely means the root key was wrong. Once again, I find that it is extremely useful to play a variety of low and high chords for the same note when looking for the key of a song. For example the low G minor chord may not sound quite right to you, but a high G minor chord may fit perfectly. Play around on the keyboard to find out if it’s easier to hear higher or lowers chords.

After you have found the keys of your records you will want to label them to be able to mix harmonically. Fortunately there is quite a bit of info on how to mix harmonically at both the site above, and at harmonic-mixing.com which will tell you everything you need to know about mixing with keys. My last bits of advice are that you write the keys of your records in pencil, because you most likely will have screwed up on a few and it’s a pain to re label records. Second bit of advice is to double check the first records you key ‘d once you have gotten through a lot of them. This is because you most likely will have gotten better at it over time and thus much more accurate.

* This is another tips you need to remember, there is major, and minor keys right? The major usually gives you this "happy", "uplifting" feeling while you hear the song. The minor keys gives u this "sorrow", "chill", etc (i dont know what else to describe it, but i believe you know what i meant). I hope this post is helpful, enjoy:)

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