Music theory help needed

[DePloderer]

A question for all you musicians......................

 

I've been learning the guitar since last Christmas, hence the reason for the lack of wallpapers this year, and I've got to the stage where I am putting chord sequences together. Having bought a toneport I can now record stuff. So I've got this little ditty that I want to put a melody over, but I've no idea what key I'm in. How do I work it out?

 

The chord progression is; Am (2 bars, with some hammer ons), C (1 bar), D (1 bar) this is repeated 4 times. Then Am, F, C, G,Am,C,E,E7 (1 bar each) and back to the start.

 

Any help please/

[FlaSoxxJim]

If you were to riff over that first chord progression or build a minor key melody on, the natural choice selection 99% of the time would be yer' standby Am pentatonic scale (5th fret position). You could also construct in C because Am is the relative minor of C (they share the same key signature with no sharps or flats but have a different tonic or starting note to the scale).

 

For the next progression I'd start with the same scales, but because the relative minor is de-emphaszed there, I'd probably work with C major for that section.

 

So yeah, the standard approach to these chords would probably be to use the relative minor (Am) for the first section, and then work in C major for for the second part.

 

And now for the song virus. I dare you to not hear Toto's "Africa" in you head as you play the first 3/4 of sequence 2.

 

The E/Em busts you out of there, but, yeah, it's Toto. Or some arena rock era Heart.

 

I keed, I keed. Congrats on taking on the instrument.

[DePloderer]

Thanks mate. I guessed as much about the A minor pentatonic but had no idea for the rest. I'll let you know how it goes.