How do you change between keys?

by Anonymous

Question: When soloing how do you switch between keys to make it sound good? I'm not sure where to move to make the solo sound good.

Answer:

Key changes are considered an advanced aspect of music theory and I plan to have a series of lessons devoted to it, but let's look at a quick example to cover off the main elements.

A lot of how natural the key change sounds is down to the underlying chord progression, but there are movements you can make as a soloist to make the key change sound smoother and less disjointed.

Identifying the "key change chord"

Take this simple G major key progression...

Chords before key change:

G major, A minor, D major
(I, ii, V)

Through this chord sequence, the G major scale will work nicely, as these 3 chords are part of the G major diatonic scale.

Let's say the key changes from G major to D major. We first need to identify which chord marks that key change. A lot of the time, the key change won't be marked by the new tonic chord itself (D major in this example), but will instead transpose to it through a related chord of that new tonic...

G major, Am, D major, G major, A7, D major, Em, A7, D major
(I, ii, V, I, II/V, I, ii, V, I)

Download backing track here >

A7 is our "key change chord" as it goes on to resolve to D major (which becomes the new tonic). We can assume that the D major scale will now apply as A7 is the natural V chord of D major.

It's then just a case of identifying which "landing note" from the D major scale leads us on nicely from the G major chord of the old key to the A7 chord of the new key.

Landing notes

Landing notes are an important concept to understand when soloing over any chord changes. The safest landing notes to use are the root, 3rd (or minor 3rd if it's a minor chord) or 5th of the new chord. So in this example, when G major changes to A7, be ready to land on the note A (root), C# (3rd) or E (5th). You can then continue the D major key solo from there, working around that new D major tonic when it resolves.

Modal changes

A more effective way to look at it is, if you know your modes of the major scale, use A mixolydian to highlight that A7 chord's tension before resolving to the new D major tonic. You could also turn G major from the old key into G Lydian, as G Lydian, like A Mixolydian, would be a mode of that new D major tonic/key.

As I said, key change theory can get pretty complex and it's something you'll come to understand the more you examine chord progressions. The songwriting section covers diatonics in great depth so take a look if you're ready. This will naturally correspond to your knowledge of modes.