Verse (Transition 2): Em | D | Am | G | Em | C | D | DĬhorus: Eb | F | Gm | Gm | Eb | Cm | D | D Verse (Transition 1): Em | D | Am | G | Em | C | Am | Am The verse is in E-minor and the chorus is in G-minor. But why? Let’s have a look at what exactly is going on. The chord just before the chorus is different in the two examples and I think that Transition 2 sounds more natural. Sounds like the same to you? Well, they are almost the same, but not quite. Here are two small examples transitioning from a verse to a chorus and back with a key change. Use it when it makes sense and you want to make part of your song stand out by making it darker, happier or more mysterious than other parts. Plenty of great rock songs never change key – Smells Like Teen Spirit uses the exact same 4 chords throughout the entire song – and you shouldn’t use it just because you can. There’s no fade-out, though it is written in a major key - E.Changing key within your song is a great way to change the mood of certain sections, create interest or add and resolve tension.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the current UK number one, Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero, clocks in at a relatively brief 3.20, has a 4/4 time signature and runs at 97bpm. What’s more, there have been only six years when number ones by mixed/non-white acts have outnumbered all-white artists, though in a sign of progress, five of these have been since 2009. In terms of the people who are having the number ones, the research indicates that there’s yet to be a year when all-female acts have been in the majority, though there was a 50-50 gender split in 1998. On why songs in minor keys have become more popular, Materson speculates that the economic downturn could have had an impact, but we’d suggest that the growth of broodier electronic genres - the likes of dark-pop and trap - is also a factor. People will still not sit through a song they don’t like, so production is now focused on getting to the meat of the song as quickly as possible, to hook the listener in.” “You only get paid - and a play only counts for the charts - if the listen lasts longer than 30 seconds.

“Songs have lost their intros, with streaming to blame,” he argues. The move to DAWs may have influenced the type of music being made, then, but when it comes to consumption, Masterson argues that the shift to streaming services has had an equally profound impact. Now everything is on a computer screen you can be more subtle and shift the harmonics instead. Playing live instruments, your instinct is to change things up a little to stop a song becoming tedious - and once upon a time that meant changing key. Now everything is on a computer screen you can be more subtle and shift the harmonics instead.” “When you are doing it organically by playing live instruments, your instinct is to change things up a little to stop a song becoming tedious - and once upon a time that meant changing key. Chart toppers are almost exclusively four-to-the-floor now, too - since the turn of the century, only 13 have deviated from ‘common time’.ĭiscussing these trends, chart analyst and historian James Masterson said: “Many changes are due to the advance of technology, which has upended previous ways of working in music production and composition.

Changing music keys