Key Changes Explained: Add Mystery and Surprise To Your Songs

Putting a key change into a song is an incredible tool that can yield a multitude of results. It can give a song a dramatic lift or it can create a sense of mystery and surprise. It is also something that I know a lot of people struggle with! This article will give you a method with which to experiment with different key changes. The method is quite formulaic in nature, so it is important to experiment with different iterations found from the method!

(Even the Beatles couldn’t help but try out a cheeky key change. And it’s so subtle and short-lived that you might have missed it. But it totally completes the song and gives it a perfect ending)

Let’s take a key such as C Major (start easy, right?). The notes that make up C Major are:

C D E F G A B C

We could define a key change as an instance where the song was previously revolving around these 7 notes, and then at a time in the song, the arrangement morphs into a slightly different set of 7 notes.

For example, if a chord progression went

C Major { C, E, G }, F Major { F, A, C } and G Major { G, B, D }.

Towards the end of the song, you could create a subtle key change by pivoting to

G Major { G, B, D }, C Major { C, E, G } and D Major { D, F#, A}

The key of our song was C Major and then became G Major at our turning point.

Key of C Major: C D E F G A B C

Key of G Major: G A B C D E F# G

On paper, it might not appear to be very different, as there is only 1 note difference, but there will be a highly noticeable shift in flavour when pivoting from C Major to G Major like this.

This brings us to our next point, how do we choose which key to change to?

The circle of Fourths is a very common music theory teaching tool, and there are many different applications for it. The one we are focusing on is the fact that if you move one space around the circle, in either direction, you will land on a key that is one note different from the one before. If you move two spaces around the circle, the new key will be two notes different. As you might expect, the more notes different your key change has, the more dramatic and experimental it will sound.

For example, if you are in the key C, and you pivot to D Major (two spaces along):

C Major: C D E F G A B C

D Major: D E F# G A B C# D

(The only way to make Bon Jovi’s rock anthem, which already has one of the biggest choruses ever,  was to change the song’s key at 3:24)

This leads us to our next topic, how do we construct and implement our key change?

Well for this I will present two methods, and by all means, these are not the only two!

The first one is what I think of as ‘turning the corner,’ this is where you implement your key change by picking a chord that features the notes that are different to the previous key of the song.

For example, if we are starting in C Major and changing keys to G Major, and our chord progression was C Major, F Major, G Major:

C Major { C, E, G } – – F Major { F, A, C } – – G Major { G, B, E } – – G Major { G, B, E }

B minor { B, D, F# } – – D Major { D, F#, A } – – G Major { G, B, E } – – G Major { G, B, E }

You see that we hit the listener with the key change in an instant with the B minor chord, which features the key change note of F#. I call this the ‘turning the corner’ style because I always imagine suddenly changing direction while walking when I hear these key changes (weird, I know).

The second method of implementing a key change is what I call a foreshadowing key change. This is where the key change doesn’t happen instantly and dramatically like before, but it is fairly obvious to the listener that it is coming.

For example, let’s say we are in G Major and we will change keys to D Major with this chord progression:

G Major { G, B, E } – – C Major { C, E, G } – – D Major { D, F#, A } – – D Major { D, F#, A }

D Major { D, F#, A } – – G Major { G, B, E } – – A Major { A, C#, E } – – A Major { A, C#, E }

The key change is confirmed only once it reaches the A Major chord, as the C# note is the new note of D Major that is not featured in G Major. If you play this it would be fairly obvious that something is coming since the chord progression changes in the second line.

Well, there we go! Two strategies that you can use to implement a key change in a song. Like I said earlier, these are by no means the only two methods of achieving this, but these are a couple of fairly logical places you can start. Use them wisely!

(Lady Gaga’s single “Perfect Illusion” with an epic key change. It occurs at  1:51 to be exact)

 

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