Hello,,please excuse the question,,if it sounds dumb.

I`ve been learning how to try and play stuff by ear,,I can kinda keep up with the songs "Rhytum style" with playing chords,,but when it comes to the solo parts or even the "One notes" stuff I get lost.

How can you tell what Key,or Scale to use in a song,,without the sheet music or Tablature?
Is the song key based on the First chord of the song?

Example,,if a song starts with a "D" Chord,,do you then use a D scale to accompany it?

I am trying to play Rick Nielsen-Cheap trick stuff as he is my Hero so to speak and would like to keep up.

Thanks for any Help.

Rt4957
Phil

Hi RT you cannot always count on the 1st chord of a song being the key signature of the song...believe me I've been in your shoes. You would be well served to spend some time online with some simple music theory courses or invest in a book from your local music store. It will save you years of frustration and and make the learning experience much more enjoyable. Once you understand the basic structure of a scale and their accompanying chords you will more easily recognize the key signature of a song simply by the chords used in the song. Then you can apply the appropriate guitar scale to play along with that song. I won't even try to explain it to you in this post because there are plenty of real musicians here who can do it much more succinctly than I. It's really not that hard because even I could figure it out.

Man in rock music, there are so many exceptions to any rule I could give you, that I would not want to give you any rules. Look up the tab.

In jazz, (at least Real Book Jazz) and blues the first chord of the song usually establishes the key... In rock, I am not sure anyone really cares about a key..... Except for maybe the Beatles... You can take the 3 or 4 chords played in a rock song and from those chords you can typically tell what key they are in... I would worry about the key later on when you become more experienced... For now just look up the tab and figure our what notes are being played from the tab...

In blues almost everything played in the melody is in the minor pentatonic scale... There are lot of excpetions where a player will go into the major pentatonic scale for a short while and also a lot of passing/blue notes that are not emphasized and are there to add some spice....

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In Reference to Blues Legend RL Burnside:
After a heart attack in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play.

Play the notes of each minor pentatonic scale against the chords of the song until you find what sounds best, simple as that. Most rock songs are in A or E or G or D, very rarely do you get rock in Bb or Eb, that's usually jazz in those keys.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

i wish somebody would tell that to The Edge