Jaden Kim teaches how to find any song's key by ear using a single guitar note. Pick a random note, count down an invisible scale to find the stable home note, and the scale degree tells you the key. The skill builds through improvising with awareness.
If you've ever been at a jam session, a recording session, or just with friends, and you need to ask people what the key of the song is before you play with them, this video is for you. I'm going to show you how to find the key of any song by ear by only playing one note. Okay, so I've got the random song generator. This is a song called two plus two Equals five. Never heard this in my entire life. So this is kind of avant garde. Ish. Okay, okay, so I'm gonna play random note. So I just played note five. There's six. This is in the song of F minor. And so I'm gonna do it again. But what I want you guys to notice is that when I played a note, I didn't ask what key the song was in. I asked myself, where am I in the key? I was on 5, and I heard there was a minor, which means it's based around Note 6, which means that it, like, fills in the information. If my note 5 is E flat, that means that the key of the song is F minor. Do one more. We've got this time Tinder sticks. Can we start again? Don't think I've ever heard the song. So I can already tell that they're playing 4, 4, 5. So I'm already hearing the key. I just need to figure out where I am. So that's. That's five. So it's in the key of. It's in the key of D. That's the three chord four. So they're playing four, five. But more importantly, then the Beatles, the bottom line is I listen to them. I play a random note on my instrument, I ask the question, where am I in the key? And then from there, I know what the key is. I don't have to ask what the key is and then try to plunk around or I'm not worried about finding the root even, because anywhere. Every note has its own unique signature. And so I'm sure some of you are probably like, okay, great, but I can't do that. Like, if it was just that easy, I would just do that. How do I get to that point? And so I'm gonna give you a little example. Basically, first of all, this is developed kind of organically and naturally as you start to improvise with awareness. But something that you can try now is let's just say that we're playing a little progression, regardless of whether you know what the progression, if you just listen. And so I want you to just think back to that. If you need to replay it. You can. And I just want you to sing any note that you remember. And so let's just say the note that I. I remember is I don't know what note I'm on, but I know that I heard the. The note ba. And this is kind of like the key that I'm. That I'm hearing. And so what I can do is I can trace this invisible staircase down. And I encourage you to try not to intellectualize this too much, because you can throw yourself off, but I'm basically just gonna let this invisible staircase go down the scale until I feel a place that feels like home. So I'm gonna go and count. I'm gonn. Oh, I counted six notes, so that means that I must have been. Okay, yeah, that feels like home. I must have been on Note 6. And of course I was. And so that's the process. And so let's say we do it again. Let's. Same key. This time. I'm going to play random note on my fretboard. So, yeah, my note is. I'm doing that invisible staircase. Oh, that feels like home. Okay, so when I did, also, I was on note three. So, like, if my note was B and I was on note three, that means we're in the key of G. Right? And so let's say, what if you run into, like, a non diatonic? What if you run into a note that sounds hella off? Let's say I went. And let's say my note was. I'm like, whoa, that is crazy. That does not sound like it belongs in the key. What you can do in that case, I mean, eventually this is as good as information as the diatonic notes are. You can take your note and you can go up or down by a half step. So let's say here, the am I key is this. I'm like, that sounds off. I'm going to go down a half step. In this case, I'm gonna go, okay, this is my new note. And so now if I know that I'm. And my note is, I can go, Okay, I counted five notes. I was on note five, which means that my note D is note five, which means that my key is G. Now, look, like I mentioned, the majority of your ability to do this is going to come from your improvising with awareness and just applying this framework to absolutely everything that you do. If this is something that you want to get started with, if this is resonating with you and you're like, I see what he's getting at. Go into my bio, click the link. I got some free goodies for you guys in there. There's like this chord ear starter pack that'll show you how to start integrating this into your practice, how to get started a little bit. And yes, because you don't want to be that guy at the jam that's just like, oh, well, what key are we in? What are the chords you're playing? Can you, can you show me on your fretboard? Or even worse, like, the other musicians are having to accommodate to you and play something hella simple because that's all you can follow. You just, it's not as fun to be that guy. Forget about anything else. It's just not as fun to be that guy, that person. Anyways, let me know if you guys have other questions. You want to see videos on more things. Bye. Bye.
