Key Help! Options

[OneWingdAngel]

i posted on another instructors thread looking for u and also nothing to do with the topic does that make me a bad person or too egar? lol im sry here is the question again

ok i have played tabs for 2 years and was starved for the theory you are dishing out i am enjoying it all and i thank you. but for the past 2 nights at work i have racked my brain on this.

does the key of a piece equal the root of the main scale used in the piece ?

i know this may not be the topic for this thread if so im sry but my brain now hurts i was ready to start my minor pentatonic scale practice when i noticed that if i use say a scale of B major (B,C#,D#,E,F#,G#,A#,
2212221 the root is B. the key would have 5 sharps in it using the circle of fifths i can see A# is 7th or the last sharp 1 dagree up is B. KEY OF B EQUALS the B scale meaning that the scale of B major is the heart of our piece
here is the confusion
say i now use the same B scale only in minor pentatonic. (B,D,E,F#,A, 32232
now this key according to what i have learned should only have 1 sharp F# 1 dagree up is G !!!!!
WHAT key of G? shouldn't in still be KEY OF B I used a B scale?
how do i know that im supposed to use a B minor pentatonic scale for the most part if the key is G?
back to my question shouldnt the key equal my root note B?
please put my mind at ease thanks
WING.

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This post has been edited by OneWingdAngel: Oct 11 2007, 09:27 PM

[Andrew Cockburn]

Hi there,

The first thing to realize is that scales and keys are different, but 99% of the time they are pretty much the same thing in that the root notes should coincide, as they did in your major scale example.

Keys as a concept are heavily Dependant upon the major scale (which is really the basis for most western music even if different scales are in use). When working with the circle of 5ths and key signatures, you need to do it from the perspective of a major scale or you will run into the problems you saw.

In fact, while you can have a key of B Major, you can't have a key of B Pentatonic Major. Since Pentatonic Major is a subset of Major, we can just use the Major key signature instead.

So the simple rule is that the root note of a scale does equal the key, and this works fine until you start studying modes where things get a little more complicated.

Hope this answers your question, if you have any more please ask!

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