Tonic If You Can Only See Song

How do you find out the key to a song?

Other than the fact that most songs (or song’s chorus) end with the bass and/or melodic note on the song’s tonic note, I was wondering....when is it necessary to "find" the key (tonic note) of a song when you can start a song on any tonic note of your own choice? I’ve read that recording studios will often digitally transpose a song to change up and give it a certain feel, and that artists will change the key to better match their individual vocal range. Given these reasons, I'm having a hard time coming up with a list of reasons for identifying the key to a song.The only reason I can come up with is that a person may not know how to "pick" their own key and figure out which note to start the song's melody so that they end up playing the song in the chosen key (which would be a good topic to cover in a video). The other reason I can think of is that people are simply assuming that the key of the recorded song is the optimal key for playing the song.Furthermore, I wonder how many people (who are playing songs by ear) who seek out help on how to find the tonic key of a song are stuck to the idea that the song has to or should be played in its original key when in fact, it would be ultimately easier for them to simply focus on the note intervals (not the specific notes/keys) and play the song in a key that works best for them. Maybe this question in of itself is what's holding people back from learning how to play by ear (when attempting to play a song that is difficult to play by ear because it's performed in a difficult key - such as songs sung in B flat major).As I’m writing this reply, however, I’m guessing that one important reason for identifying a song’s tonic note is that once one identifies the tonic note, one has an easier time figuring out the bass line and chord progressions?On another related question: One question that is not often asked or explained (surprisingly) is that once you know what key you want to play your song, how do you determine where or which note to start the song so that it is played in the desired key? I had to figure this one out myself…see my explanation in step 1 of my video.

What song first comes to mind when hearing the word “tonic”?

There was a fellow pilot in my New Hire class at the airline who liked to play drums. One evening he had a group of us from our class over for dinner with he and his wife. They were newly weds at the time. Most of us were not from the area so it was nice of them to have us over. It was an enjoyable evening. At one point he brought us to his ‘drum room basement’ and gave us a good demo of this song. It was fun and since then I’ve always enjoyed rocking out to it.It’s called If You Could Only See by Tonic. So when I hear Tonic I think of this song and that enjoyable evening. I looked it up on You Tube and this video is really bizarre. I have no idea what to make of it!But here goes :-)

How do I find the key of a song on guitar? I find that it is not necessarily the first chord played.

No, it isn't always the first chord played. It is more often the last chord. Most music ends on the tonic regardless of where it started from.If you have the sheet music you need to learn the key signature. This is the collection of sharp symbols #, or flat symbols b, at the start and sometimes on each line.Keep in mind that music often winds through several key centers. Whenever you see a dominant 7th chord other than the one a 5th away from the tonic it denotes a key change.In really simple terms you can quickly determine the key by locating the dominant 7th chord. For example, if you see a G7 chord you count up 4 tones from the G. G, A, B, C. You are in the key of C.Now, take a song like Sweet Georgia Brown (the theme song for the Harlem Globetrotters). The first chord is E7 for 4 bars.E, F# G# A Four tones up from E. This tells us that the first 4 bars are in the key of A.The next chord is A7. Using the same formula: A, B, C#, D. This tells us that the next 4 bars are in the key of D, and so on.Trust me, this becomes 2nd nature really quickly. It may seem a bit complicated here but most people get a handle of this aspect of music theory relatively quickly. If it seems like you don't need it at present come back to it later.If you intend to take solos or write songs then this is pretty much essential theory. You know the 3 chords of rock and roll? C, F & G7?Count up 4 notes from the G and you will begin to understand.Cheers