What Key is this?

[britishgeetah]

This song is holiday In Cambodia by the Dead Kennedys...it has a really cool intro riff and I've always want to play like the 'Kennedys so I decided to venture in how they write their music...
the notes go like this and it certainly doesn't look like i's in A minor
A C D# E F# F
Can someone help me out by telling me what key that is in?

[larry_emder]

Re: What Key is this?

Think its in a minor....but plenny of dissonant/passing notes thrown in - And just playing in a minor wont make you sound like dead kennedys.....its more about the rhythms with punk music.

[Osensei]

Re: What Key is this?

Well, I must say that you need to expand your interpretation of the passage. What you have there is a group of notes taken out of context. Just because a phrase starts with A and is followed by a minor third doesn't neccessarily make it A minor does it? You need to take into consideration how the notes interplay with the harmony, if there is such a thing in Punk! LOL!

Sure, if I take the A C E from your phrase I might say there is an A minor thing happening. However, If I take the D# F# A from the same phrase it looks like a D# diminished thing is happening. The second analysis is just as correct as the first! You see? Neither analysis is really worth its weight in horse manure without understanding what the relationship is between the phrase and what else is going on at that particular moment in the music.

Take a chord like C7 for instance: C E G Bb
Now here is how your phrase might be considered as part of the extended harmony associated with the C dom 7th chord like this.

A - 13th of the chord
C - Root of the chord
D# - Augmented 9th of the chord
E - Major third of the chord
F# - Augmented 11th
F - 11th

So if the chord C7 is played along with the phrase then can we say the lick is in C Maj with the chord extensions (A D# F# F) thrown into the mix? Once again, given that the phrase is out of context, it might be as sophisticated as the deliberate extension of some harmony or as simple as the mad ravings of a lunatic. In the case of the latter its probably coincidental.