Which key is the saddest?
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Organ prelude in F minor, but in Meantone Temperament (brutal dissonance!)
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FUCK YEAH CHOPIN (Sad Eb minor music)
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Fun Podcast series about musical keys and emotions
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I can say for sure that one of the saddest keys is the one you left inside the car.
lol
or the one ur ex probably threw away.
ayye inside of emptiness
Tomas Tur Nice profile picture, I love Inside Of Emptiness and John Frusciante :)
JF is a lad
I'd be sad if my D was minor.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
it would be sad if my d was in a minor
@@joyce_rx *hol up*
therainman777 ok? So what, he used it in a good way, and in a way that was appropriate to the video. Most of the jokes you make are probably not yours.
therainman777 oh ok, I thought you meant from somewhere else, i agree that’s it’s annoying when people just comment the same joke
Nothing is more sad than an ascending c Major scale I tell ya, it really gets me emotional.
yeah, like, screw Cmaj
I cry everytime
Summer has come to end...
Kevin East A Major
C major or any major I think of a happy key
3:50 if equal temperament hadn't been thought of, we'd never have All Star.
No New Mother Nature either and that would suck
Hey now...
@@DeanLawrence_ftw your an all star...
*you're
@@ieuanphillips4963 get your game on
4:37 "or maybe there are..."
*Vsauce music starts playing in pythagorian tuning*
It played in my head
I was actually sad it didn't play
I felt it in my bones
XD
Of course Stevie Wonder plays black keys. Every key is black to him.
He would make a great black metal musician.
I am not sure if this is a joke about his blindness, race, or playing style and I can't pick which option I love more.
Imagine an eye on your fingertip...try to look through it...what colour do you see?
Well just bash him lol. He can't read the comments anyway
Roland Deschain
All I see is blood.
Obviously c# minor is the saddest...
it always makes me cry when I see it
Blake Hawkins ME TOO
that's gonna be a bruh moment from me
Really? Oops I Did It Again or Counting Stars never felt that sad to me
AmethystGMD that joke flew right over your head whoops
A# minor sadder
The same feelings can be felt when you actually have to play a song in Eb Minor
Db Minor moment
Well I guess it's time to think outside
the bachs
Underrated comment.
EATHAM f
I hate you and love you ag the same time
the saddest key is a depressed key
ROTFLMAO!
Now that's a smartass comment. Grab a like! :-)
Except depression is about anger, not sadness lol
a D-pressed key?
Pierre Ibrahim what
Haven’t watched the video yet, but if it’s not D minor, I’m going to be upset.
U r upset LOL!
@@Youssef-iu8dn yikes
@@cxsmicking17 my happiest minor key is E minor and my saddest is C# minor
@@Youssef-iu8dn My happiest minor key is C minor and saddest is F minor.
It isn’t d minor
The saddest key is the one you don’t play.
😭
4:34 This bit is SO VSaucy I thought I heard the music there for a second :D
LepLaz
Oh snap I was just about to comment that
LepLaz indeed
I really missed that Sungazer tune at 4:45.
Glad to see this kind of video again.
He did a short parody of this in a previous video. His inspiration obviously comes from channels like Vsauce. :)
maybe he's his secret pupil
This is like watching Vsauce but for music.
Msauce. mmm.
I approve wholeheartedly, dude. We need to tell Adam to start calling his channel Msauce.
Shadoxir m’sauce
Vsauce 4?
@@LuisWendling Vsauce 4: The Quest for a Piece of Music
I was going to write that comment. You are a genius, but Adam should use other music in the background for being Msauce
4:31 “There are no discernible differences between keys in our modern tuning system.
Or maybe, there ARE...”
*~Vsauce music plays~*
Stevie wonder when he touches a white key: *IT AINT FAMILIAR*
mmmm me likes thrasher references
I think you spelled familiah wrong
@@tuhmater2985 your spelling *AINT FAMILIAR*
It never *FAMILIAH*
BOSS?
I like this "Vsauce" type of approach to these topics.
81 likes bro
Whatever key my life is in
What if it's dodecaphonic?
RaphaelAtherill
mine is dodekackophonic ...
Edgy
@@sashabird5695A minor and C minor because i’m under 18 and my life is just sad generally (default to c minor because yes)
"Songs in D Minor sound the saddest"
Stal and Crab Rave: Allow us to introduce ourselves
Crab Rave is in G Dorian though
@@botwenty crap
@@botwenty which is the relative dorian of d minor, so his point still kinda stands, even if it doesn't tonicize the d minor chord
Houdini:
2:03 A = 420 hz...
*smoke weed everyday*
e Lin林易-音樂.英文 lmao
e Lin林易-音樂.英文 funny number
Smoke weed every A
Smoke A everyday
the classical snoop dog note
So here's Schubert's characterizations of the keys roughly to modern tuning:
C# Major
Completely Pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naivety, children's talk.
C# Minor
Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.
E Major
A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key.
D Minor
Penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God, the friend and help-meet of life; sighs of disappointed friendship and love lie in its radius.
D# Major
The key of triumph, of Hallelujahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.
D# Minor
Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humors brood.
F Major
The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.
E Minor
Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depression, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key.
F Major
Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major.
F minor
Naïve, womanly innocent declaration of love, lament without grumbling; sighs accompanied by few tears; this key speaks of the imminent hope of resolving in the pure happiness of C major.
F# Major
Complaisance & Calm.
F# Minor
Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave.
G Major
Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief uttered when hurdles are surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally conquered lies in all uses of this key.
G Minor
A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language.
G# Major
Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key.
G# Minor
Discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme; bad-tempered gnashing of teeth; in a word: resentment and dislike.
A Major
Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius.
A Minor
Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with difficulty.
A# Major
This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God.
A# minor
Pious womanliness and tenderness of character.
B Major
Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world.
B minor
A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key.
C Major
Strongly colored, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring colors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart lies in its sphere.
C Minor
This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting one's fate and of submission to divine dispensation.
Imagine writing all that and only getting 4 likes in two years :(
You know, when people says "post underrated comment" but there is like thousands of like underneath...
Sir, this IS the most underrated comment ever
Thank you !
No no
Thankyou! :)
Actually it’s the other way around where C Major is B Major and B Major is Bb Major etc. Although it doesn’t really work bc the pitches are different
1:56 Baroque A was dank af damn
D minor makes me think of Squidward’s clarinet song that put Patrick to sleep
That's in E Minor
@@whiteface513abandonedchann8 actually, if u r referring to solitude in e minor, the sheet music is in F major lol
That's gotta be intentional
@@whiteface513abandonedchann8 I hope so lmao
“Shoe-Bart” - Adam Neely 2017
Q minor
Luvenhart Bruh 😂
If you follow a normal pattern upwards that would be C Minor and downwards it would be E Minor
Major minor
C++ is pretty sad, too, especially if you have played it for years. 😜
WWG1WGA
@@Dowlphin HA
i love D minor centered around D3
Alvs Notes hehe D
D.:
I love my E1 on my piano, because it ain't tuned right but still sounds pretty cool.
@@coentenham6638 Dude that's my F3.
@Penguin 101 I wish I didn't understand what that meant :'(
Some say it's d minor, others say it's eb minor, but deep down we all know:
C# minor gang
Yass
R H Bb minor or Eb minor
C# minor is the best bruh
I agree and disagree. C# minor is close, but we all know c# harmonic minor (with the sharp 7th) is the best because when you play a V chord it has more tension that natural minor just doesn’t really have so yeah fight me
Am I the only one who’s just inspired by Db?!?!
The fact that american footballs debut is all in major keys and yet is some of the saddest music ive ever proves that conext matters
did anyone else think he was going to pull a Vsauce at 4:37
+Lucas Day I sure did
I was surprised the Vsauce music didn't start playing. :p
I think there's nothing in that part that looks like Vsauce.
...
[eyes wide]
... or is there?
/music plays
Lucas Day in
Dude I was going to comment that my head "literally" started playing the music when that part happened.
C major, because it's the only key sad musicians know
Lee Fire 😂😂😂😂 omg lmfaoooooo
Lee Fire true...major sad nd depressed keys are used in indian and middle Eastern music!!!
I agree F Sharp Minor is the happiest key
D minor because that's the key of "lick my love pump"
Eb minor is sadder
Even the trumpet in that song sounds like it's going trough so much pain
I mean...I thought that was obvious.
Well it does make people weep instantly.
I'm fairly surprised that there are so few Spinal Tap references in the comments. This video kind of tees it right up.
I just read the thing by Shubart. He did actually include F# Major (which is enharmonically the same as Gb Major):
G-flat major, triumph in difficulty, a free sigh of relief on
having crossed hills, reminiscence of a soul which has struggled hard
and finally is victorious lie in all applications of this key.
To me, that does not really seam to describe a key so dissonant. I think that you may be confusing mean-tone temperament with well-temperament, the latter of which could be effectively used in all keys.
nope, enharmonics arent the same note in meantone temperament like they are in equal temperament
Before even clicking play:
Happiest key: D major
Brightest key: E major
Most mellow key: Eb major
Darkest key: B minor
Warmest key: Db major
Saddest key: C minor
Another thoughts?
I agree
I think Db minor could be a contender for darkest key
The brightest key is G half-sharp major.
ThatViolaGuy ohh dude yes! You’re absolutely right.
Db is not a key.
That F# chord progression at around 3:46 hurt my ears 😂
Ikr?
it hurt my eyes
It's because those certain keys were out of tune. He needs to have his piano retuned. I like F# Major because it has positive feelings of being in a new place, in another unfamiliar world, but one that is comforting and easy to adjust to.
@@deltasceptile7805 No, it sounded like that because the piano was tuned in Meantone temperament. Yours is likely tuned in modern equal temperament, which removes the dissonance from the key. He says so in the video.
@@deltasceptile7805 You clearly didn't understand the point he made about using different tunings.
You forgot to take into account the cultural impact of how much a certain key is being used. Western popular music using C major G major etc. A key that's half a note higher or lower in relation to the most used keys can either give an uplifting feeling or a punch in the gut.
I've enjoyed your channel, and have learned a lot. I appreciate how you show the relationship between the music and how people perceive it, how it will make them feel, and how that is related to culture and expectations. Well done and thank you.
So the saddest key is the one that allows you to play on the laziest way possible on your favourite instrument? lol
Nice!
Ô looooco
G on the clarinet
+E o patrux
Yep, it shows how sad one's musicianship really is.
I'm totally doing this, though.
It's sad on so many levels.
So ill be Am for me
i dont even really play music and i like your videos
sal sinjoro; mi ankaŭ ŝatas liajn filmetojn dum ne ofte krei muzikon
Athenic Cuber Hey, it's obviously in line with your interests. You should pick up an instrument. You're never too old and I've never regretted it either!
***** ive played instruments in the past, i just dont think ive found the right one yet.
Athenic Cuber Vi estas Esperantisto?
What have you tried?
Just discovered this channel. I'm really impressed not only with your musical knowledge but also your ability to articulate a lot of more obscure ideas that I generally and intuitively understand but have trouble explaining to other people. Subbing now
When I was learning the different scales (still got some to go but I've learned most them by now) I wrote a very short and simple melody that contains all 8 notes in any given scale, and then I played that same melody for every scale. (If anyone cares, the melody is 1, 222, 543, 18, 677, 81, which in for ex A minor would be A, BBB, EDC, AA, FGG, AA.) This was a great way for me to memorize them as it gave me something to connect them to, some kinda context to create new paths in my brain with, instead of just running my fingers up and down the keyboard... but, it also allowed me to hear the difference between every key.
And I think for me what makes the most of a difference, is in the melody being higher or lower in it's overall pitch. But I also imagine that the black keys sound more crisp somehow, which makes me hear or interpret some extra difference between scales with mostly white keys vs scales with mostly black keys. But that might just be my piano having a ton of issues with resonance, or being poorly tuned.
That said I'm making another song that's not just for practicing scales, but is meant to become an actual song. It's supposed to be very sad and kinda haunting because I think that fits the theme of the lyrics, also kinda melodic rock. So I made it in 7/8 time signature, and I originally wrote it in D minor. I chose that scale largely because it has very few black keys but still some so I got to challenge myself a little, plus I could play right in the middle octave on my ridiculously tiny 37 key piano, giving me enough space for both some bassline chords and an intro in a higher octave, but... then I realized that the D minor key fits very poorly with my vocal range.
That kinda sucked as I had already been working on that damn song for weeks. But I still decided to change its key, and I changed it to B minor, which worked perfectly for my voice. But... it sounds different now. Yes, I've made sure that the melody has been properly converted and it's not like it's a super complex melody anyhow, and I haven't even gotten to the chords yet, so it's not that. I'm comparing plain melody against plain melody. And to me, it just sounds sadder and heavier now, somehow. And I dunno if it's because the B minor scale has an additional black key involved, or if it's really just because now the melody is 2 notes deeper than it was before. I mean deeper tones can have the effect of sounding sadder. Or, it could just all be in my head.
I was hoping to see some emos say “the g note is the saddest”
Geenelle mercado same!
As long as you go right down to that F# afterwards you'll have emo girls Immediatly surround you
when I was a young boy, my father took me into the city, to see a marching band
The saddest key is northern downpour
No b
...but it goes up to eleven!
Don't even *look* at it
Thank you very much for this. I had a discussion about this a long time ago, and I took the "keys are all the same in equal temperament" stand. You have made me see things in a more nuanced way.
God man I've started to watching you videos and I can't stop. Amazing job.
MEANTONE TEMPERMENT, thanks for the band name
He meant one temperament.
@@slipshot422 I love you lol
A = 420hz blaze it
scrolled way too far for this
waay too far...
you mean A-flat bro
also always A = 442 because why the fuck not and because wind instruments like to get high
Tova Holmberger In the baroque period a=416 hz or 460 or sometimes ever 395.
You must be fun at parties.
I have perfect pitch and I actually feel the keys differently, even in equal temperament
I feel different emotions (C, G and D major are really happy), and also A major, it deppends on the context. It seems like the bright part of the circle of fifths (major scales) is happier to me
But also the other side is happy, but it's a different kind of happiness. Of course, it depends on the melody, but even if that is the same it feels like a robust emotion.
Asking questions from a potential viewers prospective really helps with making your points understandable
Great job on these informative videos
Adam Neely is the Vsauce of music theory.
Grats.
OK.....WOW I did not expect that "This Spinal Tap" reference
I clicked the link to this vid just to see if it was in there (ok also a bit because AN's stuff is usually interesting :p)
Also: 4. Your drummer will die soon, always have a replacement lined up.
5. Know the difference between inches and feet or your Stonehenge monument will be in danger of being crushed by a dwarf!
Teaching us more everyday. Smell the glove, baby.
Top 10 saddest key signatures:
1. F Major
2. E Major
3. C# minor
4. D# Minor
5. D minor
6. F minor
7. Bb minor
8. F# minor
9. A major
10. G minor
And of course for those of us with chromesthesia, each tonal centre is represented by a different colour, and quality affects brightness (which most people have a concept of). So if I want something dark purple, I’ll shoot for D minor. If I want a bright and cheery red, I’ll go for A major.
F# major to me is orange! G major is blue and g minor is navy blue!
I get orange for A, but D is dark blue/purple. Pretty close
To me E sounds blue and A sounds yellow
For me A major is a peach orange, D major is a yellow and G major is sky blue. C minor is reddish/hot pink, F major is grass green, F# major is dark green, C# minor is grayish orchid/sometimes purply, and Eb and Ab major are both a very warm red.
Wow !! So many people with chromesthesia !! That too at one place at the same time ?! Truly this video is gods gift
I think I would be very sad if I had to play in E♭minor
Haha !
nah. D# minor is MILES worse! lol
if nigel tufnel says d-minor is the saddest of all keys, then that's good enough for me!
dave oh good thinking
G minor > d minor
Adam, my friend, you are 22 lengths ahead of me. My 40 years of study never entered the the door of a university. That was countered by the fortunate schooling rec'd from a generous hand full of great musicians, which included one notable Jazz great. He was 98, & still very sharp when I met him. I paid attention, and never miss an opportunity to learn something from every musician I've encountered, especially from a titan, such as yourself. I remain a student at heart, while teaching for 20 years now.
That said, to me- certain keys have a unique quality. G and D are very happy, Always felt G opens a set, in an inviting, warm and happy way. I'm a guitar player and understand that aspect, as you put into meaning through context here. I'm in agreement with that.
I still feel a deeper thing at work, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if every individual. belief was tied to the reasoning you explained. E and A seem to me to be slightly less sprite, but still well happy.
Dm is, I truly believe the saddest of all keys. Nigel isn't a mentor in my top 100, but Ritchie Blackmore is. He shares this belief in Dm as being the saddest. Dm & F#m are mucho misterioso, as Em can be as well. B has a tension about it, unique, and tight. Bm isnt nearly as sad as Dm. F#m is about as sad ( The second saddest key, to me). There is context there, too. The 50 odd records of my main man no doubt have this belief put into practice throughout his canon. He put the saddest of the triste in Dm. As Bach's Requiem, and the Toccata and Fugue are in Dm, perhaps Ive just come to associate Dm this way because its what I know.
There exists a little ditty on a Purple record, Made in Europe, on the Burn track. The beginning has a cadenza like, loud and boisterous part,. It's in the Key of the song, Gm. After it dies down, the "ditty" is stated on the guitar only (.31.), lower in volume, delivered in a Quasi Misterioso manner. It's in Dm. 25 seconds or so long, I call it a snake charming line.
( Dm is also the best key for snake charming. The Gilly Gilly man came to my grade school in Singapore, with his baskets of cobras. I'm not absolutely certain, but his funny sounding horn was tuned for a Dm scale, Alas, the sticker stating its key must've worn off. He appeared 90, the horn maybe twice as old, so I can understand why no sticker existed. The cobras sure came out and did their thing, I am certain that I was too close, the front row was smushed into the 2nd row from the start to the finish of the show.
I've not been able to recognize the ditty it by name, though likely , it's of classical origin. An influential teacher of his provided classical guitar training, which obviously left its mark. It took me a while to figure it out, I'm sure you could accomplish it in a minute or two, Today though, I instantly recognize some of the elements that were so muddy 30 years ago.
Many Django gypsy minor songs are in Dm, and Am. Am is the most spanish of all keys ( that's common knowledge).
To use the word ditty, actually strikes me as more in the vein of a jig or reel- happy. Perhaps there exists a more accurate term. Perhaps that defines my level of Musical IQ as well. Dm does have a close relationship to Gm, and perhaps a Gm to Dm back to Gm sequence is extra sad and mysterious, (not sure what to call that; - Im modulating to the IVm and returning to Im explains zilch, If I'm barking up the right tree, what does a tonic to the Dominant and back do ?? I've wondered exactly why it was done this way. Should I learn the origin of the piece, perhaps some further light will offer another piece to a musical puzzle. I've yet to study the author cited in your video, I'll have to see what his reasoning is.
The scoreboard does have him, me, R. Blackmore, and for what its worth, Nigel too, - in agreement. Versus you. I'd never be so foolish to come right out and challenge a titan. However, If you revisit the subject, in light of these pseudo mysterious revelations, I'd be glad to hear further insight. You'll probably still win, and that's fine. of course- because then I might know better, too.
You know, that "Lick my Love Pump" is awfully sad..., I've never tried to modulate it, to check the melancholy factor in other keys. Perhaps segued with "Smell the Glove" would take it elsewhere. Hmmm, 5 bucks- says it takes you to Stonehenge, where the jolly dwarfs live
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this video. I have been saying for years that equal temperament basically negated key difference as opposed to meantone or Werkmeister, etc. , but few have agreed with me. Your analysis is spot on. Thanks again!
@Adam Neely 3:45 You are right, Schubert didn't mention F Sharp in his Book, but he described the enharmonic equivalent G Flat as "The echo of a soul that has struggled, and finally triumphed" - to me a good description of Chopin Etude Op.10 No.5 In G Flat . When Schubert wrote this description, there were already peaces for piano in F Sharp i.e. in the Well-Tempered Clavier of Bach. In my Opinion the character of keys is a mixture of timbre, modes and learned associations from well known music.
D Minor is the saddest key because that's what Mozart wrote his Requiem in, his final breath 😢😢
And let's not forget Spinal Tap's 'Lick my Love Pump'
@@meetroushan2727 th-cam.com/video/H7vk5keNbRc/w-d-xo.html
For me, Bb Minor is such a tragic and sorrowful key. Eb Minor also sounds sad but in an intense way. F Major just makes me unbearably nostalgic.
I personally find D minor to have a cold, pensive feel to it, and E minor comes off as a little more laid-back. Idk why
tune down your A to 426.3hz and your E will resonate with you more, giving 639hz on the E5 in ET.
B Minor - I love this one
B minor is so sad omg
The "G" note
Very well produced segment. Bravo!
I think the definiton of "sad" music comes with what type of scenery and feeling are put alongside the music.
A very sad and tragic scene can have the happiest music. If that specific music reminds of a happier time, then it can become really sad if put in a sad scene.
Same thing if a scene is really happy, but the music origantes from a moment of sadness. Then that happy moment can become really sad and tragic.
*Looking for people saying G note*
Arzt Nexus same!
Arzt Nexus .
F# sharp minor
Why G?
Nabranes TwistyPuzzler It can be the saddest Fucking Key if you Use it Right
Hey Adam,
I love your content. You're one of the few TH-camrs who I start to appreciate more and more the longer I watch them. Yours is quality content, I appreciate that. Keep up the good work!
Greetings from oversea :)
The saddest key to me, is based on context. Recently I finished writing a war memorial song in Eb major, and it brings me to tears much more often than any other song simply because of why it was written, as opposed to what it is written in. Wish he would have touched on context more here.
Although I love the video lol :)
I think C minor is ultimately the saddest. To me it gives me a feeling of no hope, isolation, mourning, regret, anger, etc. It has a home for most sad topics. Sure other scales use topics like these, but C minor ultimately gives a home to pretty much all, as C major gives a home to pretty much all happy things. C major and c minor are probably the most powerful scales in their major minor groups as they hold the power to most subjects of their fitting. That’s just my opinion though.
Chord extensions also can make a huge difference.
To me, minor 9ths add a heavily sentimental feeling.
Try Matcha by Elijah Who - the first note of the melody is a minor 9th,and it has some generally interesting chords throuought
I feel this may be connected to the whole "colour hearing", perfect-pitch technique.
I have always felt different colours attached to different keys, some more strongly than others - but I don't have perfect pitch - and when I talk to others who get this they have different colours! For me, D major is brown, E yellow, F red, G green and A blue. Those are the strongest and they are associated with my playing, not my hearing.
That sounds like synesthesia, which sounds like it would be an interesting thing to have, but what I was talking about was the technique of hearing each different note having it's own unique sound, or "colour", which allows you to differentiate between pitches based on sound. This guy named David Burge made a whole system based on it, which when you look at it seems like snake oil, but it really does seem to work. I never really got into it - a friend burned me a copy of disc 1 of the series,and now I can hear the difference between Gb and Eb - but it does add a lot to the "keys having different emotions" concept.
Darragh Tate
I have perfect pitch and I definitely get different feelings from different keys. A piece in B minor will feel way more sad/dramatic to me than the same piece in C minor. Never been able to pin point exactly why I perceive this but I assume it's to do with having perfect pitch/synaesthesia
Do you get the same feel from the same key but played on different instruments?
Rimsky-Korsakov and Liszt had a famous argument about the color of different notes. They both had synesthesia and perfect pitch but disagreed on the colors they saw from music.
Brilliant, Adam. Nicely organized research, insight and explanation of a topic that has been confusing me for years.
Brian, he's actually wrong. They Schuman guy had the analysis almost spot-on. The answers can be found in both Classical music and many inspired pop-music examples. This guy, Adam Neely, or whatever--he's an empiricist and a nay-sayer.
The saddest key feels low but you don't notice it
Cause hes lowkey
Duarte Oliveira high key a low key punny joke
Would be an interesting experiment to take a piece of music and just transpose it to different keys and see if it makes the feel of it any different.
Just tried it! I made up a stupid little 3 bar melody accompanied by an Alberti bass in A minor and in D minor. You can hear it there: flat.io/score/586e6cbf09be5543a83d5582
The composition is terrible, I made it in 10 minutes, forgive me x)
Personally I don't think D minor sounds sadder than A minor to be honest. Maybe it takes a longer piece to notice, I don't know, or just something better xD
Cool! A problem i now realize is that its hard to truly isolate the different keys since you hear it in Dm directly after you've heard it in Am which makes it sound kinda like any modulation in any song. This gives it the sort of climax feel that you would normally get from any modulation in any song really.
I see what you mean, and yea indeed it kinda gives off the modulation feel
Maybe writing a different phrase in Dm would work better, instead of just modulating and doing the exact same phrase.
96robola Rob Scallon has a video where he plays a song and on each repeat tunes down 1/2 step. It's a metal thing, but nonetheless, it gives what I would think are semi-typical results. I know when I've tried to redo my songs in different keys and tunings it took away a lot of the emotional power to me. Maybe that's just because it's my piece and I may not be able to be completely objective.
Playing something in D minor and A minor will sound different, just like transposing up an octave will sound different. If you transpose your D minor melody to A minor, it will be either lower or higher than the original melody and that will make a difference. It all comes down to timbre. Certain instruments sound better in a certain register and finding a key that fits your chosen instrumentation is important. This is also why singers usually transpose songs to different keys - their voice sounds best in a certain register.
Of course the melody will still sound like the same melody and it will most likely not sound any "happier" or "sadder" when you transpose it to another key. But it may have a bit different kind of a character. For example if you write a piano part that uses a lot of chords played in the low register, you may want to find a key where the chords don't sound too muddy. If something sounds too muddy in D minor, transposing it a up to another key may make a huge difference. An octave up may be too much and it will sound too bright. So you may want to transpose it just a bit higher, so that it still retains the "low register" sound but it doesn't sound too muddy.
Hey Adam. Great video as always.
I'm afraid there's a little correction in 2:52, the ratio is (¹²√2)⁷ , it's a power function not multiplication.
I'm sorry I know you don't much like correcting mistakes that are irrelevant but I couldn't help but get it out of the system.
Thanks for the insightful channel.
No, it's relevant, thanks for the correction, several others mentioned it, and it's definitely my bad!
Esam Bustaty nerd
+Kekaroni Potato that's a complement ;P
Tomasz Kasperczyk
Nerds usually end up making the most money, so ye, it is.
DON'T YOU DARE SAY CAN'T HELP IT!!!!
all is about tension, the center of all notes is A, going upper from A to D (with a minor key) results in a more tensional scale, and going down from A to D# results in a more neutral scale, or atleast less sadder
(remember that after an octave all just starts to repeat, the only change exists in relation of the 12 notes)
All instruments: We tend to play in the key of __ because it has a great, upbeat feeling. Though when we play in the key of __, it gives a very spooky feeling.
Brass and woodwind: We play in Bb because it’s easier
We may not know the saddest key, but we know that the viola is the saddest instrument.
Ian Anderson I would suggest that the viola da gamba is sadder than the modern viola.
Ian Anderson
I play a viola and I totally agree. Literally, I just leave it in the corner and play my piano.
viola is a pretty great instrument tho
Because it only burns half as long as the cello?
My favorite tho
I'm not gonna lie; I love the sound of the meantone F#.
F for fail or amazing
I like the G better
it sounds ... mean.
I say either C minor or F minor (or rather mixing those because they are "within a same system"), but that might be mostly to my synesthetic impressions of those particular chords; BUT every time I make a song in them, I know it hits the goal with most listeners. And that is probably only because I enjoy playing them the most, therefore I make better music when I feel more comfortable, therefore it works for others too.
Classical composers sometimes got around the horn key problem by calling for horns pitched a fifth above or below the key of the music. Natural horns in Eb, for example, can play in the key of Bb since the tonic lies on the horn's fifths (3rd/6th/12th partials).
I hate when musicians talked about saddest """KEY""" in Ionian mode and ignore intonation entirely, which is where dissonance and harmony comes from.
*g note*
Adam you are brilliant !
Use of mean tone specially 1/4 comma, was rare after XVII century given space to unequal temperaments (aka well temperaments), Werkmaster III, Kirnberger III, Vallotti, Neidhardt are some examples of them, temperaments in which keys with few sharps or flats have their thirds more pure (5/4 ) and narrow filths (1/4 comma narrow), and keys with more sharps and flats ( wider thirds up to Pythagorian thirds (21,5 cents wider) but pure fifths (3/2 ratio, 702 cents). That mean that for different keys you have different intervals so ( unequal temperaments). So for example in Kirnberger 3, F# is a Pythagorian third, wider, and subjectively brighter but minor thirds like Ebm well narrow again subjectively more sed and its why the description you mentioned its is based on those perceptions which a very mild but sensibility is personal. Those unequal temperaments were the norm in XVIII and XIX, but were getting unused in favor of ET12, specially after the begining
of XX century . Anyway its a small detail. Your videos are really pretty clear, complete and informative. Always a pleasure to watch. Thanks and keep them up!
g minor will always be the saddest sounding key to me.
zenispagetti
WHEN I WAS-
A YOUNG BOIIIII
MY FATHER
TOOK ME INTO THE CITY
The Black Parade isn't even in G minor, but G major
>mentions Ligeti Requiem
>picture of Lux Aeterna, not Requiem
damn bro
I noticed this too.
love the painting in the back
The key to sad keys is key signature (while your keys between your keyboard and keytar are keyed out with chroma key in the Florida Keys).
This is very interesting as Hans Zimmers favourite key is D as he uses a lot of low strings e.g. Cellos in the jokers theme 'Why so serious' whilst the lowest note on the cello is C its an open string so you cant vibrato on it so going one tone up allows for a much more expressive lowest note and that is how he chooses his keys.
I conducted a little experiment. I used four chords and played them using an acoustic guitar in the same tempo and rythm but in two different orders.
First: C, G, Am; F. I think this sounds really sad in a *nostalgic* sense. Could be a song about missing someone. It conveys *loss* to me.
Second: Am, F, C, G. This is also sounds sad, but I feel that there's a strong sense of *determination* in there, like someone rising above their struggles. It's hopeful in way.
What I find is that they both sound sad but they're different types of sad. If I wrote a song using the first one the theme of the lyrics would probably be about reminiscing about better days past or something to the like of that. If I wrote a song using the second one the lyrical theme would probably have that sense of determination to it.
I think that the first one sounds sadder (even though it's in a major key) because in the second one there's, as I said, this sense of hope. I have no good hypothesis as to why I think that way.
Are these associations of mine to nostalgia/loss and determination respectively personal to me or is it something more universal? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
Thank you Adam!
Something else to consider concerning this topic is that instruments during the Baroque/Classical eras did not have a homogenized sound throughout their ranges. The Baroque flute, for instance, was tuned in D Major. In order to play a note outside of D Major, flautists had to finger a note in D Major and then flatten the pitch. That creates “dark” notes. Different keys, therefore, are going to have a different combination of light and dark notes. G Major would be fairly homogenized, but E-flat Major would have had several “dark” notes, including the tonic.
The instrumental favoring of familiar keys is very true. I am trained in jazz but when I meet another guitarist often from a rock background (nothing wrong with that) and they want to do a blues they often request the key of E or A but when they request the same from horn players the horn players are often surprised and might counter that with requesting the key to be in something more familiar to them such as Bb or F. My question is should we as muscians try to eliminate this sort of trope for each instrument or should we leave it be? P.s thank you for all that you do and I look forward to your future work.
I'd say it's a mix of both, and that you have to know who you're playing with. If you're playing with people who are well educated, then which key you're playing in should not matter. However if you're playing with musicians who are not as educated, know how to play to their strengths. Of course we should all be striving to be more informed and complete musicians who aren't restricted by a lack of knowledge/ability.
I think the genre dictate the key to use. Rock, blues, pop and country use a lot more the key of E, D, G, A, while jazz and blues/jazz use a lot more the keys of F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db.
So you generally don't ask to play a hard rock song in Bb no more than you ask to play a jazz standard in E.
But there a thing, the singer often ask to transpose songs in unusual keys. Than, everybody adapt to the signer's will.
It's just so much easier to do idiomatic blues things in E than in say Gb - unless you use a capo! Likewise there are keys that are simpler - less accidentals - on the alto sax (in Eb) than others. Everyone says learn everything in all keys - that's more straightforward on a guitar, than a instrument like the sax where you can't easily move your fingering patterns up a step, say. The patterns are all different!
+Aaron Iannitelli While of course it's better to be able to play in any key, transposing from another instrument can open interesting pathways, and help understanding between musicians.
I think it is a welcome and necessary difference. Musicians who can only play 1/2 of the keys will get 1/2 of the gigs. Musicians who have put in the effort to play all of the keys are at least eligible for all of the gigs. Everyone has something to offer.
In the words of Tom Morrello
"When you wanna rock hard, children; lean on F#"
Joshua Connor Paul Gilbert agrees
Don't know why, but it makes people weep instantly
I loved your video on microtunes. I even, because of it, made a beat on FL studio using the FL keys midi utilizing microtunes. And your video on why majors are happy ... amazing and informative!
Great work as always. I'd like to comment that when I was a kid writing in "Drop D" Tuning that I noticed when I transposed the notes onto standard tuning exactly, I still wouldn't get the powerful sound I wanted that comes from the 1 finger power chord of drop tuning.
I always wondered what the difference is if it's all the same notes. I figured it must be primarily in my head, and if anything, was slight and just a way that the chord was ever so slightly easier to form (or bar down) had something to do with it.
I bring this up because even if there is any sort of objective answer to this question, it's convoluted endlessly by even the tiniest details about how that note is played.
interesting stuff keep up the good work.
Derrick Swinney You are correct. You're using a different finger to fret the notes, stretching more or less, depending on the chord, and just the timbral difference of the string being a different tension since it's tuned down and reverberating through the neck and string in different areas.
No guitar being perfectly intonated all around, it's also worth mentioning that chances are the intonation errors between notes are more similar when using the same fret for a chord, making it sound measurably better.
thegreatgambeeno - I agree: string tension likely has a lot to do with it.
In fact, try the same chords, but with the guitar tuned to D standard, and you'll likely notice the effect to be more pronounced than with the guitar tuned to drop D.
That has been my experience, anyway. I switch between drop C and C standard quite a bit. Even though the low C is technically the same in both tunings, something about the low C power chord in the standard C tuning feels like it has more girth than in the drop C tuning. The one main difference is that the A and D strings have less tension in the C standard tuning (as do the rest of the strings). This changes the overtone series, which changes the sympathetic resonances, which alters the timbre, etc.
A friend of mine who has perfect pitch says that he always hears E major as partially minor because he is so used to the I chord being used to resolve to A minor.
Theres also an effect of some instruments' lowest notes. I've heard from some sources that the saddest key is Cminor because the Cello's lowest string is tuned to C. The instrument with the most "sad" sound to it, and the lowest instrument that you really hear a lot of is cello so it would make sense.
im glad he used Michael Brecker as an example for modern saxophone at 6:28. no one else could've taken that spot.