Too Many Rock Songs in Minor Key

BassFishingInAmerica

BassFishingInAmerica

Jul 24, 2014
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#1
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like nearly everything I play lately is in a minor key. Although the minor key seems to evoke power and emotion, too many minor key songs has caused the music to feel grim or overly serious.
I play mostly classic 70s rock. This past week, I learned, I Want You Back, which caused this whole revelation of how the major key changes the mood.
Does anyone have some suggestions for songs in major keys that would be considered classics and go over good in a club setting. I'd like to stick to 60s - 80s. Not so much 50s music.
Thanks
 
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#2
Ask Google that question and it'll pull up what you need. Major scale is up beat and happy, most old rock and all old country will be in a major scale. The Country band I played in had over 200 songs in the gig book and only one was in a minor key.

Chords, rock songs of the 60's. Pulled up the following:

The List: Top Classic Rock Guitar Songs
  1. Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin
  2. Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne
  3. Come Together by The Beatles
  4. Honky Tonk Women by The Rolling Stones
  5. Fire by Jimi Hendrix
  6. Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd
  7. Enter Sandman by Metallica
  8. Dream On by Aerosmith
  9. Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival
  10. Yesterday by The Beatles
  11. Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix
  12. Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd
  13. Black Dog by Led Zeppelin
  14. Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent
  15. Beast Of Burden by The Rolling Stones
  16. Dust In The Wind by Kansas
  17. Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd
  18. Cocaine by Eric Clapton
  19. More Than A Feeling by Boston
  20. Back In Black by ACDC
  21. All Along The Watchtower Tab by Jimi Hendrix
  22. Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet
  23. Mary Had A Little Lamb by Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan
  24. Sweet Child O Mine by Guns N Roses
  25. Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix
  26. Pride And Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughan
  27. Knocking On Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan
 
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#3
MalcolmAmos said:
Ask Google that question and it'll pull up what you need. Major scale is up beat and happy, most old rock and all old country will be in a major scale. The Country band I played in had over 200 songs in the gig book and only one was in a minor key.

Chords, rock songs of the 60's.
Click to expand...
I didn't even think about Google, thanks. Nearly all of the old rock songs I do are minor -- Frankenstein, Whipping Post, Space Truckin, Vital Signs, Cheap Sunglasses ... blah blah blah. I could go on and on.
 
#6
Funny, I considered starting a thread about this a couple of years ago as I also noticed that so much rock is in minor keys. A lot of my favorite bands, such as Tool, never seem to use anything but minor keys (in fact I don't think Tool uses any key other than D minor, amazing considering their talent).

But then I joined my current band, whose self-taught guitarist and main songwriter just happens to mostly jam on major chords. As a result, a lot of our originals tunes are major key.

We also covered a few Cure songs, which seems to me to be a band that uses a lot of major key voicings contrasted with melancholy lyrics. Even the minor key songs make use of a lot of major chords and avoid the cliché of constantly using the minor third note as a crutch like so many rock bands do.

It's been an eye-opener for me; if you think outside the box you can do a lot with major keys and still avoid sounding overly happy or corny.
 
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#7
I've seen many cover bands bassists that don't even play the thirds on the bass whether a major or minor. I've asked guitar players what the chords to a song before playing and they just yell out G or C to an F or something. So I would ask if the chords are major or minor and they would say what difference does it make your playing bass. So I would explain that yes some bassists play the chord tones beyond the root or fifth, even suspended chord tones or major seventh etc... But I have seen some on bass play a simple box with the root, second,. fourth, fifth minor seventh and octave whether major or minor.
 
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#8
1stnamebassist said:
... But I have seen some on bass play a simple box with the root, second,. fourth, fifth minor seventh and octave wether major or minor.
Click to expand...
I use the box and yes if pounding roots all I need is the chord name aka root note, however, I also know that after the root the....
2 is toward the bridge two frets same string.
3 is up a string and back a fret.
4 is up a string same fret.
5 is up a string and over two frets. Or, down a string same fret.
6 is up two strings and back one fret. Over the 3.
7 is up two strings and over one fret.
8 is up two strings and over two frets. Over the 5.​

If I need a minor chord I could use the root and 5 plus the b3 and the b7
If I need a major chord I could use the root and 5 plus the 3 and 7.
If I need a dominant seven I could use the root and 5 plus the 3 and b7.
If I need a diminished chord I could use the root and flat the b3,b5 & b7

So the box can be as simple or as complex as you let it be.

Another subject - why so many rock songs in a minor key? Old rock (50's and 60's) was major. But, the guitar guys started playing minor pentatonic leads, because the pattern is simple, so when they started writing songs they had added some theory, to their bag of tricks, and wrote in the minor key. Do I know that for a fact? No. Just my opinion.
 
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#11
MalcolmAmos said:
But, the guitar guys started playing minor pentatonic leads, because the pattern is simple, so when they started writing songs they had added some theory, to their bag of tricks, and wrote in the minor key. Do I know that for a fact? No. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
The minor pentatonic scale will work in a major key...
 
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