Looking at your website and was wondering if I could ask you a music theory question I have?
I have just finished working out the song ‘Learning to fly’ by the rock band foo fighters. I am teaching this to someone and I want to explain what key the songs in but I don’t fully understand myself what key the song is supposed to be in. I am familiar with building a chord scale from the key scale but this song doesn’t seem to apply the rules. The main section is built up of B maj Ff# min and E maj. My first calculation was maybe G major but on looking at the sheet music it’s actually written in B maj which makes sense until I get to the second section of the song which used E maj, G maj, D maj, and A maj , no sharps or minors which appear in the key of B major? H ow does this work?? I improvised over the whole song using the B major scale and it seemed to work…again why ? how?
"Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters sound like a V ii I (5 2 1) chord progression in the key of D to me. This would be the chords A Em and D. You should play the D major (A mixolydian mode) scale. Perhaps they tuned down a full-step and then played in the B position.
The chorus switches keys and sounds like a IV V from C that switches back and resolves on the A chord again (F G A). This is a common modal interchange. You play the C major scale over the F and G chords.
This song is mis-stated in Fretboard Theory page 97. I must have based this on a bad transcription. It always pays to listen firsthand!
