Are they accurate?
You see I’m still a noob regarding intervals and I want to attempt to transcribe a song I love which I think has an easy bassline.
I know the chords that the guitar uses and bass follows this mostly except some rhythm that reminds me of jazzy upright fingering but still plays most of the guitar chords still.
I’m now confused as if it’d be better to find the key that the song is played so I can have the notes written on a paper and try to replicate what I hear.
Is this a legit way for me to start transcribing?
Sorry if I had to put this question in another thread, tell me if it’s wrong so I can fix it!
Thank you!!
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If you do a search here you will find a recent thread on this topic.
Ugh searching is hard from phone I will check again from pc, thank you John
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God, thank you
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Chordify to the rescue.
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If you know the chords, the key doesn’t matter that much… but you should be able to figure out the key pretty easily from the chord progression.
A large percentage of the time, the first note of the song is the key it’s in.
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Or the first and last chords if the song has a chord lead sheet 
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The chords are Gmaj, Em and Cmaj so I assumed it’s a Gmaj scale! claps excitedly
You are both correct @sshoihet and @Celticstar but may I ask (as a newbie) why the key is irrelevant if we know the chords? Sorry if it sounds very self explanatory but music theory is like Math to me, hard to digest - and with music at least I am trying haha
Tomorrow I will do some practice, I think I hear octaves at some point.
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It’s all related. The chords are based upon the progression in terms of the key. Knowing the key would allow you to improvise other chords over the progression. Different keys will have different “feels” with the same notes, so that might make a difference in the chords you choose to improvise in.
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G, C, Am (and Em) are also in the key of C so until you see an F/Bm or D/Bm, you don’t know for sure from that alone. It’s easier to analyze the chord progression and key if you have 7th chords too.
The key gives you your scale which gives you the chords. You don’t really need the key if you have the chords because generally you’re going to use the chord tones if you’re improvising over something. Also, the notes you decide to play are not always in the key eg approach notes.
Trying. To. Not. Mention. Modes. Must. Stay. Strong. 
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Since it isn’t an improvise though how should I work around it? To be honest as soon as I hit G from E 3rd fret sounded very close to what the song is, progression is only 3 chords. G > Em > C, following the chord changing of the guitar.
@sshoihet please do, I’ve been working on modes on a very baby step progression, learned by heart Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian and I will schedule the rest soon too. I understand that they have root on Cmaj and thus the A and E makes both minor scales with the A to be the natural minor scale? (I hope I haven’t messed up the theory much lol).
No there’s no F at all in the song as I said to Howard; since the song starts from G doesn’t it make it on key of GMaj?
God this thing will be the death of me for real. I learn one thing and then I have another 400 questions
G, Em, C or I, vi, IV isn’t really enough of a progression to get a feel but if it starts on G, it’s generally G. A common G chord progression would be I, vi, IV, V or I, V, vi, IV
I, IV, and V chords are the most common in progressions, it’s generally not as common to have a iii chord in a progression vs a vi.
I only mentioned C just to note that sometimes it’s not clear just from a limited number of chords what the key is, it’s you ear that tells your where “home” is.
People constantly argue what keys modes are in… D Dorian is technically in the key of C but many people want to hear it as being in the key of Dm which requires a natural accidental on all the B notes.
Just to be clear, I never said that the key was irrelevant.
I feel knowing the key is very relevant especially if you want to add your own improvisations possibly in the form of a solo. 
Correct, and thanks, because of course I wouldn’t have thought that it could be a C, so yeah. +1 Music theory, the Sims style. 
@Celticstar Oh well improvs gonna need to wait for a LONG time; I am just a beginner so my only improv is triads just for the funsies
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If you havent seen this, you might find it useful for exploring keys and chord progressions.
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As you are only a beginner I would say to forget about all this stuff until you have a little more time under your belt. Just follow the B2B course outline. What lesson are you on in the course?
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Just so you know these chords appear in the keys of C and G plus their relative minors, so, 4 keys in total.
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I will always enjoy a Sweet Brown reference…