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For my buddy Flying Walrus

So I'm throwing this out there as a great example of some of the music theory stuff we've chatted about in the past.  Specifically about effective chord movement and transitions between keys.  This is one of the songs way back in the 90s that I would play just to practice simple chord patterns and transitions.  While the pattern may seem simplistic, it is an effective way to practice chord analysis and use that to be able to effectively transpose songs on the spot to better suite you or your vocalist's range.  

A couple of key concepts to dial in on for this would be:

1. Circle of Fifths:    Wikipedia's article actually does a great job going into detail about what it is, how to use it, and how it's been used through history.  (welcome to my life as a teenager in the 90s specifically 1991-1997) 2. Numerical representation of the progression and relationship based on things like the Circle of Fourths or Fifths.  Knowing that the chord that you are playing is the IV (four major) or ii (two minor).  Having the ability to identify what position or relationship a chord or note has in the key that you are currently in is essential. 3. Ear training through interval training is one of the most effective ways to really help understand the theory.  An example of this can be found here:  https://youtu.be/hnzJfG1Eveg.  I'd recommend singing the intervals as you practice.  This does a couple of things for you.  Singing then let's you hear them in your head, over time this increases accuracy not only in identifying the interval, but it will also help with pitch accuracy as it becomes much easier to identify when you are sharp and flat.  The 10k hours philosophy really does work here with practice.  I do not have "perfect pitch" but I have very "accurate pitch."

With all that being said, the song is "Listen to Your Heart" by Roxette.  This cover version (https://youtu.be/jH-FK2RmZBo) hit the YouTube feed this morning which sparked all this.  It's a primarily a vi-IV-V progression at the core, but it mixes it up for the choruses and key changes.  That being said, those progressions and transitions follow the basics of the circle of fifths and the relationships between them.  

My recommendation is to sort this out by ear and theory.  And then use the progression to be able to move between all the keys through the circle of fifths.  It's super fun and effective.  

So my real world experience with why this becomes important comes from doing jazz/blues gigs in college.  Because we would all go support others in the program, typically the third set of the night would include some special guests from the crowd.  Having the chord changes on the lead sheets was always there, but the curve ball was always horn players or vocalists who preferred a chart in a key that they were comfortable in.  So being able to read the chord changes and equate them to there numeric values for the new key was critical when you only have 30 seconds between songs.  Another fun thing to do live typically was to spontaneously call a key change for dramatic effect.  Failures happen but rarely when you know how to recover.  :-)