Music Theory for Songwriters: Do you have a favourite key for writing songs in?

I don't really know much at all about music theory, when I'm writing a song I'm just using trial and error to come up with chords that sound nice. Probably because of this I am maybe too reliant on familiar progressions that have worked for me in the past. I also couldn't tell you what key I have composed in.

IIRC though, different keys are meant to have different feelings or moods behind them - however I have no idea where this has previously been discussed. Can IMM school me in the characteristics of various keys?

For me, it's not about the mood of a key so much as what feels/sounds most natural to sing in!

That is probably a factor for me too, at least when I'm singing. But I'd like to get a bit more adventurous with my instrumentals.

Affective Key Characteristics from Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806)

Some keys sound better than others for particular instruments. A guitar in Standard tuning will sound better (objectively) in E Major and A Major, because you can use chords that have more open strings compared to other keys. Brass and woodwind have keys in which they sound better and are easier to play.

For me, it's not about the mood of a key so much as what feels/sounds most natural to sing in!

ditto times 1000; this is why most of the songs I've written have ended up in E-flat major or C minor

Thanks snoball! I had a feeling you would be able to help. If there is any more info in a similar vein I would be interested.

(xpost) G Major for my almost singing voice.
I write a lot of songs in D Major on keyboards. About half the songs I write on guitar are in that key as well.

I particularly like this description from the link upthread

Bb 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.

Reading stuff like that is almost like a challenge to yourself to immediately write a song in B flat minor

forgive my village idiocy, but is there a method of working out what key the songs i write are in? normally i just strum various chords until they sound nice together - C, E, Am, F, G | Dm, Dm/C, G, C, C/B, Am, Asus4 | etc...

F# minor has always been a favourite with me. And now I know why:

"A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language."

Although to be fair I just as often do the dog latin technique of arranging chords semi-randomly until it sounds okay. A lot of my techniques of writing music are semi-Oulipian so I actually go a stage further and choose chord sequences via dice rolls or hat picks. Ha.

On keyboards I tend to pick a key, then mess around with chords that fit in that key. On guitar it's more like I'm playing random chords and when I hit on something that works then I'll figure out the key.

If I'm writing on guitar, the key I'm in is just about entirely a function of guitar-playing style, and how different chord shapes sound on there. I used to write lots of jangly stuff in C and F, because they made for mellow-sounding open chords (and maj7s) that left extra fingers free to do embellishments. (Whereas D and G, guitar-chord-wise, sound pat, blocky, and hokey to me.) These days I find myself writing punkier stuff in A and E, because they're well-suited to running up and down the neck and having easy root notes on the low strings. (Barred or not.)

I mean, capos aside, I imagine an instrument like guitar leads you to certain keys more than other instruments might? Not just because they're where the open strings (and dot inlays*) line up, but because they actually change what you can play and how the notes will sound. Playing in an odd key on some other instruments, like piano, might be harder and unfamiliar, but the notes will still sound the same, and the relationships between them won't change -- but guitars are full of chord voicings, open-vs.-fretted differences, harmonics, stuff that requires a note on an open string, etc. Just about ever instrument is built so it's far simpler to play in some common keys, but multi-string instruments seem like they bring in a little more baggage beyond that.

Apart from that ease-of-use and character-of-instrument stuff, I've never understood the "moods" of different keys -- are they based on thinking about specific instruments, or do they just require perfect pitch? I have far from perfect pitch, so I'm pretty sure that you can transpose just about anything without my feeling any difference in mood. So long as it's not changing the way the instruments play, or how they sound in that range.

* This mostly has to do with my not being a good guitar player, but seriously -- if I put a capo on an odd fret, so the dot inlays are a half-step off from the relationships I expect? This throws me for a loop something fierce.

IIRC though, different keys are meant to have different feelings or moods behind them - however I have no idea where this has previously been discussed. Can IMM school me in the characteristics of various keys?

This was true before the advent of equal temperament, not really anymore. Without getting into a long discussion about tuning and temperament, modern guitar and pianos and such are designed so that every key sounds the same. In the past this wasn't true and different keys sounded different. Different instruments have characteristics of their construction that make some keys easier for the player than others, but that's more an arranging concern and is kind of a different topic.

forgive my village idiocy, but is there a method of working out what key the songs i write are in?

I went into some detail about this here.

As for songwriting, I have a sort of obsession about not repeating myself, so I've written in lots of different keys, but really it's about where the melody sits best in my voice. It doesn't really make sense to me to say "I sing best in G major" or whatever. It depends on the melody. I write it in whatever key I happen to be playing in when inspiration strikes, then I'll figure out where the melody works best for my voice and arrange it that way, often with a capo. So I'm usually playing in an open key, because yeah that sounds nice on an acoustic guitar, but really with the capo I'm sometimes playing in an unusual key.

Can IMM school me in the characteristics of various keys?

D minor, I find, is the saddest of all keys... I don't know why, but it makes people weep instantly...

forgive my village idiocy, but is there a method of working out what key the songs i write are in? normally i just strum various chords until they sound nice together - C, E, Am, F, G | Dm, Dm/C, G, C, C/B, Am, Asus4 | etc...

this is in C

I tend towards Eb major when improvising. I don't write songs as such, but when I improvise or whatever, whether on keyboard or organ, it's Eb major I'll inevitable had for, regardless of what key I start in!

so the other day i tuned to open G, then got curious and tried drop C, and then got really pleasantly surprised when i realized that, being really comfortable singing in F, it sounds pretty rad and dark to have the whole guit tuned from low C AND i sound good in the register too.

i am become mark lanegan

Still pretty much writing in D with C and E making up most of the rest, despite deliberate emphasis on writing songs in different keys. For example, B Major, uh... My not actually having a proper singing voice is sort of an advantage here.