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Within the typical realm of BIAB(music) endings. What chords would be used for A. Arbitrarily picked AA would be one.... Am would be one... and  Functionally probably any chord within the A key would work. But what chords are typical to use for good sounds.
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Typically,,,,
The chords in a given key that are generally used include the 1,4,5 and 6m. Of course you are not limited to these 4 but they do tend to be the most common.
In C that equates to
1=C
4=F
5=G
6m=Am
You can extrapolate that to any root being the one.... 1=A....4=D....5=E and so on....
Typically... notice I used the word typically.... you will end on the root of the key or the ONE chord....same one you start with normally. There are ALWAYS exceptions.
For example, you can play the song in a minor key and end it on a major.... or the other way around.
My childhood piano teacher told me that to easily determine a key....aside from looking at the key signature, look at the last chord in the song and you will know the key.... most of the time.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 01/05/15 11:18 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Hi Frank,
Keeping in the key of A major you could end on Amaj7, F#m7 (also called A6), Aadd9 or A6/9.
Good luck.
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Guitarhacker,
Excellent writeup for me, appreciate your time.
Just put into my PG bookmarks.
Mario,
Again very good information.
Not trying to be too exotic, just nice music.
Both, I'm trying to work on some UserTracks endings
and hit a glitch, this will help make the monkey go away.
Thank you both for your help.
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To add on to what the others said, here's more info.... A picture of some popular chord progressions. Once you know your key you can take any path and write a chord progression:  Here's the page that came from. Nice intro to theory if you haven't had much in the past: Songwriting Tips Another cool reference, the circle of 5ths. Shows you what keys have the amount of sharps and flats and their associated minor keys on the inner part of the circle: 
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sslechta,
I do have some amount of music training in my early years,
if only I'd have spent more time at it.
I do have Chord Progressions for Songwriters by Richard J Scott.
One of our members did recommend this some time ago, and
picked it up. Excellent book.
The circle of 5th's is one of the nicer one's I've seen.
Will print it for use.
My dark area, what was normal or typical endings chords within the BIAB realm.
guitarhacker nailed the specific chord selection nicely, and MarioD for key suggestions A key.
AECG will be primary keys used for the endings which is
based on the PG Music's supplied UserTracks 10 minute template.
With solidrocks and Jim Fogles help am almost to a point
endings will be part of new UT's I post.
I thank you for taking the time also.
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Frank, I don't if you've ever looked at Nashville notation in BIAB but I find it very useful. All I need to know are the 6 chords built on the first 6 notes of a major scale and I can write in any key I want without having to worry about chord names and song keys. Here are the 6 fundamental chords for a major key ... - 1, 2m, 3m, 4, 5 (also 57), 6m
For example, the chord progression C-Am-Dm-G7-1 in the key of C is 1-6m-2m-57-1 (since notes C, A, D, G are notes 1, 6, 2, 5 of the C major scale). If I change to the key of Ab major, it's still 1-6m-2m-57-1  From a Nashville notation (and BIAB) perspective good chords to finish on would include: 1, 1maj7, 16, 12, 169 (in the key of C these are C, Cmaj7, C6, C2, C69). Note: If you haven't used too many adventurous chords in the body of the song, then it is highly likely that the unadorned chord 1 will be the best choice to end on.If you're interested, to switch on Nashville notation in BIAB 2014/5 ... 1. Click on "Chord Display".  2. Follow the choices I've highlighted below.  - In the first image above, you can see the 2m, 27, 59. This song I'm working on is in Ab major and I find it much easier to think of numbers rather than Bbm, Bb7, Eb9, etc.
Just some thoughts. Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Back around 1960 I hired a guy to play lead on a recording. His only question was What dot are we playing on?
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A 2 5 1 in A would be Bm7 E7 Amaj7 which would finish the tune for you. You could swap the Amaj7 for A69,
Also
3 6 2 5 1 would work, C#m7 F#m7 Bm7 E7 Amaj7, once again the final chord could be A6 or A69,
In both examples the chords could be one or two per bar it all depends on how you here the song and style as well
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Just a short follow up as to why you look at the last chord and not necessarily the key signature.... as my piano teacher instructed me to do...
For example: lets keep this easy... if you look at the key signature and there are no accidentals.... sharps or flats to indicate a key, the assumption is the song would be in the key of C. However, Am also shares the same exact key sig. So if you look at the ending chord, and see a root of A with the chord notes being A C E.... the key sig is actually indicating the key of A minor and not C Major.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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To put some more emphasis on that:
There are seven different modes for each key signature. Examples are given in the key of A. The two most common are
Ionian, better known as the major scale, starts at A, and
Aeolian, better known as the normal minor scale, starts at F#.
Then there are
Dorian, starts at B
Phrygian, starts at C#
Lydian, starts at D
Mixolydian, starts at E
Locrian, starts at G#.
This is not to confuse you, but if you end a song with the key signature of A (= ###) with an ending chord E6/9 suggests that this song is played in "E Mixolydian". Some song examples from the different modes have been posted somewhere in this forum some time ago.
Last edited by GHinCH; 01/06/15 03:11 AM.
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There is so much to learn and absorb.
Will work thru some of the "outstanding" information
and try to learn what I currently am able to use.
Appreciate all of the time and help all of you have
shared with me and the rest of the members.
Knew when the question was posted, there was a lot
more then simple answers.
But, did not want to lock in A key A ending G key G ending.
Thank you very much!
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Frank, Some additional thoughts ... 99.9% (estimated) of the music I've played over the years will end on chord 1 of the key. That is, if it's written in A major, it will end on an A major chord; if it's written in C minor, it will end on a C minor chord. Herb has already said this. The reason for this is because the purpose of an ending is to provide closure and that's what finishing on the tonic chord does - it's home base. Where things are different is how that last chord is approached and there are many, many different ways to do this. In other words, the final chord is not about musical creativity, it's about providing the listener with a sense of ending for the aural journey they've just been on. The chord progression that leads to the final chord, though, can be very creative. Working in the key of A major, here are some endings that occur to me as I sit here typing. If you want to try these in BIAB, the "|" character is used to represent a bar line. Nashville notation for these endings is in blue.- A | D | E7 | A
- 1 | 4 | 57 | 1
- A | Bm/D | E7 | A
- 1 | 2m/4 | 57 | 1
- A | D | E7 | F#m | D | E7 | A
- 1 | 4 | 57 | 6m | 4 | 57 | 1
- A | D | A/E E7 | A
- 1 | 4 | 1/5 57 | 1
- A | D | E7 | D/A A
- 1 | 4 | 57 | 4/1 1
- A | D Dm | E7 | A
- 1 | 4 4m | 57 | 1
- A A/G | D/F# Dm/F | A/E E7 | A (good for slowish tempos)
- 1 1/7b | 4/6 4m/6b | 1/5 57 | 1
- A C#m | D D#dim | A/E E7 | A
- 1 3m | 4 4#dim | 1/5 57 | 1
- A A/C# | D B7/D# | A/E E7 | A
- 1 1/3 | 4 27/4# | 1/5 57 | 1
Hope these ideas give you some more inspiration! Noel
Last edited by Noel96; 01/07/15 12:51 AM. Reason: added Nashville notation
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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As a side point, just because the key sig has no sharps or flats does not mean the song doesn't change key. The key sig only dictates what the notes are NOT the chords, also tunes can have no sharps or flats in the key sig and be written using accidentals, eg song in G only has 1 sharp (F#). could use the key sig for C and use notate the F# using '#'accidental.
The final chord of a song is normally the home Key, also don't just restrict your chord selection to just 1 4 5 6. ALL the chords are open to use and also chords from other keys. Music that stays in one key can get boring not always but it can.
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