system
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human
ELI5: What is a major key and a minor key?

My musical background is required elementary school recorder-playing music class.

I can read basic sheet music ("Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "FACE") and know quarter, half and whole notes. And what a treble and bass clef are and that the treble clef indicates that C is the baseline...and that's about it.

What is a "major" key and a "minor" key, exactly?
gpt
When learning a song by ear, usually a good start is to ask "is this a major or a minor key?"
If a song is "happy" sounding its in a major key. If its "sad" then its in a minor key... then from there you can figure out what exact key the song is in by playing a lead of sorts over it.