Ear training

[Justaguyin_nc]

Ok, before you pro's take this for granted I am serious about finding your technique's for figuring out a song by ear which I have done very little of...

I've noticed most that have played for a long time kinda ignore the backing track jam alongs, which us newbies would love to hear how a real good player adds to them. And seeing backing tracks are really hard to find to begin with I am "Assuming" those that know how, do play over the recorded versions of songs and just don't bother with backings. Ok on with my question...

What technique do you use to decipher what Key a song is in and at which point do you notice it change keys if it happens? does the question make sense?

Example... Seeing there been talk about the David Gilmour new CD (here is the link again for the FULL album streams http://www.whas.com/cc-common/mfeatures/davidgilmour/ ).. he has two songs on there that I been "trying" to play along with... "Then I close my eyes" and "The Blue" Now Im new at this.. I do know scales so I just started one went to the next etc till it fit in my head and ears as the right one... First "Then I close my eyes" sounded like A# scale.. which I then decided was C# scale.. and "the blue" seems also to be C# scale... can someone that deciphers music well please tell me how far off I am and maybe explain what I missed by ear if thats possible? Also... I think "The Blue" he changes up after his screaming solo (yes I found another screaming solo on his cd) to another key.. am I correct ? and is there usually a path for change ups or is it the artists creativity? another words.. if your playing D scale is it normal to then jump to B scale.. or can/would/does the lead guitarist try to play scales in the current chord being played instead of following the safe scale started.. (hope Im asking this right.. newbie ya know) Any learning technique you may have to offer no matter how slight you may now think it is after years of playing may be helpfull... thanks

[Tone2TheBone]

I think the easiest way is to listen to what the bass guitar is doing. If no bass then the keyboard...or rhythm guitar. Its easier to pick out keys to the songs if you listen to what the background music is doing. Is this what you mean?

[Justaguyin_nc]

I am not sure what I mean.. reason I asked... but I just learned something.. and thank you for it... I would usually wait till the lead started playing to figure out a key.. ignoring for the most part the bass and keyboard I think... well, unless there was no standout lead... Am I correct in that every lead that jumps in will be playing his first phrase leading or ending in the Key of the song? did that make sense?