Wipe Out original key?

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gdhow62 Joined: Jun 22, 2014 Posts: 38 Wooster, Ohio	Posted on Feb 12 2015 10:47 AM Listening to the Surfari's recording of Wipe Out, it sounds like it is in the Key of B, but from what I see or read online, most people play it in C. Which is the true key as played by The Surfari's on their original recording? Top
Tuck Joined: Sep 02, 2006 Posts: 3166 Denver, CO	Posted on Feb 12 2015 12:09 PM Ask Lammers on Facebook? See threads on tuning down and/or speed changes in playback for distribution. I think generally whatever combination of factors produces an optimal combination of correct auditory key vs. easy fingering is usually considered to be the explanation. Speed changes can be awkward to reproduce live, of course! And they make it hell to play along if you don't have a digital solution that allows pitch changes. It seems to me that one thing that might be something of a forensic clue to speed changes (apart from allowing easy fingering) would be changes in pitch of the percussion and other "non-guitar" sounds. Cymbals, for example, or saxophone. Some keys are a lot easier to play in. E-flat or B-flat, for example, depending on the instrument. That might also explain tuning down. And consider also that sometimes the saxophone might be present "in absentia." The Surfaris' saxophonist of the time was Jim Pash, I think, and famously he couldn't attend the session because he had to work that day in his dad's store. But the band might still have played with their instruments tuned to make it easy for him to play his part while allowing easy fingering for them. And, of course, Wipeout's sax-less success feeds the assessment that surf music is "the quintessential guitar combo music." (As it has become.) Top
gdhow62 Joined: Jun 22, 2014 Posts: 38 Wooster, Ohio	Posted on Feb 12 2015 03:04 PM Uhhhh...okaaay..... Top
tahitijack Joined: Nov 03, 2006 Posts: 693 San Clemente, CA	Posted on Feb 12 2015 03:08 PM Its probably a little of both. According to Kent Crowley's book, Surf Beat, Richard Delvy accidently sped up the tape mastering the song on a tape deck that had not been properly calibrated. For the versions of Wipe Out issued on the Princess, Dot and Decca labels, the key landed midway between the keys of B and C, with C being the more forgiving key for younger and less sophisticated guitarists. — Happy Sunsets! Top

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