Learning Tunes in Different Keys

[eazilyled]

Occasionally I will come across advice saying that it is a good idea to learn tunes in different keys.

Do you guys do this for your chord melody arrangements?

Also, what would be the purpose of doing this - is it that you get to learn the intervallic relationships between the chords / notes in the progression / melody better, or is it simply to improve your transposition skills when someone calls an unexpected key for a tune?

[pierre richard]

I always transpose a new tune in 5 different keys and play them...

The melody note lies on different steps of the scale and different chord shapes offer sounds because of it...

As you mentioned,some players learn a tune in different keys and by knowing it in at least five keys you can adjust without too much difficulty...

Makes you a better player...

time on the instrument...

[eazilyled]

I always transpose a new tune in 5 different keys and play them...

Thanks Pierre.

How do you choose those 5 keys - are they the commonly played ones or is it arbitrary?

Or do you purposely pick a new key that will force you play in different positions / string sets?

For example, I learned Stella in Bb as it is in the Real Book. As my next key, I could pick one that is the furthest away from Bb, i.e. tritone to E.

That might force me to play it quite differently rather than shift the way I played it in Bb up or down a couple of frets.

[targuit]

There are several reasons why transposing and playing in different keys is valuable to a player.

If you are a vocalist as well, you need to find the key which complements your vocal range for the song. Even if you are more concerned with the key best suited for the guitar, one key or another may be more fluid in terms of fingering for the song as written. To site an example, last night I was listening and playing along with a Joe Pass recording of J. Van Heusen's But Beautiful, a song which is a bit tortuous melodically for a singer. Joe played the song on this take in the key of A, which is very comfortable for guitar, but perhaps a bit high for a second tenor voice by a major second or third. I have often played this in G, which works nicely, too. So by playing in various keys, you get a sense of what works best for you and the song.

And of course, by playing a song you understand well in terms of structure, you enhance your musicianship by working through the keys. Playing in keys with sharps and flats may play better musically in some cases than the standard "guitar-friendly" keys, especially if playing with horn or other wind instruments.

Jay

[Agate]

Playing more than a couple songs in a row in the same key gets tiresome on the ears. Keeps things fresh.

[pkirk]

Learning a tune in different keys gets you to divorce the individual chord names from the chord progression. Its exactly the same as playing a melody in different keys. If you only know it in one key, then you might have the melody learned only as a sequence of notes (or worse, fingerings), whereas if you can play in in any key, what you've memorized are the intervals from one note to the next (and in the larger scale the movement of the melody itself).

With chord progressions, and especially for improv, the more internally you feel the movement from one chord to the next (you could call it the "interval between chords") the better your improv will be, as it will thread though the chords rather than spelling one after another. You also will not need to think of individual chord names, but rather your fingers will just "go to the right place".

Most players here can take a simple known melody (eg blue bossa) and play it starting on any initial note. Being able to do this with chord progressions is an important step in playing more freely.

[pierre richard]

Every new tune I learn is in a different key...so when playing a gig...I will cover 5 or 6 keys...a couple minors here and there also...

Say...G,C,Dm,Ab,Bb,F,Am,Em...etc....

time on the instrument...

[eazilyled]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Some interesting food for thought here.

[mr. beaumont]

Another important thing about playing in different keys--particularly from a chord melody standpoint--is "divorcing yourself" from the arrangement.

[ecj]

I think this is essential if you want to be a working musician. If for no other reason than the fact that vocalists have no choice but to transpose tunes to sound good. If you can easily transpose, especially as an accompaniest, you will get a lot more gigs than the guys who are stuck in their Jamey Aebersold keys.

I also think that mentally taking tunes through all 12-keys helps you learn the song roadmap in a different way. When I'm learning a new tune I play the melody, chords, and then skeletal chord melody through all 12-keys. After that, I find a key that is good for my vocal range and work a more complete arrangement up to tempo. It's great practice.

[goranlindelow]

In my case I want to improvise chordmelody and than it´s a way to learn the tunes better and be more free in your guitarplaying/improvising! I use to play new tunes in every key! Good luck!
Goran

[jasaco]

All great reasons above. Also, remember that, even if you do sing, YOU will not always be the singer. I've been in lots of situations where a guest vocalist appears out of nowhere and wants to sing "Out of Nowhere" in E or some other key you didn't practice it in and suddenly, you'd better do it!

And THAT implies another, corresponding skill, since you didn't bring a chart with you in key of E, did you? Practice transposing chord charts by sight. Start by comping slowly, reading each chord as it comes up and quickly jumping a minor third, a b5 or whatever is needed for the new key. Or, if its easy enough to just grok the patterns (e.g. ii-V-I, ii-V-I, I IV iii VI, ii V, I), and just hold that in your mind while you play in any key.

That may sound difficult at first but, if you think about it, just about every guitarist can already do this with the (3-chord) blues ("Ok, guys, blues in F#"; still no big deal). It's a small step from that to adding in the subs needed for jazz-blues (1-6-2-5 turnarounds, etc.) and, once you can do that in any key, you're most of the way there already to handling most standards - if you can remember the form or just look at the chart intermittently for a reminder.

[ecj]

[QUOTE=jasaco;352208Or, if its easy enough to just grok the patterns (e.g. ii-V-I, ii-V-I, I IV iii VI, ii V, I), and just hold that in your mind while you play in any key.[/QUOTE]

Good post, jasaco. I find focusing on the harmonic roadmap to be way easier than thinking about the actual chord names.

For an experiment, take a new tune and write out a chart that has no chord-names, but does have the chord-functions. So, if you were doing Autumn Leaves you'd write:

iim7 V7 Imaj7
|////|////|////|////|

etc., instead of A-, D7, Gmaj7.

Now, try comping through all 12 keys and watch how much easier it is. If you can get your brain to work like this it becomes way easier in real time, too.

There's a similar trick to doing this with melodies, where you focus on the melodic structure of the melody line. You think of it as the notes as they function in the parent scale.

Then with chord melody, I like to focus on the note function against the harmony. So you think of playing the 3 over I maj7 or something like that.

[targuit]

For me I don't think of tunes in terms of analysis per se when transposing on the fly. It's more a question of whether I am very familiar with the tune or not.

Songs like Georgia On My Mind or My Foolish Heart that I know well - I don't think of harmonic analysis when I play. I just hear it in whatever key is necessary. I understand analysis just fine but it is an extra step that I just don't bother with when transposing on the fly.

If I'm working on a new song to me that I'm analyzing in terms of creating a written transcription, I just find the tune on YouTube and play along with my guitar in hand or sitting at my Yamaha synth and chart out the chord progression in a pass or two. I just did a transcription of I Remember You the other night that way, working with Sibelius and inputting the melody and chords a few bars at a time.

All I'm trying to say is that to me the analysis is implicit rather than explicit, though I know some people like to analyze the song in depth. Nothing wrong with that, just extraneous usually in my approach.

Jay

[ecj]

Good point, Jay. After doing this for a while you don't really have to think about it that explicitly. I think the blues analogy was very helpful, because everyone can put a 12-bar-blues in any key. Eventually other things become that easy.

[Agate]

Jasaco pretty well sums it up. It's only intimidating at first. As with anything difficult, it gets easier with practice.

[Jonzo]

If your goal is to maximize both the number of tunes you can play and the number of keys/positions you can play in, the optimal answer is 2, assuming you evenly distribute each tune over all of the positions/keys you want to learn.

[targuit]

This morning, inspired by a nice video by Goren in CM forum of Manha de Carnaval by L. Bonfa, I created a transcription of that song. On YT, the first video by Bonfa I listened to was in the key of Gm. Another nice clip was of Bonfa with Perry Como (memories of my youth) singing in the key of Am. And while I transcribed it originally in Am, I found I prefer singing and playing in the key of Bm7. Fortunately, in terms of transcription, with Sibelius you just hit "notes - transcribe" and specify up a major second. Bingo! Of course, as I pointed out earlier, transcriptions for me are more for me to remember lyrics than to create a guitar chord melody chart or whatever. Determining the best key is a combination of what works vocally for my range and guitaristically.

Jay

[michellepinto]

It is good to learn tunes in different keys. Makes you more versatile in the long run.