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Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
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11-20-2013 07:22 PM
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Originally Posted by targuit
And if you are writing church music, you have to work from C to C or maybe C to D. Or else the congregation won't be able to sing it.
Originally Posted by targuitLast edited by jster; 11-20-2013 at 08:09 PM.
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Here's my take:
1) It's equally common for R&B and Motown tunes to be in keys like Eb, Bb or Db. Probably due to a combo of horns reading, and also for the singers. There's a reason Hendrix tuned his guitar down a half step. For his voice.
2) "Guitar-friendly" keys are still a bitch to read in on the guitar. Maybe not G or D, but I hate reading A, E or, god forbid, B.
3) None of this matters anyway, because if you play with a singer the keys are going to be all over the place.
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Every accomplished player can play in any key, that's what being accomplished is. I long ago stopped cowtowing to horn players, pointing out that they were being paid to play at a professional level. Besides, if the rockers can do it (Clarence Clemons, anyone?), certainly the high-and-mighty jazzers should be able to. It's only difficult to read in sharp keys because people AVOID THEM, thinking that they're difficult.
Note Phil Woods' solo on Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are, for example. He's playing in his key of B, and doesn't appear to be having much difficulty. In fact, playing standards in keys other than the original will open lots of interesting doors. I like to have tenor players do Someday My Prince Will Come as a 4/4 funk tune in F, it makes the horn sound really huge, and they end up enjoying it thoroughly.
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Originally Posted by PatrolCaptain
I wouldn't tune to Eb because its just another layer of BS your head will have to compute
when reading charts
Playing the typical jazz guitar sound you don't want a very jangly-bright
open string type sound anyway generally
Well except Bill Frizell , Ted Green type players but even they don't tune slack I believe
Jimi tuned to Eb for his voice ...... he was a Voodoo Chile you know ;0)
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I would never consider a different tuning. I did play a 7-string for a few months with the new lower string tuned to an A below the E string. I don't see any good reason for changing a tuning which took me so many years to become comfortable with.
wiz
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Originally Posted by ecj
This doesn't add up. It sounds like it's Hendrix singing from 1965. It's in Bb which would put him in B if he was tuning down. I can't pick up anything that indicates he's tuning down, as in obvious use of the low E string.
It would help to listen to the old King Curtis records. Even then it's hard to say when he started tuning down. Maybe he tuned down occasionally?
Edit;
This is interesting. He tuned down a whole step with Band of Gypsies? Jeez.
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/a.../t-482648.htmlLast edited by Stevebol; 11-21-2013 at 01:55 AM.
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Originally Posted by wizard3739
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Originally Posted by Stevebol
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Originally Posted by Stevebol
I've never believed in the "different keys for different moods" thing. Maybe I just can't hear it. I think it's more of a case of picking keys that fit the instruments' range that you are writing for (voice, violin, guitar, etc.), or even just the range in general for something like piano. I'd be really interested to see if people can tell the difference in some kind of blind test.
I usually transpose every song I play unless the original key was a fit, because of my singing. Basically, whatever the range of the melody is dictates where I play it in. Having listened to a lot of vocal jazz, the keys are just all over the place. There's no rhyme or reason, just the singer's best comfort area. I try to find keys that let me use open strings and sing in a comfortable range.
Someone could go to my soundcloud page and listen to a few of the standards. See if you can tell which ones have been transposed and what the effect is without using your guitar. I'd be very interested in the outcome.
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^^^
I hear ya. I had trouble hitting a G consistently. F# I could do.
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I learned playing in G and D but now I love love playing in the key of B flat I just like the sound it gives when trying to play smooth jazz and the uniqueness of it. most other styles will not play in B flat much at all except for a little blues and I love blues jazz fusion.
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can you guys play a song by iphone music app? I really have interesting to know some key ways to work it out
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Interesting point about selecting the right key(s) to play a song. Considerations for me include vocal range and how the fingering plays in an arrangement in terms of the melody. Lately I've been looking more to the Nat King Cole style comfortable vocal range approach.
I do tend to hear different qualities in different keys. Sometimes I think the flat keys have a certain brightness, especially in terms of the vocal. The other night I was playing along to an Ella Fitzgerald recording of Take a Chance on Love, if I recall the title, in the key of Ab, which is perhaps the key I use least frequently.
Jay
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Flat keys are common ground, it's where we meet.
Charlie Garnett - Franken Tele
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