why are so many jazz songs in "flat" keys?

[mr. beaumont]

The black keys sound better. Its a fact.

[Patrick2]

The black keys sound better. Its a fact.

"Ebony and ivory . . live together in perfect harmony . . . side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord why can't we?"

[mrbean]

I guess I was lucky, my first guitar teacher was a session player at the BBC, he taught me to use all moveable shapes and to play in every key. So for me that was normal.

At his sessions they would sometimes have music written in C, and he would transpose it while reading into the key that suited the singer that day. An amazing player, sadly no longer with us.

When I hear "guitar" players who say they need music to be in so called guitar friendly keys or they have to use a capo, I just think they need more guitar lessons.

[Flyin' Brian]

I guess I was lucky, my first guitar teacher was a session player at the BBC, he taught me to use all moveable shapes and to play in every key. So for me that was normal.

At his sessions they would sometimes have music written in C, and he would transpose it while reading into the key that suited the singer that day. An amazing player, sadly no longer with us.

When I hear "guitar" players who say they need music to be in so called guitar friendly keys or they have to use a capo, I just think they need more guitar lessons.

Being able to transpose on the fly is a great help. I can do it, I'm not bragging, I don't know how I know how to do it, but it comes easy for some reason.

Not too long ago I was doing a one off gig with a bassist, singer and drummer. They called "the Mustang Sally of bossas", Ipanema. They asked if I knew it and I told them I did.

The singer said, "I sing it in Db". So we did it in Db. I think that if you understand the relationships between chords then it becomes apparent that the relationship stays the same in all keys.

Capos are good for the times that open string voicings are necessary, but not for changing keys.

[mrbean]

Being able to transpose on the fly is a great help. I can do it, I'm not bragging, I don't know how I know how to do it, but it comes easy for some reason.

Not too long ago I was doing a one off gig with a bassist, singer and drummer. They called "the Mustang Sally of bossas", Ipanema. They asked if I knew it and I told them I did.

The singer said, "I sing it in Db". So we did it in Db. I think that if you understand the relationships between chords then it becomes apparent that the relationship stays the same in all keys.

Capos are good for the times that open string voicings are necessary, but not for changing keys.

Yes that was exactly what Harry was teaching from his experiences in the studio every day, understand the harmonic progressions.

As for capo's, I have a "thing" about them when I told some pop/rock player is "the greatest guitar player of all time" and there there are with a capo.... A rant for another thread

Since I got the ipad and igig book etc i have been getting lazy, just punching in the desired key for the singers. Lucky I don't have to rely on it as the wifi goes down at one venue.

The question of what key leads to the interesting theory of Characteristics of Musical Keys : http://biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm The association of certain musical key signatures with a specific subjective quality or emotion

I especially like the colours assigned to different keys, by different musicians/ composers.

[GuyBoden]

The old Jazz standards in the keys of Bb and Eb are easier for the the Sax and Trumpet.

[brad4d8]

Get yerself payed!

More seriously, thing of the easiest cowboy chords: E, A, D, G. Don't ask a cowboy to play an Ab unless you want a fight.

Or hand him a capo...
Brad

[rsclosson]

I started out on tenor sax. When I played a lot with rock/blues bands, most of the songs were in E and A (F# and B for me) I actually got fairly in those keys, owing to the fact that most stuff was based on the blues scale. When I gravitated to Jazz, life became much better as the keys became more comfortable.

Alto sax is even worse. E becomes C# and A becomes F#

It is actually very easy to figure out the key transposition. For Bb instruments simply add two sharps to the key signature and you have it. Bb becomes C C becomes D Eb becomes F

For alto, add three sharps. C becomes A Eb becomes C etc... You can also think of the relative minor and drop the minor. C becomes A etc.