Surly simplifies the playing process...especially when you transpose down on these new KB's.....unlike the old days when you really had to play in every key imaginable.....thank goodness for Scale practice years ago

no way.......play everything in it's original key. Nice to have that variety of different fingerings. I like to challenge myself too.

Definitely play in different keys!

if you play everything in the same key it all just sounds the same and gets boring. ppl in the crowd start thinking "is this all he can do?"

I play in C and two three other scales that have as less black keys as possible, sorry can't name them

Talking about the one with a Bb
and the one with a F#
and the one with an Eb and a Bb
maybe one or two more

C is God's creation for some of us!

LOL

Wasn't it Irving Berlin, or one of the old time songwriters that could only play in a few keys? He had a special Steinway made that moved the entire action sideways, so that it could sound in different keys! Early high-tech transpositional technology...!

Si, I guess the question should be, does it matter, as long as you transpose to different keys? Sonically, it is identical to playing in the perceived key.....

My answer would be... No, not really, but....... most songs involve some transposition within the song. The bridge may go to another, often related (sometimes not!) key, there may be changes from major to minor (sounds like a good lyric there!), and unless you can play fluently in any key, there may be whole sections of many, many songs that you will not be able to play, no matter if you START in 'C'...!

So break out that Hanon, or figure out a nice jazzy cycle of fifths exercise, and start to come to grips with other keys than 'C', or you may HAVE to play country for the rest of your life!

(Just kidding, all you country fans! )

I'm entirely self-taught and I tend to stick to 'white' key signatures and have no problem in the keys of C, D, E, F, G and A.

Okay, so I know that changes in many songs require that some parts of the song be in other keys (intros, bridges, etc.) and I manage that okay as well, but rarely, if ever, do I start a song in one of the 'black' key signatures.

Now I'm not sure how this works, but a friend of mine, also self-taught, prefers to play in "black" keys: C#, Eb, F#, etc.

But don't forget, some of those songs that have weird internal sections, if you start them in a 'black' key (Don Imus, where are you now?! ), the odd section might be in 'C', or another easy key....

And if you CAN now play those sections in the odd key they are in, well, that just goes to show you CAN play in those keys! Now just do it a bit more, and soon enough, you'll have another key under your belt.

I find the best way to learn anything new is repetition, without a change. So if, for instance, you say 'I can play in 'C', but 'Bb' gives me fits', try playing in Bb (and NOTHING else!) for a month. Not one single song in any other key. For a whole month.....

Yes, at first it will suck, but after a while, you'll go 'this isn't so bad' and at the end of the month you'll go 'why did I find this hard at all?'.....

12 keys, 12 months... Coincidence? I think NOT.......!

Cheers, Diki. What you say is absolutely true - all I need to muster up is the discipline. :-)

BTW: Like yourself, I'm an old Hammond grinder with UK holiday camp experience under my belt on Canvey Island and Isle of Sheppey. Great days!

Somehow, for me anyway, using the transpose button doesn't impart the same feel to a song as playing it in the original key. I'm sure it's the different fingering. I only have problems with odd (seldom used) keys when soloing. Since not a lot of tunes are written in "B", there aren't as many muscle-memory riffs to fall back on as when soloing in the old stand-bys, C,F,G,Bb,Eb (and their minors). Even with comping, there's less mental gymnastics going on with the more familiar keys (ie. when transposing for a singer or solo instrumentalist).

BTW, what do you do with a song that modulates? Hit the transpose button? What about the transition? Not playing the transition would be a dead giveaway that you're an amateur (and sound weird to boot).

Sure, there are occasions when the old transpose button is the way to go, but mostly I like Zuki's views of the subject.

chas

Yeah, from "Everytime we say goodbye". I assume you knew that and were just being funny.

chas