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Author Topic: prefered key  (Read 802 times)

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george garside

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prefered key
« on: June 11, 2019, 09:38:25 AM »

does anyone have a 'preferred key'  that they like the sound of and transpose tunes into irrespective of the ? original key.   for some inexplicable reason the key of Emaj sits very nicely in my earole  for a great many tunes and on the BC and BCC# boxes I really enjoy playing tunes therein irrespective of their ''proper'' key.

Or is it just me having a peculiar earole?

george
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baz parkes

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Re: prefered key
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2019, 11:17:30 AM »

does anyone have a 'preferred key'  that they like the sound of and transpose tunes into irrespective of the ? original key.   for some inexplicable reason the key of Emaj sits very nicely in my earole  for a great many tunes and on the BC and BCC# boxes I really enjoy playing tunes therein irrespective of their ''proper'' key.

Or is it just me having a peculiar earole?

george

Depends on the day and what I'm playing...but were I to take the "one size fits all" (BTW it never does...) approach it would be my Bb/Eb box.
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Stiamh

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Re: prefered key
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2019, 11:48:09 AM »

Gosh, George, you are talking "earoles" instead of the other orifice you frequently allude to. Things are looking up!

But are you sure it's your ear that is dictating your choice? E major is mechanically an interesting key on B/C - I mean as regards fingering and bellows movements. You have often mentioned Soldier's Joy, in D, as an example of a tricky tune on B/C, from the mechanical point of view - the repeated D arpeggio at the start. Bump it up into E and you're laughing.

I discovered this when I learned (from member KLR) that Finbarr Dwyer played a certain composition of his in E mixolydian and not in D mix or A mix like everyone else. So I tried it in F# mix on my C#/D and instantly understood how he came up with this and others of his fascinating tunes on the box. Pull, pull, pull, yay, we're flying.

So maybe that's the fascination for you?

My favourite key for trad music - as far as my ear goes - is G dorian, but it does nothing to make life easy for a C#/D player, unfortunately.

Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: prefered key
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2019, 01:05:30 PM »

does anyone have a 'preferred key'  that they like the sound of and transpose tunes into irrespective of the ? original key.   for some inexplicable reason the key of Emaj sits very nicely in my earole  for a great many tunes and on the BC and BCC# boxes I really enjoy playing tunes therein irrespective of their ''proper'' key.

Or is it just me having a peculiar earole?

george

I prefer the Earolian mode of E on a  D/G to the other two accessible minor modes (A and B) and often transpose to that key.
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Chris Ryall

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Re: prefered key
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2019, 02:48:10 PM »

I try to play songs in whatever key is best for my voice, but they do have differing characters.

eg both Bb and C lie well on my box, with many right end chords. I like Bb for lyrical songs, C for rumbustuous ones, and the pitch is close enough not to matter. 

The same happens in minors. Am9 against an A, G, F bass descent is … nice. Whereas Cm9 against C, Bb, Ab (unusual bass but my vdAa has it) … is exquisite! So I use the latter for songs like "Unicorns".

Concur with Stiamh about Gm dorian, (another flat key). I'm on essentially a C#D layout too! (C#DG 3row). It chords beautifully Gm, C major, F/Dm. Use it for my "Québec" song! 😉
« Last Edit: June 11, 2019, 02:54:31 PM by Chris Ryall »
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