[Dixielandjazz] Keys?

[Bill Gunter]

Hi Gang,

Dave Richoux wrote (concerning keys):

>Hope I am not being to obvious here, but in my experience playing
>tuba in Country Western and Rock n Roll bands (more than once!) it
>seems like the guitar/fiddle folk have a preference for sharp keys
>(just as brass band/jazz bands have a preference for flat keys.) It
>has to be something more than music education - I think it is more
>related to the basic tuning of the instruments in the various groups.

I am sure that Dave is correct in this reasoning. Country music is performed 
primarily on guitars to accompany vocalists and guitars are tuned in such a 
way that the following chords may be played in the first couple of frets on 
the guitar and will allow for some of the 6 strings on a standard tuned 
guitar to ring without being stopped at all.

A, C, D, E, G.

These "open string" chords have a rich ringing quality about them because 
some of the strings are not being mashed down by soft and squishy fingers 
which have a tendency to muffle the strings.

The chords F and Bb (which have all the strings stopped) is still within the 
range of chords which can be easily formed in the first thee frets of a 
guitar).

That means that the 1, 4 and 5 chords necessary for accompanying most folk 
songs can be played with these basic chords provided one plays in any of the 
following keys - A, C, D, E, and G. Every one of these keys is a "sharp" key 
except C which has no sharps or flats at all. It is easier for the untutored 
guitar player to play in these keys than in any of the others.

Basically the choice of key (I believe) has to do with the range of the 
vocalist rather than the (dubious) "tone color" of the specific key, which I 
still believe does not really exist.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill "still confused" Gunter
jazzboard at hotmail.com



>From: David Richoux <tubaman at tubatoast.com>
>To: DJML Jazz <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Keys?
>Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 18:08:36 -0700
>
>Hope I am not being to obvious here, but in my experience playing
>tuba in Country Western and Rock n Roll bands (more than once!) it
>seems like the guitar/fiddle folk have a preference for sharp keys
>(just as brass band/jazz bands have a preference for flat keys.) It
>has to be something more than music education - I think it is more
>related to the basic tuning of the instruments in the various groups.
>
>Yes, we could learn to play comfortably in sharp (or flat) keys, and
>I think a song that was written in a sharp key might sound slightly
>different in some flat key (but not much.)  However, for an
>experiment - try modulating a song the "wrong way" and see what happens!
>
>I think the bigger "psychomusical" difference is between things like
>Major and Minor scales. Blues Scales are a whole 'nother story...
>
>Dave Richoux
>
>On Oct 3, 2006, at 5:49 PM, Bill Gunter wrote:
>
> > Hello troops,
> >
> > Mike wrote (regarding keys):
> >
> >> I like the timbre of the sharp keys.
> >
> > I've heard of this notion before but I never have quite understood it.
> >
> > As I understand it, timbre (pronounced "TAM brughhh" or TOM
> > brugghhh" or
> > maybe "TOM burr" of something in an unpronouncable French accent) has
> > nothing to do with the pitch or volume of a note, but rather it's
> > "color" or
> > tone quality.
> >
> > Are there those among you who can distinguish the difference in
> > "tone color"
> > between, say, E and F?  Does a piano solo played in the key of E (4
> > sharps)
> > sound (color wise) different than the same piano solo played in F
> > (1 flat)?
>
>
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