How to play in every key one step at a time

[diverse379]

good stuff D;thank LORD this is for KEYBOARDs,until this church;most praise teams were guitar -centered;most of these kats ONLY play in E+G,to play 1 !!!! song in Eb like pullin' teeth,gotta get the kapo out,"it's hard to play" yada,yada,yada  bunch o whimps

thanks for your compliment

i guess every genre has its pitfalls

I remember whe I used to play guitar

everyone liked E and G and A
those were the first keys we learned

the truth is they like those keys because of the open strings the way you can have an open string ringing as a drone note while you play a lick against the open pedal tone
it is a favorite guitar trick


these  are tricks that you can only do in those keys
they just cant be done in the other keys
unless you use a kapo

or maybe they just know open tunings and there fore should be burned alive
so dont be too hard on them

[GSM]

good stuff D;thank LORD this is for KEYBOARDs,until this church;most praise teams were guitar -centered;most of these kats ONLY play in E+G,to play 1 !!!! song in Eb like pullin' teeth,gotta get the kapo out,"it's hard to play" yada,yada,yada  bunch o whimps

Doc you are so right, when playing with a guitar player in Eb you hate to hear them sigh as they put on the Kapo (as if you broke one of the 10 commandments)...so I figured I'd just stretch and do what I should have already done, and thats work in D,A, and E.  Our church has typically been multicultural.  But once a visiting pastor came, and he was a white southern pentacostal who obviously had a lil confederate residue still on him....I was playing before service (he could obvioiusly play a lil)..I happened to be in F# (my favorit key)..so he walks over to me on the C3 and in a condescedning manner says, "yea I understand that you blacks only play in the black keys)...I kept my cool and didn't fuss him out in the Holy Ghost, but as I modulated up to G, I  politely responded "I'm not sure what them blacks do, but I play in all keys"

[themidiroom]

so he walks over to me on the C3 and in a condescedning manner says, "yea I understand that you blacks only play in the black keys)...

Oh my!  That's horrible!! 

[diverse379]

Oh my!  That's horrible!! 

it does seem horrible but I wonder if the shoe was on the other foot
and a black guy said to a white guy yeah I understand you white guys like to play on the white keys

the white guy probably would have laughed



the fact is that most of our modern gospel musicians do tend to favor the flat keys

why I dont know.

dont get me wrong it does sound a little disparaging

but I am not sure it would be taken as offensively if the shoe was on the other foot

case in point

When I studied classical music at a local community college

there were several very gifted white students

who could play circles around me but not in Ab Db Eb Bb Gb

but put them in E A G D C or F and they would blast me out the water

they thought it was interesting that we (black jazz gospel musicians ) gravitated toward the Flat keys

I understood that
because of their training a lot of the early classicla music was taught and written in the natural keys (white keys)

and that is why they have such a naturalness in those keys

anyone who favors the flat keys will find E and A uncomfortable
because they are the exact opposite

interms of the mountains and valleys  (the Flat keys are the mountains  the natual notes are the valleys)

the terrain is the exact opposite so if your hands have that muscle memory
they will be confused by the opposite keys



the fact that the man said black keys could have been intentional

but to be honest a lot of musicians call the flat and sharp keys black keys
and the natural notes white keys

I do myself I had to concentrate and use my back space button to make sure I called them politically correct terms


another thing I notice a lot of things that are said by caucasians toward blacks face to face
are innocent brain farts

sometimes they are intentional but often times it is just their way of trying to be friendly
maybe he was making a joke in poor taste

a joke he may have had with another african american friend
but because you were a stranger it wasnt taken well



then again maybe he was a racist bigot who should be burned in oil

(wow that is the second time i used the burning oil thing today) God forgive me

seriously
we shouldnt take everything so seriously often times we are wrong and totally misunderstood.

[GSM]

D....you are right, there is not anything in your post that I disagree with ....and I used to be that guy who could only play in the black(flat keys)...and although I don't think this brother should have been burned in oil(although conceptually the idea is a gag)... I actually do think he was trying to connect, and just made a bad joke, but remember I said "in a condescending manner"..this gentleman was full of pride and arrogance.

Sidebar:  He went on to lose his church( a sizeable one), involved in moral failure that broke up a family and his own, he now lives in my town, I've even seen him walking in my neighborhood(he won't wave to me).  I do not celebrate this brother's demise(was a 4th generation gospel preacher), and I hope God restores him, and those who was hurt in the midst...but my point is "GOD HATES PRIDE"...so if you struggle with pride/arrogance(and I have) get deliverance and get rid of that bad boy...humble yourself, before God allows you to be humiliated !!!

[themidiroom]

it does seem horrible but I wonder if the shoe was on the other foot
and a black guy said to a white guy yeah I understand you white guys like to play on the white keys

the white guy probably would have laughed

I guess history is really something huh?
Honestly, I would have not even thought something like that; let alone say it.  I don't make assumptions about musicians or people in general.

[sherly_p7]

does anyone have the chords to the song call it is for me. it start of like this:

What God has for me it is for me
what God has for me it is for me
I know withouta doubt that he will bring me out
what God has for me it is for me.

PLz anyone who know the chords to that song can you share it with a sister. May God Bless you. Thank You in advance.

[diverse379]

D....you are right, there is not anything in your post that I disagree with ....and I used to be that guy who could only play in the black(flat keys)...and although I don't think this brother should have been burned in oil(although conceptually the idea is a gag)... I actually do think he was trying to connect, and just made a bad joke, but remember I said "in a condescending manner"..this gentleman was full of pride and arrogance.

Sidebar:  He went on to lose his church( a sizeable one), involved in moral failure that broke up a family and his own, he now lives in my town, I've even seen him walking in my neighborhood(he won't wave to me).  I do not celebrate this brother's demise(was a 4th generation gospel preacher), and I hope God restores him, and those who was hurt in the midst...but my point is "GOD HATES PRIDE"...so if you struggle with pride/arrogance(and I have) get deliverance and get rid of that bad boy...humble yourself, before God allows you to be humiliated !!!

you sure did say condescending I forgot about that

but I loved what you wrote about humility

do you know that humility was one of the spices that formed the recipe for my success in the music ministry.

God was the main ingredient

practice and study was another ingredient

but the thing that made it all come together was my humility

don't get me wrong I struggled with some issues from time to time

but in each of my ministries I had to demonstrate extreme humility
it got to the point when I almost knew exactly how to demonstrate humility
and could sit back and wait on the exhaltation from God.

the scripture is true
if you continually humble yourself you can only go higher

More people should really pricitce humility

[Fenix]

good stuff D;thank LORD this is for KEYBOARDs,until this church;most praise teams were guitar -centered;most of these kats ONLY play in E+G,to play 1 !!!! song in Eb like pullin' teeth,gotta get the kapo out,"it's hard to play" yada,yada,yada  bunch o whimps

Lemme put it this way. Playing chords on the guitar in keys other than E A C G D is not easy because of the barring you have to do. Barring those chords is not easy. Barring chords that start from the 5th string is not easy at all.

If we are talking about playing lead then i don't need a capo and i don't care what key you are in.

For me i started playing in the white keys. In fact it was only recently i could play on the black keys. Go figure.

[diverse379]

Lemme put it this way. Playing chords on the guitar in keys other than E A C G D is not easy because of the barring you have to do. Barring those chords is not easy. Barring chords that start from the 5th string is not easy at all.

If we are talking about playing lead then i don't need a capo and i don't care what key you are in.

For me i started playing in the white keys. In fact it was only recently i could play on the black keys. Go figure.

really I didnt find this to be true i guess everyone is different and everyone has different sized hands

or maybe since I was more of a jazz gospel player I learned all my stuff in modulating keys

I didnt find playing any one key easier than another in fact

I preferred to play in fifth and eighth position and avoided open position chords

I started out learning funk rhythm guitar

and blues and jazz guitar
and the open position was definitely not my favorite