hiram.k.hackenbacker

[quote name='algmusic' timestamp='1321284849' post='1437313'] As a nip playing in church, I got used to playing the same song in almost every key based on who was singing that night or if they felt they reach the key I would get told the song is in G then they would tell me during the song to transpose to B.. I'm so grateful for those days now as transposing is easy to me.. I understand the arguement that some notes may not sound better.. but i'm pretty sure if you hired Nathan East he won't say 'why are we not playing it in the original key'[/quote] I don't buy the "it will sound just as good in any key" line. There are some songs that just shouldn't be buggered about with. Many a band have I heard murder some decent covers by executing them in a wholly inappropriate key. I had a five string once and although navigation of the fretboard became less of a problem after some homework, I was never able to fully adapt my slapping style to cater for the narrower spacings and extra fretboard width. I came to the conclusion that if and when I was able to do everything that had ever been done on a four string I would re-consider. I think I've got a long wait ahead of me!

The backline only get together for this little soire went very well today. I'm still not sure of the cause of all this key change nonsense, however, the vocalists were blamed in their absence! I don't have a problem playing songs in different keys as I have enough years experience to navigate my way around the fretboard. What I don't get is the difference between playing Sir Duke in B (original) and doing it one step down makes. I understand that allows the brass to play in concert C, but they were there today and said they don't get a shout in what key the songs are played in, so it must be down to the vocals. A bit odd they can't stretch to the original key, but hey ho, I would much rather play Sir Duke in B flat than Disco Inferno. Without dropping the tuning/changing bass I lose my lowest note (open E) in Disco Inferno. Going [i]up[/i] to the nearest E ruins the dynamics of the song. [i]That's[/i] what annoys me; the general acceptance of "just play it up the octave" when it should be the lowest note in the song. Perhaps I'm just too fussy? The other gems we had today was "I know it doesn't go like that in the original, but that's the way we do it", "I thought that was wrong when we learnt it and it's too late to change it now" and the classic "you just do what you normally do, it sounds better anyway" (which made me blurt out "I'm pretty sure that's what LaBelle thought when they wrote it"). Sometimes i just don't know when to keep my mouth shut!

My band has a brass section and we play it in C, so it can't be that difficult!

So, a mate booked a gig with his band which their bass player has since bailed out on, so he rings me and asks me if I would be prepared to do it. Knowing that his band play 80% of the stuff we do, I immediately say yes. What I later discover is that 80% of the songs that we have in common are in a different key. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it does, especially at such short notice. I've been playing most of these songs in their original key for about 15 years and get through them on auto pilot. I think it's actually worse having to play a song you know so well in a different key rather than learning a new one from scratch. I mean, who plays Disco Inferno in b flat for frak's sake?