Do you practise in all 30 keys?

[scalpy]

3 hours ago, paul_c2 said:

 

As above (CameronJ's comment), it can't be relied upon. It will apply in the majority of cases, but certainly there's enough exceptions for it to be unreliable. Other examples include the picardy third (when a minor piece ends on the major instead), and pieces where everyone plays the same note at the end - thus being unable to define if it were major or minor.

I said it was the easy answer! There are of course more complicated examples. In tierce de picardie examples you invariably resolve to the tonic major, so the root would imply what key you’ve been in based in. Of course in those styles of writing it is likely you’ve also modulated through numerous keys as well. In the more modern examples suggested you are of course right, but in those cases you look at related substitutions or cadences and get the ball park. As someone once said about this wonderful art form, it doesn’t have to be correct, it just has to be right.

[Rocker]

I practice songs, not scales. Roots, walking lines, that sort of thing. I am learning piano and how to read music. For bass I try to keep it simple and straight down the middle. That is what my band mates want and expect to hear.

[mikel]

9 hours ago, Rocker said:

I practice songs, not scales. Roots, walking lines, that sort of thing. I am learning piano and how to read music. For bass I try to keep it simple and straight down the middle. That is what my band mates want and expect to hear.

A sensible outlook. If you are a pro and have 10 hours a day to practice, and some of this stuff might be asked for in a session, then fine. For most of us we have the time to learn what we need to do the gig. Practicing the set list and a few other things that interest and stretch us is all we have time for. If something we dont know comes up in a new song then we learn it, and play it. Simple.