Jamming in The Key Of

[1zero]

in general what does that mean? i've heard this being said regularly and have no idea what it means...when someone says "play in the key of A" does that mean we play based on the A chord or Amaj/minor scale?i'm really interested to know as i've signed up for my college's music group and am afraid that i'll be in a situation where i 'd need knowledge of something like this..thx ppl

[lemur821]

It refers to the scale you'll mostly be using. To know which chords to play, you'll need to know the chord progression being used. Or maybe just guess, but the former is usually better.

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by lemur821

It refers to the scale you'll mostly be using. To know which chords to play, you'll need to know the chord progression being used. Or maybe just guess, but the former is usually better.

Hopefully they will tell you whats going on with the progression. Although for experienced players there are different 'shortcut' ways to talk about chords. Such as: 8, or 12 bar blues (they might say, long form or short form), or 1/6/4/5, which would refer to the scales steps the chords are built on (this is the most common progression for Do-Wop or 50 R+R among other kinds of music) or "Rhythm Changes" in which case they are talking about the chord progression for "I've Got Rhythm" (think "Flintsones"). All of those cover about 47.5 million songs. Of course there are others.

One thing you can be sure of is: at some point in time everyone in the group had to learn this stuff, or is learning it. And that means--- If you don't know what something means, ASK! Jamming with good players can be a tad intimidating at first... get over it, you'll have some of the best times of your musical life and learn a bunch. Have fun.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Yeah - I've heard people say : "Blues in F" or "Rhythm Changes" starting on ...

But just saying : play in a key ...not really!!

[Snarf]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Yeah - I've heard people say : "Blues in F" or "Rhythm Changes" starting on ...

But just saying : play in a key ...not really!!

Rhythm Changes in anything but Bb . . . . that's weird.

[Sippy]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Yeah - I've heard people say : "Blues in F" or "Rhythm Changes" starting on ...

But just saying : play in a key ...not really!!

I was at a gig and the guitarist (he's amazing!) called out "freeform in bm7"... I was lost lol

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Yeah - I've heard people say : "Blues in F" or "Rhythm Changes" starting on ...

But just saying : play in a key ...not really!!

It's a rock/funk thing as I've seen it. I've heard "let's jam in "insert key here" many, many times. It usually means no real chord progressions, just sort of grooving on the tonic for a while and then expanding from there.

[seanm]

Ha, check out my sig.

When playing country you are usually given the key and the title of the song. Knowing the key gives you a huge hint what the first chord might be (but not always).

Given the key you know that the chords used will probably be I V IV II VI in order of most common usage, not what the order will actually be. i.e. Two common sequences are I IV V and I V so I rank V as more common than IV.

You can now do roots or root/fifths until you work out the chord sequence. Once you know the chord sequence, you will hit a bridge But really, once you know the chord sequence you can start adding fills.

[Blake Bass]

I reccomend taking a music theory class or finding a good teacher in your area. If you spend one month studying scales and key signatures you'll be able to answer your own question quite competently.

[spc]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

It's a rock/funk thing as I've seen it. I've heard "let's jam in "insert key here" many, many times. It usually means no real chord progressions, just sort of grooving on the tonic for a while and then expanding from there.

When I hear this at a jam, it's usually being said by a guitarist who wants to just freak out and solo. It feels pretty limiting to me, so sometimes I'll suggest changes (like the ones mentioned above, 1645, 251, etc.), sometimes I get blank looks, but mostly I get a literal reading of the progression. Where they'll just play those chords over and over until we stop. So i'll suggest things..."Why don't you alter the chords, or "How about some substitutions?". These also are often followed by odd looks...
Ho hum.
That's the plight of this weekend warrior.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by spc

When I hear this at a jam, it's usually being said by a guitarist who wants to just freak out and solo. It feels pretty limiting to me, so sometimes I'll suggest changes (like the ones mentioned above, 1645, 251, etc.), sometimes I get blank looks, but mostly I get a literal reading of the progression. Where they'll just play those chords over and over until we stop. So i'll suggest things..."Why don't you alter the chords, or "How about some substitutions?". These also are often followed by odd looks...
Ho hum.
That's the plight of this weekend warrior.

Yup - if I heard something like that, I'd think the person didn't really know what they were talking about, was wasting my time and I would be out of there as quickly as possible!

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by Snarf

Rhythm Changes in anything but Bb . . . . that's weird.

+1 for that. But, I played in a band that was run by a trumpet player and we always played it in E. (the first time that was called I had the cobwebs cleaned out of my head!)

[Crazyeelboy]

Originally Posted by Snarf

Rhythm Changes in anything but Bb . . . . that's weird.

Its the B# that throws me...

[gop_jeff]

Originally Posted by Crazyeelboy

Its the B# that throws me...

When they call that, tell them you prefer Dbb instead.

[Jazzin']

Originally Posted by Snarf

Rhythm Changes in anything but Bb . . . . that's weird.

Isn't Bb the most common key for Rhythm Changes? Oleo is in Bb.