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Everyone talks about how important it is to learn all 12 keys as a musician.
Not only does it give you the flexibility and fluidity to play any song you hear on the radio (as you’ll find songs spread across all 12 keys), but it ensures you’re never caught in a situation where you’re dumbfounded because you can’t follow along in the unfamiliar key.
I’m often asked the best way to learn all 12 keys and while I’ve advocated many methods in the past, the most practical way is to adapt my “3 x 12″ rule.
Simply put: Take 3 songs you know and learn them in all 12 keys.
It helps if they are songs that utilize a variety of different chords. That’s why picking 3 is important because between them, you should get a good mix of chords off every tone of the scale…
When it comes to learning all 12 keys, there’s a few ways to do it. You can use the number system and chord approach. In this approach, you simply ask yourself two questions:
1) What number of the scale am I on (aka “scale degree”)? 2) What kind of chord am I playing?
If you were in C major…
Every other Monday night, we hold a live “Question & Answer” session in our Gospel Music Training Center and last night we got a great question from Miriam Tierno in NY: “What is the difference between Transposition and Modulation?”
So I’m going to repeat my answer concerning transposition and modulation here on the blog for everyone to see.
After last week’s e-mail, I received a host of replies. Here’s one that I think will really help you (VERY IMPORTANT STRATEGIES).
***Comment From Kelly W.***
Hi Jermaine,
Thanks for sending such an informative e-mail. I feel like you give so much through your website, blog, and e-mails (maybe too much). Do you ever sleep?
Well, here’s another e-mail to add to your insomnia. :-)
You mentioned the number system and how it is key when it comes to
Our last radio show was awesome! We took several callers, gave away tons of prizes, and delved into some more music theory concepts!
One of our callers had a question about a particular altered chord and I spent some time unraveling it with her. In this post, I just want to take some time to review what I told her on the air. I think this will be extremely helpful for people in the same situation.
Her question had to do with playing a C diminished 7 chord over F bass. She wanted to know what type of chord it was. So we broke it down…
So this isn’t going to be easy but if you’re committed, you can learn to play in ALL 12 keys… not just one. I’ll lay out 2 ways to do it. One way, I learned about 16 years ago and still use at times. The other way is more involved, but will help your understanding of music a lot better…
CONVERSATION #1 — (CHAT STARTED AT 10:29 am) Roger: Hello there ME: Hello, how are you today? Roger: I’m fine. Thank you ME: By the way, this is Jermaine. I’m on this live chat this morning to speak with some of my students. If you have any questions, I will be glad to assist you. [...]
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