Re: DADGAD for Dummies?

Chris Rockcliffe <chrisrockcliffe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

David Martel31/08/2007 1:25 am

Jack,

I'm no expert on Scottish music but find your "usual keys" to be a bit
odd. The key of a song is the one the vocalist can sing in. Are you
accompanying bagpipes? Why is there a usual key.
Guitarists use the capo to effect a key change frequently, so standard
tuning and a capo should get you where you need to go.
DADGAD can create drones like a set of pipes. I think that's why it's
popular for celtic music. I do not think it's about the key.

Dave M.

You'll find that in many Scots and Irish sessions there are no vocals at
all; Scottish and also Irish music tend towards the keys of D and G and
occasionally A or C I'm not sure of all the reasons why. US Bluegrass and
Old Timey music is much the same in its choice of keys - with of course many
tunes shared and diversified.

Lots of Eastern Europe stuff too in Am, Bm, Em, Dm... etc (tunes are
written for specific keys and don't always transpose well),

But the fiddle for instance is easier to play in those keys I'm told than
say in E or Eb;

As a beginning fiddler I tell you those people are telling you rightly.
<g> I'm encroaching on "beginner okay" in A, D, G and C.

concertinas and melodeons and whistles and bagpipes and
harmonicas and many other instruments are produced to play in specific keys.
Just as jazzers play in Eb and Bb and rock guitarists like E or A, folk
music also has its styles and keys.

Those jazzers do that because many of the chosen wind instruments are in
flat keys. Alto sax = Eb and tenor sax = Bb. I.e., a wrriten C for those
is actually either an Eb or a Bb.

--
ha
Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: DADGAD for Dummies?
    ... I'm no expert on Scottish music but find your "usual keys" to be a bit ... You'll find that in many Scots and Irish sessions there are no vocals at ... harmonicas and many other instruments are produced to play in specific keys. ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic)
  • Re: Reading (was Some advice for Learnwell)
    ... Probably because it's necessary to be able to play with other instruments and so many standards are in keys such as Bb, Eb, Cmi, etc. - keys hardly ever found in CG repertoire? ... That's one reason, principally, to be able to play melodies no matter where you are on the instrument, no matter what instrument, grab the melody out of the air, as it were. ... They do this during their first semester, as part of ensemble - they spend one rehearsal per week in a reading class. ... I don't have any scale requirements, beyond the technical regime all undergraduate students go through - all students meet once a week every semester for guided technical practice, regardess of their technical level (even ththose who enter the program with good technique). ...
    (rec.music.classical.guitar)
  • Re: Curiosity about keys
    ... (In point of fact, I suspect Swedes'll play ... tunes getting sharper as latitude increases, but I fear you may have ... on the instruments they have, but also they get instruments that'll play ... things in different keys, the way you can with whistles and harmonicas, so ...
    (uk.music.folk)
  • Re: C/C# concertina
    ... >limitations a C/C# button accordion has. ... Concertina has split keyboard, allowing playing with accompaniment ... which people tend to play in few ... 'particular' keys. ...
    (rec.music.makers.squeezebox)
  • Re: Chord question
    ... >> Keys of A E and D doesn't mean there are not other keys out there. ... if you are going to play the game you might as well try and play it right. ... An example is in one of Beethovens symphonieswhere he has ... might not matter much if one played it in equal temperment as far as sound ...
    (rec.music.makers.piano)