Is there any legit reasons why only playing in one key on every song is a bad idea?

There are articles about this online which I think I came across whilst reading an article about those squiggly fretted necks that maintain perfect pitch up the fretboard, but apparently we now use equally spaced markers of pitch. But in the olden days of the major classical composers, it was not exactly so. So there was built-in dissonance in the actual tunings of instruments, which, when combined with simple major or minor key modes, lent itself to "happy", "joyful", "bouncey", "sad", "frightened", "panic", "confused" emotional movements.

But....you should probably SNOPES that before you quote me.
 
Can you explain this a little more? I have never seen this diagram before and I am trying to wrap my head around understanding it.

Thanks!

No problem. Any note in higher case is a major key root and in lower case it's a minor key root. Starting on C (higher case, so major) if you go up one to G, the keys only differ by one note (F#) so a smooth transition is possible while modulating. If you go down to F, the note that is different is Bb. If you go to the left, you can use A minor which is C major's relative key and no notes change, but chord structures can be used to imply a modulation (using E major [the V of Aminor] rather than E minor [the iii of C major]). If you go right from C, you get C minor which is a parallel key with the same root, but the third, sixth and seventh note have all been flatted and provides a nice major to minor change.

This doesn't cover other possibilities, such as stepwise modulation and lots of other jazz techniques, but is a great primer.
 
There are articles about this online which I think I came across whilst reading an article about those squiggly fretted necks that maintain perfect pitch up the fretboard, but apparently we now use equally spaced markers of pitch. But in the olden days of the major classical composers, it was not exactly so. So there was built-in dissonance in the actual tunings of instruments, which, when combined with simple major or minor key modes, lent itself to "happy", "joyful", "bouncey", "sad", "frightened", "panic", "confused" emotional movements.

But....you should probably SNOPES that before you quote me.

You are possibly referring to the days before equal temperament tuning? The frequency of a C note in the key of C is not the same as the frequency of a C in the key of G, and a C in F is different again, albeit by only a few cents. The system we use today is an average of all of the differences and is only roughly 200 years old..... which means we hear a pale reflection of what Bach actually intended. His "Well Tempered Clavier" was written for an instrument with a slightly different tuning system that that which is in common usage today.

John McLaughlin (I think but don't quote me) used a guitar with multiple interchangeable fretboards for each key at a concert once to be more true to the music he played. It's possible that these other tunings lend each key a more vivid mood.... but it's equally possible to think that these dissonances are what we perceive as the differences between key centres and that without these differences (without equal temperament) these might disappear and every key might sound the same.

It's a fascinating topic.
 
John McLaughlin (I think but don't quote me) used a guitar with multiple interchangeable fretboards for each key at a concert once to be more true to the music he played. It's possible that these other tunings lend each key a more vivid mood.... but it's equally possible to think that these dissonances are what we perceive as the differences between key centres and that without these differences (without equal temperament) these might disappear and every key might sound the same.

It's a fascinating topic.

This makes it difficult to play with anyone else in a band using the usual instruments, except the drummer maybe.
 
i know it's a bit strange, but you can actually hear it of you transpose the same piece of music into two different keys and compare. how you would describe it, is a little more difficult though. check some of these out...they're brilliant... Characteristics of Musical Keys

:)

I have seen those before but I thought they were referring to keys without equal temprament.equal temprement killed off all those nauances of the keys .Thats what ET did. fixed the Pythagorean comma so all keys were the same and could be played together , but the feelings associated with different keys was lost . thats the trade off


I would argue any "emotional" differnece other than than it being higher or lowerpitched is just in the mind of the player


For me its about the singer and the listener . You give a singer simlair notes they end up singing simliar things . The voice has limitaitons and singers need to work in those unlike us who can eaisly play anywhere on the neck . If you stick to the modes of E then you are going to recover allot of ideas .IMHO
 
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depends how it's done though. Penny Lane has 11 key changes. rather than creating "jarring" jumps from one key to another, McCartney uses them to subtly change the mood in line with the lyrical content.

Now I've got some homework to do! I knew Penny Lane had key changes in it, but I guess I never listened close enough to realize it was that many. You're right that it's possible to keep it subtle.
 
Think of keys as diff colour schemes. You could take a work of art and paint identical shapes and textures using a different colour palette, and the end result would be entirely different.

OP is thinking from too much of a technical standpoint and dispensing with musicality.
 
Think of keys as diff colour schemes. You could take a work of art and paint identical shapes and textures using a different colour palette, and the end result would be entirely different.

OP is thinking from too much of a technical standpoint and dispensing with musicality.

Why should one need to change keys to change colors as you put it though????

Couldn't you change colors by just using the seven different modes while staying in the same key???
 
Yngwiemalmsteen as a gesture of good will to the community, why don't you take the stupid axefx and chris videos down, rack it up as a bad hair day, people might move on
 
Oh yeah I will take the video to chris down. I just wanted him to hear what I had to say, so it served its purpose so I will take it down when I get home. Id also like whoevers behind the. Angryturnip youtube account to remove the other videos I made about fractal and the klon, I took mine down but whoever angryturnip is copied them and reuploaded them to youtube without my permission, which is against youtubes rules to reupload someone elses videos. I suspect whoever angryturnip is is prolly a member here so id like him to remove them. Ive reported it to youtube, but itd be faster if hed just removevthem because sometimes you have to complain multiple times to youtube ti get them to take action and that's time consuming.
 
Ok great lets see if we can get the other videos taken down too, im not sure who it is, but your right they are probably users here
 
Why should one need to change keys to change colors as you put it though????

Couldn't you change colors by just using the seven different modes while staying in the same key???

yes, changing mode while still using the same "root" note will give you a different flavour. changing key and keeping the same mode will keep the same flavour, but will create a moment of transition at the point of changing key, which will have an emotional resonance. changing key and mode will do both.

all your questions could be answered by simply listening and analysing to some of the music that has been recorded over the last 70 years. rock and pop music on the whole is not particularly "adventurous", but there are some great examples out there of more sophisticated writing (abba, beatles, bacharach...the list goes on). progressive music and "classical" music will employ these techniques in abundance, so branch out and listen to some different styles.

if this was a painting forum and we were discussing painting techniques, asking what colours you should use would seem to be a bit of a strange question, wouldn't it? you'd realise that the colours you use in a painting help to express your creative intent. expert painters on the forum would probably advise you to go to a gallery and look at some paintings. compare and contrast as many artists as you can, absorb and learn. understand why they made different creative choices, used different techniques and why you have different emotional reactions to their work.

talking about music in the way we are here, is fine in certain respects, because we're getting down to the "nuts and bolts" of it, but music is a creative endeavour and ultimately is learned by doing. so write some music. see what happens when you use certain techniques like changing mode, or changing key, or both. listen to other musicians do it and figure out why it works for them in that context. steal from the best and incorporate those ideas into your own music.
 
Btw, could you really please change your name? I absolutely hate it when people have imposter nicks. There are quite a bunch of real pros in these forums. We don't need imposters. It's disrespectful to the community and disrespectful to the artist as the same time.
 
For you own compositions, I see no issues only using one key. Why not? It's what you prefer.

In Western music, limitations of the (typical Western) instruments, make different keys sound different. The same piece of music transposed to different keys will evoke different reactions from listeners.

Instruments, including guitars, don't play in precise tune in particular keys. String instruments, woodwinds, brass, etc. all have physical peculiarities that make different keys sound unique and more in or out of tune.

This contributes to keys having a "mood".

The Principles Of Orchestration - Rimsky Korsakov

is the book I first read about this phenomenon.

If you study orchestral music, you will see how parts are written for strings vs. woodwinds and brass and what keys are more "native" for the particular instruments.
 
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Btw, could you really please change your name? I absolutely hate it when people have imposter nicks. There are quite a bunch of real pros in these forums. We don't need imposters. It's disrespectful to the community and disrespectful to the artist as the same time.

Dude why would I change my name? Imposter? Only a fool would think someone was the real yngwie just because of a screenname. Besides as if yngwie would ever take part in a online forum. If he was the guy kinda guy that gets involved with fans etc like that he would have spoken on some of the marshall forums by now since thats what he always has endorsed. Many people choose screennames based on what they like, whats important to them. I choose yngwie malmsteen because hes more important than jesus christ. Yngwie is a living god and I worship him. Literally. So I chose yngwie. Plus I love his attitude and personality. So imposter is wrong choice of words, ive never claimed to be yngwie. But hey, whatevs.

YjM
 
For you own compositions, I see no issues only using one key. Why not? It's what you prefer.

In Western music, limitations of the (typical Western) instruments, make different keys sound different. The same piece of music transposed to different keys will evoke different reactions from listeners.

Instruments, including guitars, don't play in precise tune in particular keys. String instruments, woodwinds, brass, etc. all have physical peculiarities that make different keys sound unique and more in or out of tune.

This contributes to keys having a "mood".

The Principles Of Orchestration - Rimsky Korsakov

is the book I first read about this phenomenon.

If you study orchestral music, you will see how parts are written for strings vs. woodwinds and brass and what keys are more "native" for the particular instruments.

Yes, I was thinking of some of those same things but was unsure.

I prefer to play in e or e flat, because it makes sense to me. I like having the lowest note on guitar e and then the highest be a e.

It also seems so much more streamlined and effcient to just master everything in one key, then to only be able to play half ass in all the other keys so to speak. Id rather place all that effort itd take to be that comfy with other keys and put it in other areas of guitar that I will actually use often. I know the key of e like the back of my hand. And I realize all I gotta do is move up frets to change key and all the pattern stays the same, but still, going from a to c sharp requires me to think more about where things are on the board as opposed to just staying in e where my mind can be on autopilot and I feel more free and unlimited in my improvising. Instead of stumbling over where im at on the board.
Just figure the path of least resistance in music is best. Only focus on whats really most important and useful to a particular style. Id rather be a master at one single thing, than a jack of all trades thats good but not a master at other keys. U know. Like I dont need to know jazz scales, as its not gonna help my neoclassical metal sound that great.
 
yes, changing mode while still using the same "root" note will give you a different flavour. changing key and keeping the same mode will keep the same flavour, but will create a moment of transition at the point of changing key, which will have an emotional resonance. changing key and mode will do both.

all your questions could be answered by simply listening and analysing to some of the music that has been recorded over the last 70 years. rock and pop music on the whole is not particularly "adventurous", but there are some great examples out there of more sophisticated writing (abba, beatles, bacharach...the list goes on). progressive music and "classical" music will employ these techniques in abundance, so branch out and listen to some different styles.

if this was a painting forum and we were discussing painting techniques, asking what colours you should use would seem to be a bit of a strange question, wouldn't it? you'd realise that the colours you use in a painting help to express your creative intent. expert painters on the forum would probably advise you to go to a gallery and look at some paintings. compare and contrast as many artists as you can, absorb and learn. understand why they made different creative choices, used different techniques and why you have different emotional reactions to their work.

talking about music in the way we are here, is fine in certain respects, because we're getting down to the "nuts and bolts" of it, but music is a creative endeavour and ultimately is learned by doing. so write some music. see what happens when you use certain techniques like changing mode, or changing key, or both. listen to other musicians do it and figure out why it works for them in that context. steal from the best and incorporate those ideas into your own music.

I agree, that changing key in a song, modulating could be useful, but isn't that the same as say we are in key of e. Harmonic minor, if in a song I start playing phygian isnt that the same really as going from e harmonic minor to a harmonic minor?
 
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