Hello, friends and musical colleagues!

As most of you know, I am an amateur ear-player with just a limited knowledge of music and no formal musical education. So, this question may seem odd to the musicians among us, but I know someone can probably help me. I feel most comfortable playing in either the key of F or Eb, so, I am wondering how I can play the same melody twice in succession in BOTH keys with a suitable transition from one key to the other? Also, I have been told that transposing is usually done from the lower key (Eb) to the higher one, rather than the reverse. Is there any reason why one should move upward rather than downward--(if indeed that IS the musical "rule")? I am usually able to play a song in both keys by playing to the end in one key, and then --> starting in the new key to the end --> and then replaying from the beginnning again in the original key. But I have not yet figured out what chords to play to move smoothly from one key to the next and how to return to the first one again and make it sound like a single rendition.

I hope this makes sense as a question and doesn't just show my musical ignorance! Being an ear-player is a great blessing because I can usually play any song just by hearing it and remembering the melody, but I often wish I knew the logic behind what my myserious gift lets my fingers do. Friends often ask me how I know what chords to play and I really have no idea; if it were not for the wonderful little window on the keyboard, I would not even know what the names of the chords are, but, because of the window that identifies the chords as they are played, I can tell others what I am playing.

Thanks for any assistance you can offer me.

Ted Rose