[QUOTE]Originally posted by FAEbGBD:
[B]Part of this I cannot understand. If your chops are amazingly good in C, then the other keys should not be hard because they all use the same 12 notes. I mean, of course I know it is harder to play in some keys than others, but Jazz can have so many chord changes and such that even to play a song in C would require knowing lots of other chords.
What if you needed to comp Suffisticated Lady, or Smoke Gets in your Eyes, or Joyspring or whatever songs like that where the bridge is in a whole differnt key than the main section. Can you comp those tunes? Because if you can, then you can already play in different keys.
If you play let�s say in the key of C most of the time you become very comfortable with the progressions in that key. If you have to go to the bridge and it is in a different key, it does become a bit of a stretch.
It is not just my left hand (arranger keyboard) that is comfortable with the different chord progressions and that I am able to finger them with ease --- more important is that my hand seems to know where to go without knowing the name of the next chord. The repetition is learned by the hand not just the conscious mind.
Having said that � I do take the same song and play it through 6 to 7 different keys so that my mind and hand begins to memorize the movements.
Only an opinion, John c.
[This message has been edited by bruno123 (edited 08-18-2006).]