Transpose Button [Is it ever used when Playing alone? ]

[YammyFan]

I sometimes play my PSR 970 with a group of guitar and clarinet players and of course I have to use the transpose button. I assume that when I am playing my KB, at home on my own, that there will never be an occasion when I would need to use my transpose button. Am I correct in this assumption?

[rattley]

Hello

There are a few country songs (Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues, Ring of Fire, I walk the line) that transpose 1/2 step after each verse. I sometimes take the easy route and just press the transpose button to go up a notch rather than playing in unfamiliar keys. I can play in any key, and do.  But my performances sound much more polished using these functions, especially when playing for others. There is much less of a chance in making a chord flub!!!   -charley

[Toril S]

No! I use the transpose buttons for two things:
1. If I want to play a song that is in a key I am not comfortable in playing. I record a lot of songs, and want them to be in the
    original key.
2. To transpose to another key. It may be that the song is written with transpose, in other cases I put in a transpose to make it
    more interesting.

BUT, you can of course play the song in any key you like, artists do that all the time. Singers sing in the key that suits their voice the best.

It is all up to the player. But I love my transpose buttons. LOL

[Rick D.]

YammyFan,

Some people use it to get to a key they can sing in!


Rick D.

[dr4sight]

When I play the Leslie Gore oldie "You Don't Own Me" I use that transpose button several times.

Larry

[DrakeM]

I use the Transpose button on any song that I sing that is not in the key of "C". I play by ear and play only in the key of "C". I use the Transpose Key on my keyboards like a guitar player uses a Capo. It's a tool ... so use it. 

Regards
Drake

[Joe H]

If you experiment, you may find certain styles sound better in another key.  Like Drake, I only play in the key of C major or C Minor and try transposing up or down to see if a style sounds better in other keys... sometimes they do. When I play my VL wind instruments (virtual saxes, flutes, clarinets, oboe, violin, etc), transposing sometimes works great.

Joe H

[alanclare]

If you experiment, you may find certain styles sound better in another key.  Like Drake, I only play in the key of C major or C Minor and try transposing up or down to see if a style sounds better in other keys... sometimes they do. When I play my VL wind instruments (virtual saxes, flutes, clarinets, oboe, violin, etc), transposing sometimes works great.

Joe H

Are there any suggestions as to why the brain should find a style "more satisfying" if played in a different key?

Alan

[mikf]

Probably the main reason is more bass when you transpose lower. But there are many people who swear that the flat keys sound better on a keyboard. That may not be as crazy as it sounds because things like temperament (the spacing in frequency between notes) and construction of an instrument affect harmonics.
Mike

[mikf]

As a general observation I would say that the transpose button can be a very useful tool in a variety of circumstances. I certainly wished I had one many times in the past  - like when I have an arrangement and music for a song I have played many times in D and someone wants to sing it in Db. Or I am playing piano all night with a trumpet or sax player who wants to play everything in Bb and Eb.  But it can also become a crutch, and then maybe that's not always a good thing.
Mike

[Fred Smith]

Are there any suggestions as to why the brain should find a style "more satisfying" if played in a different key?

A good question, Alan, but I certainly agree with Joe. Songs sound better in some keys than others.

I think it has something to do with how our (Western) scale is divided up. There isn't the same difference in tone (centimes?) when going from, say, E to F as C to Db.

Cheers,
Fred

[Fred Smith]

If you experiment, you may find certain styles sound better in another key.  Like Drake, I only play in the key of C major or C Minor and try transposing up or down to see if a style sounds better in other keys... sometimes they do. When I play my VL wind instruments (virtual saxes, flutes, clarinets, oboe, violin, etc), transposing sometimes works great.

Joe,

Assuming your minor key is the "no black keys" key, you're playing in Am, not Cm.

Cheers,
Fred

[PWB]

I find that after playing the tune through a couple of times, going up a notch on the transpose button gives it a 'lift' for the last verse / chorus.

[Joe H]

Joe,

Assuming your minor key is the "no black keys" key, you're playing in Am, not Cm.

Cheers,
Fred

Not Am; I definitely play the black keys.



Joe H

[Fred Smith]

Not Am; I definitely play the black keys.



Joe H

Interesting. Why Cm, and not Am?

Cheers,
Fred

[Joe H]

Interesting. Why Cm, and not Am?

Cheers,
Fred

Am scale uses the same notes (white keys only) as the CMaj7 scale. True C minor scale uses sharps and flats... hence black keys.  I realize some styles are recorded in A minor scale because they are the same notes as C Maj7 scale. There is a difference in how the 2 scales sound.

Joe H

[DonM]

 Even if you are accomplished enough to play in most, or all, keys, sometimes the "licks" are easier to play in certain keys.  There are grace notes, or riffs that are more natural to play in particular keys. 
Nobody plays Last Date in anything but C, because if you played the same notes as Floyd Kramer, it MUST be in C.  It's not impossible to play it in other keys, but it won't sound the same because of the physical limitations of having to play the melody note and a harmony note together while "slipping" the grace note in time.
I can play in any key, but much prefer certain ones, C, D, F, G, A.  Over the years I have also made myself learn to be comfortable in E and Bb.  I can handle the other keys, but prefer not to have to work that hard in my old age.    If a guitar players wants to play in B, no problem, I will gladly play in C and transpose a half step down. 
I am fortunate to not have to read music any more to do most any song, so that makes the whole process easier in many ways.   Amazing what 50 years of playing five or six nights a week can do to your development! 
Like arrangers themselves, the transpose button can be useful in different ways to beginners, intermediate players and "pros", whatever that is.  And arrangers in general can be used in a very basic manner, or can be highly developed to do most anything musically.
I know several  pretty good entertainers that can only play in C and transpose when it is the wrong key for singing.  Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes you lose that certain feel or sound that would be better if you played it in the proper key, particularly if you transpose more than a step or two.  Hard to explain . . .
Useless trivia:  MANY years ago when I first started trying to play organ with a band, I had a Lowry for a while.  I could only play in C, F or G at that time.  The band did a lot of songs in E, so I would hold the "slide" lever with my foot for the entire song.  In effect it let me play in F and the entire lead voice would sound in E.  Nobody ever knew I did that before.    It was actually the first "transpose" function in an organ!  Later, playing a Hammond B3, this wasn't possible so I had to learned to play in the other keys.
Transpose button:  just another tool at our disposal.