Piano Guidance
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How do you practice all 12 keys on a piano?

The Most Practical Way To Master All 12 Keys Simply put: Take 3 songs you know and learn them in all 12 keys. ... So if a song is in Eb major, you'll attack E major next by literally taking every note in every chord and moving it up a half step. More items...

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I’m often asked the best way to learn all 12 keys and while I’ve advocated many methods in the past, the most practical way is to adapt my “3 x 12” rule. Simply put: Take 3 songs you know and learn them in all 12 keys . It helps if they are songs that utilize a variety of different chords. That’s why picking 3 is important because between them, you should get a good mix of chords off every tone of the scale. And since most songs follow the same patterns, you’d be surprised how few chords you really need to know to play in all 12 keys. Taking 3 different styled songs and learning them in all 12 keys usually gives you plenty. The easiest way is to simply start at the original key of the song and move every note up a half step. So if a song is in Eb major, you’ll attack E major next by literally taking every note in every chord and moving it up a half step. Transposing a song to a new key is no more than moving every note up the appropriate amount of notes. If the next key is a half step up, every note of every chord simply moves a half step up. However, if you’re trying to move to a new key 4 half steps up, then you need to move every note of every chord 4 half steps up. As long as you move the same distance for every note in every chord, the end result will be the same song in a new key.

Exercise:

Move these chords in F major to Gb major.

Hint: Gb major is a half step higher than F major. That means every note is moved up a half step. F major 7: F + A + C + E D minor 7: D + F + A + C G minor 7: G + Bb + D + F C 7: C + E + G + Bb F major 7: F + A + C + E To move this to Gb major, just take every note up a half step, thus giving you the equivalent chords in Gb major: Gb major 7: Gb + Bb + Db + F Eb minor 7: Eb + Gb + Bb + Db Ab minor 7: Ab + Cb + Eb + Gb Db 7: Db + F + Ab + Cb Gb major 7: Gb + Bb + Db + F

Is it hard work in the beginning? Sure it is.

Does it get easier over time? Definitely.

Because songs repeat the same chords and patterns over and over so as you start seeing the same chords and memorizing them in all 12 keys, you need not work out the transposition from scratch each time; rather, you’ll pull from your memory bank.

So make this your next goal: 3 x 12

3 songs in 12 keys.

It seems simple but it’s quite a hard thing to do. If you can master this, you’ll get to pro status in no time.

Until next time —

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How many keys on a piano?

88 keys As piano music developed and evolved, the keyboard compass was gradually expanded in response to requests from composers who sought a broader potential for expression. By the 1890s, today's modern keyboard had become established with 88 keys spanning 7¼ octaves (from 2A to C5; 27.5 Hz to 4,186 Hz*).

The piano that Bartolomeo Cristofori first invented in Italy had only 54 keys. As piano music developed and evolved, the keyboard compass was gradually expanded in response to requests from composers who sought a broader potential for expression. By the 1890s, today's modern keyboard had become established with 88 keys spanning 7¼ octaves (from 2A to C5; 27.5 Hz to 4,186 Hz*). The human ear can hear sounds in the range from approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, but the upper limit of frequencies that the human brain can discriminate is at the very most around 4,000 Hz. Even if the compass were to be expanded by increasing the number of keys on the piano, to the human ear, the extra notes at the bass end would become nothing more than a rumbling noise, and the added treble notes would be heard as an unpleasant dissonant noise with no sense of being in a tonal range, and thus, musically, would be almost meaningless. Boesendorfer is making 97-key pianos with nine additional keys in the bass segment of the keyboard (2C to C5). However, the strings for these nine keys in the lowest bass segment are really only there to provide a richer sound when other keys are played by resonating with them. In reality, the extra keys themselves are almost never played directly. * When A is tuned to 440 Hz. The pitch of the individual keys will vary depending on the tuning method.

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