| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Standards by Key | |
| sdm -- 09/29/2006, 15:17:25 -- #30158 | |
| (two posts in a row -- ah, vacation!) Does anyone know of a lookup for standards that is by key. In other words, I'm working on Ab today -- what standards could I work on that are in that key? And, no, transposition is a different skill that I also work on. TIA | |
| Jazz+ -- 09/29/2006, 15:56:31 -- #30158 | |
| I don't know but I like Ab Let's make a list, here are some: All The Things You Are In A Mellow Tone Mood Indigo Misty (originaly in Ab) Nice Work If You Can Get It Red Clay (solo secetion) Someone To Watch Over Me Sophisticated Lady | |
| Rid -- 09/29/2006, 16:19:59 -- #30158 | |
| This site has a free downloadable PDF index which lists many hundreds of jazz songs, along with the key, and other info. Ed http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=JAZZ&Category_Code=_RAPIDREFERENCE | |
| Jazz+ -- 09/29/2006, 22:43:40 -- #30158 | |
| Jazzstandards.com - catalogue of over 1000 standards, ranked by the number of jazz artists who have recorded each one; also historical and biographical information http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions/index.htm | |
| JHMurray -- 09/29/2006, 22:44:43 -- #30158 | |
| One of my favorite Ab tunes is "I Remember You". I think Bird wrote "Donna Lee" in Ab. | |
| sdm -- 09/30/2006, 08:34:09 -- #30158 | |
| Figured I'd get some Ab stuff -- I worked with Donna Lee: it's Ab at least in the old real book. I use the jazz standards site a lot. Love it. Ah, I think the pdf will do the trick. It's searchable so I can get a list by key. Not exactly it but a good solution -- thanks! | |
| thejaffer -- 09/30/2006, 12:48:13 -- #30158 | |
| why not just play rhythm changes, blues, and all the standards you know.. but play them in Ab Often the 'standard' keys are not the original keys anyway. | |
| sdm -- 09/30/2006, 14:25:15 -- #30158 | |
| Ah, yes. I do that and bib has made it really fun. I don't take all my songs through the key -- maybe I will try that but I'm not quick to transpose yet. RC and blues I know well enough to not think about it. Other tunes I'd like to have the sheet in the right key. | |
| thejaffer -- 09/30/2006, 15:47:59 -- #30158 | |
| Well i'd recommend you learn the other tunes just as well as you know the blues. i can't stress highly enough the value of playing without music in front of you. When you really know a tune, it frees up everything. Don't think memorizing is a secondary part that you do later when you can play the tune. Do it from the very first stages of learning. Get the information off the leadsheet into your mind, in your ears and at your fingertips from the very beginning.. It is harder work at first, but it's better to work harder for 20 minutes and then be able to play the tune better for the next few years. (It will make transposition so much easier too) | |
| SolArt -- 10/01/2006, 12:14:16 -- #30158 | |
| True thejaffer, but there is one malicious drawback, mainly this... if you don't play it regularly enough, you will definitely NOT know it for the next few years, as it slips from your mind way before then, regrettably. There does seem to be a time factor to the number of tunes we can keep brushed up on. I hate it when you play something you haven't played in a while and you can't remember some of the chords anymore! At least this happens to this piano player. | |
| thejaffer -- 10/01/2006, 18:40:33 -- #30158 | |
| It happens to me too... There's a lot of truth to that, but the principle is still correct i think. There are players i know who know many hundreds (including lyrics) and can play them off by heart in any key. It's all in the thorough approach to learning them (ie. don't use written music). Since I began a proper study of these methods my knowledge and confidence as a player have shot up. I don't know how many tunes i could play like this but i'm sure it's in the low hundreds and i feel i've still got a mountain to climb. Another thing to remember is that players of past generations learnt a lot of tunes/standards because they were played all the time on the radio. They learnt them partly because that music was their generation's pop music. Their knowledge and familiarity of that music is so deep because they lived and breathed it. They played those tunes all day... It's hard for this generation of players to gain that same familiarity i agree, there seems so little time. You have to keep playing the tunes regularly as you say. But if you are really serious, throw away the real book and get transcribing. Play along to records, get a band to together and learn the tunes of records as a group. | |
| SolArt -- 10/02/2006, 09:55:16 -- #30158 | |
| Of course you're right, the principle is indeed correct. I get really nit-picky with my arrangements, wanting to keep the voicings a certain way as they sound cooler that particular way, in this particular instance in the song. But this has to be remembered as well! However, when you change keys some of the voicings are impossible to play, because I often hold down two notes with my thumb or pinky, & have been known to occasionally use the the inside fingers as well in this way; 'really fattens up the sound though... | |
| jmkarns -- 10/04/2006, 12:20:38 -- #30158 | |
| This site will allow you to change the key of many standards, but it only gives you chord charts, not melody. Still, that is all I need usually. www.realbook.us. | |
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