It’s easy to get stuck in the rut of using just a couple of keys in your songwriting, especially if you’re not the world’s most confident musician yet. Beginner guitarists find keys like E major, G major and A minor easy; on the piano the easy ones are C major, G major and A minor.
But you’re not getting the most out of your songs if you only use one or two keys when you’re writing them. For starters, it might mean some of your melodies aren’t in good keys to sing, depending on your voice. Make sure you can go through your songs without straining yourself (i.e., having to reach too high or too low). If you run into problems, experiment with the key you’re performing the song in. If you’re working with a separate singer, be willing to change key to suit his or her voice.
Using a limited range of keys also means that sets of your songs - whether performed live or on an album - can sound a bit samey. When you’re putting together sets and choosing keys it helps to strike a balance between the demands of your voice and the need for a bit of variety.
Finally, songwriters often don’t realise that different keys have different characteristics. They’re not just higher or lower - they actually sound different. So, for example, songs in C major and G major sound warm and open; E major and a major are bright and sometimes a bit edgy; G♭ and D♭ are rich and mellow. Clearly, because of the demands of singing you can’t just jump to any key, but getting a feel for the different characteristics of each is a good idea.
Changing key on the guitar is easy: just get hold of a capo and fit it to the neck of your instrument depending on the key you want, bearing in mind that each fret closer to the body of the guitar raises the pitch (and therefore the key of the song you’re playing) by a semitone/half step.
On the piano it’s a little bit more tricky, but not too difficult. If you’ve never been taught much music theory or piano scales - or if you need a refresher - check out the Pianoworld chord and scale tool.
Any questions or comments? Feel free to post them below!
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Or, if you’re playing in a trad jazz band, stick to Eb, Bb and C. For advanced players, Dm can be used for one song per hour.
Really adventurous types could try The Green Man Is On The Run, combining G and Eb, of course.
Don’t try this at home, kids.