From sevush@rcn.com Sun Oct 13 07:23:00 2002
Subject:RE: tuning/transposition/self-teaching advancement...

> If you're playing gospel, it is essential that you can play
> in all your keys. Period.
> That said, I still cringe in B natural.
Yup, those endless modulations can be challenging.

I personally find Gb and Ab to be my toughest keys for interesting solos.

Addressing the issue of playing in different keys, I found simply
transposing and running through all keys very, very boring. Gee, would that
have anything to do w/my problems in certain keys?

My approach is to take care of essentials. I want to be able to *quickly*
hit the dom 7th, major/minor third, aug 5th and diminished chords in any
key. Then I work on "seeing" alternate voicings so the transitions are more
natural.

A very cool trick I picked up from a great jazz player when I was a kid is
to use as few notes as possible to support the chord. Assuming the bass
player has the fundamental (or your left hand/pedal does), you can omit the
1st and the 5th notes, since they're "perfect", and play the "variable"
intervals - the 3rd, the 7th and whatever else you think makes sense. I find
this sparseness works really well on a B3 and helps me to worry less about
voicings.

Hope some of this helpful.