Favorite Key and Why

[John Flynn]

Caveat: I'm talking single and double stop melody/harmony and improv, not chording. I know that ideally and technically, all keys should be equal. But to some extent, that ignores the way the mandolin fret board in GDAE is laid out. When I was a beginner, I really liked D major, because that seemed the easiest for me to play.

Now that I can play in any key, I'm really liking the key of F major. It just seems the opportunities for double stops are very rich and they just seem to fall under my fingers. Also, my three mandolins, which are all quite different, just seem to sound great in that range. It hits that mid-range (relative to the mandolin's range) that sounds so great on the mandolin. Also, you have that open A that makes a good double stop with the root F on the 3rd string, 3rd fret.

I play church music and find all kinds of opportunities to do pleasing stuff in F on gospel music (like "Go Tell it On the Mountain") and other church music, a lot of which we do in F. One reason we use F a lot is that it seems to put a lot of tunes in the singing range of a congregation of mostly untrained singers.

I'd be interested to know if others have favorite keys and why.

[DavidKOS]

Although I like playing in any/all keys, the best overall key for me on mandolin is the ubiquitous key of G.
Except when I'm playing Klezmer of Gypsy jazz - then my favorite key is Dm.

[Mark Wilson]

This beginner still likes D major for picking but can't sing many vocal tunes in D. I've never worked a tune in F but plan to now. Thx

[bingoccc]

When trying to play a new tune from written notation, C and G have their attraction.

[T.D.Nydn]

I play comfortably in the Keyes of G,D,A and E, ,,,I go in and out of those and then flatten the Keyes when playing jazz....

[EdHanrahan]

Not necessarily "favorite", but sometimes you're blindsided by what works easily.

Last summer, I did a series of (ostensibly classical) lessons with Barry Mitterhoff, sponsored by the Bloomfield (NJ) Mandolin Orchestra. One recurring item was a Mozart piece in Bb (or Gm) that actually falls nicely on the fretboard once you get over the shock of 2 flats and, to me at least, rather broken 6/8 time. The FFCP exercises really came in handy to help see what was going on!

But I shouldn't have been too surprised as, early on, I had converted the Eagles' "Witchy Woman" to a fairly smooth version on mandolin, and it's also in Gm!

There have since been comments here about how Gm, the relative minor of Bb, falls so nicely on the fretboard. And hey, Bb is closely related to the OP's favorite F!

[DavidKOS]

There have since been comments here about how Gm, the relative minor of Bb, falls so nicely on the fretboard. !

Gm is a lovely key too!

[Tobin]

D is, for obvious reasons, the easiest key to play in. It's got a full octave in first position on the middle two strings, making it easy to go above or below that octave, and there are lots of nice open strings to drone on. You can't beat D for its sheer convenience.

But I have to say my favorite key for the way it sounds is C. I can't really explain why, but it's something I've noticed over time. The tunes that I play in C always sound sweeter than other keys. And it's not a difficult key to play on the mandolin. I'll admit it's a little tougher on the fiddle, and apparently I'm not the only fiddle player who constantly has to work hard on intonation when playing in C. But still, there's something about that key that just hits all the right pleasure zones in my ears.

*edited to add:

Now that I think about it, I also really dig playing in double-C tuning on the banjo, especially with a mandola playing backup. A tune like Farewell Trion can sound really deep and powerful played like that. I've found myself converting a lot of D tunes to C just because of the resonance I get between a banjo and mandola, and playing what would normally be an octave-higher tune down in the deep C territory.

But even taking that instrument-specific tuning advantage out of the equation and going back to a GDAE instrument, the key of C has a very nice resonance and nice double-stop positions. Tunes like Wildwood Flower or Over the Road to Maysville just get my little heart fluttering.

[Don Grieser]

D minor, the saddest of keys.

[Denny Gies]

Mine is A 'cause it seems easier for me to figure out tunes in A.

[foldedpath]

This is very specific to Irish trad music, sort of like D minor for Klezmer that David mentioned above.

My favorite key is D Mixolydian -- because that's the key and mode in Irish trad fiddle tunes where strange and wonderful mood changes are often evoked between major and minor feel, by constantly swapping between C nats and C sharps.

For example: An Phis Fhliuch (The Choice Wife), The Foxunter's Jig, Banish Misfortune, etc. Tunes that sound mostly major but have those odd turns into minor here and there when the C is flattened. There are some cool tunes in A mixo too, but not as many.

I also like Irish trad tunes that defeat the whole idea of "being in a key" like Kid on the Mountain, or Knocknagow, by actually shifting keys/modes within the same tune.

It's one of the reasons I'm attracted to this music, after a lifetime playing within standard Western music conventions of Rock and Blues... the way it often messes with the idea of "being in a Key" or "being Major or Minor." At the same time, it's still just simple folk music with a beat for dancing, and fun to play.

[David Lewis]

Dm is the saddest of all keys ...

I like G but I don't mind really. The only one I don't like is F# but even that is manageable.

[JeffD]

I never thought of a favorite.

I like them for different reasons.

Outside of a specific tune.

I like G, D, and A and their relative minors only because I know my way around them the easiest. The problem with them is that I fall into patterns, just because I know where they are, so I think my play is less creative. I like the other keys because they force me up off the "comfort couch" and into problem solving.

Many many years back I challenged my sense of geography. I knew the coast lines of my home continent really well, what cities are north and south of what. But our internal shore was still a bit foggy. So I went about learning the cities up and down the Mississippi, and where they were in relations to each other.

In the same spirit of exploration, a bit ago I decided to use the fifth fret as home, and mentally anchor on that internal shore line. So I like to play in C, and across the neck in G, D, all with the index finger home one the fifth fret. Talk about problem solving. Lot of fun.

I would not say the key in irrelevant, I just like them all for different reasons.

In my attempts at classical I find all keys equally difficult. Its because I have to free myself of my learned prejudice of this finger for that fret, and think in terms of the fretboard being fixed, but any finger anywhere that can catch that note, as long as it makes ergonomic sense, and improves the sound. This is easy enough when jamming and backing others, with FFcP type patterns, but in my music reading I am still a bit bound to first position. I have to very consciously break from the "fingering" mentality (like clarinet - f# is fingered this way). As a result I have made considerable progress learning to read while playing up the neck. Slow going but its fun.

I keep thinking about writing a blog about what prejudices we learn from our first instrument and how those prejudices get in the way when playing mandolin. Former woodwinders do this, former guitaristas do that, former fiddlers do the other.

[Jess L.]

... D... It's got a full octave in first position on the middle two strings, making it easy to go above or below that octave...

Agree about the octaves in the key of D.

D used to be my all time favorite, especially since I arrived at mandolin through old time banjo which as you mentioned has lots of cool tunes in D (actually for me it's C with a capo).

But lately I've found a new appreciation for G tunes as well.

So to answer the OP's question, my favorite key is D, with G being a close second.

I also play in key of A but A never seems quite as much fun as D and G, seems like A doesn't have quite as many easy doublestop opportunities. By "easy" I mean something that arthritic fingers can handle, I'm not able to do full chords on mandolin due to arthritis.

The closest I get to playing chords is just simple 2-note chords, and those seem to fall into place easier in G and D.

Someday, maybe, I will consider learning some other keys: C and F to start with. But it would be just as a challenge to see if I could do it, for instance Bee's Wing hornpipe in 'original' key. Not a high priority though, yeah I guess I'm musically lazy or something.

[Jess L.]

... I also like Irish trad tunes that defeat the whole idea of "being in a key" like Kid on the Mountain, or Knocknagow, by actually shifting keys/modes within the same tune.

It's one of the reasons I'm attracted to this music, after a lifetime playing within standard Western music conventions of Rock and Blues... the way it often messes with the idea of "being in a Key" or "being Major or Minor." At the same time, it's still just simple folk music with a beat for dancing, and fun to play.

Yup, agree completely, except that for me I grew up with the Irish trad sound, only later to discover that other types of music (mainstream stuff, y'know rock & classical & bluegrass etc) were more strictly chord-oriented which I found annoying. Took years to get used to that idea.

Edited to add: Some oldtime banjo/fiddle tunes seem to have a similarly vague-key or modal feel to them, although I don't know the exact music-theory reasons for it.

[pops1]

I play some really nice tunes in Bm, I think F is the prettiest sounding key, but we don't do many in F. I'm going to look into the double stops in F tho, I love doing back up & melody in double stops.

[Bertram Henze]

Anything that involves hitting the open G string a lot, such as G major, A dorian, D mix...

[Ivan Kelsall]

I can play in any key that's needed - favourites? - G / A / B / D / E. I can't say that they're 'favourites' as such,just keys i find easy to play in. I suppose 'if pushed',i'd say that B comes close,
Ivan

[zedmando]

Well Jan 24 will mark the 1 year anniversary of getting my Mandobird and playing mandolin for real.

This site helped a lot.

I didn't give a lot of thought about keys at first--I learned chords, riffs & songs--then figured out some more, and came up with some ideas of my own.

But looking back the two most common keys for me are G & D (in that order)

I still find Emajor & F chords a bit awkward----and prefer keys with sharps to ones with flats, but I am learning these things as well.

But G & D are still the easiest.

[Pete Martin]

All of 'em. They all have a "voice".

[farmerjones]

Don't know if it's really my favorite key, but if I hear a melody and puzzle it out, it usually ends up being in D. Then I simply move it to the correct key, if somebody busts my chops.

You might say I have a yen for closed keys like maybe E, or Bb, just because. Maybe the double stops sound more balanced, I dunno.

[Steve Ostrander]

My band teacher suggested a key for me. He wrote it on my report card: "D minus......"

[BlueMt.]

This is very specific to Irish trad music, sort of like D minor for Klezmer that David mentioned above.

My favorite key is D Mixolydian -- because that's the key and mode in Irish trad fiddle tunes where strange and wonderful mood changes are often evoked between major and minor feel, by constantly swapping between C nats and C sharps.

For example: An Phis Fhliuch (The Choice Wife), The Foxunter's Jig, Banish Misfortune, etc. Tunes that sound mostly major but have those odd turns into minor here and there when the C is flattened. There are some cool tunes in A mixo too, but not as many.

I also like Irish trad tunes that defeat the whole idea of "being in a key" like Kid on the Mountain, or Knocknagow, by actually shifting keys/modes within the same tune.

It's one of the reasons I'm attracted to this music, after a lifetime playing within standard Western music conventions of Rock and Blues... the way it often messes with the idea of "being in a Key" or "being Major or Minor." At the same time, it's still just simple folk music with a beat for dancing, and fun to play.

I'd never really considered why I liked D mix so much, but this is it. ^^

[bobby bill]

My band teacher suggested a key for me. He wrote it on my report card: "D minus......"

Indeed, the saddest of all keys . . . .

[Tobin]

Edited to add: Some oldtime banjo/fiddle tunes seem to have a similarly vague-key or modal feel to them, although I don't know the exact music-theory reasons for it.

This is one of the things I really love about Old-Time banjo/fiddle tunes, and I've been delving into it a lot lately with both my fiddle and banjo playing. Many of the tunes have that "mountain minor" sound, which is fairly unique to that genre of music. It usually comes from the fiddle and banjo both being in Sawmill tuning, whether the tune is modal or not.

For the fiddle, Sawmill tuning means GDGD. All roots and fifths. It develops a very different resonance in the fiddle. It doesn't have to be used for "mountain minor" tunes, but it often is.

For the banjo, Sawmill tuning takes the standard Open G tuning of gDGBD and raises one string from B to C. So it's gDGCD. That is the essence of the sound right there. That B, which is a major third in the key of G, which normally makes it a happy sounding Gmaj chord, is pushed up a half step, making it a Gsus4 chord. Not major, not minor, but an eerie ghostly unresolved sounding chord. The banjo can play this as an open chord if using brush strokes, or just use that C as a passing melodic note, or even just let the resonance of the banjo imply that note without actually ever playing it. But it makes a huge difference to the feel of a tune. Especially if the tune really is modal. The open C note in the Gsus4 chord provides continuity to the F chord, for example, which is often used depending on which mode the tune is in.

The fiddle, then, is free to play the melody with either a major third (B), minor third (Bb), or to float between those notes as needed for effect (often playing a note that is sort of "in between" those pitches). Some of the really great mountain minor tunes are impossible to notate because the fiddle has to stay in between the actual pitches, defying any attempt to resolve it to a true 12-note-scale pitch for that key.

This is also true with tunes in A, where the fiddle steps up to AEAE and the banjo steps up to aEADE accordingly. The sus4 chord of the banjo really changes the feel of the tune.