Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Hey Guys, got a quick question for ya'll.
My Church is extending our Musicians stage for us, however some of the guys are concerned that they ain't going to be able to see which key the keyboardist is playing in - stage is kinda split (keys and organ on one side and guitars/bass the other side), How would you guys overcome this issue? Any suggestions would be great.

At the moment, keyboardist has a notepad she flips for them to see.

Most church music (at least Lutheran) seems to be in F, C or D for some reason so that simplifies it.

It sounds as if you all might be improvising a bit? If the guitar player is kind enough to use a couple barre chords at the beginning that could help. (speaking with my bass player hat on)

When I've played at church it was always pretty well rehearsed - you know what tight asses we Lutherans are!

Talbot

rehearsals and a play list would be the easy solutions

We always work with set lists with songs in a key to suit the singer. Often lead sheets are involved if the song is jazz gospel based with a lot of Bbm9b5 stuff. In the absence of a defined key, just go "Coltrane" where all 12 notes are fair game.

am i missing something???? does your keyboardist just pull songs out of her/his hat and launch into them that the band is unfamiliar with and hasn't played before?

do you not know the next song coming, and if it's a song you all know and presumably have rehearsed...does everyone not know how to play the song (and so know what key it's in)?

if the keyboardist is in fact just starting off tunes that the rest of the band doesn't know....can't they just turn around to the band and say "A", or "Bb" or whatever?

Worked for years with a keyboard player that would just launch into next song.If you can't find key in three bars you may be in the wrong business. Think basic chord progressions and you'll be fine.