How to Learn a New Key
To become a good musician, it is essential to learn how to play fluently in every key. Once you know which notes are in the scale of a key you are not familiar with, the next step is to transfer the knowledge to your instrument until you can instantly find any note of the scale on the keyboard and build any chord type on any degree of the scale.
Let’s take the key of D major as an example. The notes of the scale are written here. Notice that there are two sharps in this key - F# and C# .
Here is the D major scale played over three octaves with both hands. Learn it from memory and then play it with your eyes closed, naming each note as you play and visualising the notation in your mind. Once you can do this, name the scale degrees as you play instead of the note names. If you have trouble with it, practice one hand at a time and then combine the hands.
Once you are confident you can instantly find any note of the scale you are working on, try playing some sequences with the notes of the scale. Once again, work towards memorizing each new pattern and then play it with your eyes closed while naming first the notes and then the scale degrees. Here is an example.
As well as individual notes, it is essential to know the scale tone chords of a key and to be able to move freely between them with either hand or both hands together. This example demonstrates all inversions of the scale tone triads of D major played with the left hand while the right hand plays the root of each chord.
Once you are comfortable with the scale tone triads of a key, the next step is to use them to play chord progressions. Here are some examples. Notice the use of a dominant 7th for chord V. It is important to practice chord V as both a triad and a 7th.
It is also important to know your scale tone chords as arpeggios. Here they are in the key of D over two octaves. This example uses a triplet rhythm, but practice them with eighth notes and sixteenth notes as well.
Once you know the arpeggios, the next step is using them to improvise over chord progressions. You need to be able to move freely from any note of an arpeggio to another rather than always running up and down through the chord.
Another important step in learning a new key is to write your own parts in the key. A good way to do this is to concentrate on a particular interval. The following example features the use of major and minor 2nd intervals in the right hand part.
This example uses major and minor 3rds.
This one features major and minor 6ths. Experiment with other intervals too.
The other essential for learning a key is to play many songs and pieces in that key.
Remember that every key signature applies to both a major key and its relative minor. Here are the three types of minor scales for the key of B minor which is the relative of D Major.
Here are the scale tone triads derived from the B harmonic minor scale. Learn them in root position and then in all inversions as well as the arpeggios.
As with the major key, it is important to use the chords of the relative minor in various ways over chord progressions. This example is a simple part using chords I , IV and V7 in B minor.
