Some people have incredible transposition skills.

As a multi-instrumentalist, transposing on the guitar is easy, piano, sax and others very difficult as you have to use a completely different fingering pattern in each key.

And being a musician is a collection of skills, we don't all have equal amounts of all, so transposition alone doesn't define whether you are a good musician or not.

I played with a pianist that was simply and adequate soloist. He really didn't improvise above the very basic level. He comped well, he sightread well, and could transpose anything.

For example, many standards are written and usually played in Bb or Eb. Take an Eb standard like "Misty". If a singer came in and said, "Can you do this in A?" (or any other key) he could play it just as well as in the standard key. I was amazed by this guy. Bass lines, comp parts, countermelodies, everything, equal in any key you called.

It's a special skill. One I don't own. I can do simple transpositions in my head on the sax, but say, "Can you take it up a diminished fifth" would leave me playing the most rudimentary parts, if at all (depending on the difficulty of the song).

When I first learned guitar it was (and still is) fun to transpose. Same fingering, same everything, but starting on a different fret. Change the key? Sure. Want to go up a half step for the last verse? Wanna do that again? (on the other hand, reading music on guitar is more difficult).

Sorry to hijack the thread and go off on a tangent.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks