Key Changes

[Pyro]

Can someone please explain Key Changes to me?

I have been learning chords, scales and arpeggios cause i want to get good enough to play jazz but whenever i try to make a chord progression to jam over it always comes out diatonic.

How do i break out of the Key i'm in?

If you play jazz you can change key sometimes 4 times a bar. Usually look for II-V-I patterns or just II-V patterns. The rest is just learning to change key more often.

[Narek]

Well to figure out what key you're in, while for example you're just jamming the way I do it when I don't remember if I changed a key (This won't happen live, it happens to me usually when I just daze off during playing). You have to find the note that gives you a feeling of "stability." You are trying to find the 1st degree of the scale/mode you were playing in and you can ear it out by imagining it's the end of a song and you have to finish it off with a chord but first try finding the note then work out the chord.

But of course jazz especially contemporary jazz is really foofed up, so you might just be playing atonal stuff, which is cool if done right.

[Simian]

Good question..

I study jazz and have found that the thing is you come up with the basic progression...be it II-V-I or III-VI-II-V-I...Then you use the almighty circle of fifths to maybe filll in some chords...You may find the the V chord can become the I chord of a different key or so on and so forth...then start working with the chord quality for disonance and resolultions to the Tonic. There are some great jazz books out there for begginers.. Jazz fundamentals and theory, Jazz Technique for piano, etc...search amazon for jazz books they have tons...