Get Past Your Fear of Weird Keys

online course

Make friends with the “yuck” keys in this 4-week immersion.

Do you blanch when a bluegrass singer calls a tune in B? Or when a jazz player calls one in Eb?

If so, I made you a thing!

Or maybe you're fine with those keys.  But what happens when a singer-songwriter wants you to back them up in F# or Db? Do you feel like you can express yourself creatively in those keys as easily as A, D, and G?

If not, I made you a thing! Keep reading to learn more.

Hi, I’m Kat.

I’ve been an active live & recording session musician for over 25 years, working on everything from bluegrass to metal.

I’m passionate about helping other fiddlers and violinists to improvise and collaborate across genres. Since 2009, I’ve worked with hundreds of folks like you.

I know you might feel like this is something you can’t learn, especially if other classes have left you with more questions than answers.

I promise, you can—you just might need a different approach than you’ve previously experienced! Let’s dive in.

What’s inside Get Past Your Fear of Weird Keys:

  • Four 1-hour videos, delivered weekly - a combo of lecture & play-along practice targeting your choice of keys (no sitting through stuff you already know)

  • Homework play-along audios to guide your practice sessions between classes

 

  • Use the keys/scales you already know to figure out the easiest ways to approach the scary keys.

  • Learn to transpose familiar melodies into different keys, so your fingers get used to what the different intervals (aka the distances between notes) feel like in every key.

  • Learn to improvise in every key, so you can start to unlock your creativity outside your comfort keys. (It’s okay if you’re not already a confident improviser!)

Here’s what you’ll learn:

Get Past Your Fear of Weird Keys

4-week course

$99 USD

But is it really for you?

Skill level: intermediate to advanced

This class is suitable for intermediate to advanced players, by which I mean:

  • You have at least a year of serious study under your belt, even if you've never jammed with other players at all.

  • You also might have wayyyyy more experience than that.

  • You might even be a professional musician yourself, but one who still doesn't feel 100% fluent in the boogeyman keys at the bottom of the circle of 5ths.

If you’re not sure if this is going to be a fit for your experience level, email me and I’m happy to help you figure it out.

All genres:

This material is applicable to all genres of music. It’s especially useful for genres where you the music wasn’t necessarily written on fiddle, such as rock and pop, jazz, bluegrass, and classical. But fiddle-tune-based genres are fun to explore in weird keys, too!

Fiddle-focused but not fiddle exclusive:

If you’re playing a different instrument, 95% or more of Get Past Your Fear of Weird Key will apply to you perfectly. You’ll just occasionally hear me refer to the finger patterns for certain keys on the fiddle specifically. I trust you to translate to your instrument, or just skip through those short sections. :)

FAQ

I’m excited to start, but I’m worried I might get busy and fall behind.

No worries! You’ll have access to all course material forever, so you can follow along on your own schedule.

I wonder if I’m too advanced for this course to speak to where I’m at.

Even if you’re a working musician, if there are keys that make you cringe and/or panic, this course will help you move beyond theory to connect those wires in your mind and fingers.  

I don’t know if I’m advanced enough to understand and integrate the material.

As long as you’ve been playing for at least a year, you’ll probably be fine. The course is structured to let you choose which keys you want to work on—so if that’s easier keys than the examples I’m giving above, no problem! You don’t have to go straight for Db. Email me if you need help figuring out whether this course is likely to work for you.

I can't wait to share this material with you!

Love, Kat :)