by captainswing » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:28 am
C# and Db are the same note on a piano. The difference is: In written music, if you're in, say, A major, your 3rd is going to be a C# as there is no Db in the scale of A major. If you're in Ab, your 4th would be Db as there is no C# in the sacale of Ab major. Where it makes a hands-on difference is with a fretless instrument. If the pianist hits a chord of A and the (say) bassist hits a C#, fine. If the bassist holds that C# while the pianist moves to a chord of Db, the bassist will have to make an adjustment to stay in tune. Awkward but true. The piano is in equal temperament but the fretless bass isn't. I take the point about "theory shmeory - let's just play the sucker" as most of the time I don't need to think theoretically. But never forget that these lofty-sounding conventions are ultimately there to make life easier. They might mean tramping off into the neural bracken to forge brand new pathways but where's the harm?
Incidentally, my piano is a 1908 Richard Lipp from Stuttgart. Not many about but they put some big names in the shade, oh yes.