how change key while solo/improvisation on guitar?
I'm playing a song with the chord progression:
Am7-Am7 Gm7-C7 F-F
When the song starts I am in the key of A, but in wich key am I when the Gm7 or the F chord is playing?
And how am I supposed to change key from A to G and then to F?
My questions are:
I tried playing in A along the full chord progression, but it only sounded good in the 1°bar, in the 2° and 3° bar it didn't sound good.
To wich key do I have to change, and how?
I mean I can't just improvise in A and then when the F chord comes change to F.
Are there some kind of tricks?
I heard the circle of fifths could help me, but I don't get how.
Thanks in advance.
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If I understand the question properly, you're asking which notes/scales can be used for improv. over this sequence.
It's in Am to start, not A, so some notes from A will sound out of tune.
All the chords come from key Fmajor, apart from any other. So, for simplicity, those notes will by and large fit all. Some would explain that modes are the way to go - so use A Phrygian over Am, G Dorian over Gm, C Mixolydian over C7 and F Ionian over F. Basically what those will do is utilise the notes from F major all through, but target good notes on the way.
You absolutely CAN improvise in Am over the Am chord and then, when the F chord comes, improvise in F. There's no musical rule that all chords in a song, or even a section of a song, must fit into the same scale.
But, in this case, you might find it useful to think of the song being in F major.
What key you are in, depends on where you feel the home note ("tonic") is, and that depends on how you play the melody. The chords Am7 - Gm7 - C7 - F could just as well be in a passage that's "in C", or one that's "in F", or many other things. Where's your home note, what note feels like being a natural ending?
Here are two examples of how to use the same chord progression with different melodies.
In the first part we're thinking "in C", and the Bb note (instead of B that's normally in C major) is only used in the "Gm7 - C7" part of the chord progression, so it's kind of like using the F major scale. But after we get to the F then we move back to C major scale and move the melody line towards a C major ending. (And then we actually play a C major as an ending chord)
In the second part we're thinking "in F", and we lead the melody towards an F major ending, and don't really flirt too much with any "what if this is in C major or A minor after all" ideas.
The scale is not the only component in play, how you play the melody line is important too. Do you play like a song that's in C? Or like a song that's in F? Or like a song that's in Am? It's not just the set of notes, it's what you do with it.
Edit: the first example doesn't feel to be very strongly in Am. I added more Am context to the beginning, trying to establish the key there.
In this context, in my opinion, the "Gm7 - C7" bar doesn't move the tonic to F at all, it feels like merely a fancy C7.
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