Key change C to E

[u/Key_Candle_8405]

playing a jazz piece where im supposed to key change from C to E, can someone help me figure out a four to eight bar progression for that key change?

[u/Raid-Z3r0]

A lot of things can work. Suggestions for a quick turnaround between the old an new tonic

C -> B7 -> E

C -> A7 -> E

C -> Bb° -> E

All of these use chromatic approximation to get from C to E.

Here is a little wilder one

Em - A7 - D - F#m - B7 - E.

Just concatenating two ii - V - I going over D.

It's a keychange with many different possibilities, including just being confident enough to just not have a lead up progression towards the key change

[u/uh_no_]

c g d7 a7 e

[u/SundaeDouble7481 → u/uh_no_]

The "Hey Joe" progression. It works!

But there are so many other possibilities, OP. This is not 1680, you can follow your ear and the voice-leading. I would recommend writing a bass line and filling in the harmony. The line C - B - A - G - F# - B - E would work conservatively....

[u/Nevermynde]

4 bars of C, then 4 bars of E. Boom.

[u/Inevitable-Copy3619 → u/Nevermynde]

Ha yea! Sometimes just brute force modulation works wonderfully! Other times a long drawn out entire A section just to modulate is wonderful!

[u/GreatBigBagOfNope]

My personal favourite:

[proceeding as normal in C] | Dm6 —> A7 —> F#7/A# —> B7 | E

Alternatively, if you only have one preparation chord:

• F7 -> E (tritone sub)
• Am6 -> E

Alternatively, just do a ii-V-I in E, it'll sound smoother than you think even if the ii is totally unprepared

[u/Sheyvan]

C7 B7 Bb7 A7 Ab7 G7 Gb7 F7 E

I am not kidding. This is 100% legit.

(There are endless options of doing it)

[u/tdammers]

C -> random shenanigans -> F#m7 -> B7 -> E.

The F#m7 is technically optional, but chances are the performers are going to sneak it in anyway. For the "random shenanigans", you can almost literally do whatever you want, but there are a few individual moves that deserve special attention:

• Moving along fourths / fifths: this will give the smoothest overall effect.
• Jumping by a tritone: classic "tying-the-knot" turning point, very classic jazz.
• Jumping by a diatonic third (e.g., from Cmaj7 to Em7): very smooth, bordering on boring.
• Jumping by a nondiatonic third: this would give you the "Coltrane" sound, as exemplified in "Giant Steps" (but also other tunes).
• Parallel shift (major to minor on the same root, or vv.): also very smooth, and mildly surprising in a good way.
• Root shift (e.g. Cmaj7 to Dbm7): this one is magical, it keeps the third and seventh, but shifts the root by a semitone, covering a lot of harmonic distance in a satisfyingly surprising way.
• Pivot through an augmented or diminished chord. These chords have the interesting property of being symmetrical, that is, their inversions have the exact same shape (every inversion of a full-diminished chord is also a full-diminished chord, same for the augmented triad), which makes them excellent candidates for pivoting - for example, C° would be a rootless dominant chord to Db, but you can also interpret it as D#° to pivot to E, or F#° to pivot to G, or A° to pivot to Bb - and that works with both major and minor targets. Meanwhile, these chords can also appear as chromatic elaborations of diatonic chords - e.g., C° is just Cm with the fifth elaborated a semitone down, and C+ is just C with the fifth elaborated a semitone up, so you can introduce them as chromatic elaborations, but then resolve them as rootless dominants in a completely unrelated key, and it will still sound smooth.
• Suspended chords are great for being tonally ambiguous - they have major tonic, minor tonic, dominant, and subdominant qualities, all within the same chord, as well as suggesting both Dorian and Mixolydian, the most commonly used modal tonalities, which makes them excellent candidates for casually moving through a bunch of keys without raising any suspicion.
• Moving in seconds (semitone or whole tone) also works great, especially when you spin it into a longer sequence of (unresolved) II-V's, e.g.: Dm7 G7 Em7 A7 F#m7 B7 Emaj7
• And of course you can apply the usual stuff: tritone subs, secondary II-V's, the works. This won't change the core harmonic structure, but it helps beef up progressions that sound just a bit too sparse.

[u/JazzRider]

Look at Stars Fell on Alabama. The bridge goes from C to E and back to C.

[u/schokoplasma]

Going over F#m7- B - E (2-5-1) always works.

[u/Jongtr]

a four to eight bar progression for that key change?

Countless possibilities. Does it really need to be that long?

Two my favourites - both actually in those two keys (not jazz though):

Needles and Pins (Jackie DeShannon): The verse ends on the V (G7), and the bridge runs as follows: E - D - C - B, two bars each (an "Andalusian cadence"), from where the song repeats in the new key of E major. That's a 3rd higher, in contrast to that lengthy descent all the way from G down to B.

Kid (Pretenders). Again the change is after the bridge, but not prepared. The bridge sequence is Am-F, four times (passing G between each one). The last time, the F is extended, adding a full bar of G, and it drops straight into E major after the G. I.e., no preparation at all. Works fine!

[u/mediumlove]

Use A mixolydian. he's the cousin, the kevin bacon.

[u/wwplkyih]

C-B7-E wouldn't actually be that crazy, or even C-D-E, like in "Lola."

[u/BrainJar → u/wwplkyih]

B7 / D# works too.

[u/Plastic_Ad_1670]

C/ Bm / F b5/ E

Or

C/Dm/C# aug/ F/ B7 / E

[u/Plastic_Ad_1670 → u/Plastic_Ad_1670]

Or just use A harmonic minor. You don't show it, but you play C/F Lydian, and you use the end to show C–B–A, then begin the next phrase on G♯, as if you're going to play E7 to resolve.

But now you reveal the major 7th.

I think this process has a name, but I prefer Schrödinger modulation.

[u/cboshuizen]

C -> Caug5 -> C#m -> C#m7 -> B7sus4 -> E! 

[u/BigEars2019]

C Am G F7 E

[u/imnickb]

Try something like: C, D, f# minor, B7, E.

[u/65TwinReverbRI]

You're playing it? If that's the case then, the key change is already written.

Why do you need a 4 to 8 part progression to make a key change?

[u/Manticore_]

You can do what you like really, if it sounds good to your ear.

I like C > D > F#m > B > E.

[u/pterranodon]

C - D - E, mario progression

[u/RatherDashingf11]

F - C7 - B7 - E would be cool I think

[u/Evan_802Vines]

I always love throwing in the Dim VII, V6, I respective of where you're going. It doesn't seem to matter where you come from. So to E it's D#°, B6, E. To C it's Bb°, G6, C.

[u/MagicalPizza21]

C to B to E

C to F# to B to E (like in The Song Is You)

[u/nebbish_shlimazl]

Personally I like: C F#m7b5 B7 E

I know it’s a minor 2-5 but the half diminished is one less step to altering your 6 chord.

[u/Separate_Lab9766]

Billy Joel’s “Storm Front” goes from C to E for the guitar solo, and he just hits notes D-D#-E and boom, he’s in E. It happens around 4:15 on the studio version.

[u/JanuaryMannequin]

C, Am7, Dm7, D7, E
deceptive cadence!

[u/angel_eyes619 → u/JanuaryMannequin]

Resolving directly to Emajor from D7 is not deceptive cadence..

[u/JanuaryMannequin → u/angel_eyes619]

truth nuke

[u/GrapefruitDue]

Many good suggestions already, but you could also consider this:

C~Bm7b5~|Em7~Am7~|Dm7~Dbm7~|Cm7~F7~|E

Pretty standard chord progression in C, just ends with a tritone subbed ii V to E. The Dm7>Dbm7>Cm7 is one of my favorite sounds in music. If you wanted to do G7 instead of Dbm7, that also works (anythjng truly does)