I think this is pretty usual with bands where more than one member actively writes: songs will naturally sound different. This is even more apparent where they play very different instruments. Journey comes to mind as Cain would write on the piano and Schon with his guitar. In bands were most songs start with the same guy (Blackmore with Purple) this is less the case.
My problem with the whole thing is that writing in one key tends to create similar-sounding ideas, at least when writing with the guitar: The key of A/Am, for instance, has certain possibilities on the fretboard. In A, for instance, going to the deep E at some point is almost unavoidable, whereas the equivalent is not a possibility when writing in E/Em. Since Blackmore was mentioned, I think that a lot of the material in F#m and Gm tends to sound similar, since it is easy to get stuck in the blues box in those keys. I say stuck, even though we all obviously love what Blackmore did with it, but a lot of his riffs ARE built the same way.
(There is, of course, a lot more to this, such as the range of the singer, but for now I am talking merely about guitaristic effects.)
And yet the key of A, Am, C, D, E, Em and G are all damn good to work with if you're fingerpicking. Sometimes keys are popular for a reason. The Grand Ole Opry Stars would be lost trying to navigate F# or B.
Comments