Backcycling is a cool term that basically means to take a music idea and move it around the “cycle of fifths” to play it in all keys. Too many musicians, myself included sometimes, will learn a lick or a chord or even a whole song in only one particular key. This is very limiting and falls short of mastery. Playing in all 12 keys prepares you playing songs in keys that you are not as comfortable in. It also comes in handy when you are performing with a vocalist. Vocalists choose keys that best fit their voice.
I had a real-life experience that was highly motivating in this regard. I was playing a gig with a regular trio gig of mine, but when I showed this particular night, there was a singer to perform with us. In the first set things were going pretty well and even though she had some non-standard keys, we were handling it. Then she called Girl from Ipanema. Now, we all know this tune very well in the key of F. And frankly this song has no default alternate key and none of us had probably ever played it in a different key. So we start the song and for the A section we have it nailed in the other key. Then we hit the bridge.
Both the piano player and myself completely bungled the chords and the song went into a mess. The poor singer kept trying to stay with her melody, but the musical result was a temporary disaster. We did OK on the changes for the next choruses, but the damage was done. The set has only a couple of songs left and we completed those without incident. The vocalist never said a word, left the gig at that point, with more sets remaining. We finished the gig with just the trio. We felt do bad for the singer and we had no one to blame but ourselves!
In the following video, my good friend Greg Neuzil will take the Backcycling concept to Dominant Seventh Chords. These chords are based on root positions with the root being on the 6th or 5th strings. Playing on each and then dropping down 2 frets, you can repeat this pattern eventually getting to all keys. This video has had nearly 1,000 views on YouTube. I hope you find it helpful.
This shows a great way to take any chord type and make sure I have facility in all keys.