I'm sure this has been be covered in numerous threads, but I thought it worth a brief side-query under the "G" chord banner.

For those who perform in public,

When you invite group participation, do you experiment the different keys to see which gets the best response?

I had this nutsy notion, that when Lennon-McCartney music hit the stores, just after gazillions of amateurs took up guitar, that much of their bag, at least the Lennon stuff was in "G", as opposed to more common keys because they actually wanted unskilled voices to go out and spread their tunes like a Johnny Appleseed (apple label? I told you it was nutsy).

Years ago, before the beatles actually, a blues guy told me that; "G" was the "peoples chord" for public singing, that "E" was the traditional blues chord and that "C" was the traditional gospel chord. He said he personally never played in "G" because he disliked having people join in.

I always wondered if Lennon came into contact with the same kind of notion, but then turned it to his advantage.

Whatever; it didn't catch on. When I'm invited to join in at folk events, it's invariably in "C".