As truly bizarre as this sounds, a lot of piano players have a favorite key or two, that they just really enjoy playing in. Mine happens to be E flat major, closely followed by A flat major. I really don’t like F major because to me it sounds a bit too harsh for my taste. The keys that have sharps in, I think are okay but my absolute favorite is E flat major. Its not my favorite because it is easy – there are other keys that are easier to play. The reason I like it is because of the sound – I think it has the nicest sound of the lot of them.
I do understand just how crazy it sounds but believe it or not a lot of experienced piano players have their own favorite key. Sometimes, some people will like certain keys because they are easy to play and that does actually make sense. Other instrumentalists will also have favorite keys because for some instruments, certain keys are much easier to play than other keys.
I don’t believe that there is any science behind why some people like certain keys because they think that they sound better and theoretically all major keys have exactly the same pattern of notes. Unless you have perfect pitch, you should not be able to hear the differences between any of the major scales (and likewise with regards to minor scales).
Having a preference for certain keys only makes logical sense when the musician perceives that it is easier to play in certain keys compared to others. It doesn’t really make logical sense when people like certain keys because they supposedly sound better than others.
It is also fair to say that people can say they have different preferences for different genres and no-one could really argue that one is better than the other (even though some people do) because it comes down to the individual’s taste, what they like and don’t like. It isn’t always quantifiable or explainable but everyone has their preferences and musicians are no exception.
So the take away lesson for you is that you know what you like and what you want to play and that if it doesn’t make sense to anyone else, it truly doesn’t matter. You don’t have to justify or explain why you like certain keys or certain styles or whatever. Know (or discover) what you like and then incorporate those preferences into your piano playing. If you can do this, then you will always enjoy playing the piano.