New to Keys

D

DanielJohn

New member
Ok, basically I'm going to buy some keys and teach myself how to play. I have a basic knowledge of music, I play Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Upright bass. So I know how to read all of the music. I just want to add the creativity of the piano to my music as a "cherry on the top".
I want a decent keyboard that I can do special effects on as well, such as the voices and rain and crap like that (yeah I know, you've probably heard it many times)
My biggest problem is that I have no experience really with these things.
Any help would be 110% appreciated.
Thanks
-DAN
 
Phoenix huh? Goto synthony music on indian school and spend the day playing around with all the beautiful toys.
How much can you spend?
They have most the major brands and models. Check out the kurzweil, korg triton and I guess just to be fair, the yamaha motif.
Anything they don't have, guitar center should carry.
Without being a little more specific as far as what you want and how much you want to spend it's hard to reccomend any particular synth. But the three I mentioned are the most popular workstations and offer the greatest versatility...
 
So you want to be a keyboard player..

A few things to know....

  1. GTR players have it easy. Vintage is cool for GTR, but except for rhodes or hammond, if your gear is older than your car, you have a problem. In fact, if your car is paid for, your gear should be newer. And even though Hammond and rhodes are cool, your band will hate you for having to help move it...A hamond weighs 600+ pounds. So be prepared to broke, or hopelessly outdated.
  2. Everyone will do that damn Bill Murry routine on your keys,...You know, the Ghost busters "they hate that" thing.
  3. If your keyboard has knobs, expect someone to screw with them if you walk away. People who never think of jacking with a guitar amps tone settings will come up and screw with your 5,000 keyboard
  4. Get a hard case for everything you own. Trust me.
  5. Get used to the question "Cant you get one keybaord that does everything?...I know Casio makes this keyboard that has drums and built in speakers, why do you need more than one keyboard?"
  6. Always set the volume control on your board to no more than 3/4 the way up during sound check. That way, when the idiot sound man turns you down where you cant hear yourself, you have a little room to move
  7. If you are going to use "Vintage" Keys, like a Rhodes, a Wurly, Hammond, analog synth....Learn to solder
  8. Get extra midi cables. You always need one more than you have.
  9. If you get lost in a song, turn the volume off and pretend to play. Half the time nobody will notice anyway.GTR players cant do this without being obvious, but we can...just blame it on the sound man.
  10. NEVERY buy a wurlitzer Electric piano that is out of tune.
  11. Never buy a hammond with a dead key. There are thousands of wires in the keyboard of a hammond(No, I am not exagerating)
  12. Learn to pronounce Moog. Its pronounced mowg, not mooooog. I dont care if you never actually even see one, if you are keyboard player, and mispronounce it, you will be shunned, and or beaten
  13. Dont play an outdoor gig in the rain. I actually played with a band that tried to convince me to do so.
  14. Just because it says hammond on it, doesnt mean its a B3.
  15. If you use the transpose function on your keyboard, dont forget to turn it off when the song is finished.
  16. If your gonna play hammond parts, make sure you have a volume pedal.
  17. If you play a synth, for Heavens sake program your own damn sounds. Nothing is more pathetic than someone with a monster synth still using the factory presets.
  18. Listen to people like Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Billy Powel, Pinetop Perkins, Booker T, and Jerry Lee Lewis...
  19. Notice Elton John, and Billy Joel werent on that list
  20. Only computers and fast food depreciate faster than keyboard gear
  21. Only Drummers take longer to set up(and only sometimes)
  22. Only Drummers have more stuff(and only sometimes)
  23. Leslie Simulators don't...at least not well...
  24. Turn your board off when you walk away, otherwise everyone in the room will feel the urge to come over and play whatever puke they learned in piano lessons in third grade. I actually had girl do this at a gig, during a song(it was part of the song that didnt have any keyboard parts)
  25. Be prepared to hear gtr and bass players say that Keyboard players arent real musicians, or that a synth isnt a real instrument. We are somewhere between Dj's and drummers on the scale of things(in thier eyes). The only consolation is that there are practically zero keyboard player jokes, but a metric shitload of gtr, bass, and drummer jokes.
  26. Memorize the aforementioned jokes for when you hear the aforementioned coments
  27. Dont play standing up...It makes those of us who use a sustain pedal, a volume pedal, and a leslie speed foot switch all the same time look lazy.
  28. Dont wear a gold cape unless you are Rick Wakeman
  29. Dont throw kives at your keyboard unless you are Kieth Emerson
  30. Dont set your piano on fire unless you are Jerry Lee Lewis


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If you only have $500, don't buy new. Look at keyboards in the $1000 - $1300 range, and once you find one you like, find it used or on ebay. Depending on how old it is, it's usually very possible to get one as much as 50% off on ebay. The trick is to let someone else take the new off of it along with most of the depreciation.
 
And thanks Bdgr for that great information.... Though i'm not planning on being a professional keyboardist, I can still learn a lot of fun things that can help me be a better musician.
-DAN
 
Bgr.... that was hillarious.

And I'm sure someone with your experience knows what one calls a keyboard player with no gig.

A soundman.

Later
 
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