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"I have constantly tried to deliver only products which withstand the closest scrutiny � products which prove themselves superior in every respect.�

Robert Bosch, 1919

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I posted this in the Guardians of Guitar forum recently. I've truncated it slightly to maintain relevance to this forum:

 

My brother, who is the best guitarist I've ever worked with, would agree with this sentiment 100%.

 

He has the ability to make very cheap instruments sound amazing and owns an array of low to mid priced guitars. He also owns a spectacular-sounding Gibson Flying V - but it's easily the nicest guitar he has and not the only one he uses. I play with him in a party/rock band and the most frequently used axe is a Squier Hello Kitty.

 

He's often asked how he manages to extract such excellent tone out of his cheap and cheerful equipment. He'll usually say something along the lines of... "The gear helps, but your unique sound comes from what YOU do."

 

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I know a ton of people that should read that Jim. Thanks for the link.

 

Thank YOU, Jason. we must be thinking of the same ones, lol! You're welcome, I"m sure!

 

"I have constantly tried to deliver only products which withstand the closest scrutiny � products which prove themselves superior in every respect.�

Robert Bosch, 1919

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Nice post, Cowboy!

 

Yup, it"s you, not the gear. The gear can make it EASIER, but that"s about it.

We all have PREFERENCES, but beyond that, they are all just hammers and nails.

"I have constantly tried to deliver only products which withstand the closest scrutiny � products which prove themselves superior in every respect.�

Robert Bosch, 1919

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I like to think of your gear as your work clothes. As long as you're dressed appropriately for the job, it doesn't matter how fancy or expensive your outfit is -- it won't make you better at what you do. But dressing up a little more can certainly make you *feel* better, which can inspire you to do your job with a little more panache!

 

I could do 90% of my gigs with one keyboard and nobody would notice or care (sometimes, when I'm feeling really burned out or I know I'll be playing an, uh, emotionally underwhelming gig, I'll do exactly that). Every now and then, I'll get some compliments or make an impression because of the gear I bring to the stage, but that's not really making a difference in the performance -- I bring extra/better stuff out for me, not for the audience. The way I feel when I'm surrounded by fun instruments affects my mood, and can inject extra passion into my performance.

 

To return to my clothing metaphor, sometimes you need different clothes for different tasks. Even a non-guitarist knows that a Les Paul through a Marshall is appropriate for different settings than an ES-335 through a Fender. But different tools in the toolbox don't change the core tendencies and abilities of the player. I'd rather paint my house in a t-shirt and sweats than slacks and a blazer, but I'll wind up doing the same job either way -- the latter might just leave me feeling a little messier at the end.

 

New toys don't replace time in the woodshed or rehearsal room, that's for sure. But I'm trying not to guilt myself for enjoying different instruments when the mood strikes. I just have to be realistic about the difference between being more prepared for the task at hand, and some magical quick-fix for my deficiencies as a player!

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Well, to quote myself...

 

'Action, schmaction.

 

If you can hit, you can time up any fastball.'

 

 

Another thing that amazes me is that people will spend thousands of dollars to replicate sounds that were originally mistakes, oversights, trivialized or otherwise random.

 

____________________________________
Rod

Here for the gear.

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I know a ton of people that should read that Jim. Thanks for the link.

 

Thank YOU, Jason. we must be thinking of the same ones, lol! You're welcome, I"m sure!

 

Jim I know a lot of the horn players in my area and they talk like this ( I thought we were bad!) I do understand though that the horn is very important as opposed to every keyboard we play is digital so they are all the same. I get the point of the article.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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The photography forums are the same way. People think their photos will magically become much better if they buy a $9000 Leica and a $5000 lens for it. Why? Well, its because famous photographers like Henri Cartier Bresson, Vivian Meyer and Garry Winogrand used Leicas. So, obviously, you and I should also.
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Great posts!

 

It's about balance. Especially when using electronic instuments, we're in a unique place. Though expressive capabilities have become better over the past decade, our tools are still zeros and ones, at their core. But it's still all too easy to get lost in the weeds when it comes to gear. So there's something to be said for finding an electronic instrument or two that has the fewest compromises to your expression and workflow, and sticking with that for awhile; meanwhile staying up on new technologies and instruments. In the meantime, practicing and playing with others should still take priority. That particular point was a gentle kick in the behind this morning; even though I did practice last night :keys2:

'Someday, we'll look back on these days and laugh; likely a maniacal laugh from our padded cells, but a laugh nonetheless' - Mr. Boffo.

 

We need a barfing cat emoticon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am often reminded how certain instruments get comments here such as ,"it is really difficult to play well on the board, I don't like the action"

 

To which Cory Henry says, "Hold my beer," and proceeds to burn down the house on said keyboard

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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I am often reminded how certain instruments get comments here such as ,"it is really difficult to play well on the board, I don't like the action"

 

To which Cory Henry says, "Hold my beer," and proceeds to burn down the house on said keyboard

Well, sure. But have you seen the axes HE gigs with? :laugh:

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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I agree with this. But there is something to be said for what an incredible piano tone and feel does for your inspiration and thus your playing. There is a emotional component there that shouldn't be ignored

Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37

 

My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section

https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native

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My sister probably still doesn't understand why I replaced the small Kranich and Bach grand she gave me that was nearly 100 years old after I had it a few years. For a long time, I did believe that if I only had X, I'd get much better. Then I'd get X, and still stink. OTOH, when I started hitting the limits of the Kranich and Bach, I knew it was time for a better piano.

 

Get the most out of the gear you have today. You'll know when you're ready for something better. If you think, "I suck until I can get X," you're wrong.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I am often reminded how certain instruments get comments here such as ,"it is really difficult to play well on the board, I don't like the action"

 

To which Cory Henry says, "Hold my beer," and proceeds to burn down the house on said keyboard

Well, sure. But have you seen the axes HE gigs with? :laugh:

 

 

Yes :) I was speaking specifically to the King Korg that has the Krome version one keys

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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Saxist Phil Woods talking about how he hated his gear and then he played with Charlie Parker and his whole attitude changed ...

 

[video:youtube]

Magical. Thank you for sharing.

Get the most out of the gear you have today. You'll know when you're ready for something better. If you think, "I suck until I can get X," you're wrong.
A more succinct version of the above, but it doesn't have any Charlie Parker in it. :laugh:

 

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Like any good generality, there's more to the story.

 

During the 5 years that I was busking using an old flute for playing on the streets of Europe back in the late 70's, I didn't really know how bad the flute was. At the very least, like a lot of woodwind instruments with pads, you've got to get it tuned up every year or so, otherwise you're wasting alot of breath and tonality on leaky pads.

 

When I finally had the money for a decent flute, a fantastic Yamaha, I was astounded at how much easier it was to play and quality of sound that it was capable of, with work on my part I sounded like a freakin' classical flautist. Huge difference in this case because of the quality of the instrument. And we're not talking a $10,000 flute, back in the 90's when I bought it new it was $1,000. And, there was never a need to upgrade it, in fact, it was so good I had to be worthy of it (in order to get the great tone). With flutes in particular, you don't want to apply this philosophy to a beginning student and give them a difficult-to-play instrument and tell them its them, not the instrument(!)

 

But with keyboards its a whole other kettle of fish.

 

Since the 80's I've had a dozen or so keyboards. And when I did happen upon the 'right' keyboard for me, it made all the difference in the world. When I got a used Nord Stage Classic 88, it changed overnight the crazy relationship I'd had with my Motif XS7. Instead of spending SOOO much time trying to find the best sounds out of thousands and dealing with an engineer-designed UI, the NS was a revelation in simplicity, and I spent my time PLAYING. Not only was it more user-friendly, but I found the sounds inspiring and the action was good. More than anything, all this was a lesson in is how much a noob I was in 2007, I was buying features and didn't even know what I would be happy with.

 

Fast forward to now, and I'm once again blessed with musical technology that is so cool, so fun and stimulating, that I look forward to spending as much time as possible every day it, my new Korg PA 1000 arranger.

 

For starters, the built-in speakers sound like good headphones, a rich and detailed sound out of the box. And the Styles this thing has are crazy good for the most part. I've had a handful of arrangers over the years, I usually buy them cause i like built-in speakers and having some ryhtyms to play along with. This is the first time I've had an arranger where both the rhythms and Styles are amazingly, surprisingly good. It often sounds like I've got pro musicians that are doing backing tracks, which means its fun to play along with, and I'm picking up alot about how to play different styles than I've ever explored before. And the quality of the sounds is equally surprising to me- I can actually play woodwinds and brass on this board and not feel embarrased or cheezy, they're really convincing and expressive, and the basses sound like the real deal, etc etc. In this case, the instrument makes all the difference.

 

But yeah, I hear guys with incredible chops, and yeah, they can do a bang up job on just about anything. But do they want to? And what do they sound like when they're not struggling with a sub-par instrument? I've played old whacked out uprights that were quite awful to play, and I've played plenty of crappy keyboards with lousy keybeds, what a turn-off. And more often than not these sub par instruments are very tiring to play, you're struggling with the action to get decent expression.

 

I guess my point is that if you're taking your music seriously, you need an instrument that reflects that, even if that means alot of money to you. But it doesn't mean that you have to have 'the best' or even close to it, it means you want an instrument that brings you joy, and in equal measure, you bring more of yourself to it.

 

I think, for example, that a beginning piano student would do well with any number of Casio PX offerings, or Yamaha's counterparts. For $300-$1,200, you have something that is decent and is a worthy instrument, something you can afford and be confident in handing to a beginner.

 

But if you've been playing for years and are a mid-level student or even more serious, you'll want the Yamaha P-515 or CP4 or CP88, or a Kawai MP or SE, or the Roland RD 2000 at a minimum. Once you're picking from a better set of boards like that you can dial in even more whose key action and piano sounds work for you, but you're still under $3,000 for most of these higher end boards.

 

In other words you don't have to go crazy, but quality is quality, and the more experienced and practiced you are as musician, the more you'll appreciate a quality instrument. The important thing however, either before or after buying your close-to-ideal instrument, is practicing!

 

 

 

Numa Piano X73 /// Kawai ES920 /// Casio CT-X5000 /// Yamaha EW425

Yamaha Melodica and Alto Recorder

QSC K8.2 // JBL Eon One Compact // Soundcore Motion Boom Plus 

Win10 laptop i7 8GB // iPad Pro 9.7" 32GB

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I am often reminded how certain instruments get comments here such as ,"it is really difficult to play well on the board, I don't like the action"

 

To which Cory Henry says, "Hold my beer," and proceeds to burn down the house on said keyboard

 

Yes of course the articles make a good point. But the biggest point is that musicianship is in the mind. Hearing, recognizing, imagining and making sense of what we hear and translating that into the perceivable world. Then of course there is the technique of the instrument we choose as our voice and time spent fighting whatever is cumbersome about that vehicle so that the instrument speaks for us, unimpeded.

 

I don"t fault anyone for owning an expensive instrument assuming they can afford to own it (though it"s disappointing to learn perhaps that it doesn"t get played). If music is your profession you invest in good tools, same as a mechanic or watch maker, surgeon or painter. These tools/instruments are in fact expensive... who has $ to blow on something that"s doesn"t feel or sound the way he/she wants it to? And that"s a different value of these forums - lots of advice on why we did or didn"t like this or that, what problems we ran into, and how we remedied it. Totally un-related to musicianship.

 

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I started out playing piano. But almost exclusively my piano at home or the grand at school.

 

When I heard stories of jazz pianists who would figure out which notes on their piano (that gig) sounded bad, and would avoid them, I was unbelieving.

 

But I"m a believer today. I"ve got a biweekly gig on a horrible Yamaha G-series that has a handful of bung notes. I got over it and have the skills to avoid bad sounds and favor the good.

 

What experienced pianists learn is to loosen up on relying on muscle memory for tone, and rely far more on hand-ear feedback.

 

So, you make the best of what you have in front of you. One gig decades ago my amp started distorting extremely and I was left to play out the set with only one note at a time. I had been listening to Mahavishnu"s Apocalypse and started playing fourth-based melodic lines. It was great fun, and the band liked it.

 

But, and here"s the rub, this attitude IMHO only works for experienced musicians. We"re able and willing to fight a crap instrument for the sake of the music. Beginners however need something more forgiving.

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This whole thing is what justifies my approach to (not) buying new equipment. I know we make jokes here about new stuff that comes out and the GAS we have for it. We also get sucked into the prospect of how it will enrich our lives and/or careers.

 

I tend to ask a different question - will this new doodad help make me a better piano player? The answer is pretty much always 'no'. This severely quells my desire to buy new stuff. Instead of taking the time to buy and learn a new piece of gear, I"ll just go practice some more on the stuff I have.

 

This thread is all about that - it"s the artist and not the brush. In a lot of old jazz recordings you can hear that the pianos were less than perfect - old uprights or out of tune to varying degrees. Many sound like voicing and regulation were never performed on them. Did that stop the great jazz pianists from making incredible music? Most certainly not.

 

It was mentioned above, but it seems that keyboard player get caught up in this more than other instruments. I know there are instrument collectors, but we seem to be the most guilty of thinking that equipment will somehow improve our lives.

 

I get that there is a baseline for playable equipment, but beyond that it becomes very subjective.

 

PianoMan51, I"m not sure I agree with your point about the attitude being valid only for experienced musicians. I read some threads here from very experienced musicians who toil over instruments that don"t meet their standards, and yet I (of moderate skills) tend to be less sensitive to some of the things that get frequent complaints on this forum. In My high school back in the 70"s, we had a Mason & Hamlin concert piano on the stage. That thing was a beast to play - in retrospect the heaviest action I have ever played. But I didn"t know any better, and played it all the time. If it was the only piano I played my whole life, I would have thought it to be normal for all pianos.

.

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No doubt. I've bought a few cheap-to-mid-priced guitars in my lifetime as I make (somewhat feeble) attempts to play them. Lo! they never sound all that great...until a bandmate or friend that has been playing for decades gets ahold of them...."Oh, so THAT's what my G&L tele really sounds like!" was my most recent one :D

 

Just watch and listen to John Medeski jam on a little Hammond melodica...If I played it, it would sound like a fischer price toy accordion, he sounds awesome.

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I am often reminded how certain instruments get comments here such as ,"it is really difficult to play well on the board, I don't like the action"

 

To which Cory Henry says, "Hold my beer," and proceeds to burn down the house on said keyboard

Well, sure. But have you seen the axes HE gigs with? :laugh:

 

Yup, the King Korg which is hardly a forum favorite, from the sound standpoint or the action/keybed standpoint.

 

Also a keytar.

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One gig decades ago my amp started distorting extremely and I was left to play out the set with only one note at a time. I had been listening to Mahavishnu"s Apocalypse and started playing fourth-based melodic lines. It was great fun, and the band liked it.

This reminded me of reading a q&a section of Chick Corea's website many years ago. For context, I'll mention that there are bootleg recordings of his tenure with Miles Davis where he plays a Rhodes with a distorted sound. The music was very avant-garde and free (while Miles was not playing, lol!) â so the distortion seemed to fit with the direction of the music. Anyway, he was asked "how did you get that iconic distorted sound" and his answer was (paraphrasing) "we showed up and the amps they gave us were blown."

 

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I am often reminded how certain instruments get comments here such as ,"it is really difficult to play well on the board, I don't like the action"

 

To which Cory Henry says, "Hold my beer," and proceeds to burn down the house on said keyboard

Well, sure. But have you seen the axes HE gigs with? :laugh:

 

Yup, the King Korg which is hardly a forum favorite, from the sound standpoint or the action/keybed standpoint.

 

Also a keytar.

To prove your point, I'll say I've never played, nor heard talk of, the King Korg, outside of seeing Cory Henry play the Lingus solo on it. Therefore, I assumed it must be an amazing piece of kit (as the British say).

 

And you gotta not only have chops, but a certain je ne sais quoi to pull off a keytar. That's not at all a dig at our keytar-slinging compatriots on the forum -- I just mean Herbie Hancock seems to wear it better than, say, Peter Gabriel. Hopefully that's not too controversial a stance, as I love both.

 

My message was just that Cory gets a B3 and a Moog and a Rhodes onstage when it suits him. If anyone has earned the right to have the good stuff on a gig, it's him!

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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