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Keytar performance question


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Shoulder board, strap synth or mobile moog. Whatever you call it. So you look down and all you see is the white keys. Anybody have tips on quickly getting your bearings without tipping the board to see the black keys. I'm sure no one would ever mark the keys like a craigslist casio. Snarky quips ok IF you follow up with something useful.

 

FunMachine.

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So you look down and all you see...

 

Don't look down. ;)

 

Seriously. You should be able to know where you are without looking once you've established your starting position.

 

Practice by playing 'regular' keys with your eyes closed, right hand only, to get familiarized.

 

Then do the same while wearing the slab of shame (errr... keytar) ;) . Eventually you will know where you are by how far away your right hand is from your left hand at its anchor position on the control grip.

 

If in doubt, lightly rest your hand on the accidentals, to determine where you are, and use that to reset your starting position.

 

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"Sling low, sweet chariot".

 

Seriously, unlike guitar where it's actually best for the strap to be fairly high (despite what 90s Seattlites would say), keyboard is best played with straight arm, which means lower strap. Also, the lower you go, the more the board tends to tip outward and allow you to see the keys in your peripheral vision. I often don't look at my fingers while playing, or only occasionally glance. But if you have it down fairly low, you just jut your knee out slightly, and the entire board tips towards you. If I'm doing some complex passage or a solo, I'll do this. It's similar to when a guitarist takes a big solo, they'll always look down at their instrument and really get into it. Nothing wrong with that at all, it's part of the presentation too. But if you're just rocking out, you shouldn't need to look at it that much.

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

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So you look down and all you see is the white keys.

The black keys are raised pretty significantly, so unless you've made a ketar out of a Roli Seaboard, I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to see them even when looking at the keyboard edge-on. But you could also do what the guy om Talking Heads does, lay it out horizontally on a percussionist's harness.

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[quote=Sven Golly

 

Then do the same while wearing the [b]slab of shame[/b].

 

:laugh::thu:

 

I now have the perfect reply when someone asks about the Alesis Vortex in my teaching space: "Why, that's a 'Slab of Shame'!"

'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 used to play out a lot with a Lync LN4 and an AX-1. On both, I put a small piece of white electrical tape under the middle C (below the key if it was sitting like a normal keyboard). It was enough to get a reference.

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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I now have the perfect reply when someone asks about the Alesis Vortex in my teaching space: "Why, that's a 'Slab of Shame'!"

Yeah, that's pretty badass, I'm going to hold onto that one!

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

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Wonder why keytar players catch so much grief for playing a strap-on keyboard yet accordion players don't.

Some serious guesses:

  • Accordions have a century-and-a-half longer history, so they have gained (some) acceptance in western culture, especially among folk instruments.
  • An accordion, played two-handed, can provide a full accompaniment sound that is expected of a keyboard, whereas a keytar, played one-handed (left hand is for expression, yes, I get that) can rarely stand on its own.

 

-Tom Williams

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PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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Speaking as a non accordionist I'd guess that accordionists already embrace their inner nerd and are immune from feeling embarrassed. Keytarists have some self consciousness that they are now out front posing like a guitar player and hamming like a showman. Other more reserved "stand in the shadows" keyboardists ridicule them perhaps out of jealousy and the keytarist buys into the critique.

FunMachine.

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Admittedly haven't read all the responses but have done some keytar performances. Back up about 30 years and I spent hours upon hours playing piano with my eyes closed. Fast forward and I spent 25+ years practicing looking at the crowd instead of my keys when playing live. Fast forward to the keytar and I practiced at home not looking. Over, and Over, and Over, and OVER, and â¦..well you get the point. Like ANYTHING....practice. (and don't look)

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Speaking as a non accordionist I'd guess that accordionists already embrace their inner nerd and are immune from feeling embarrassed. Keytarists have some self consciousness that they are now out front posing like a guitar player and hamming like a showman. Other more reserved "stand in the shadows" keyboardists ridicule them perhaps out of jealousy and the keytarist buys into the critique.

 

Haha, I can tell you're not an accordionist! ;) There is no embracing the inner nerd, and definitely no immunity to embarrassment! If anything, there are many things that can happen with an accordion that can be embarrassing, partly due to the fact it's fully acoustic with over a thousand parts (on a large model). The worst is hitting a mic with your bass side when extending the bellows, or catching keys when putting on the straps with the bellows unhooked.

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Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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C"mon, if you"re going to try and showcase all that is wrong with keytar performance, why not hit us with his 'Top 10 solos' vid?

 

[video:youtube]

 

(Highlight is the wicked effects in use at the 2:45 mark.... )

 

(And apologies, but you can never get back those 4+ minutes of your life after watching that video, I"m sorry.)

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