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How did you get started playing keyboards in a band?


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I know there is an old thread of this type. In fact, I think I started one about 10 years ago. But, there are new people here now with stories to tell, and old people like me who like to repeat themselves. So, let"s do it. How did you get started playing keyboards in a band?

 

Back in the very late 70"s I was a drummer in a garage band that was trying to break into the club scene. Problem is, living in southeast Kentucky there were no clubs in my rural county, or even in neighboring counties. The closest club was 60 miles. Not a lot of work for musicians, and even musicians were scarce. I had to travel to the next county to even buy drum sticks. One day, after traveling 30 miles to the nearest music store, I ran into my piano teacher"s daughter. We had known each other since kindergarten and went to high school together. She knew my talent level on piano and that I was a really good drummer. While at the store she introduced me to her husband who had a band, told me that his band is looking for a keyboardist, and told him that I was the keyboardist that he needed. I agreed to go see the band that night at a local private dance hall but had no intention of quitting my current band. In fact, I took my bass player and two guitarists with me. We walked in and watched the band. The band was good. The front man was entertaining. The guitarist was amazing. He would later go to Nashville and is still there making a good living. During the third song the bass player turned to me and said 'If you don"t quit us and join this band you are stupider than Hell.' I told them that I could not just quit the band so they kicked me out.

 

The next day I went back to the music store and bought the only keyboard they had that I liked, an Arp Omni II. You know, I didn"t even try out for the band. Just went in with the Omni II and started learning songs. The next week I drove to Louisville to get a MiniMoog Model D, and picked up a bass amp to get started. There was no break in period. No transition. I went to the guitarist"s house every day to chart songs and started playing with them the next week. I had never learned a song by ear and it was a jarring experience. I had a set list with a few chords written next to every song title. After a couple weeks the bass player suggested that I get one of those little Casio"s for piano. I did, and found myself playing piano parts on a two octave Casio with no velocity. I used note duration to help fake volume variances. A few months later I bought a used Hammond and Leslie and found my niche as rhythm keyboardist, covering rhythm guitar parts on the Hammond. I was also broke by then. Good thing I had a good day job at a coal company and was still living with my parents. Everything I made went into my keyboard rig. Luckily we were making good money as a band. I was pulling in an extra $250 to $300 a week playing music. Very good money for a rural musician in the late 70"s. Along with covering rhythm guitar on the organ I found myself covering all of the flute, sax and synth solos. If it was not a guitar, I covered it. That was my other niche. I would fake any instrument. As much as I hated leaving the drums, I loved synths. Hated playing piano in front of people, but I loved synths.

This post edited for speling.

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Obliviously took piano lessons on Saturday mornings before baseball games as a kid. Mom would drive me, would stop at Roy Rodgers for lunch afterward. Highlight of a 5 year old"s day - bacon cheese burger and fries.

 

Got a Casio MT-64 or 65, I forget, from Bamburgers (one of the many long gone department stores). Learned to play chords and pick out parts by play/rewind on a cassette boom box for songs I"d ripped from the radio.

 

Had a friend up the street in the old neighborhood who played drums and whose dad was a organ player for groups in the 60s. Had a Hammond C2, Farfisa, a bass keyboard and a Leslie and we"d play in the basement till there was stamping on the floor above that it was dinner time or they"d had enough.

 

Grew up, went to music school, met more players, listened to more different types of music and kept playing for the love of making music.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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I took piano lessons from age 10 to 12...honestly never practiced and never got very good. This, though, mattered as I will illustrate.

 

My friend was a wanna-be super 8 filmmaker (this was 1981 or so) and was a HUGE Beatles fan; he wrote a screenplay for a fake Beatles band (think Rutles) move, had all new lyrics for adapted songs, the works. He needed a band, so I and two others were brought on board. I came very close to not going to his house the day he wanted to meet up about it, and if I had not done so my entire life would have changed...he was going to a different high school than me and I doubt we would have kept in touch.

 

Long story short, someone had the bright idea of: why not be a REAL band? Never mind none of us played an instrument. So the time came to choose who would play what. I was elected keyboards because I had had two years of piano--and the other guy that had piano lessons wanted guitar. I could very easily have been a drummer now, or guitarist. Or more likely, not a musician at all, since I had NEVER had a thought toward being one until I got conscripted (I had to be convinced both at the beginning and as things went along).

 

Every part of my life since has been influenced by my being a musician, and staying close friends with him...meeting my wife, my kids, my job...weird to think how one summer day before high school can influence so much.

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While learning piano as a kid I played recitals and enjoyed playing in front of an audience. When my older brother was a senior in school my parents bought him an acoustic guitar (still has it), and at the same time they bought me a Rhodes Stage piano (no longer have it). I was a freshman then, the high school had a suitcase Rhodes. Me & my brother were known at school as good musicians. I'd meet musicians at school who heard me play on the school Rhodes and we'd jam after school, that's how I got started playing keyboards in a band. It was a small school and word gets around easy, whether it was music or sports or art

 

The school choir group had a piano player who was graduating the year I was a freshman; the choir director heard me play and insisted that I play for the choir the next year. The next year came and I forgot about the invitation so the director deployed a couple of students to shanghai me from lunch hour (haha) and I played piano for the choir the rest of my time at school. That was valuable education, learning dynamics with an ensemble and respecting space..

 

Somewhere through school I bought a Panther combo from a friend at school; the same friend had a PAiA 4700 which was my first exposure to synths. I already knew some electronics stuff from working on model trains with my dad so synths really sparked my interest. Our local radio didn't play much prog so I wasn't familiar with groups like ELP, Yes, Genesis, etc so I knew nothing about synths in 1978. I got good enough on piano that in my senior year I won a regional competition and used the award money to fund my own PAiA synth. Between those three keyboards and having learned to play bass guitar, I hooked up with friends from school to form a band which was my first weekend gigging band. Once I was on the "circuit" I met other musicians and with the local grapevine my name got around.

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My brother was a bass player in a really, really crappy rock band back in High School. He was a senior, I was freshman, and for some reason that still remains unknown to me, he asked if I wanted to play keyboards with them - I'd been playing piano about 10 years at that point. Yamaha DX21 was the keyboard we had at the time. I played one gig with them, a party that got busted.

 

First time I smoked weed.... :rawk::cop::2thu:

A ROMpler is just a polyphonic turntable.
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The bugle (marching band) was my first instrument followed by drums.

 

Started piano lessons at 16 with high school teachers and a local classical piano teacher. My mom bought me a $1,200 Wurlitzer spinet from Sears. At 20, I began lessons with a retired jazz pianist (Marty Dale) in Forest Hills, Queens. I wasn't a good reader, but I could copy Marty's style and filigrees and that's how we did our Saturday lessons. I'd come home after Marty's lesson and play what I'd learned for my mom. She loved those jazz tunes.

 

Not too long thereafter, I bought a Univox Multiman and auditioned for a Long Island lounge band called Misty Blue. The audition song was This Masquerade, by Leon Russell (I still have that lead sheet). I nailed the tune and joined the band - this was 1976.

 

Subsequently joined a cover rock band and bought a Lowrey LSO organ. The next two keyboards were a KORG Delta and an ARP 4 Voice piano. The cover rock bands performed Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jethro Tull, Zepplin, Procol Harum, Beatles, Cheap Trick, etc. After cover bands, I joined an originals band and we didn't get too far. The originals band also performed a Beatles show called The Mystery Tour which covered our recording studio expenses.

 

Back then, KORG was distributed by Unicord in Westbury, Long Island and I went there a few times for repairs. Eventually, Kim Holland hired me and this set a whole new career in motion. I started at Unicord during the Polysix and MONO/Poly era. The Polysix was being allocated as demand was so high.

 

I was playing four nights a week during the Unicord years. At twenty something years old, it was a fun and hectic life. Then I moved to Pennsylvania for Ensoniq, met my wife, got married and settled down.

Steve Coscia

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I was cornered in the bathroom of my Junior High school when I was 14 and informed that I was joining a band. True story. The instigator was a drummer, hoodlum type in my grade but already a year or two older. He knew about me because I was the classical piano nerd in school who won all the talent contests.

 

When I protested that I had no gear, he said no problem. Then he proceeded to lean on another dude to "loan" me his Doric organ and Jordan amp. I used those for almost a year until I bought a red Farfisa in a pawn shop. By that time I was already playing high school dances and fraternity parties...

Moe

---

 

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I started piano lessons when I was 8, picked up organ when I was 12, and got into other keyboards over the next couple of years when Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, Hohner pianets and clavinets, Moog, ARP, and Roland synths, Mellotrons and Solina string ensembles started turning up in my father's music store in the early 1970s.

 

In junior high school, I got together with classmates in the music room at lunchtime to jam on jazz and pop tunes, and listen to ELP, Yes, Pink Floyd, Focus, and other early prog rock that was catching our ear. In senior high school, I joined a garage band playing Beatles, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and Santana songs on a red Yamaha YC10 combo organ, and then hooked up with a series of organ trios, playing jazz and pop standards at wedding and restaurant gigs on an Acetone GT7 clonewheel through a Leslie 147, which I carted around in a Honda Civic that I bought with the proceeds.

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There were prior collaborations and messing around but I consider my first "band" to be a group of older cats who played mostly Allman Bros and Little Feat. A couple of them heard me noodling in a music store and asked me to try out. I was 16, they were all between 20 and 35. They introduced me to a great body of music, and also the art of playing stoned.

 

I started with a CP33, a hugely heavy keyboard with unweighted action. What was all the weight for? I still don't know. Later added a Crumar organ that wouldn't pass muster today but was pretty darn good for the time.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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At age 17 after a couple of years of mucking around with some friends, I talked my way into a more serious band due to upgrading my
with a
:D My acclaimed career was a mediocre keys player in a cover band was under way ;)
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I've played with bands off and on since I was 13. A local country band lost their drummer and needed someone to play some booked gigs. Their singer was my neighbor. I was a drummer in middle school band and I borrowed a set. And for my first ever go at it I did quite well. The band liked it so I played several gigs until they found a drummer. I think I played maybe 8-10 gigs. The band were all in their 50's so I figured they would want someone much older. But I enjoyed it so much I kept at it. And about that time I got my first guitar.Then I got a Rhodes in the mid 70's. I have had roles as the front man singer, lead guitarist, keyboard and bassist. I always just played whatever the band needed. I was in the Air Force so I moved around a lot and played in rock, funk, blues and country bands. I never really cared what genre the band was playing. If I liked the people and thought they were a decent band I was on board.

I even did some dinner theater in a pit orchestra in Germany. I'm 60 and don't see me stopping when the pandemic ends.

Boards: Kurzweil SP-6, Roland FA-08, VR-09, DeepMind 12

Modules: Korg Radias, Roland D-05, Bk7-m & Sonic Cell

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Started taking piano lessons when I was 6, playing recitals & talent shows when I was 9-10. Started doing solo piano gigs when I was 13 (with an Alesis QS8 I bought with my bar mitzvah money). Played in my high school stage band, jazz choir & pit bands, and started going to jazz club jam sessions. Did a jazz camp at 15 and then formed a Phish/Scofield-inspired jamband with some high school friends and played the usual high school battle of the bands/fundraiser type gigs. Went to university in jazz piano and haven't looked back since.

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Nord Electro 5D, Novation Launchkey 61, Logic Pro X, Mainstage 3, lots of plugins, fingers, pencil, paper.

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Oh, let's see...

 

My dad and mom both loved music -- though they didn't play any instruments

I took a shine to a piano once and did OK, with no lessons, so they encouraged me to continue

So I started organ lessons at the age of 8 (on a Lowrey spinet)

Started trumpet at 12 (first a Conn, then a silver Getzen Severinson in high school)

Identical Twin brother played percussion and drums (there IS a difference!)

My 2 Older brothers played trumpet too (both Conns)

We all played in the Jr High and High School bands -- marching (fall) and concert and jazz (winter spring)

My twin and I also played in a church brass choir -- with kettle drums for effect!

I once helped the priest tune the oldest 3-manual pipe organ in New England!

He put me in the pipe room while he played Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" when we were done

(Nothing else happened... Whew... I even got to play THE [not his) organ

 

Started a garage band at age 14 with my twin and a bass and guitar player (from the other school bands)

After 3 months dragging the Lowry out to my garage, I got a Farfisa portable organ (I forget the model, it was black)

Can't remember the name, but I added a large pedal that was "supposed to sound like a Leslie" (Nope, not even close...)

Played all through high school, then my twin and I went to UMass where the other 2 brothers were

After 1 year in marching band, I put the trumpet away (too much WORK in college marching bands!)

 

Then I got in a band and quickly went broke buying a Hammond M3 and a Leslie 145 (with 147 amp)

After spending the summer portabilizing the M3, I added a Trek II reverb and percussion boost

I used the bass player's Crumar string machine and Mini Moog (which I ended up buying on installments)

The miked Leslie and other boards were played through a Peavey PA system

At one point, I even had "Dual Hammonds" to use (Click here for an older post about it)

 

We did a lot of gigs at UMass and music for a couple of radio commercials too

Talked with a producer who said we needed "a hook" -- we said "great music!" -- he said "Yeah, cool, not good enough..."

We were all classically trained musicians playing rock, cover tunes and originals,and we covered some ELP too (Hoedown)

90% of my band income went to loans for equipment (parents) or the roadie who helped the drummer and I, and also had a van

The guitarist walked in with a solid state amp, tuned up, played the gig, unplugged -- and walked out with a girl or two (WTF??)

The drummer and I then left maybe an hour or so later, tired and broke -- and the girls were long gone...

Then we had to move the equipment out of the van which killed another hour...

And at about this time, Boy George made millions dressed in drag with mediocre tunes -- and I'd had enough...

So I graduated, put my business degree to work, got married, had kids and didn't gig out any longer and almost stopped playing after awhile...

 

Fast forward 30+ years later and this was my First post on this forum(Click here for that 1st post) which included a brief introduction of how a Mojo 61 brought me here...

 

Well, that's my story -- no band now -- but I'm having a ball with my new boards and amps, and I'm getting my old chops back into shape.

 

Old No7

 

k0ght4o.jpg

Yamaha MODX6 * Hammond SK Pro 73 * Roland Fantom-08 * Crumar Mojo Pedals * Mackie Thump 12As * Tascam DP-24SD * JBL 305 MkIIs

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Started piano lessons at 6

Taught myself guitar from my piano experience

Played woodwinds in school band

Started my 1st band at 9 playing guitar

By 11 or 12 I was playing occasional gigs like Harvard frat parties in a soul/Motown type band

Pretty amazing that my parents let me do this. Mom would drop me off and pick me up afterwards.

Moved to Vt. at 14 and joined a band with a really good guitarist

The school music teacher loaned us his Rheem (water heaters) combo organ and I became the keyboard player.

Gigs, gigs, and more gigs...

Actually, Gigs, GAS, Gigs, GAS, rinse and repeat

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

-Mark Twain

 

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I first started "gigging" (as much as a young teen could in the early aughts) as a solo singing piano player, doing Beatles and Billy Joel tunes and slowly starting to slip my own in there... I played in a few bands early on, bouncing around between drums and keys, but once I started playing bass that became the thing that took me through high school and my more "serious" bands. I'd occasionally switch over to my Suzuki stage piano that my parents got me from the local music shop (they should stick to motorcycles), and into college I'd get a little better at doubling keys and key bass on the rare show where it felt worth it to haul the extra gear, but it was really right before graduating college that I committed myself to starting a band where I would strictly play piano and sing my own songs with a rhythm section, rather than what I'd always done, rearranging what I wrote at the keys for two guitars, bass, and drums. I wrote and staged a musical between 18 and 20, so I was doing a lot of work to build my piano chops up beyond "right hand chord, left hand octaves, blues-scale licks," so I was coming at the instrument with a new confidence.

 

That really started off my life as a gigging keyboard player, because after I started playing with my ever-expanding piano band (from a trio, to a quartet, to a nine-piece with a horn section and an organist) in the Ithaca scene after graduating, I started getting calls to play keys for other people's recordings, and then join their bands. I wound up learning how to really play Hammond and synths then, using a beat-up Roland VR-760 I got from the local music shop for $500 (a steal, but a lot of money for me then -- I luckily had some gift cash from my college graduation, and the music shop was two blocks from the place I was renting). I just sort of kept taking gigs that were a little above my skill level and out of my comfort zone, and my playing (and gear) would adjust accordingly. I still get to play a little bass every now and then too, but I haven't played drums in a band for a long time... maybe once we get the studio set up in the new house I can get my chops back up!

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Piano lessons started at age 7, despite my wanting to start earlier. My three older brothers all moved on to other instruments but I kept up with piano (while also wanting to learn the drums and saxophone at various points). My high school, while not having a proper concert band/jazz band music program, did have an amazing after-school rock band program run by a non-profit and taught by gigging pros. Again following my older brothers, formed a band with my buds and wrote a couple tunes and played a few shows. That was the real gateway drug. Also switched over to jazz lessons around the same time and then went to uni.
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I didn't start playing keyboard in a band until I was in my late 50's. I'm self taught on all instruments. I played sax and guitar as a young rock 'n' roller in my teens/early 20's in a regionally successful band (released singles, summer tours, etc.). Continued to play sax and guitar in various bands over the years. Answered an ad to start a blues band 18 years ago. Played sax in that band. Keys player quit after a year or 2. (He wasn't very good.) I asked if I could audition to play keys. I've been playing keys and sax ever since. That band is still going after 18 years. I'm the only original member. I also play keys in 2 or 3 other bands and in the house band at a weekly jam. Everything's on hold right now due to the virus. I hope live music starts back up eventually, but I'm in no hurry to get sick.
These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
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I had played sax since 4th grade, but you can't do a melody and chords at the same time on the sax.

During college years I started learning to play basic keys parts (chord with right hand and a bass note with 1 finger of left note) so I could sing to along with some chords. Learned to get through a few James Taylor songs, Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet", and a couple others. This was learning just those songs via repetition, while my keys skills remained very low.

 

Got into a covers band at age 43 which needed occasional keys noises and had no keys player. Bought a Proformance module and played things like the AP part on "Drive My Car". A year later an incredible piano player joined our band and we started covering Bill Joel songs. I learned the organ part for "Angry Young Man", by brute force repetition (my family still has PSD about it). I learned the organ part for "Captain Jack", and learned to cover the accordion and orchestral parts via Keys on "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" (gotta love the absurdly good split capability on a Roland XV). Also played soprano and alto sax on "Scenes", which was the most fun I ever had on a song until my son joined our band several years later playing trumpet and trombone. The incredible piano player left after 4 years. The Billy Joel songs were retired, but I learned to cover "The Letter" (AP) and new songs like "Woodstock" (organ). "Cake By the Ocean" is a more recent example of a song where I play a pretty basic keys part and leverage the Roland split capabilities (3 parts - percussive claps, synthstring chords, and the G twang note). I now use a Roland FA-07, and use a Nord Electro 3 for organ and EP sounds. After all these years I can now play repeated 8th note chucka-chucka for 4 minutes, and even sing a backup vocal during the chorus, without screwing up the rhythm.

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I was drawn to the piano at 4 â picked out melodies myself, figured out a lot of things before I took lessons at 7. I could already play the lesson tunes in different keys with chords etc â my "teacher" said I was just fooling around and told my mother I was just wasting my time and her money so she wouldn't take me back. I just kept playing anyway and by 10 or 11, I was playing Rock & Roll standards on a local radio station with a neighbourhood kid who played drums.

 

One afternoon on summer holidays of 1963 my brother and I heard a commotion emanating from the dance hall at the lake where a surf band was setting up for a dance. I will never forget the thrill of experiencing the visceral power of electrified instruments for the first time.

 

The next winter, on February 9, 1964 when I was 12, The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan and through friends of my parents, I met their son who was just as freaked out about them as I was. He played guitar, had a couple of friends who played bass & drums. We formed a band on the next Sunday, February 16, 1964.

 

We wrote songs and played British Invasion covers, worked out a set and played a high school gig when we were in Grade 9. I played guitar by then, because at the time there were no combo organs available and pianos were too square. I can still read guitar chords off a neck â helpful to this day if I need to play something unfamiliar on the spot.

 

Anyway, at 14 or 15 I joined another band that was gigging all over the province, enough that I could afford a Howard Combo. This was followed by more bands and gear throughout what amounts to 56 years.

____________________________________
Rod

Here for the gear.

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Classical piano lessons from age seven. At 15, someone found out I could play the long solo in Light My Fire and asked me to join their band. I played their Wurlitzer electric until I got a Yamaha YC10, a Leslie and foot pedal to make them work together. Then I got a B3 to go with the Leslie. I played with those guys through high school, then everybody took 20 yrs. off to have a life and children. They called me about 26 yrs. ago saying they were back together and needed a keys player. Been with them ever since. It's cheaper than golf!

Kurzweil PC4

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Half year in 4th grade of after school piano lessons. Three years in high school band clarinet and some tenor sax. No playing for a good while. Mid 30's I was servicing electronic musical instruments including organs; taught myself enough on church organ (full AGO pedalboard) to play a few songs so I could test after fixing. Moved from New Bern area northward to Elizabeth City and got involved with a home based active church. In the mean time, I was picking up other instruments at a good price from my largest dealer. When the church got into a building, I moved my church organ and other gear into the building as a member of the praise band. Then I got a Prophet 600 new. At the time, I might be playing synth, bass, organ, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, C melody sax, autoharp, and harmonica. We lost use of the building a few years later, I got married and moved to Chesapeake, VA; and over the years sold off most of the instruments. The Prophet 600 developed enough problems I couldn't fix it, but I still had the Gibson RD Artist Bass and a MusicMan amp. Not playing at all. Then, in 2004, we moved to Trent Woods (near New Bern), and I became bass player for the church worship band. Bought a Kurzweil SP88X for grand daughter to practice piano on, then a K2000VP for me, then more Kurzweils and a Hammond SK1. Also played some at a weekly jam session that was country, bluegrass, and gospel music. Still playing at church. I have really missed it the past couple of months with staying home and watching our streamed service. The M.D./W.L. is pastor's son, his wife plays piano (much better than I do), youth pastor plays percussion. They have been providing two songs each Sunday for the service.

 

I'm glad to say that I will resume playing with them this Sunday. Practicing social distancing, wearing mask, all that stuff. Just got the set list, downloaded a new song, and put it in the iPad (use OnSong app). Its going to be GOOD to play again!!!!!

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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I was into audio technology in high school, amplified the school band, built my own design organ/synthesizer, learned to play, played in a small church, and as early EE student started to get synthesizers in my tiny room, and learned to mu;ti track and use Midi halfway the 80s. Then I got my own room nearer university, practiced the blues and some Jazz, and got involved in doing music courses and projects, where I met other musicians, got into some bands, started some sessions and band constellations, and when I graduated and started to work I mainly was doing stuff learning Fusion/Jazz and remained in the Jazz combo for some years, I liked funky cover gigs as well, but wasn't interested in learning that,because I went into more challenging Jazz preferably. Of course having a band with good friends is nice, and good looking singers is great, but I didn't feel there was enough space in musical Holland for my interests.

 

TV

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Desperation, pure and simple...

 

It's not that I want to play keys, it's that there's no one else in this area who hears the music in their heads that I hear...or indeed, anything remotely like it. I started buying keyboard instruments as compositional tools so I could flesh out the stuff I write. Then GAS set in, dammit, and for an instrument that doesn't come naturally to me. Rick Wakeman, where are you?

 

I still can't play worth a damn, but I have fun with it and I've succeeded in my original goal--at least partly--and my music is more complete sounding. Should I ever be so fortunate as to find a real keyboard player, I'll have parts sketched in that they can elaborate on and fill out. In the meantime, it's as I tell my wife, regarding my sanity:

 

"It's cheaper than going to a shrink."

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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I was 12 when the Beatles exploded. Some friends went out and bought guitars, bass guitars, and drums from the local music store. Some friends started a band but no one could sing. I got drafted. I sang in several other bands over the year and learned to play guitar and bass. Quit high school and ran off to be a singer in a rock band. Travelled the tri-state area for a few years then decided to get a "real job". I saw an ad for a Rhodes for sale and bought it. I had it for a month or so and was learning to play by strumming a guitar chord and finding the notes. Some friends that I had played with as kids had a great southern rock band. They called and wanted to add my vocals to the band. The bass player was a good friend and knew about the Rhodes. They said bring your piano. I laughed and said sure. The rhythm guitar was a good singer but weak on guitar and wasn't allowed to turn up his amp. so I played mostly chords and they said that will work. We were played 4 times a week and practiced twice. The bass player, rhythm player and I all sang and we had the best harmonies of any band I have ever been in. I improved quickly playing 6 nights a week.
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When I was 6 years old, my parents started me on organ lessons. I took them for 10 years. I learned chords and melody, but not much theory. I would try to learn songs off my record player, but it was a bit fast, so all the songs were about 1/4 tone sharp. Made it very difficult to match up. but I tried.

 

Then when I was 14, I graduated Jr. High, and my grandmother bought me my first portable keyboard. A Farfisa Compact Duo with a Sears Silvertone 100 Solid State amp with 2x12s.

I started high school, and some of the kids I went to school with found out I had a portable keyboard. So, they had me come over and jam. I ended up in a band whose bass player's dad was a bass player with a house gig at a bowling alley. We though he was the coolest.

 

So, I started in garage bands in the early 70s.

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

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I learned music in grade school playing saxophone. There was a Lowrey home organ in my house that my father played, and in a couple years I taught myself how to play it. Started jamming with a drummer doing ELP, Yes, Styx songs, (I started with songs by those artists as a keyboardist) After my parents realized I was sounding good they bought me my first keyboard, a Farfisa VIP400 and Leslie. Not long after that I joined a high school band playing the popular songs of late 70s, early 80s. I wasn"t the best keyboardist but I could sing lead rather well.

Kurzweil Forte 7, Mojo 61, Yamaha P-125,

Kronos X61, Nautilus 73

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I was cornered in the bathroom of my Junior High school when I was 14 and informed that I was joining a band. True story. The instigator was a drummer, hoodlum type in my grade but already a year or two older. He knew about me because I was the classical piano nerd in school who won all the talent contests. When I protested that I had no gear, he said no problem. Then he proceeded to lean on another dude to "loan" me his Doric organ and Jordan amp. I used those for almost a year until I bought a red Farfisa in a pawn shop. By that time I was already playing high school dances and fraternity parties...

^ Win! Seriously, this post made my day. It sounds like you owe your musical career to a surprisingly helpful Jr High bully!

Puck Funk! :)

 

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

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Started playing some honky tonk style tunes in the band leaders garage at a party!

There is no luck - luck is simply the confluence of circumstance and co-incidence...

 

Time is the final arbiter for all things

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