Are Keyboard Players Unhappy People?

[Anderton]

Perspective from someone whose primary instrument is guitar, but has played keyboard for over 50 years. Almost certainly nowhere near as well as most of you

 

I've never had more fun with keyboards than I'm having now. My most recent album (8 songs) had only one lead guitar part, because I was going for a different sound...something uniformly "up," as an antidote to the pandemic and all the negativity of 2020. Keyboards were the answer. All the bass parts were keyboard bass, and keyboards are present throughout the album to add fresh sounds (not a lot of sampled stuff, mostly synthesized).

 

I would not be a better player if I had different gear. Frankly, the gear outpaces my ability to exploit it to the fullest. But when I hear a sound in my head, I can almost always get it on a keyboard.

 

This doesn't mean I'm moving from guitars to keyboards, but that the combination of the two makes me really happy. I'm also doing more blues harp, and even ukulele.

 

Perhaps the most important element to combatting negativity is exploring new directions. Today's keyboards offer so much. In a way, I might be fortunate I'm not that great a keyboard player. Then all that matters is the sound (where I certainly don't feel limited!) and the part, which is on me to make something that meshes well with the music.

 

Sorry if I'm stepping into a forum where I shouldn't be, but...I love keyboards more than ever.

[jeffincltnc]

It"s more like every day is Festivus and this board is the keyboard Airing of Grievances.

[David Emm]

Speak for yourself, Whitey. Personally, I am as happy as a newbie accidentally locked in Sweetwater's keyboard room overnight. I've been working on a largely brass-based piece and its going so well, I feel as if I'm joyously growing a B cup and vibranium nipples. I loved attending symphonies and taking in the various instrument groups, especially the brass. I also saw James Brown and that horn section was tighter than a chicken's arse. Its gratifying to have those two widely-spaced poles to use as references and then seeing your loping synthesis process turn out fairly well. That's a sincere Happy most normal folks would never be able to grasp.

[ITGITC]

[Gary75]

It"s due to the fact that the average age on here is 87 years old. Somethings gotta give, and if it"s not bladder functionality, it will be the failure to implement a feature akin to discovering the Holy Grail.

[jazzpiano88]

It"s due to the fact that the average age on here is 87 years old. Somethings gotta give, and if it"s not bladder functionality, it will be the failure to implement a feature akin to discovering the Holy Grail.

[bennyray]

It"s due to the fact that the average age on here is 87 years old. Somethings gotta give, and if it"s not bladder functionality, it will be the failure to implement a feature akin to discovering the Holy Grail.

 

 

Poot!

[stoken6]

I recall reading an article many years ago, in an archaic media form called a newspaper, which explained that (statistically) French Horn players were unhappy.

If I had to transpose everything at sight, I'd probably be unhappy too .

 

My nephew plays Horn to a very high standard, and he's supporting himself by delivering online food orders. Poor guy, unable to make the most of his talent and hard work as a musician... I consider myself extremely lucky that I have a wonderful family, somewhere to live, a job that I can do from home, and a baby grand piano downstairs to fulfil my musical desires.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[nursers]

I also wonder if it's about the degree of success. I started a thread recently asking pretty much the opposite question but applied to the pros. I'm yet to have one that's appeared bitter. Yes a lot of them probably have their 'media face' on, but it seems more than that. Most don't even care too much about the boards they play, because they don't really need to.

 

That said, I'm a happy weekend warrior, mediocre player in a cover band

[Ockeghem]

Don't worry, be happy

The landlord say your rent is late

He may have to litigate

Don't worry, be happy

...Look at me, I"m happy ð

âBobby McFerrin

[Biggles]

A year ago I went into my local music store and discussed a specific keyboard with the Sales guy, we are selling a lot of those to the over Eighties he added.

 

Pretty good going on a keyboard that costs over $5000

 

So yep, a lot of very happy 80 + players out there

[stoken6]

A year ago I went into my local music store and discussed a specific keyboard with the Sales guy, we are selling a lot of those to the over Eighties he added.

 

Pretty good going on a keyboard that costs over $5000

 

So yep, a lot of very happy 80 + players out there

Top-of-the line arranger, like a Genos? Or some kind of Wersi home organ?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Adan]

The question posed in this thread is a specific application of the much bigger question: how do I get benefit from the internet without letting it drag me down into a dystopia of discontent? It's one of the great challenge of our time, and, like most great challenges, may not be fully understood except in retrospect (if there even is a retrospect). There's good information on this forum, lots of helpful advice, and lots of positive thinking. But even in the best of forums (which this one arguably is) you have to separate the good from the bad, the useful from the useless, the stuff that will elevate you from the stuff that will suck you into a black hole of despair. No one will do that for you. In the solipsistic existence of the internet age, it's just the screen, you, and your barren soul exposed for reckoning. Not so different from the earliest civilizations that, for reasons lost to history, migrated out of the heart of Africa into the frigid regions of Europe and had to cope with a new set of challenges, we are figuring this out as we go along, and only the fittest will survive.

[AnotherScott]

Topic examples:

 

Hey, there's new software out.

"It's going to suck" "What are they thinking?"

Why do you say it will suck?

" I just know it is."

 

Did you see the new keyboard from xxxx?

"It's sucks"

How do you know, have you tried it?

"No, but I am sure it will suck"

 

OT: Did you notice the sky is blue and it's nice outside?

"No , it sucks"

Have you been outside?

"No, I just know outside will suck...."

 

and so on and so on.

Are you sure you didn't mean to post this over at gearslutz?

[Joe Muscara]

The question posed in this thread is a specific application of the much bigger question: how do I get benefit from the internet without letting it drag me down into a dystopia of discontent? It's one of the great challenge of our time, and, like most great challenges, may not be fully understood except in retrospect (if there even is a retrospect). There's good information on this forum, lots of helpful advice, and lots of positive thinking. But even in the best of forums (which this one arguably is) you have to separate the good from the bad, the useful from the useless, the stuff that will elevate you from the stuff that will suck you into a black hole of despair. No one will do that for you. In the solipsistic existence of the internet age, it's just the screen, you, and your barren soul exposed for reckoning. Not so different from the earliest civilizations that, for reasons lost to history, migrated out of the heart of Africa into the frigid regions of Europe and had to cope with a new set of challenges, we are figuring this out as we go along, and only the fittest will survive.

I feel like the internet has only amplified what we already go through in life. Have you ever noticed that when you're driving and in a bad mood, everyone else drives like crap? I find the internet can be the same way. Maybe it has some easier triggers (Cousin Jed is posting a conspiracy theory again), but generally I find that if my teeth are starting to clench or my forehead is tightening, I need to step away.

 

I mean, I have a lot of fun on FB, I try to post fun stuff, I enjoy the posts from many people (if you're not friends with Josh Paxton on FB you ain't livin', same goes for his wife), but there are times when the news feed is NOT the place to be.

 

For the most part, this place is mild compared to what can go on there or on other social media. But the comments here are never personal (and when they are, someone is getting a timeout thanks to our esteemed moderator dB) so while I don't disagree with the intent of Dave's OP, it's almost always easy enough to filter without having to walk away.

 

Heck, this is the place I go when I want to be online, feel like I'm with some people I know and like, and social media is being a b!tch again.

[Adan]

There's no question this forum is amongst the best of the best. To me, the larger point is that, even at its best, the internet will regularly f&%k with you psychologically. One has to learn to deal with that in an efficient and productive manner. This isn't something you can learn by reading Shakespeare, the Bible, or Kerouac. This is a new frontier in human adaptation. Maybe the vicissitudes of life on the internet can be analogized to life as we previously knew it, but the dangers are so leveraged and magnified that I think everyone struggles. If traffic is bugging you, you can just stay home. But if you stay home, you're probably going to go on the internet, just out of habit.