MuzikTeechur

I'm staring at learning the entire book for "Rent" in the next 4 weeks. Plus, I'm teaching all of the songs to a cast of mostly untrained singers. And have to put together a Pit Band. And I have my concert band, chorus, jazz band, pep band, guitar class, piano class, and two bands I play with. "Overwhelmed" doesn't begin to cover it. But I've learned to do my best, make the most of practice time, and I'll live through it.

I've played a lot of tunes in 5/4 - when you accompany musicals it goes with the territory. Also, a lot of the concert band tunes I teach/conduct will go into 5/4 time. It's just another time signature. If the music demands it, you write in 5/4.

Whitney Houston? Notorious B.I.G.? How are we defining "Rock and Roll" these days? Or is it just "Any pop artist from about 1920 - Present"?

My favorite Craigslist/FB Marketplace misspelling:

I use a Wurlitzer with a lot of drive on it (Nord). Sounds great.

Endless, frequent, meaningless rehearsals are the bane of my existence. It seems that a lot of bands rehearse rehearse rehearse and never actually play anywhere. The bands that gig twice a week don't need to rehearse unless they're adding new tunes. I tell people that I will have the music learned, in their keys; that I'll show up on time, I'll be professional, and I have testimonials affirming just that from numerous well-known local bands. I had a band that wanted to hire me to sub for a gig in 6 weeks. No problem. They rehearse for three hours every Tuesday night and wanted me there. Problem. I'm not going to drive an hour each way for free. If it's complicated music, I'll come to a rehearsal, but for 70s/80s/90s rock? No.

You left out my favorite sub-genre: Submarine Movies!!! "Ryan, be careful what you shoot at; most things in here don't react well to bullets."

This.

In one of the bands I gig with, there is one player (let's call him "Greg, the Bass Player") who, despite repeated directions NOT to, sings my harmonies but one octave lower. This may work on "Fat Bottom Girls", but does not work on "Lights", or virtually anything else. For some reason, this just takes all the heart right out of me and I stop singing my part because I don't want to be a part of such musical douchebaggery. Second thing that "Greg" does: when I play and sing "Feelin' Alright" (Joe Cocker version) he sings my melody lines on the chorus. Then, at the end which I prefer to do as a piano break as in the intro, he views that as his time to do some wild free-form bass calisthenics, completely covering anything I'm playing. Completely. Clueless.

If you prefer a 2nd tier that is adjustable for tilt/angle, the part number is 18882.

I knew the name and knew he was on some of my favorite Motown stuff, but that list just leaves my head spinning. What a career! sorry for the loss of your friend, Steve.

Like others here, the Cars were right there when I was really starting to pay attention to the musical landscape around me in high school in the late 70's. I loved the Cars because they were great musicians, great composers, and seemed to never take themselves too seriously. My kind of people (the latter - not the first two!). RIP Rik. Thanks for being there when I needed to remind myself to lighten up! (TinyPic is shutting down, and I can't figure out how to share pics from Google Photo here, so here's a link to an amusing Rik screenshot. ) Amusing Rik Screenshot

I have played dozens and dozens of weddings over the course of the past 35 years and for the weddings where I haven't used the church's organ, have never once had an issue about what color my boards are (currently white, and red). Not. Once. If I ran into bridezilla who was THAT much of a control freak about colors, I'd probably pass on the gig. However, if you really are worried about color, buy a nice black piece of cloth and velcro it across the back and sides of your keyboard so it drapes down. It'll hide your stand and wires as well.

Real MC for the win.

Having seen both of them together and separately, and coming from the viewpoint that I'm much more of a Billy Joel fan than Elton John... Elton John is hands-down the better player. All-around, technique, styles, versatility... When I first went to see them together I was mainly going to see Billy Joel. Elton John impressed the Hell out of me. A few years ago I saw Elton solo in Portland, Maine, as he was warming up for a big tour. Just Elton, no back-up, no effects. Again, I was even MORE impressed. I might think that Billy Joel has more improvisation chops than Elton, but that's just an impression - Elton doesn't take a lot of improvised solos. Of course, Bruce Hornsby blows them both off the stage - check out a solo show with Bruce sometime if you want to leave with your head spinning.

Amazing keyboard solo ... and tight arrangements. The feel is a bit reminiscent of Chick Corea's "Sketches of Spain" (Pardon if this is a re-post - I'm usually late to the party) [video:youtube]

I'll just say that I make: * My salary as a public school music teacher * Money from club and function gigs ~4-5x/month * Money from subbing in churches ~2x/month And I have no problem finding deductions (mileage, equipment, etc.) that make it seem like my gigging money is a negative figure. I usually stop with the deductions before it becomes negative to keep the IRS happy. If you present a negative figure too many years in a row they deem your trade as a "hobby" and you can no longer deduct expenses! Thank goodness I buy, fix, and flip old BMWs or I'd have no disposable income at all!

The old threads are the best threads, aren't they? Sure they are!

I've always enjoyed Larry Goldings' solo on "Mean Old Man." Now I'm just in awe. The key, the chord structure, the voicings, the style... I am so not worthy.

Do NOT, under any circumstances, buy a Yamah Piaggero. I purchased three as replacements in school piano lab and they absolutely do not hold up. They are junk junk junk. Dead keys, shitty speakers, and the worst plastic piano action this side of Taiwan. Someone stole one from the lab and I was elated.

If you can play like Horowitz, then do whatever you like. By "curved" I'm not talking "curled up like an arthritic old crone." I said "naturally curved." But play however you like, really. Here's Horowitz in '68. He plays *slightly* flatter than I do, but also his hand position is WAY closer to the fallboard than mine. Of course, he's probably playing in d# minor or the like, and needs to be way in there. How else do you think all those gouge marks get on the lower fallboard of a well-used Steinway?

So much great advice here. But is anyone listening? My advice (first paid gig 40 years ago, lugged a Hammond Porta-B and later B-200 and Leslie up more flights of stairs than I care to remember): 1) Better gear will not make you play better. If you want better gear, buy it because you want it, but don't expect miracles unless something is truly holding you back. 1a) Buy good cables. Buy good pedals. 2) Listen, listen, listen. If you like how someone plays, repeatedly listen to everything that person has ever recorded. Transcribe it to your instrument - don't just buy a transcription and play it: the only way to get inside the head of a monster player is to figure it out for yourself and learn to play it verbatim. 3) Take some lessons. Learn some theory. Otherwise, you're just wasting time trying to re-invent the circle of fifths. 4) Learn good hand and seating/standing position. Your wrists, neck, and back will thank you later. And don't play with flat fingers. Your fingers should be naturally curved when playing. 5) Someone is eventually going to fire you from a gig. You're going to be pissed off. Nothing you say or do is going to change that you've been fired, so just shut up, be mature, and go on with your life. When you're done being pissed off think about the reasons given and try to find the grains of truth in what the person said. Even if they were a dick about how they did it, there were reasons. Fix them. Get better. 6) It's OK to have a beer or shot or whatever to loosen up before the gig, or at the set break. But leave it at that. Nobody plays better when they're hammered and you don't want to develop that reputation. 7) Simpler is always better: in your rig, in your playing. Don't bring 5 keyboards, a lap top, iPad, and two mixers when you can get it done with one or two versatile keyboards. Unless you enjoy setting up and tearing down for an hour and a half before and after every gig. 8) Dress better than the crowd. I see people gigging in clothes I wouldn't work in my garden in. You're playing in a bar band on Friday night. Nobody is going to think you're a rock star just because you have more holes in your jeans than your average high school sophomore. Same with the damn scarves on your mic stand. You're not Steven Tyler. When in doubt: black on black. 9) Only use as much on-stage volume as necessary to hear yourself. If the others need to hear you, have the sound person put it in their monitors. 10) Learn to sing decent back-up. Learn the harmonica. 11) Always offer to help others carry their equipment. Don't leave until everyone's packed up. 12) When leaving the gig, if you see the manager/bar tender/owner, tell them "thank you for the gig, I hope we did well for the bar tonight!" This lets them know that you're hip to the fact that they don't exist just to give you a venue for "your art." Your job is to sell alcohol. If you can have fun and make music while you're doing that, you win.

"the algebra has a devil in a sidecar...me... for me.. for MEEEEEEEEEEE" "Big ol' Jed in a lighthouse, don't carry me too far away..."

Yep - pumpkin-flavored EVERYTHING on the menu. It's time

I have a QS6.2 that I still haul out on gigs when I have to do 80's and 90's tunes. I have the "Vintage Keyboards" card that is a lot of fun. Quick QS story: when the QuadraSynth first came out in 93 or 94 I just HAD to have it. Saved my dollars and bought one. First gig I go to, I powered it up and the display was COMPLETELY scrambled, no sounds, no nothing. Did a system reset and managed to get enough of the ROM accessible so that I could at least play the gig. Sent it back (I think I bought it from MF). Got another one. Practiced with it, set up my "user" patches and went to the gig. SAME THING - all scrambled. This time a system reset brought it back to factory settings, but I lost my user patches. As I was loading it into the car (a CRX hatchback), I noticed that the coax for my ham radio antenna was run directly under the carpet where the "brain" of the QS would be when the keyboard was loaded into the car. OOPS. When i transmitted on the ham radio, I was sending enough RF into the QS to scramble the brains of it! I re-routed the coax and no more problems. I still have that QS. Great board. I'd like to find a dead one though because it has a few broken keys.