nadroj

My band turns down way more gigs than we take. Adopted a “less is more” approach - have stopped doing shitty clubs/pubs and are only doing ticketed gigs in medium sized venues. Working with a promoter who we all love. We mostly do 200-600 cap venues. Bigger ones are local (ie. In Scotland/northern England where we have a following), smaller ones are further South/overseas. Promoter is looking at getting us bigger venues next year (900+), but we’ll be doing a lot less. Last week we played two gigs in two new cities. Never played there before - both were sold out. 300ish capacity venues. Week off last weekend, going to another new city this Friday, off for another 2 weeks, overnight at a festival, then a break til August. Mid-August we’re doing two festivals in the same day, 300 miles apart, then we’re looking at the craziest 2 months the band has ever seen, with the odd week off thrown in to give us a break. We did 4 gigs in 7 days last month - 3 of them were overnighters. The band were almost dead at the end of it. We need the time off. I’ve a young family so I just can’t do late weekdays any more (so no impromptu subbing/pub gigs for easy cash, of which there are many here) nor can I afford to go out to play gigs that financially/mentally drain me. If I didn’t get paid well enough to make it worth leaving my wife home alone with the kids for the whole weekend I wouldn’t do it. I have a 9-5 job but the gigs are a significant part of our income. This band probably has a couple of years left in the tank so I’m milking it. Can’t see myself being in a band like this again, at least for a long, long time. Unless I hit a financial brick wall I’m done with weddings for now, and anything I WANT to play won’t be financially viable. What I have just now is an anomaly. In the UK at least people are crying out for live gigs. The first few months after COVID lockdowns ended were the craziest I’ve ever seen crowds in my life. Our singer runs a wedding band agency and he’s still churning out several successful, money making bands a year. They look very different to the bands of 10+ years ago when I was in that scene, but there’s obviously still a market for it here. Most of my paid gigging work has been through that agency.

Took an organ solo on sat night. Did lots of wanky organ things and got whoops. Did a stupidly basic pentatonic run up (not fast) and got extremely loud whoops. Were the audience thinking “hell yeah that’s a pentatonic scale!”? No. They were thinking subconsciously “that’s what my ear wants to hear!” and responded in kind. Funnily enough in that same solo I tried to end using a fancy chromatic thing I’ve been working on. In the heat and thrill of the moment I ballsed it up and ended up playing musical garbage. Random notes. The audience went flat. I should have stuck to what was simple - if I did it would probably have been one of my best live solos yet. The pentatonic is my get out of jail free card for all of my gigs. If I’m lost I go there and find my way back. in fact usually consciously trying to go beyond the pentatonic scale sounds messy if I’ve not mentally prepared. It’s a pride thing. It depends on the band and the tune. I got shouted at by a drummer in an old band for doing blues wanky stuff during a pop song solo. There are tunes in my current band where sitting on the tritone for a bar or two works. There are songs where the blues/pentatonic doesn’t work and the harmonic minor sounds best. None of these are jazz tunes - I’m not a jazz guy. A good solo will have tension and release. Doesn’t matter the genre or the band. If you can bring that tension and release and give the crowd’s ears the sound they subconsciously want to hear using only the pentatonic scale, power to you. Same if you go outside for a second then bring it back in to land using the pentatonic. In my case, 90% of the time Dorian and blues/pentatonic does the job, and does it well. It’s usually musical pride that makes me want to go outside of that. Sometimes it works and makes it better, but a lot of the time it falls short and makes me wish I’d stuck to what was simple and effective. I’m learning that more and more regularly playing with musicians who are much better than me. TLDR: who cares what tools are used to build the shed if it’s built well.

They’re so cheap because they charge you extra for literally every other single little thing. They’re self aware about it, it’s become meta on their social media and is the source of several memes. The Nord won’t get in your carry on, that’ll have to go in hold. Your bags have to be a certain size to go in carry on with Ryan Air. I’d call them and ask about the micro key, but chances are you’re going to have to shell out or stick it in hold.

I spent years - years - fantasising about simplifying my rig. I remember sitting through college lectures (when I went back as a mature student for 2 yrs) ignoring the lecture while reading 300+ pages of GearSlutz forums about the Nord Stage/Kronos/Kurzweil Forte. I bought a MODX when it was first released but quickly realised it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I didn’t like it at all. In January this year I got a trade in deal for a Hammond SKX (not the Pro). I literally haven’t thought about gear since then. There’s nothing more I want. The sounds and functionality do the job, and the only thing that can improve now is me, and I’ve been working on that a lot these past few months. I just love sitting down to play music now - gear is hardly a factor. I’m in a hotel room just now waiting to go back to the venue we’re playing at tonight. That 2-manual organ is currently sitting on stage waiting for me and I can’t wait to get my hands on it again and start playing. I’ve no doubt my covetous GAS will return one day soon, but for now I’ve got the elusive “one keyboard to do it all” for all of my needs, and so far it’s ticked every box plus more. I mean I even recorded piano on it for an acoustic track and it sounded pretty damn okay lol. When I think about how much time I spent thinking about gear I get pissed off and a little embarrassed. I’m glad to be rid of that burden for now.

I think she’s brilliant. She’s on repeat in our house. 1989 is where it landed for me. Gem of an album, and it’s been mostly gold ever since.

you do have to plug it into the foot switch slot and not the damper slot though! Just using the damper doesn’t work

Incidentally I just got a spare sustain pedal to use as a foot switch on my SKX. Works a charm. Also does a decent pitch bend with a bit of setting up.

My initial thoughts: XK-5 is the bees knees. XK-3 was good but not flagship - performance oriented for the gigging regular. XK-4 sits somewhere in between.

included in teaser: -pitch bend/mod wheels -full colour screen -assignable knobs -jim alfredson

First gig last night with the new axe. I was right; the band love the looks of it. Drummer and bassist were like “WOOOOAAAH” and gushing over it. in terms of sound, I hit a couple of chords during soundcheck and the drummer ran through and said he thought someone had brought the real thing into the room. He listened and said it was night and day from the Nord. That would be Jim A’s tone set. Thanks Jim! I took a solo in one song and started playing with the drawbars, doing lots of chords rather than straight notes. It cuts through a hell of a lot better than the Nord and let’s me do things that would have previously been drowned in the mix. Singer/band leader kept one of my organ solos going for several rounds (I ran out of things to say and ended it myself) and said straight after “that thing sounds amazing.” He told me in the car after it was his favourite part of the set. Sounds like I’m going to be thrown more organ solos now. Words the band use: it’s “creamier”, “cuts through better”, “girthier”, “more realistic” and “night and day” above the Nord organ. So they’re pleased with it. In terms of my own experience, I messed up a couple of times forgetting where I’d put splits, but that was ok. Last night was a crappy warmup gig for our tour which starts next week with a 600 capacity hometown gig. There are a couple of setups I’ll have to fix for next week, and a few things I’ll need to tweak, but all in all I’m a happy man.

There's already a tonne of good stuff in this thread and some of the info above this quoted post is golddust, but Mitch I just want to let you know how much I appreciate you taking the time to put those videos together today, they are incredibly helpful and I'll no doubt have them on repeat in the coming weeks. Thank you.

Holy crap, I come back and my question has been answered by several people giving indepth theory/written out notes, suggestions for tunes, links to classes, youtube videos and even some custom made on the spot lessons. Blown away. That's a lot of stuff to look through, and I'd be lying if I said I've had the time to look over everything above properly yet - thanks so much to everyone who has contributed, this is going to send me well on my way. I'm going to make sure to pick my way through everything shared here. Will no doubt have more questions once I start diving into all of the above - watch this space.

So I recently got my first dual manual clone and now I'm all in. Well, partially - I'm not quite at the basspedal stage, and won't be for a long while. One thing at a time... Over the years I've picked up a couple of basic LH walking formulas for things like Autumn Leaves (1-3-5-b5), or (1-2-3-b4-4) etc for going from chord to chord in basic standards, and could probably spend a year just doing that, but I'm not really a straight jazz guy. I am wanting to branch out and make a real go at getting that left hand down, though. So far I've been listening to Jimmy Smith. His basslines obviously change based on the tune, but one thing I've already noticed is that he seems to start his basslines fairly "simple" and then go wham later on. There seem to be a few patterns there - I'm not yet sure if he does the same thing on various tunes. Maybe he has a formula I've not worked out yet. Just now I'm working on "Back at the Chicken Shack". It's deceptively simple at the start but branches out as the choruses go on (it also helped me realise how bad I am at trilling chords in my RH). I've been playing "Green Onions" for years and have picked that back up. It seems 90% of youtube performances of that tune (even from the greats themselves) have a bass player during the solos. I figured I'd make a go at practicing soloing over that, with the LH bass too, just to get me the practice playing with dotted/ghost notes. Any other tunes I should look at for developing some LH bass technique/chops (of various styles), or any general resources someone can point me to? Hopefully you've gathered that I'm not looking for "easy" solutions; I'm all on board with putting the work in over the long haul, ie. listening to tunes, slowing them down, isolating the bass then copying it. Also, bonus question: what the hell do you do with ballads? I've tried listening to organ versions of misty, etc, and just can't pick out what the LH is doing cos most of them are so slow.

Ok it’s half past midnight and I’m finally in bed. I kinda get the gas pedal now. On the Nord it was just “bring it down here for some texture, or don’t; too loud isn’t a worry.” Adding drawbars was more textural; the volume wasn’t changed too much. With this SKX the difference between a straight jazz 888 and full stops out is monstrous. Add in C3 and a bit of overdrive and…well, my ears are still ringing. There are solos in the band where I start with a couple of drawbars out then end with everything going full ham. I’m going to have to be careful on Saturday or I’ll blow the guys off the stage. I can’t see any point in the set where full stops out and expression pedal maxed will be appropriate now. People cringe at my solos anyways, I don’t need to give them another reason by bursting their ear drums. Will need to work on my expression pedal use I think. Is that normal or should I tweak the settings a little more? Im not used to all of the normal organ parameters (c/v), percussion, OD, drawbars, etc) affecting the volume so much.

And freaking hell the way the drive interacts with the swell is miles above my old Nord. It’s the little subtleties that really make the experience

Guess what I picked up today. Spent a while setting the SKX up. Updated to the latest firmware (seemed to fix the hissing issue I mentioned above!), installed some of the library sounds, and found a version of Jim's Tonewheel Set that someone had converted for the SKX. Initial thoughts after 2 hours of non-stop tweaking: - It's a niche board, but it's my dream instrument. I'm not a pianist (or an organist) so I don't need weighted keys. I've been wanting to get into the 2-manual game for a while. The splits/layers with the two extra voices are actually pretty flexible and will cover everything that i need, and then some. My band (who I'm all over the country with almost every week for the rest of the year) is a ska/funk tribute/originals hybrid band, so I just need organ and some bread and butter sounds. Very few complex setups, though there are a couple. I've started programming it for its first gig on Saturday and already it's miles more convinient than my Electro 4. 80% of the gig will be piano on bottom manual, organ on top. - It's built like a tank. It's fairly heavy, but easy to carry. The wooden side panels give it some girth, and the metal chassis feels as solid as my Nord ever did. The only things I hope will last are the inputs (plastic, not metal), the knobs and the power supply. On the power supply, it is external, not internal - though I have seen some people mod theirs. I don't plan on doing that to mines. I'm ordering a spare power supply for this week just in case. I'm hoping the whole unit will last me a while. - That LCD screen is small but does its job. Tells me everything I need to know. Hope that lasts too, actually, I've heard some horror stories about the SK screens. - Jim's Quasi Tonewheel set (created by another guy based on Jim's set for the SK2) has totally transformed it. It now sounds more like the organs I hear on records and in live shows than my Nord ever did. It was probably a bit shrill in the upper octaves so I've lowered the EQ and I'm now in swirly, hammondy creamy heaven. This is the closest I've ever had to the "real thing" in terms of sound and feel. I'm in love. I may get a vent 2 mini in the summer, but honestly for now it's such a step up from my Nord (which I've been happy with for almost 10 years now) that I don't think I'll need it any time soon. -Speaking of feel, the key travel feels shallower (softer) and less springy than my Nord. The organ trigger is also very, very high and sensitive, which is nice but will take some getting used to! Piano feels fine on it, better than Nord because it's a bit more loose. - The extra voices will do. The rhodes(no1), wurly and piano patches are pretty much identical to the pianos I had loaded into the electro, and the hammond clav is better. On the Electro I only had the small "bright grand" loaded in for gigs, and the SK default piano sounds almost exactly similar in my cans. The synth sounds I downloaded from the hammond website are actually pretty good for ROMpler tones and will get me through a function gig if needed - though I don't plan on taking any of those gigs any time soon. I don't actually have the space in my diary. - I said it above in my last post, but I'm starting to get the joy of real, physical drawbars, especially with multiple sets. I've saved the manual button (basically Nord's live mode) as my default organ, and it's already a cinch getting settings ready for the next song (and changing mid song). - It looks bloody cool. The band are going to love it. Still in the honeymoon period and it will be important to see how it fares through a PA, fighting with 8 other band mates and 600+ people in a live mix (I've already realised I'm going to have to adjust some of my drawbar settings for certain songs based on how different to the Nord it sounds) but I'm happy. No one asked me to review a 4 year old keyboard, but there we go! Will upload some photos and give more thoughts later in the week. Just now I can't tear myself away from it.

I thought the Vox Continblack DID save EQ settings - that was one of its selling points. I thought that functionality came in an update for the Orange Vox too at the same time.

Hey funny, he talks through the 'I Keep Forgettin' session in that vid and plays a snippet. That thread we had on it must still be warm...

Lukather's book made me love him even more. Dude has some stories. The guy is probably one of my favourite guitarists of all time, though he seems to fly under the radar of a lot of my guitarist buddies, which is a damn shame. Watching the Beato vid now. One thing that made me laugh in the book was how he made it sound like every single person LA is his "good friend". Maybe they are...

I like it. For my needs the MODX is overkill. The MODX also has crappy organs and little hands on control, and this new thing seems more flexible than the YC. If it turns out the rotary is the new studio rotary they used on the YC, and they bring out a proper semi-weighted 7X version I can see myself being all over this in a couple of years. Bluetooth audio, built in speakers, proper audio interface and AD inputs really make it good for home use especially, and for easily integrating Mainstage. I like it a lot. You’re getting the quality Yamaha sounds and functionality in a Roland sized package. Looking forward to trying one out.

The MODX doesn’t do organ like the CK. I think they’ll sell a tonne of these. It’s like a VR-09 on steroids for a similar price. I don’t need the latest and greatest anymore. Hell I’d probably be interested in one if I wasn’t already in the process of getting something new.

I get why they wouldn’t want the organ as good as the YC. It would cannibalise YC sales. Actually I don’t get it, I’d rather they put the best organ in just to make it good, but I don’t understand economics or marketing. However… …If they’ve offered a performance keyboard with an organ section featuring drawbars and have not at least included their newest rotary emulation they are out of their damn minds.

When my second kid was born I packed in the gigs. I got a 9-5 job and after a decade of trying to make music my “main thing”, pushed it to the side. My degree and 80% of my work experience was in music, so it was a bit tough at first. I made music a hobby rather than a full time pursuit and my enjoyment of it suddenly went up by 300%. I stopped taking gigs because I had to. I stopped taking gigs that didn’t give me life. Once things had settled i started subbing for a band that I’m now a full time member of, and am now more musically fulfilled than I ever have been. We’re still weekend warriors but we’re selling out shows at big venues and have just released an originals album - even though we’re a tribute act. I’m now in a position where I have a wife and kids and a job but I’m in playing a different city every weekend. My musical and creative output has never, ever been this fulfilling or good - and it’s still just a hobby (which happens to provide a decent enough second income to make it worth it for my family). It took years, but we’ve found a way to make it work. It is possible. But it wouldn’t have been possible back when I packed things in. I had to take time off to allow myself and my family to settle before getting back into it. As others have said, focus on your family first. You may very well find that dropping the music down a notch in your priority list for a season will reawaken your joy for it. As musicians we balance a lot of plates. It sounds like for now you need to find a lifestyle that works for you and your family. Sometimes that means dropping a plate - in this case serious playing. You can either choose to drop it, or let it fall and smash, which is no fun. Once you have the important plates spinning well, you can then pick up other plates again and began spinning them. Life comes at us in seasons, and the good thing about seasons is that they come back around again. Taking a step back from musical commitments for a time doesn’t mean it’s forever, or that your efforts thus far have been wasted - you’re just doing things differently for a little while. Take time off, focus on other things and let your love for the creative be naturally rekindled over time. The last thing you want to do just now is force yourself into things that don’t bring you life.

They should really switch it to the 145 Close setting as the default. That rotary sounds awful compared to the close setting - which still isn’t perfect.

Sad news. Wayne lived to a good old age and left his mark upon millions. We should all be so lucky.