SamuelBLupowitz
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Posts posted by SamuelBLupowitz
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Drat, I guess I can't play this on my Mojo!
Because that obscure technique is the only thing from keeping me from playing like Larry Goldings, obviously. :wink:
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Apparently one of my older relatives, who was a first-generation immigrant to the US from Eastern Europe, did this every morning. Along with a shot of vodka.Old Russian cure, feed your Hammond an onion. Takes care of just about everything.No idea if he was musical at all, though. :wink:
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"...otherwise you had to do what we did on the first couple albums, which was sing every single chorus, triple every single chorus..."
Cry me a river!
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I tried to make an iPad gigging rig work for awhile, both for my more complicated band setup (lots of different synth, Mellotron, and pitched percussion patches for different songs) and for my singer/songwriter piano-only gigs. Ultimately I wound up going with a laptop and Mainstage; it was just easier to do the different routings and patch changes, at least for the way I work.
For piano specifically, the thing that really made me abandon the iPad wasn't the quality of any of the available sounds themselves, it was the lack of those extra nuances on the iOS sound sources I found. It's a little thing, but the iOS version of Ravenscroft doesn't do progressive sustain, whereas in Pianoteq on the Macbook I can crank up all the damper noise across the throw of the Yamaha FC3-A, and it just gives me a little extra bit of the satisfaction of playing a real piano. I understand not everyone likes a messy piano sound like me, though, especially if you're playing in a loud band where you don't really hear that stuff.
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Most of my bands are using Venmo at this point, but all of the bands I'm in have at least one holdout, which means they just have to wait a little longer to get cash (either because we got paid in a check, or because we didn't get the right cash denominations to divide by 7 or whatever). PayPal does own them, which makes me think it's as safe as anything digital could be. I've been asked about Zelle but never used it myself. Every now and then, good ol' PayPal comes up.
The thing that seems to be generational as much as using apps themselves are the concerns about security. Older folks generally are more cautious. My contemporaries and younger generally feel that there's no such thing as privacy anyway, so what the hell. :wink:
And there's the real heart of it!Wait...you can get paid for being in a band? -
On your Clavinet channel strip in Mainstage, is the audio output routing the same as it is on the software channel strips? If not, what's the difference? It's possible the audio channel strip is somehow routed to a different audio output, though I feel like that sort if thing is intricate enough to set up if you were *trying* to...
On the UM2, is the "direct monitoring" switch deactivated?
Also, make sure that whichever interface you use is set as both the input and output both on your Mac's system settings AND in Mainstage itself.
Assuming you are able to hear your software instruments out of the UM2, it should absolutely be possible to hear both the software instruments and the processed Clavinet audio... keep us posted!
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What an inspiring and expensive time to be a keyboard player! I'll have to stick with my Seaboard for the time being, but maybe one of these days... it looks like it would fit right on top of my Wurli, too. You know, I'm always trying to be practical. :wink:
It seems like this would be better suited for some of the one-handed-synth-lines-without-access-to-a-pitch-or-mod-wheel stuff I initially bought the Seaboard for. The Seaboard is good for that on certain techniques, and also full of potential I hadn't thought of, but typical keyboard gestures don't always translate super well (playing arpeggios in tune requires a LOT of practice).
Also, looks like they're right on the money with MPE's potential for modeled acoustic percussion, something I'm finding a little underutilized by Roli, whose offerings tend to be much more contemporary-electronic in that realm.
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It's less expensive than any of my tube amps, but pricier than one of those Tech21 Fly Rigs. This has my attention, but realistically, it probably won't show up in my rig anytime in the foreseeable future.Ouch, that's a pricey little bugger, isn't it?fair price for what you get, IMO
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Had a revelatory rehearsal with one of my bands last night, when we finally made the switch from a series of little PAs and monitor speakers that were constantly feeding back and competing with amps in our tiny rehearsal room, to switching to running everything direct and monitoring on in-ears (well, studio headphones). All y'all who have been using in-ears for years will laugh at my surprise, but I can't tell you what a relief it was to every single one of us to make that change -- we do a lot of intricate vocal work, and it's become so hard to focus on the details that we want to when our tiny rehearsal space (of five very sensitive musicians) is just a loud mess of sound. But we've just resigned ourselves to it after so much time.
The impetus for the switch was that our drummer bought a Behringer X18 mixer, which can run six separate monitor mixes, controllable from a phone or tablet. But the in-ear amplifiers we bought that accept the XLR feeds are on extended back-order, so we just improvised with a 10-output passive headphone splitter I had handy and all shared the same mix out of the headphone output (which I guess we could have done with our old rehearsal mixer anyway). I figured we'd struggle through the compromise for one night, and it would at least bring down the rehearsal volume level. But it was still SUCH an improvement that I kind of can't believe it.
Didn't have to mic the drums at all; again, the room's tiny anyway, but the bleed from the drums into the vocal mics gave them just enough presence in the mix that we didn't think about it, and it didn't feel like the sound was coming from a different room or anything. Everything was super clear even in mono, but panning the keys to the left and guitar to the right made it so easy for the guitarist and me to listen and interact with each other the way we're always trying to. The bassist was marveling at how he could sing in his lower register and actually hear himself over the band.
I know this is ever-so-slightly OT about the discussion of rehearsal volume levels, but I wanted to share my overwhelming joy, on behalf of every member of my band, at how much we all just improved our weekly rehearsal.
Integrating the in-ears into our live shows will require a little more work; the guitarist and I are definitely amp people (I like to use a real rotary speaker for the organ whenever possible; he's a tone wizard who doesn't just use tube amp gain staging as an excuse to play too loud). The guitarist in particular wouldn't want to perform in front of people with his pedalboard-straight-into-a-PA tone, but it's so much better than what he was dealing with in rehearsal before anyway. After years of playing in bands and never really being able to hear what I sound like in the moment, I'm sort of dumbfounded by how easy it was to make the switch. And, as stated before, it didn't actually require that much investment for the rehearsal setup we used -- just some studio headphones and a splitter we already had, and a headphone output from a mixer.
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Wasn't clear to me in Stephen's (excellent) review: do those assignable knobs send MIDI? And is the half-damper function strictly available via the three-pedal setup? I see the S3000 does have an expression pedal input, so I imagine I could plug a Yamaha progressive sustain pedal in there if I were to use this board as a controller for Pianoteq, if not on the internal sounds?
My ol' reliable PX-3 has taken quite a beating over the years, and I'm due for my second run to the licensed repair spot in Syracuse (more contact strip replacement, and a cracked key in the upper register -- the latter is due to one of my cats knocking it off a stand rather than my aggressive playing). Since I've moved to using the PX-3 as a controller for Pianoteq most of the time, I'm not in a real hurry to replace it, but I'm keeping my eyes out in case the right thing pops up. I've mostly been eyeing dedicated MIDI controllers since that's been where my rig's been heading, and the PX-3 sends MIDI messages from a few but not all of the buttons (the volume knob also doesn't send MIDI, which is a bummer). Still, the thought of having something lightweight, with great action, that works as a controller OR a standalone instrument is always nice...
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Yeah, he's been back in his initial role of co-singer/frontman/guitarist with Pat Simmons for some years now. Interested to see what the band looks like with both him and McDonald, as well as the Bill Payne/Michael McDonald keyboard pairing. Michael McDonald will be the first to say he's more of a singer/songwriter type player, and I imagine the show might not have everyone onstage at all times, but I'd be interested to see and hear some new arrangements! I know I've seen some performances of older material from the McDonald years, so it could be an interesting fusion of eras.I'm glad to see Tom Johnston made the cut.I agree it would be great to see Tiran Porter up there, along with some of the other longtime members who haven't been part of the organization in awhile, but I don't think it's likely. Bass Player did a feature on Tiran ten or fifteen years ago, and he seemed pretty content with that band being part of his past. But hey, if the money's right, who knows...
Any bets on whether or not Skunk Baxter will take time out of his busy Department of Defense schedule to play?
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That'll teach me to live on the other side of the country from you, Joe.
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I realize I didn't really respond to the OP's question, just mused about the vocal prowess of John Lennon (and Paul McCartney).
Since the keyboard part clearly establishes a 16th-note subdivision, I feel it in 4/4 rather than 12/8 overall. I think writing it with sixteenth notes and eighth notes is the way to go. If this were musical theater, an experienced singer would know to take a little bit of rhythmic leeway for expression's sake. I'm not sure who your intended audience is for the transcription, or if it's just for your own practice, but that's how I'm hearing and feeling it.
Remember that John cut his teeth on early rock 'n' roll, which came from New Orleans (well, a lot of places, but a lot of the ingredients of that melting pot came together in New Orleans), and New Orleans music often has some tension between a beat division into groups of 3 and a subdivision of the beat into sixteenths. I think that "rub" is something that's just in his blood.
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I think it's crazy that a little seaport in the north of England spawned a band containing not one but two of the world's great singers. He and McCartney were capable of creating such magic with their voices.
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I'm both a keyboard player and a bass player, so I know there are a ton of different ways this can work (or not work). Style can be a big part of it, as there's no particular "right" or "wrong;" it's all about taste and arrangement choice. It's been one of my peculiar interests as a musician figuring out different ways to approach this, both as a bassist playing with pianists, and as a keyboard player dealing with a bassist who might not approach the bass the same way I would!
It sounds like you're doing some classic R&B covers in your band; is that generally what you do? These tunes tend to have prominent bass parts that need to cut through to drive the tune, and a warm keyboard sound like a Rhodes can clutter that register up even if you're just playing a pad. The suggestions above (playing mid- or upper-register chords on two different sounds, EQing out low and low-mid frequencies) can both be effective. I've also found that if you do it at well-chosen moments, doubling the bass part exactly can be extremely effective, but I wouldn't want to do it for a whole tune unless there were a really compelling musical reason (thinking Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes," where the bass basically plays the pre-arranged keyboard left-hand part). If you do decide to double the bass, phrasing and articulation are paramount to keep the groove consistent, and it's something you should work out with your bassist in rehearsal.
When I'm playing organ in a band setting, I rarely play bass notes at all (again, unless there's a compelling reason to accent the bass part exactly). I'll use my left hand for drawbar adjustments, Leslie speed changes, chordal stabs, percussive slaps, and occasional motion within chord pads (since you don't have the luxury of a sustain pedal to let you move as smoothly from voicing to voicing). But if you watch, say, Mark Stein with Vanilla Fudge, you'll see a lot of the time his left hand isn't on the keyboard at all during vocal sections. He's just playing a pad and singing.
With acoustic piano sounds, it can be a lot more tricky to figure out what works. Again, a lot of it depends on the style, and precedents set within that style. A lot of piano-driven rock or singer-songwriter music has the piano really hammering out the root notes of the chord in the left hand while the right plays chords and licks -- most Elton John, Billy Joel, Carole King, and Ben Folds tunes rely heavily on this approach. In this case, the band, and the bassist, often learns to fit around that; the piano usually isn't playing the bass part exactly, but is taking up a lot of low-end information, so the bass either plays solid and simple to fit into that, or will do more melodic parts to complement it. The idea there is that if you took away the band and just left the piano and voice, it would still sound like a complete song, so the band just brings more color and dynamics to the arrangement.
But someone like Chuck Leavell, during his time in the Allman Brothers, had a much more textural/supportive role while playing piano. He would occasionally play fat voicings with octaves in the left hand, but he'd also play delicately, playing midrange chords in the left hand while playing melodies higher up with his right hand (you can hear him move between both approaches in "Jessica"). Roy Bittan is all over the place with Bruce Springsteen, but he often plays two-handed chords and melodies in the upper register to get out of the murky midrange where the guitars, bass, and sax live. However, during a big build, in something like "Jungleland," you'll hear him introduce the lower register to add mass and power while you build into the band entrance.
I could talk about this all day (maybe I already have). Hopefully there are some useful ideas for you in there! Happy to talk about it some more if you're looking for more specifics.
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The drummer in one of my bands once commented that he can"t tell the difference between the Wurli on my Nord and when I bring my 200 out... I sure can tell, though! That thing is my pride and joy (and consequently I need to get it serviced in a way I never do the Nord, but, there it is).
Mine came heavily used, but consequently I got it for $1200 with a road case. That was a good deal based on what I usually saw on Reverb and Craigslist, but $4k is way out of my range.
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One of these days I need to get my band to learn the arrangement of "T.N.T." I came up with, that's salsa/montuno during the verses, and breakneck bebop with walking bass on the choruses. It's probably the only way our guitarist would WANT to play AC/DC.I always throw down some distorted Wurlitzer for AC/DC - but it begs the question: if you're playing AC/DC, why do you need keys? (I know the answer now: bagpipe patch for "Long Way To The Top").Other than my piano-centered arrangement of Highway to Hell. Then the guitarist switches to drums and the drummer plays ukulele.
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Love it! Especially the story about Daniel Lanois locking Peter Gabriel in the barn.
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Oh certainly -- I've seen plenty of videos of the abovementioned album cuts from the last 20 years, but it was my first time catching any of them in person, and I was surprised to get all of them. My expectations were based on knowing Elton is mostly hits-oriented at this point -- he's never been like Springsteen or Dylan when structuring/shaking up his live shows. I was happy to finally see him do Burn Down the Mission in the flesh; at past shows between 2001 and 2009, he'd always bust out one or two surprises ("Madman Across the Water" at one show, "Believe" and "Pinball Wizard" at another) but typically the rest of the set had been big radio singles from the 70s and early 80s. If I'd seen him as many times as you, I'm sure Indian Sunset would have been the only real treat (but even that has shown up on his duo tours with Ray Cooper in the past).Huge Elton fan and I was excited to see this show last year, but I guess as a result of my having seen him SO many times over the years (I'd say approaching 30 times, not sure exactly), i was actually a bit disappointed with the set list, "Indian Sunset" was actually for me the only deep-cut surprise; of the others you mention, "All the Young Girls Love Alice" has made it onto the set list many times, and the rest have been in pretty much every tour, certainly Levon and Take Me To the Pilot, and Burn Down the Mission only slightly less consistently (love that song though, one of my top faves so still glad to hear it), and the rest of the show was stuff he does every single time, every year, every show.
The family friend who went to the show with us was also hoping for "Bite Your Lip."(I've long been hoping for "Nikita" or "Blue Eyes" or "Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance)") Actually "Believe" was cool to hear this time too..
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers did something like that in 2013 or so, didn't they? Maybe it was just a theater run that was heavier on deep cuts. But hey, the guy sells out arenas year after year playing "Your Song" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" at every single show; I guess it's still satisfying to him, and what he feels the majority of his concertgoers want, and that's what he's powering on through to the end!It would be kind of cool to do two "concurrent" tours... "all the hits" and the "deep cuts" perhaps on consecutive nights, and fans could choose the one to go to (or both, for the die-hards).I'm sure those of us who want to hear, say, all of Tumbleweed Connection would buy tickets to that show, though. I missed his tour with Leon Russell in 2010, and that was probably the closest I would have gotten, since I wasn't born until well after his classic period.
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I think one of the cool things about playing music is that it's one of the rare activities that combines the left and right brain hemispheres; there's the abstract, creative side and the mathematical, analytical side working in tandem. So it makes sense that different people would have different strengths and weaknesses along that spectrum.
I've always envied competent sight readers (I can sight read pretty well as a bassist, but I never put in the time early on reading piano music where I've felt comfortable sight-reading even the simplest pieces, and bass parts tend to be much more predictable in terms of patterns and lines). I've always felt like reading music is like doing math problems: I can do it, but it takes a lot of mental work, and I tire of it very quickly. Improvising, playing changes, and composing do seem to come more naturally. On the other hand, I've met more than a few fantastic readers who not only marvel at my ability to figure out harmony by ear, but who can't continue playing a single thing as soon as the music is taken away (even a late page turn is a catastrophe).
The ones who can do both well, though... man, that really blows me away.
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Saw EJ last night in Cleveland. Fantastic concert, the best of the four times I've seen him (and the last time I saw him was ten years ago). He was in great voice, his piano playing was excellent, and the band was stellar.
Two things really elevated this show for me:
1. The set list. All the necessary hits, but more fan-favorite album cuts than I expected: we were treated to All the Girls Love Alice, Take Me to the Pilot, Burn Down the Mission, Levon, and Indian Sunset(!).
2. The presence of classic bandmate Ray Cooper on additional percussion. The three-tiered stage put Elton, Davey Johnstone, and Matt Bissonette on the floor (though Matt would occasionally climb up to stand next to the drum riser), Kim Bullard, Nigel Olsson, and John Mahon's keyboards, drum set, and auxiliary percussion on the next riser up, and then an entire top riser dedicated to Ray Cooper's congas, bongos, tubular bells, tom-toms, and timpani. Having two auxiliary percussionists really put the band in a deep pocket without cluttering up the arrangements the way extra guitarists or keyboardists would (the periods when Elton has added a second guitarist have been cool, since so many of his records have some deftly layered guitars, but I'm such a fan of Johnstone's playing that I'd rather see how he sorts it all out on his own). Beyond his musical contribution, Ray is such a visually captivating presence, with such a long history with Elton and so many other luminaries of that era. He sat out on a handful of songs, but also did one or two duo songs with Elton (Indian Sunset being the most impressive). It was great to see him in the flesh.
The show was visually stunning, as you'd expect, with video screens stretching above and around the band, the piano platform gliding across the stage, the effect of fire during Burn Down the Mission, fog during Funeral for a Friend, confetti during Saturday Night, and Elton ascending on a platform to disappear into a Yellow Brick Road at the end of the show.
But mostly, it was a treat to hear and see a legend play his ass off on song after wonderful song with a crack band. The show is very live -- several songs have long improvisational sections, and you can see Davey Johnstone watching Elton and throwing cues to the band; I think I even caught the band add an extra bar in Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me to accommodate Elton's vocal entrance. I remember the last time I saw Elton, I took note of the telepathy and special chemistry that develops when some musicians play together for decades. What a privilege for the audience: Nigel Olsson played with Elton from his earliest tours through the late 70s, and has been back in the band full-time since 2000 (he had a few stints in-between as well). Davey Johnstone has been with him since 1973. Now with Ray Cooper in the band again, fully half of the ensemble has a musical connection going back 45 years. Even with the finest musicians, there's something special there that just can't be replicated. The rest of the band are certainly no slouches either, even though Kim Bullard and Matt Bissonnette are relative newcomers to the ensemble; John Mahon's been with him since the 90s and really, really knows how to harmonize with Elton, but the band runneth over with great vocals.
So glad I got to see him onstage again, probably for the last time. I've talked about Elton John's tremendous influence on my piano playing and songwriting elsewhere on the forum; it's always good to check in with the master. If I can play and sing anywhere near as well (or have half as much fun) when I'm in my 70s, I'll have lived quite a life.
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Hahaha it did sound better than I remembered -- thanks for clarifying, since I was starting to wonder why I when I played it, it never sounded as good as my Mojo (user error, most likely :wink:).Thanks guys!Sam, the Hammond sound is coming from an HX3 Expander Module (using it"s internal sim and overdrive) which is midi"ed to the Electro 4D. Just wanted to clarify to avoid any potential confusion.
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Smokin' solo, Al! I've got a soft spot for that Nord Electro 4D, I really love that board.A short video clip from Saturday night's gig:https://www.facebook.com/517505731695900/videos/3049829868575874
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I always forget about this thread. Eric, that One Step from Magic video is terrific.
My band Noon Fifteen released our prog-soul suite, "At the Festival," last week. It's a 20-minute, through-composed piece about a man in mourning who goes to a music festival and winds up in the underworld. Spooky stuff, and a lot of fun. Among other fun things, I got to overdub a pipe organ, and I sing lead on the track that's sung by, essentially, the Devil.
Hope you enjoy.
So I've started a keyboard podcast....
in The Podcasting Channel
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