KuruPrionz

Foof! Profoundly different instruments and techniques. One cannot replace the other. And he wants to learn keyboards so this is the correct forum for his current question, no?

Our other option, at least up here for now - is to support the live music scene. There are quite a few local venues who hire musicians to play in the evenings. I've yet to see any of them go all electronic. People still want to hear the real thing. The music scene has always gone through changes, a fair bit of that is caused by technology. Of course, there are musicians who are simply giving their art away, the market is flooded, etc.

Great post! I'm not sure about everywhere else beyond Bellingham although a good friend in Fresno CA does keep me posted on that scene. It appears to me that the basic "structure" of pop music in general has always been pretty "formula-based" and as a cultural icon that is unlikely to change. What does change constantly is the sound of the instrumentation, the signature licks that are played and most of all the vocal performances and lyrics. "Electronica" may very well be just another phase, it isn't the first time it has come and gone. Keyboards have become much more complex and capable but an acoustic piano or guitar have not changed and won't change. Some singers try to sound like other performers but so many sing just like themselves and have a distinctive sound and style. This ain't over yet, not even close!!!

Gotcha, it's a "horses for courses" situation. All the clubs but one in Bellingham are ground level with lots of nearby parking. Public transit is great during the day and there are still a few buses at night but not always a reliable way to travel. There is no rapid transit and there are no turnstiles except at the airport. I don't take guitars on air travel. There is usually something I can borrow at my destination. So, playing here gig bags are perfectly suitable, I've never had a problem in 18 years.

Might as well not care since it won't make any difference. Here in Bellingham we have a fairly lively live music scene with lots of players who just play and lots of audience members who just hang out with a good number of listeners. Not many using tracks or harmony widgets, etc. Most of it is real (good, bad or indifferent). I do both. I used to play evenings but it gets tiresome quickly. I was lead guitar in the Motown Cruisers for a couple of years and we played at least once a month at a nearby casino, that becomes a drag quickly. ALL slot machines are in C Major, I could hear them when we were playing and it was both glorious and profoundly annoying. The casino was on Federal land and allowed smoking, I hated that too. Now I mainly go to open mic nights, where there is variety and nobody plays for more than 3 or 4 songs.

Been a little while ago but a MOTU M6 audio interface. Nice kit, compact but complete and the mic preamps sound very clear and full. I plugged a Focusrite ISA Two into channels 5 and 6, which are just line in. Now they are mic, line and instrument in with great sounding transformers in the ISA Two providing a bit of enhancement.

I've just about entirely switched to heavy duty padded gig bags for basses and guitars. The straps allow you to carry it on your back, securely. That leaves one hand to roll a dolly, carry a bag or small amp and one to open doors. If you pack lightly you can come and go in one trip each way.

Put a small strip of adhesive "velcro" on your keyboard. Put a small piece of the appropriate velcro on each egg. Just stick them to the keyboard when not in use.

Yep, and he was the most influential guitarist of his time, rightly so. I had an accident and messed up my little finger on my left hand but it didn't ruin my guitar playing. It did change it but I can still do most of the things I used to do, just in a different way. FWIW, I'm left handed and play right handed, go figure...

Way back in my teens, I started recording from an Akai stereo reel to reel to a stereo cassette deck using a Tapco 6 channel mixer so I could add parts as I went. I could only go back and forth a couple of times but it was enough. Eventually I got a Tascam Port-Studio 4 track cassette deck. Then, a friend had a half inch 8 track setup he wanted me to tweak so I got some use of that. Another friend had a small 8 track studio set up next door to the place where my band practiced and I had a key to his place. Now I have a DAW (Waveform 12.5) and a MOTU M6 and some mics and small monitors and I can pretty much do whatever I want. I understand AI will be used by others and it will improve as it goes. I doubt it will change anything about the way I do things. If everybody is happy then I am happy for them...

If you are only getting 2 weeks out of a set of guitar strings, try the D'Addario micro coated strings. I use strings for months, well beyond weeks. And I play them without mercy on a scalloped fretboard guitar. If you have corrosive sweat (not uncommon) then that could be a different story entirely but rest assured that keyboards will also be affected by it. One of the best, most evil and grindy keyboard tones I've ever heard was the keyboardist for Deep Purple decades ago. He cranked a Hammond (probably a B3 tube organ) into dual Marshall stacks and a Leslie. It sounded huge and snarly and complimented Ritchie Blackmore's guitar work beautifully.

Internet screen resolution is pretty low. I haven't found a solution for grainy photos vs screen rez. So it goes...

Once we see it posted on the internet at relatively low resolution, it is not so easy to choose a preference. Both critters have some white spots on them. The same smaller chunk of each enlarged considerably might tell a different story.

Concert tickets for known acts have gotten absurdly expensive. I just go listen to local musicians perform as various venues. Drop a couple of bucks in the tip jar, have a beverage, hang out and enjoy the music. I also play these venues, I don't expect much in return. Applause is nice. I'm glad I went to see concerts when they were very affordable, I got to see some great acts in their prime. Bowie, ELP, The Who and on and on and on... Deep Purple with Fleetwood Mac and Rory Gallagher cost me $7.50. That was decades ago.

The weight should be your yay/nay criteria, both units will do a good job at their intended purpose.

I agree with RABid on all counts. Behringer had to step up their game or go out of business and they did step up quite a bit. Yamaha, EV, JBL all make high quality gear. Much less likely to find any but Bose makes great stuff too. The best Mackie stuff is well made as well.

I always poke around at music stores and pawn shops to see if there are any bargains. I almost never buy brand new gear. If something is full functional it will likely continue to work well. Weight and size are factors but so are features. Might as well check Craigslist while you are it, if it's fairly active in your area. As always, life belongs to the swift!!! If you see something good at a good price and it tests out well (bring a mic, mic cable and a speaker cord!), then grab it and go. You may find speakers and heads at separate places. Most places have some sort of return policy to make sure that's in place before you purchase.

I was in a band for a couple of years and the bassist had very small hands and fingers but she played a P-Bass as well as anybody I've ever heard and she could sing at the same time!

I've heard and played with many musicians who simply fail to understand / implement dynamics or silence into their music. I call that "flatlining". It's possibly the most important aspect of being a musician, knowing when to play softly, thunderously or simply play nothing.

Good job missing April Fools Day by a few hours!!!! Hope you had a great time!!!!

Scalloping a fret board is not difficult and the tools are not expensive. I bought a large rat tail rasp for the initial scalloping and I went deeper than you really need to. An 1/8" or 3?16" is plenty. After I'd gotten the scallops roughed out I switched to using a dowel with sandpaper rolled around it. If you hold the end of the sandpaper when you use it you won't have any problems smoothing out the rasp marks. I started with 60 grit, then 80, 120 220 and 320. One sheet of each is plenty. You should be able to get what you need for under $30. A table top vise on a sturdy table is very useful for many things and this is one of them. You can probably find a good vise on craigslist, maybe even at a yard sale. A clamp will work also on a Fender style neck, you can just remove the tuners and clamp the headstock to a solid table. Use some sort of padding, I like thin rubber but cloth will work too. If you do your own, opportunity won't disappear on you. I'm considering doing another neck and slapping another Parts-O-Caster together. I love playing the scalloped neck, it really frees me in many ways.

Bellingham WA, 66 degrees, sunny with big puffy clouds. A beautiful day!!!!

Long ago in Fresno, I owned a sitar. It didn't have sympathetic strings so I couldn't get that signature string resonance that a full featured sitar has. I got it cheap and sold it cheap. Now I have a Strat with an 1 7/8" wide nut and fatback and I put jumbo frets on it and scalloped the fretboard. I'm on a search for an electric autoharp. A friend brought one over decades ago and we put it in front of my guitar amp and ran the output through another amp. Great and easy way to get sympathetic strings without having to bear the extra weight when playing. I haven't seen one up here, maybe Reverb or eBay but probably a bit spendy. FWIW, I used to put a brick on the sustain pedal on my parent's upright piano, open it up and aim a guitar amp at the strings. That's another awesome ambience effect.

This sentence says it all... "Is this news an absurd head-scratcher? Yep, we got you! Happy April Fools’ Day!"

Over the years, I've worked on hundreds of guitars for hundreds of different reasons. Most of the time, it's fun or a learning experience. This time it was simply pure annoyance. The OP is almost 4 years old now, so it's more amusing to me. Cracks me up that this has reappeared! 🤣