What % of musicians are keyboard players?

[eric]

There's a thread in the other forum asking why keyboard companies don't offer lots of color and finish choices for keyboards like guitars and drums. I hypothesize that there are not enough keyboard players to support this. I'm now intrigued to get your take on how many keyboard players are in the matrix.

 

I'm taking a wild guess that out of every 100 musicians that are consumers of musical equipment, the breakdown would be something like this. I'm simplifying to not cover EVERY possible instrument but just covering the basic rock band instruments sans vocalists.

 

Out of 100 musicians

- 50 guitar players

- 30 drummers

- 15 bass players

- 5 keyboard players

 

Would anyone agree with this unscientific guess at 5% for keyboard players?

 

Regards,

Eric

[ProfD]

I would agree with that percentage and it's probably lower for KB players especially in Rock bands.

 

The highest percentage of KB players are in other genres i.e. Jazz, Gospel and Electronica.

 

The funny thing is, a high percentage of "musos" of all stripes owns a KB for one reason or another.

 

So, the hardest part would be defining a pure keyboard player.

[kanker.]

I would say 100% of musicians are keyboard players. I wouldn't call the rest of that riff-raff "musicians"

[mcgoo]

I would say 100% of musicians are keyboard players. I wouldn't call the rest of that riff-raff "musicians"

 

I concur... take drummers, for example. DRUM is actually an acronym..... Don't Really Understand Music.

 

[DanS]

I think it would be nice to have certain options available when selecting a new board, but I imagine it would increase cost significantly to the point that it wouldn't be worthwhile for most of us.

Add to this the fact that we change our setups every 3 weeks, and invariably one keyboardist's dream color scheme might be another's roadkill, ie:My orange & blue Nord with the tortoise shell end caps might be a little hard to unload for re-sale.

 

As for %'s, I got's no opinion.

[Eric Jx]

Are we leaving singers out of the breakdown?

 

A related question:

 

Out of those 50 guitarist, how many are serviceable players without baggage? Same question for those 30 drummers?

 

 

[eric]

Are we leaving singers out of the breakdown?

 

Yes, per my first post, "just covering the basic rock band instruments sans vocalists."

 

 

A related question:

 

Out of those 50 guitarist, how many are serviceable players without baggage? Same question for those 30 drummers?

 

 

Not important for this thread, but in reality, I'd say maybe 20% is the max I've seen of non-baggage, serviceable players for these instruments.

[Eric Jx]

I disagree with your premise. Just because there are significantly more guitarist doesn't mean there aren't enough keyboard players to allow manufacturers to offer color/finishing options.

 

I currently have my eye on a Santa Cruz Mountain bike. I guarantee Korg, Roland, and Yamaha sell more keyboards than Santa Cruz sells bikes, Yet Santa Cruz offers color options.

[Joe Muscara]

I would say 100% of musicians are keyboard players. I wouldn't call the rest of that riff-raff "musicians"

Damn Kevin, I saw the thread title and was going to write that exact same thing, hoping no one had beat me to it.

 

[KenElevenShadows]

 

If so, what does that make us people that play keyboards + guitar + other instruments?

[NoahZark]

Eric:

 

Based on your stated parameters, I think your 5% guesstimate is probably about right. The irony, of course, is that a much greater percentage probably start out on piano before either stopping music altogether or moving on to a different instrument. Put differently, if you looked at all 10 year-olds playing any instrument of any kind, I would venture to guess that the percentage of pianists would be much higher than 5% (perhaps closer to 20%).

 

Also, FWIW, I don't need a variety of colors on my keyboards.

 

Noah

[JeffLearman]

I wonder what percentage of keyboard players are musicians.

[David Loving]

?

[StanC]

 

If so, what does that make us people that play keyboards + guitar + other instruments?

Musicians.

[clpete]

Factor in guitar player who own a bunch of guitars. I know a number who own more than 20.

[ProfD]

I wonder what percentage of keyboard players are musicians.

About 25%. The other 75% use KBs to make beats, play basslines, strings, horns, pads, trigger samples, etc.

[eric]

I disagree with your premise. Just because there are significantly more guitarist doesn't mean there aren't enough keyboard players to allow manufacturers to offer color/finishing options.

 

I currently have my eye on a Santa Cruz Mountain bike. I guarantee Korg, Roland, and Yamaha sell more keyboards than Santa Cruz sells bikes, Yet Santa Cruz offers color options.

 

I don't think you can compare the bike industry and the keyboard industry in an apples to apples fashion. My premise is stated as hypothesis/speculation/opinion. I know less about bikes, but have bought a bunch of them for my family over the years and every single bike manufacturer has plenty of colors and options (kind of like cars). It is table stakes in those industries to provide options.

 

Santa Cruz appears to be a higher-end boutique brand, so it would be fair to compare them to Moog, a company that does produce multiple color combinations and options.

 

Another factor that may contribute to less color choices for keyboards is the inherent challenge in keeping the right mix of inventory not only across 61, 76, 88 weighted/unweighted but also a myriad of colors.

[Moonglow]

Eric,

 

Your SWAG (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess) regarding percentage of keyboard players and the other instruments you have indicated seems fairly accurate, and the categories may even be statistically different from each other. It would be interesting to actually crunch the numbers if hard data were available.

 

I see the color selection thing more likely to happen with smaller/boutique companies. A quirky company like Nord may fit the bill.

 

[StanC]

 

I'm taking a wild guess that out of every 100 musicians that are consumers of musical equipment, the breakdown would be something like this. I'm simplifying to not cover EVERY possible instrument but just covering the basic rock band instruments sans vocalists.

 

Out of 100 musicians

- 50 guitar players

- 30 drummers

- 15 bass players

- 5 keyboard players

 

Would anyone agree with this unscientific guess at 5% for keyboard players?

 

Regards,

Eric

Don't think so. So lets look closer at this breakdown. First lets assume for a moment that these musicians are in working bands and does not include non gigging players. First since the occurrance of more than one bass player or drummer in a band is almost never, the breakdown for Bass players and drummers would have to be closer to one-to-one ratio. So if we use 50% guitar players, lets set Drummers and Bassers at 22% each. That would leave 6% keys. Now most bands have either one or two guitars; rarely but sometimes 3. Then with 50 guitar players that could represent as many as 25 to 40 bands. Lets say for this discussion, 50 guitars make 30 bands. That would mean 6 keyboard players would translate to only one band in 5 has keys? Seems low doesnt it?

[lerber3]

At the lower end of the scale, guitar bands are everywhere.

 

Just sayin´ the assumption about ´playing in a band´ is not very meaningful without qualifying what you mean by ´band´. The 1:1 ratio of bands to drummers and bass players is pretty realistic, though.

 

Also, you don´t often see a bass player or drummer playing a solo (or even duo) gig... not all musicians are in bands.

 

I wonder what percentage of homes with pianos have somebody who would qualify (whatever that means) as a musician? ... not that it matters when the discussion is about why manufacturers don´t do custom finishes on their products.

 

Somewhat related to the original premise, I used to have a lime-green upright piano. My grandparents gave it to me... it was custom painted to match their decor by the manufacturer. Back in the day, a piano was the height of music technology and manufacturers did all sorts of custom finishes. There were a zillion piano manufacturers and the market was huge.

 

[eric]

This thread is very interesting! I wonder if anyone has actually collected hard data? My original speculations were not aimed at # of musicians that are actually gigging in bands. I may have not been specific enough, but the verbiage I used was "musicians that are consumers of musical equipment." This would include people that buy gear to jam alone at home and there are plenty of folks like this that are hobbyists and may get together with other musicians perhaps on a quarterly basis or whatever.

 

I know a bunch of people that are consumers of musical gear, but not necessarily gigging in bands.

 

That is what inflates my hypothetical # of drummers as I actually know several examples of people that have a drum kit but they don't actually play out or drummers that play out but are sitting on the sidelines waiting for a sub gig call. I had a slightly different ratio when I first posted this in the other forum and someone made the comment that bass players seem to be the second hardest player to find behind keyboard players.

[Eric Jx]

My point was it's really pretty easy for a manufacture to offer a produce in multiple colors if the demand is there. Fender may sell more guitars than Korg sells Keyboards, but Korg is still selling a few thousand boards a month. That's more than enough to justify holding inventory of multiple colors, again, if the demand is there.

 

Therefore, I conclude that the demand just isn't there. Keyboard players don't choose their instrument based upon color.

[frogmonkey]

 

I'm taking a wild guess that out of every 100 musicians that are consumers of musical equipment, the breakdown would be something like this. I'm simplifying to not cover EVERY possible instrument but just covering the basic rock band instruments sans vocalists.

 

Out of 100 musicians

- 50 guitar players

- 30 drummers

- 15 bass players

- 5 keyboard players

 

Would anyone agree with this unscientific guess at 5% for keyboard players?

 

Regards,

Eric

Don't think so. So lets look closer at this breakdown. First lets assume for a moment that these musicians are in working bands and does not include non gigging players. First since the occurrance of more than one bass player or drummer in a band is almost never, the breakdown for Bass players and drummers would have to be closer to one-to-one ratio. So if we use 50% guitar players, lets set Drummers and Bassers at 22% each. That would leave 6% keys. Now most bands have either one or two guitars; rarely but sometimes 3. Then with 50 guitar players that could represent as many as 25 to 40 bands. Lets say for this discussion, 50 guitars make 30 bands. That would mean 6 keyboard players would translate to only one band in 5 has keys? Seems low doesnt it?

 

I see two mistakes.

1. I bet that *fewer* than 1 in 5 bands have keyboard players.

2. I play keyboards in 4 bands.

[clpete]

Drums and guitars are eye candy by design. People will pay more money for custom wood, inlays and hand crafted guitars and drums.

 

How many of us would be willing to pay more for custom painted plastic and gold coated buttons?

 

How much better can you make a keyboard look?

 

If we were into bling we would be guitar players.

 

 

[eric]

My point was it's really pretty easy for a manufacture to offer a produce in multiple colors if the demand is there. Fender may sell more guitars than Korg sells Keyboards, but Korg is still selling a few thousand boards a month. That's more than enough to justify holding inventory of multiple colors, again, if the demand is there.

 

Therefore, I conclude that the demand just isn't there. Keyboard players don't choose their instrument based upon color.

 

I guess one positive sign for Korg and color choices is the M-series where they have white, green, yellow, red, blue, black. Maybe they have decided to be the guinea pig for multiple color options. There have been a few others, like the Roland SH-101.

 

I see two mistakes.

1. I bet that *fewer* than 1 in 5 bands have keyboard players.

2. I play keyboards in 4 bands.

 

That skews the numbers even further as you would likely use the same rig for 4 bands vs. owning a different set of keys for each of those bands (as would be the case if each band had a different keyboard player). I'm in a similar boat as I have one main band that I play with, but 3-4 that I will sit in with from time to time. When I'm not sitting in with these other bands, they don't have a keyboard player.

[kanker.]

Would custom colors make the keyboard lighter?

[clpete]

Would custom colors make the keyboard lighter?

 

Sure anything's lighter than black.

[King Julien]

I find it hard to believe that there are 5 times as many drumkits out there as there are keyboards. Or that there are 5 times as many drummers jamming at home as there are people on keys.

 

Just in schools now I've noticed guitar and keyboard lessons are pretty common. Drumming not so much.

 

But the effect is diluted, i must admit, by the fact that most drummers would have only one kit but many keyboard players have multiple keyboards.

 

i'm not sure if i've correctly constructed this arguement, but I "reckon" your keyboard pc is a bit low. I'd estimate keys/bass and drums to be about equal.

[ITGITC]

Would custom colors make the keyboard lighter?

Of course they would. Silly Kanker.

 

Look at the two keyboards below; the Hello Kitty Pink piano on the left...

 

and the Big Black Beastie piano thing on the right.

 

http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/c/0/0/69/5/AAAADDePa70AAAAAAGlaEw.jpghttp://www.offbeatearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/back.jpg

 

Now. Which one would YOU rather move? The custom colored Hello Kitty Pink piano?

 

... or the Big Black Beastie piano thingy from Huainan, Anhui providence, China?

 

Yeah. That's right.

 

Why do you think the Nord people sold so many Electros (that are, of course, played only in MONO)?

 

Because THEY'RE RED!!!

 

 

Happy Friday. Will anyone join me for a brewski?

 

 

[theGman]

I believe the reason guitars are available in so many colors, etc. is that they are visible when played....basically an extension of the player, being "attached" to them and as a bonus they are vertical, so you see the whole instrument. Plus they move around in a slightly hypnotic fashion which draws attention from the audience.

 

Keyboards are like a machine being operated by someone, a little like the soundman playing with his mix.....not very sexy, or visible. Machines don't move around.

 

You can see the difference easily by comparing a regular guitarist to a steel guitarist. The steel guy is like a keyboard player....he instrument is stationary and flat; a machine operator. No sex appeal.