YouTube Reviewers who can actually play

[The Piano Man]

Perhaps there has been a thread before on this...

 

Who are the decent keyboard reviewers on YouTube, with a focus on piano playing ability? I am not looking for concert piano standard but just looking for people who understand harmony and can display decent touch and technique on the keys. There are a number of YouTube reviewers whose credibility is compromised by their average, or less than average, playing ability. In some cases, the harmony is way off the mark and the touch and technique is really sub par.

 

So, who are the ones that can play?

 

Scott Tibbs of Roland is good. I also like the Merriam Music guy, Stu Harrison. Someone on here recommended him and he may well be my favourite.

 

Jack from Andertons can play, as can Luke from Korg. Rudi from Better Music sounds decent as well, as does the guy from Muzykuj.

 

Anyone I have missed out? Really enjoy hearing the different stage pianos played by people who know what they are doing.

[David Emm]

I'd give Nick Batt props for actually being able to pull off an engaging synth set with just 4 or 5 instruments involved. He can practice what he preaches with style.

 

Likewise with Sweetwater's Daniel Fisher. He not only has admirable playing chops, but also possesses an inspired sensibility for bringing out a synth's more electronic sides. He can do a bit of a Jexus thing on the surreal end of any synth.

[jeffincltnc]

James Pavel of ThePianoForever is, IMHO, a very technically proper player who understands the nuances of touch and actions for proper classical playing. I think he's well spoken in his videos.

 

Chris Martirano is a killer player and a great guy as well.

 

Not sure if Max Tempia is still doing videos for Crumar, but he is a monster player, too.

 

I also like guys like Piano Man Chuck and Woody who are less about the techniques you are asking about and really know how to walk in the shoes of knowing what Joe Average gig player needs to play the next show and that keyboards are big purchases for us, and, yet without ever trying to show off their licks, they are solid, solid guys on the keys.

[AnotherScott]

The Kraft Music demos are some others that are consistently good.

 

The ones that make me cringe are when someone uses a sustain pedal when playing an organ patch. ;-)

[AROIOS]

There are a lot: Katsunori UJIIE (MusictrackJP), Tiago Mallen, Thiago Gomes, Mike Pensini, Jacob Dupre (Sweetwater)...

 

NORD hires a lot of great players to demo their products too: Cory Henry, OndÅej Pivec, Joel Lyssarides, Mike Bereal

 

Scott Tibbs and Scott Wilkie from Roland are great. Yamaha also hires some great players like Jonas Gröning, Peter Baartmans, Stefan Jernståhl.

 

It might be a bit counter-intuitive but watching those hired cats demo a piece of equipment can be "deceiving". Their techniques and touch often hides the flaws of an instrument. Well, that's part of what they are paid to do.

 

What I realized is, if a mediocre player can sound good on a keyboard, chances are it's sampled and programmed well.

[AROIOS]

Just saw that you have already discovered Scott Tibbs. Ditto on your recommendation of Luke and the Muzykuj bro, and thanks for helping me discover Stu and Rudi!

[Baldwin Funster]

Dr mix is at least pretty decent. That Jimeriqui guy. Obviously ed diaz.

[HSS]

I also enjoy reviews by Enzo Messina (aka "MeX"). He's a very soulful player and hits key points from a gigging perspective.

[allan_evett]

Lots of solid players mentioned so far. Always enjoy hearing Scott Tibbs and Ed Diaz demo Roland gear. They both do a great job bringing out the best of each instrument. Scott's deep composition background and exquisite harmonic structures at the keyboard are inspiring. And Chris Martirano's demo's of the Stage 3 were influential in my purchase of that instrument (along with a detailed one-on-one product demo from Pablo Mastodon, formerly of AM&S, Nord Products).

 

Last summer I discovered Stu Harrison, who does a lot of product recordings for Merriam Music - based in the Toronto area. Tasty demos, monster player.

 

Meanwhile over at Yamaha, Phil Clendennin is the godfather of soul keys, synth programming and production. I always dig his demos and articles on yamahasynth.com. The numerous phone coversations we've had - starting in 1998 - have been like grad school classes in keyboard technology. After hanging up I'd usually say, "Time to go study, and practice; I really don't know s**t"

[Docbop]

He doesn't work for any keyboard companies he does reviews of the equipment he uses as gigging musician for church and other work. He doesn't play much in his videos but does deep dives into features and workflow. I've PM'd him and he be very helpful. His name is Derrick Keels and below is one of his YouTubes.

 

[video:youtube]

[Baldwin Funster]

Did anyone mention Jim Alfredson?

[ABECK]

I bought a FA-08 after seeing David Bryce rip it up.

 

Far too many single finger knob twister videos out there for my liking.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Tiago Mallen is my favorite on YouTube. That guy can PLAY.

[CEB]

Phil Clendennin and Blake Angelos at Yamaha know their stuff and those dudes can play. Phil has always been approachable and has always been their when there were things I couldn"t figure out. Yamaha must be good to work for because they don"t seem to change personnel very often.

 

Also Jim Alfredson has always been there for us. I think everyone I know playing Hammond uses his custom tone wheel sets.

[Adan]

James Pavel of ThePianoForever is, IMHO, a very technically proper player who understands the nuances of touch and actions for proper classical playing. I think he's well spoken in his videos.

.

 

Controversial topic, but I have to second this. Pavel is pretentious and annoying on many levels, but if you want to try to gauge how it actually feels to play a certain digital piano, how touch and sound interact, I don't know of anyone else who attempts to make a science of it the way he does. You can listen to better and hipper players all day and not get the insight you would from Pavel. For all his flaws, his vids are worth watching if you're in the market for a DP. In the end of course, nothing substitutes for playing it yourself.

[Docbop]

James Pavel of ThePianoForever is, IMHO, a very technically proper player who understands the nuances of touch and actions for proper classical playing. I think he's well spoken in his videos.

.

 

Controversial topic, but I have to second this. Pavel is pretentious and annoying on many levels, but if you want to try to gauge how it actually feels to play a certain digital piano, how touch and sound interact, I don't know of anyone else who attempts to make a science of it the way he does. You can listen to better and hipper players all day and not get the insight you would from Pavel. For all his flaws, his vids are worth watching if you're in the market for a DP. In the end of course, nothing substitutes for playing it yourself.

 

I find his reviews useless. He seems to start predetermined on the outcome. He will pick something he doesn't like about a keyboard then the whole review keeps going back to that even when talking about other areas of the board. Also sounds like he only reviews stuff a music store hooks him up with or he buys and returns, seems none of the major companies send he boards to review and return. I ended up unsubscribing to his channel.

[Mighty Motif Max]

...Also sounds like he only reviews stuff a music store hooks him up with or he buys and returns, seems none of the major companies send he boards to review and return. I ended up unsubscribing to his channel.

 

Not sure how that is a bad thing. I tend to be *more* skeptical of reviewers who get gear to review directly from companies. I mean, if you have skin in the game (i.e. paying for the gear yourself), you're probably more likely to not gloss over issues with a product.

[ABECK]

In the end of course, nothing substitutes for playing it yourself.

 

This

 

More often than not, I'll check out a board in the store and my first response to the action is.....ewwwwww (Korg Krome!)

Although sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised (e.g. Got my hands on one of the recent Dave Smith boards and was impressed with the feel). You never know; even with the best reviewer.

[ABECK]

+1 on MusictrakJP. Forgot about him. Prob my fav videos and I don't even speak his language!

 

[video:youtube]

[Docbop]

...Also sounds like he only reviews stuff a music store hooks him up with or he buys and returns, seems none of the major companies send he boards to review and return. I ended up unsubscribing to his channel.

 

Not sure how that is a bad thing. I tend to be *more* skeptical of reviewers who get gear to review directly from companies. I mean, if you have skin in the game (i.e. paying for the gear yourself), you're probably more likely to not gloss over issues with a product.

 

 

He only buys to review and return not to own so he has no skin in the game. Companies lend review boards to reviewers that do a good job and have a following. Most of those reviewers say they are lent the gear up front, but also say opinion is theirs and review is not previewed by the company. So I say that give some credibility to the reviewers companies work with. As I've said my background is decades of guitar and guitar gear reviews the gear in general isn't that expense so a lot of the reviews have purchased what they are reviewing. But in keyboard world gear is expensive so people aren't constantly buying gear and doing reviews, companies lending review products is necessary and common place.

[Chris Towns]

Hi,

 

Here in the U.K. there's a guy called Tony who works for Bonners (plenty of Youtube vids) who is an excellent player. The Piano Man mentioned Rudi at Better Music, I think he is an exceptional player.

Martin Harris is an English guy who now leads the Yamaha development team and splits his year between the U.K. and Japan is probably in my top three of keyboard players.

 

Chris

[konaboy]

flattering to get a mention here, although I know my limitations and only consider myself average

 

some guys have said to me that they appreciate my playing because they can play or aspire to play as well as me one day, whereas when you hear jordan or cory ripping , it's such a different league it becomes irrelevant, albeit impressive. when I play, you hopefully get an approximate idea what the instrument might actually sound like in your own hands.

 

anyways, the main point of my post was to share some inside info about the challenges of playing and making demos as a one-man content creator.

 

as most of us can empathize with, as soon as you hit the record button your playing goes to rats. it's always the case for me, even though you've spent some hours planning and preparing, working on tunes and it sounds great, as soon as the DAW and camera lights are flashing red, it all goes out the window!

 

not only do you have to pull off a half decent musical performance, you have to direct your video, remember what points you intended to say, keep the pacing and tempo of the video high, try and pluck musical ideas and songs out of thin air when confronted with a preset you've never heard before, ad-hoc in an entertaining fashion whislt monitoring what you are saying and correct any mistakes. oh, try and remember to smile from time to time and don't make any lip smacking sounds and don't say umm or ahh.

 

as if that wasn't enough. you have to keep an eye on recording levels, has the camera reached it's 29 minute recording limit, is the composition ok, is exposure correct, are you still in focus and in the frame, has the battery died on your 2nd camera, how is your hair & clothes, and so on and so on... This is all in your mind as you play each note.

 

i can only speak for myself, but I play 10 times better when the cameras are off. unless you've tried it, you'll never appreciate how difficult it is. a typical shoot might take about 2 hours, after which you're completely shattered after all the multi-tasking.

 

consider giving it a shot yourselves! you've got the chops, and you've probably got a smartphone with video camera and some keys to play. it costs nothing and everybody has the same yt upload button. you never know what it might lead to!

 

cheers guys!

[Mike Davis]

In the end of course, nothing substitutes for playing it yourself.

 

This

 

More often than not, I'll check out a board in the store and my first response to the action is.....ewwwwww (Korg Krome!)

Although sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised (e.g. Got my hands on one of the recent Dave Smith boards and was impressed with the feel). You never know; even with the best reviewer.

 

Ain"t that the truth. I once bought a keytar sight unseen. I had seen a video from one of the company"s product demonstrators. He sounded awesome; I could hardly play it. There was something weird and off putting about the action. Something to do with the fulcrum point of the keys, maybe? Well, hey, maybe a limitation on my part, or maybe he had done some extra practicing with that particular action. I did have some fun playing it in a wedding band on a couple of songs where a refined technique wasn"t required.