Rookie question: better standing up or seated?

[Stokely]

As a funny aside, I'm (yet again) trying to learn guitar.  As a rhythm player, I'm peeking into intermediate as a basic rock player; I have absolutely no clue on leads.

Anyway, the funny part is that for all my practicing, I've barely ever tried to play standing up.  When I did try it at a band practice--the band is supportive of my dream to some day play guitar live!--whoa.  What a rude awakening.  The angles changed completely, I could no longer see the fretboard.   At some point I'll definitely need to practice standing unless I'm going to sit live, because it's far more of a change than it is for keyboards IMO.

[CEB]

You'll be fine with the guitar.  Just do what you do with authoritay.  

 

PS - it was hot this weekend and I didn't have my hat on.  Here is why I ALWAYS wear a hat. 

 

 

[synthizen2]

On 6/30/2022 at 1:37 PM, mynameisdanno said:

I think a sitting keyboardist on an upstage riser, side-by-side with a drum riser, is a great look.  That way, both the musicians that are seated, and more-or-less stationary due to their instruments, are elevated in the back.

 

Yes, this is the ideal stage layout for a sitting keyboardist. It looks great.

 

The way I look at it... the drummer is sitting, so it should be good enough for me. The drummer has a lot of pedals to deal with. So do I.

 

With the stool height that I sit at (a little higher than how a drummer sits)... standing up only makes me 10 inches taller than sitting. My head easily rises up above my 2-tier rig, while sitting.

[Outkaster]

On 7/3/2022 at 3:18 PM, Reezekeys said:

Spyro has had personnel changes, I guess you're talking about Jay and Tom? Julio Fernandez has been with them quite a while too, though he's not a "founding" member. I first met Tom around 1976 or 77 when a band I was with was playing the original Tralfamadore Café in Buffalo. Every pic I've seen of Tommy playing with the band has him standing.

 

BTW, I just played at the Syracuse Jazz Fest - not too far from you.

 Oh Wow I had a gig.  Some of the guys I play with in Auburn are part of that scene.

[CEB]

I stand in the Pop band and we still put the drums and keys on risers. Drums and keys are in the rear corners.  The band allows drunken women on stage and the risers keep the drums and keys out of the chaos ... Usually ...  there have been instances of having unwanted company on the risers.  Its all in good fun until some loses an eye.  lol

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

On 7/12/2022 at 8:29 PM, CEB said:

I stand in the Pop band and we still put the drums and keys on risers. Drums and keys are in the rear corners.  The band allows drunken women on stage and the risers keep the drums and keys out of the chaos ... Usually ...  there have been instances of having unwanted company on the risers.  Its all in good fun until some loses an eye.  lol

 

 

Nice idea!. Perhaps when (in some years 😅) my playing improves and, let's hope, our band gets some higher level gigs, we could go that way

[vonnor]

I'm still standing (at the age of 63), and will likely continue as long as I can. I think it's more engaging to the audience, since I can dance and bop around more than if I were sitting. Can also reach different sections of each board more easily. That being said, and as others have mentioned, it does take a toll on you physically. Some tunes I have to support my whole weight (240lbs) on my left leg while working the sustain pedal the whole time. Roll With The Changes is one of them... brutal left-hip fatigue. I even have both damper pedals (from the Kronos and Forte) routed to Addictive Keys and the Forte (easy to do in Cantabile3) so I can change support legs if I need to during the song.

 

I hope to live long enough to be forced to sit&play, but for now I keep on dancing.

 

~ vonnor

[synthizen2]

Each of us may have a "personal constitution" about how we want to be seen onstage as keyboard players.

 

For me, as long as the front line (lead singer, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist) are effectively entertaining the audience with their antics, I am perfectly comfortable serving my purpose on the backline with the drummer.

 

I'm not exactly looking down at my keys all the time with a dour look on my face. I smile, look lively, and am engaged with all the other musicians (yes, while sitting). But quietly doing my thing on the backline. I feel no need to stroke my ego and try to steal audience attention from the frontline players. As Eric Idle from Monty Python would say... "It's silly".

 

Usually, at the end of the show, I get about as many audience members wanting to talk to me about my rig, as any other member of the band. They hear my solos, they see me up there.

[Leroy C]

Apologies for the necro, but I've been wrestling with this recently, then came across this thread in a search and read it with great interest.

 

My current solution is a DJ chair that lets me sit, but quite a bit higher than a piano bench.  I also bought a set of four 2'x2' exercise pads that I'm stacking a couple of to raise me up a bit higher.  The result is a far more comfortable situation than actual standing, but with a bit more visibility (and possible stage presence) than full sitting.

 

Thought I'd share, for posterity. 

[John Tweed]

On 7/12/2022 at 3:05 AM, Stokely said:

As a funny aside, I'm (yet again) trying to learn guitar.  As a rhythm player, I'm peeking into intermediate as a basic rock player; I have absolutely no clue on leads.

Anyway, the funny part is that for all my practicing, I've barely ever tried to play standing up.  When I did try it at a band practice--the band is supportive of my dream to some day play guitar live!--whoa.  What a rude awakening.  The angles changed completely, I could no longer see the fretboard.   At some point I'll definitely need to practice standing unless I'm going to sit live, because it's far more of a change than it is for keyboards IMO.

I gave up trying to stand and play keys many moons ago - a couple of hours of that at a gig was murder on my  back. i sympathise with Stokely as my original instrument was guitar, and when I play at home I sit. It doesn’t look right to sit when playing guitar though, and I always struggle with getting comfortable while standing. I guess I just need to do it more.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

1 hour ago, Leroy C said:

 

My current solution is a DJ chair that lets me sit, but quite a bit higher than a piano bench.

 

You must have been sending out like minded vibes to me yesterday as I just thought i might go back to standing as i realise after seeing a video of me sitting behind my lightweight 2 tier Stays Slim stand that sitting looks bad with the huge bazooka tower in front of me

 

I like the light weight and small carrying form of the two tier Stays Slim to schlep so want to stick with this for standing or cut it down to the size of Stay Compact single tier that's perfect for sitting as the bazooka tower is short. We cant get the short Compact in Australia so I'd have to cut one of my 2 Stays Slims down

 

Ironically the Stays stands are so beautifully built I cant bring myself to cutting one down and risk destroy some beautiful industrial design. Or I'd have to get it professionally cut down as a hacksaw would ruin it. Hee hee

 

Edit: oh and i was thinking about what tall chair to get yesterday. Used to use a drum throne. Cant always rely on a barstool being available. So I'll look into a DJ chair thanks.

[JoJoB3]

Organists do it in a van!

 

1. Do whatcha want,who cares what we say.

 

2. Standing is fine if in background (barely seen). Otherwise err on sitting.

Keys players standing upfront without real  reason often screams 'noob/college try' imo. Avoid. Besides, unless you bring a real B3 the drummer, gtr, or lead vocs are walking away with the girl regardless.

 

*Imo

[Stokely]

I guess I've gotten so used to standing that I now prefer it.

We had one gig recently, not many people there and very laid back, so since I was feeling a bit tired and had my stool along, I set things up at sitting height  Nope, that lasted a set.  Certainly at home I sit to play and always have, it's just more of a comfort thing when at a gig.  I also like to stand when I sing, and I sing a fair amount.    With my two-keyboard rig, sitting is even more awkward as my stand (spider pro) will have a column up in front and above my face when the keys are lower down.

Helps to have a rug or mat--helps the feet a bit, keeps pedals in place if not on a board (my pedalboard is hogged by a submixer and monitor mixer) and also looks nice on stage IMO.

Pedals can be awkward standing as mentioned above.  I haven't yet brought out my expression pedal(s)--I have an FC7 that is pretty hard to control when standing.  I then got a Moog with a shorter throw and it's easier (though not as good for minute changes, but those would be hard standing anyway).   My sustain pedal is the little square Yamaha one (fc5 maybe?)  I have used those for many years.  They tend to wear out eventually, but they are easier to use when standing I think than a larger regular pedal.

[DroptopBroham]

I only stand when I play keytar, I suggest you do the same. 

 

Standing doesn't look cool, your still tethered to your stand and when you have to use sustain and expression pedals its flat out stupid.

 

If you want to stand on some tunes, get a keytar, then you can really move around with freedom. I like whipping mine out for a few songs but most of the places we play have such crammed stages that I'd basically be standing with my keytar behind a stand looking dumb. But when we do play a club with a decent sized stage I'll bring the keytar.

 

If you are going to stand, do it right, get a keytar.

 

[Leroy C]

15 minutes ago, DroptopBroham said:

I only stand when I play keytar, I suggest you do the same ...

If you are going to stand, do it right, get a keytar.

 

"Sorry, honey.  I had to buy a keytar.  A guy on Keyboard Corner told me to!

[mate stubb]

I vote for laying down.

 

[Leroy C]

31 minutes ago, mate stubb said:

I vote for laying down.

 

 

Why is everyone smiling?!  The poor guy needs help!!!  😮

 

[sunspot]

 

[brenner13]

Two years since my last comment on this thread…I’m old now…and play in different bands. 95% organ now and a lot of blues. I’ve been sitting on a tall Gibraltar stool for about a year. However, we opened for another band a couple of days ago. Only played for an hour and stood up working a VR09 on a single X-sand. Ooh it felt so good to be in that stance again. Had so much more energy and felt like I performed better than I have in a while. But I just don’t think I can do a four-hour show on one leg while working pedals with the other anymore. 

I have a couple of keytars, but never could get past feeling like a can of squirt-cheese at a fondue party when playing them on stage.

[stoken6]

11 hours ago, DroptopBroham said:

Standing doesn't look cool

Sitting is appropriate for a polite classical concert, jazz gig, intimate singer-songwriter performance etc. But standing is rock'n'roll, it's energy. 

 

11 hours ago, DroptopBroham said:

If you want to stand on some tunes, get a keytar

Now standing with a keytar, that's a great way to not look cool. Stevie and Herbie can pull that off, not so much the rest of us.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[wineandkeyz]

I have stood nearly my whole gigging life, but had to start sitting about three months ago due to a bum hip that (hopefully) will soon be replaced. It took quite a few iterations of my rig (different stands, stools, keyboard heights and angles, etc.) to come up with a comfortable and workable sitting setup for my two keyboards, but I finally found a combination I can abide.

 

As for the pros and cons:

• Pro - I feel like I actually have better control while sitting. I'm stationary, so I have less tendency to hit clams because I'm changing positions.
• Con - Some of the splits that I had set up are awkward because I can't move left/right as I did when standing.
• Con - I feel less energy, less involved while sitting. It's like going to a great concert and everyone else is jumping around but you're sitting the whole time.
• Con - There's also the subconscious power dynamics of sitting while everyone else (except the drummer) is standing.

My plan is to go back to standing as soon as I can after my hip surgery!