78 year old keyboard novice.

[Retired]

Hi,

I think I might be a late starter to keyboards at 78 but I started learning to play a violin aged 74. My go to violin is my electric Yamaha YEV-104 which I experiment with having a few pedals; here is a POG2 experiment posting on YouTube; my memory isn't good so I play nice and slow whilst sight reading from the music score; this isn't meant to be perfectly in tune it just being an experiment;

https://studio.youtube.com/video/ry5K7H3nONg/edit

I have so many interesting hobbies I could spend forever discussing them and I'm on at least a dozen forums covering welding to music.

I started work down a deep coal mine leaving school at the age of 15 in 1962 I was apprenticed to The National Coal Board as a mechanical engineer but during a lifetime I've had many jobs.

My new keyboards are both Yamaha E383 & Arranger SX920.

Kind regards, Col. (Colin)

 

[hubalken]

Welcome!! Keep at it. You're never to old to learn new things!! I wish you much success and many hours of enjoyment with your Yamaha arrangers!!

 

[Gunnar J]

Hi Colin.

Late starter?
Nahh, better late than never they say.

Btw,
it looks like it's something wrong with the link to your YT video.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for your warm welcome @hubalken; it's very much appreciated. When I first started to learn violin I made the mistake of concentrating on just a couple of tunes trying to get them note perfect hence progress was extremely slow.

Only having had these two keyboards a few weeks I'm already playing the first score pages of;

Imagine.
Somewhere my love.
Scarborough fair.
I have a dream.
Amazing grace.
Can't help falling in love.
The sound of silence.
Ode to joy.
What a wonderful world.
Bridge over troubled water.
Moon river.

I'm finding the transition from violin to keyboard much easier than when I adopted violin. I only have the first pages of each score but certainly plenty to practice with; the above list when I play can be recognized. Learning like this is very interesting and so much fun. I'm aware of online sites selling music scores but it's easy to run up a large bill.

Kind regards, Col.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks so much @Gunnar J. Appreciated. I'm constantly learning lots of new skills and am never bored. The harder things are to learn the better; once I start I never quit until I succeed but I think music is a lifetime hobby because it is so vast.

Thanks also for letting me know the YT doesn't play;

I copied the "edit" so hopefully this will now play?

Kind regards, Col.

 

[Rayblewit]

I would like to welcome you to the forums Col.
You're age is irrelevant to your desires.
Many of us here are in our 70's and I for one started keyboarding late in life.

The people here have been so helpful in guiding me through.
My playing skills today are somewhat attributed to the advice I have been given from these forums.
So, Col with your arsenal set up in the corner, you will excel in no time.
Stay with us.
You seem like a worthy participant to me.
Ray

 

[Biggles]

Welcome from across the border, at the Northern end of the M61 to be precise.

Whilst I may be in the Red Rose County there is no Lankie blood in me, but like you I also am an Engineer by Profession.

Tough job, down the mines, I admire all who did.

You are never to old to learn something new.

There are a lot of compilation keyboard books on Amazon so you can buy a couple and have dozens of songs available.

 

[Retired]

Hi Ray,

Thank you for your welcome to the forum and kind words. As I've stated I'm a member of a number of forums and I agree entirely with you; forum members strangers to me have helped me more over the years than neighbours and family; possibly because we share the love of our particular interest.

I retired from a very stressful job 26 years ago and skipped down the works yard for the very last time leaving behind the three departments I was in charge of with their five phones and pager never to return.

Our Yorkshire UK winters are long; dark and dismal so I wanted an interesting but challenging hobby for winter and vintage radio restoration was suggested to me; I could wire up electric motors and work on household electrics but these radios were totally different and could easily prove lethal as many had a live chassis; pick one of these up with both hands whilst live and it would be the last thing I ever did.

I enjoyed this hobby a great deal for the following ten years and through this I joined my first forum also as the years slipped by; in 2009 I was honoured by The British Vintage Wireless Society for top restoration award and I also had articles published in the societies Bulletin.

When I want to learn I'm as stubborn as they come; I'm not the sharpest tool in the kit but I make up for this by determination to succeed.

The final restoration before moving to a new hobby; the TV/radio was so rough a skip would have rejected it but what a challenge.

The same cabinet after many hours including veneering on the kitchen worktop because the workshop windows were frozen with ice on the inside. I restored over 100 assorted sets; this one I did the entire cabinet in real time on a forum running to many pages; most radio restorers are more interested in chassis repairs so I could demonstrate how to restore such a rough cabinet adding veneers of my choice then french polishing.

Now the forum members kicked in and took me by the hand through the highly dangerouse chassis restoration where one of the valves (Tube) had both 15,000 AC and DC on it kindly offering instant death; the forum members adopted me and were brilliant; I learned so much from them. The TV was restored to better than new. One member kindly posted this epic was better than watching "The Archers".

This TV went into a museum which made me very happy indeed.

Not a keyboard by any means but just to show my depth of learning absolutely anything; my two keyboards are now thoroughly testing me but I'm already making decent progress.

This is how I learned to play the violin adding my own notation but this one I did for the piano and already learning myself I was encouraging a friend who too was new to a keyboard so I let her have a number of these modified scores to practice with; we're learning together both of us are state pensioners. It works for me and I can see the notes better when presented like this. I don't care how I do it but I do it.

I've rambled on at length and hope I don't get my legs slapped for wandering so far off topic. Bed time again.

Many thanks Biggles; another Col? your reply popped up just as I was about to post this message. We're neighbours then just across the border. Thanks also for the tip regarding books; I like using World Of Books so I'll try there first; their books are give away prices with dirt cheap postage. Working down the pit as a kid was hard but the miners looked after me and were the best workmates anyone could wish for; I was taught to be an engineer not a fitter; engineers made parts and fitted them. Enough for today but thanks once again guys for your help.

Kind regards, Col.

 

[Biggles]

My Engineering Apprenticeship was as a Fitter, we were shifted from Dept to Dept every six months so I was trained in heavy steel fabrication, Instrumentation, steam raising and distribution, spinning machinery, stainless steel pipe fabrication (that stuff is tough to work), and chemical production.

45 years working and 25 different job titles (I got bored easily) and along the way I picked up a couple of Degrees and became a CEng. Been retired now for 12 years and cannot complain about any health issues only osteoarthritis which can play havoc with my keyboard playing and I no longer have the finger dexterity on guitar.

The Biggles handle is a double whammy, I loved the Biggles books as a kid and by chance I found myself in a light aircraft and ended up working towards and getting my PPL. Only flying I do today is on the Simulator on my PC.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks @Biggles for taking the time to reply with your interesting and varied history; you've been around a bit in your life as I too have and gained many skills.

The best thing I ever did in my life was to marry my wonderful Bron (Bronwyn). The most heartbreaking thing in my life was last March when Bron passed away after almost 50 years of a perfect marriage leaving me an emotional wreck.

With heavy rain forecast again today it's going to be difficult but I'll force myself to play with my keyboards; there's so much I want to learn.

Kind regards, Col.

 

[Bouncingogre]

Hi Col

Nice to see another tenacious old guy joining up. I'm in the same age bracket, my next birthday will see me hit 80.
We recently moved from Consett in County Durham to Taunton in Somerset.
At the moment we seem to have swapped Snow and ice Oop North for constant rain, but it is much warmer so it's better for my old creaking bones!

Sorry to hear of your loss of Bron.
That's hard.... I have lost 2 of my own children during my life, and know how tough that was.... So I know your pain.
The SX-920 is a good choice. Plenty to experiment with, and very friendly to play. I had an SX 700 the earlier version of the SX720 and SX-920.
Super keyboards.
Like Biggles, I have great respect for me who have done 'real' jobs, and they don't come much tougher than being down't pit!

I've had various jobs in my lifetime. I was a time served City & Guilds professionally trained Chef in Amsterdam and Park Lane London, (that's a very pressurised job too). A commercial Diving Instructor working in Scotland and Newcastle on Tyne, a Distribution Manager for an auto electrical business in Huddersfield, and all sorts of other jobs. Always put money on the table on a Friday night to support family is my idea of a working man.

Take your time learning your keyboards.
Look out for sheet music in Charity Shops. Often, if you pop in and ask them if they have any they will have some back of shop.
I have a huge mount of sheet music in physical form and also in pdf format. Music is expensive, so we can probably help with that too.

That's me for now.
Like Biggles I play a Korg Pa5X... Took a lot of learning but I love it. I also have a Genos 2 but that one's up for sale atm. I just can't get on with it. Not a patch on the Korg.

Take care, and welcome
Keith.

 

[Biggles]

Sorry to read about your loss.

You are not alone in loosing a loved one, I lost my Wife 20 years ago when she was only 52, she had battled the Big C for 5.5 years.

Luckily Wendy found me and we have been together now since 2009.

We have a variety of interests but this is my Play Area.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks Keith for your kind words about Bron; losing your two children must have devastated you and still will; I feel deeply for your sad loss; death is so final and words don't ease the pain of losing someone close.

Up here heavy rain is forecast all day again today and the breeze isn't getting any warmer. The south though has really copped the rain especially Somerset; why the heck don't they build houses on stilts if they insist on building in known flood areas such as local Mirfield to me where it floods often and the council have agreed to new housing being built; I wonder if insurance will be available and if so how much it's going to hurt; I hope you aren't troubled by flooding. I'm built like a stick insect and can still climb trees without much trouble; I'm awaiting springtime then I can resume outdoors hostilities.

So many of our generation had real jobs with real graft unlike many keyboard warriors these days sat at a desk all day whilst being paid a great deal more than real workers. If pits were to open now who would want a job in one or in other places like steel works. You're one up on me Keith I can't swim and many years ago was always extremely careful not to end up in the canal as I rode my Norton ES2 flat out along the towpath; things have changed now though. In 1972/3 I used to do Middlestown, Wakefield to London and back in a morning on my BMW R75/5; I had two of these and they loved being ridden hard.

Thanks regarding sheet music sources; I had thought of charity shops but I want warmer drier weather before visiting these; this morning I looked on World Of Books and also eBay but single scores are indeed expensive and books have lots of scores I'm not interested in; I'm cheeky and use my digital camera to take images of first page only scores then print them out; this way I'm building up a really good selection of tunes I like costing only time and printing paper. I did try buying a single music score online and immediately ended up with a PayPal £45 subscription I didn't sign up for; I did eventually get a full refund and I never received the score so now I'm wary.

A source of free keyboard scores would be ideal these being open source not protected. Out of interest whilst learning to play my violins I had lots of trouble sight reading the scores; distance glasses were no good and reading glasses were no good either due to the distance from the violin to the score; I resorted to visiting a local printer who enlarged the A4 to A3 and at 50p per page wasn't too costly but a few weeks ago the last enlargements were suddenly £1 per page so I won't be visiting again although for the keyboard I can clearly read A4 sized scores with reading glasses.

Like many places in the UK; visiting stores would be better by helicopter because our local council detest car owners making life difficult for them issuing parking tickets and istalling bus gates and cycle only streets rather than embracing cars adding decent free parking; it's better to see boarded up stores; there are charity shops in nearby Holmfirth but parking is a nightmare especially in warm dry weather due to tourists visiting regarding "last of the summer wine" TV series. I've not visited Huddersfield town center for over 25 years because I drive a car.

I'm nosy so I've had a look at the Korg Pa5X both you and @Biggles own; not cheap keyboards are they but you get what you pay for; I opted for Yamaha having Yamaha electric violin and matching amp. I did fancy the Genos 2 but by what you say Keith I might have been disappointed but as a novice lots of mistakes are expected in anything. At the moment I prefer my cheap E383 to the SX920 because the E383 has Synth222 which I really do like; the SX920 hasn't got this which is a shame but it's early days yet to judge the SX920 which receives rave comments and demonstration videos on YouTube; I spent hours watching videos before buying the SX920. I managed to get the Sustain pedal working this morning; I connected it but it was on sustain without being pressed; YouTube came to my rescue; I found the tiny switch on the pedal which is so small it's easily missed; it changes polarity.

Thanks Biggles for your kindness regarding Bron; I love Bron more than I love myself; together almost 50 years; no holiday not even one night away from home in 47 years; we worked during holdays building our future constantly improving our home; we watched neighbours going away for two weeks with long faces looking even worse when they returned home having spent a lot of money possibly maxing out their credit card just to show off; it still happens along the street where I live; a big brand new EV car in the driveway and a few weeks ago I had the police in my front room collecting video footage from my top of the range CCTV with full night colour vision; these neighbours couldn't afford to have their alarm repaired and they got burgled. I'm not impressed by any of them whilst they do their best to look well off.

Losing your wife at 52 years of age must have flattened you @Biggles and I can fully understand your deep distress; fortunately you've managed to move forward with Wendy and I wish you both a long and happy life together. I've no intention of courting and will never marry again; Bron is the one for me and now Bron has passed away I'm content being alone in peace with so many beautiful memories; I do have a lady friend in fact she spent yesterday afternoon here but definitely no romance between us; just two old codgers enjoying a bit of company. Bron and I didn't trust people so didn't socialize; I'm on my own and it doesn't bother me but I miss Bron so much it hurts.

You've got a nice play area with lovely toys @Biggles; very impressive indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Here's my studio in the rear extension but during winter it takes quite a while to warm up and by the time it's warm I'm often needed elsewhere hence I've set the keyboards up in the fron room.

I also have a well equipped workshop where I do so much work relating to the bungalow and gardens also I restore scrap machines then use them on projects around home.

Buying scrap but top quality machines is a worthwhile hobby; once restored they can be used in anger and are often better than moden expensive tinny machines.

Having restored this very rare German Lorch lathe I then upgraded to VFD electronic drive via Poly-V belt giving variable speed and doing away with the slipping flat leather belts. This is a restoration on other forums. Such restorations are easy for me.

Back to the plot; I'm struggling with the keyboards because not a lot is in my favour; age; never having tried to play a keyboard; poor short term memory and not the best eyesight for reading music scores but these are just difficulties to work around and I'll succeed long term; I'm not in a hurry but already I've made lots of positive progress. I enjoyed two keyboard practices this morning and will enjoy more this afternoon and this evening; practice equals experience?

Kind regards, Col.

 

[Bouncingogre]

Hi Col

Amazing that you're in Huddersfield! Small world.
I lived in Grasmere Road, by Greenhead Park. My late Father in Law lived in Edgerton, and all my children were born in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. I still have 3 surviving children, and thank you for your words of sympathy.
As always in life, no matter how tough things are you have to get back on the horse!
Keith

 

[Biggles]

Don't mention Bus Gates, AKA income generators.

I went into Town last year completely unaware of the changes and drove straight through one, then on my way back home I drove through it again.

So done twice in an hour, I'd never heard of a Bus Gate, Bus Lane yes but a Bus Gate?

Stupid thing is there is a drive around that adds another mile to the two way journey and can result in a complete snarl up on the road where the Bus Gates are located resulting in the Buses going nowhere. It also puts more traffic at a set of Traffic lights and the main road through Town so again stopping the Buses making quick progress from the Bus Station and past the University.

Councillors should be lined up at dawn and ...... given a damn good talking to.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Small world indeed Keith. I think if they bombed Huddersfield Town center it wouldn't cause much damage. It's years ago I dared venture into town and it was like walking around in the bottom of a dirty skip. Outside Wilkinsons by the old CoOp tramps were busy on the public seats making a nuisance drinking and littering the place even further; I think one year Huddersfield was voted worst place to live in England but now Dewsbury and Bradford have caught up. Councillors spent a fortune on what they call street art but are really metal climbing frames for the drunks and druggies but money can't be spent on the council tips where they now close two days weekly due to lack of funds. Get rid of the overpaid councillors then perhaps this would be a start; I don't recommend Huddersfield to anyone. There are good places on the outskirts of Hudderfield; I live in a desirable one it's Fenay Bridge and it's actually lovely here with nice countryside walks.

Yes to coin a phrase I'm trying to get back on the horse but through hobbies and interests like this forum where I meet decent people. Watching YouTube videos of modern women; guys are now avoiding them and few are marrying them; looking at many of them I souldn't want them in my home; Bron and I worked so hard over a lifetime building what we have and I've no intention of parting with half of it where the odds are stacked totally against me. I can accept peace and solitude knowing Bron is always with me in spirit; after what I've recently been through nothing can ever hurt me more. I'm OK. I shop online or out of town where I'm not treated like a cash machine because I drive a car.

I'm in total agreement with you @Biggles.

https://www.arrowselfdrive.com/news/bus-gates-now-operating-in-huddersfield/

Enter Huddersfield at your peril; I live on the outskirts and the ring road is the boundary for me; last year I had to venture in to the Civic Center to register Bron's death and I admit it worried me just for the car parking; I believe there is an Huddersfield blue print recreating the town center costing a fortune but where are the car parks on the plan? Whatever happens someone can have my place in town I've had enough of the place.

Are you in the ULEZ zone @Biggles; this is a montrous rip off punishing hard working people who rely on their car for transport; I drive a wonderful Skoda Yeti; it's now ten years old and was bought brand new. It's a 2.0L diesel but it's a clean diesel and can enter ULEZ zones without incurring a charge and it only costs £35 per year road tax with £400 for comprehensive insurance. If my Diesel Yeti is so clean why can't other diesels be made to match it then stuff all this ULEZ rubbish. I've no intention of ever buying an EV and I don't want an EV on my property in case it burns my bungalow down; who knows how safe these EV's are going to be as their battery degrades. I'll be spending money on the Yeti this year but it's well worth it.

Good point about councillors; it's a shame so many don't understand how important cars are to town's economy; whilst possibly having their own parking place and allowances etc; two tier once again?

Enough of this; it's depressing watching what's happening to our once proud great nation; I received my new tax code today and I'm taxed on my works pension which is a very sore point indeed.

I watched a YouTube video at tea time today where Bonners were demonstrating the Korg Pa5X; Both the Korg and my SX920 are arranger keyboards so I wonder just how much of a difference there is between them; Bonners do excellent videos though; I've watched lots of them;

I have a pair of M-Audio BX4 monitors hooked up to the E383 and they sound nice; I'll try hooking them up to the SX920 but I'll have to locate the correct socket on the keyboard; a job for tomorrow.

Kind regards, Col.

 

[Bouncingogre]

Shame about Huddersfield. It used to be a great place to live and work.

Amazingly we have a Skoda Yeti too! Bought new in 2017. Great cars, and I've often said that if they still made them I'd be back at the showroom tomorrow. They are outstanding cars, and tough as nails.

 

[Biggles]

We do not yet have any ULEZ zones, as far as I can tell the Bus Gates were intended to divert traffic away from the University.

If it were possible I am sure the whole of the area surrounding and including the Uni would become a traffic free zone.

As it is like most towns ours is not worth visiting as so many shops are closed and those moron delivery riders on their illegal eBike are flying all over the place making it very dangerous.

I had to go into town a couple of weeks ago and our 1 and only Music Store in the centre has now closed. We do have Hamilton’s on Blackpool Road on the western side of the town and Music Matters near J31A of the M6.

 

[Biggles]

Bradford, the pits of the North.

3 out of my 4 Grandparents were born in the Town and we went on a Genealogical Research trip there back in 2018.

As well as visiting the Archives next to the Media Museum we went round where my Grandparents used to live.

It was disgusting, I thought we had entered a third world country, it was wall to wall rubbish and totally dilapidated houses.

 

[Bouncingogre]

I remember going to the Alhambta Theatre in Bradford to see a show with my late first wife. She'd got all doled up expecting a good night out.

Got there, it was all dark, no lights on, about 25 minutes before the performance.
It was April 23rd......looked at the tickets they were for May 23rd.......

We went for a curry instead..... First time I'd eaten Frosty Curry!!

She didn't speak to me for days! The face said it all...