I bought a new keyboard. A Roland FP-30. I want to explore the guitar voice.

[ricky123]

I'm just learning to play.I've got an idea that C2 through C6 is probably the keys that will sound closest to an actual steel guitar. Now I'm looking to find websites that might give me some tips on how to play guitar songs on the keyboard. Any ideas out there?

 

[happyrat1]

If you want to do slides get a ribbon controller or use a CC Expression Pedal if that's all you got, but a ribbon controller adds a whole different dimension to expression on a keyboard.

http://www.doepfer.de/R2M.htm

Gary

 

[ricky123]

My piano teacher can play the guitar a little bit on the keyboard. He showed me some chords and did a little bit of a song he knows. That's the kind of thing I want to try.

 

[happyrat1]

My best advice for tutoring online in what you want to do is watch a lot of keyboard tutorials on youtube.

Mimicking a guitar isn't high on most keyboard player's lists.

I wouldn't even begin to know what search terms to use.

Jan Hammer however, is a keyboardist who can make a keyboard scream like an electric Fender. Jordan Rudess is another one.

It's unlikely a beginner would learn much from watching them play though. Their stage performances don't show much fingertip action and aside from an old series of Kurzweil Tutorials that Rudess made over a decade ago you're really going to have to search for what you seek.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, I just realized the Roland FP-30 is a VERY basic digital piano without a CC Pedal input, without a pitch or mod wheel and only 35 voices to play with.

You're NEVER gonna even come close to realistic guitar slides with that puppy.

The best you can do with it is hook it up to an ipad or a computer, load up some soft synth VSTis and use the keyboard as a mute controller.

You can't even really add other MIDI controllers to it since it has no real MIDI ports.

The best you can hope for is some gentle chord strumming but steel guitar slides and electric leads are strictly off the menu.

Gary

 

[ricky123]

Yeah I knew that going in. I'm much more focused on learning piano, but I wanted to try a little guitar stuff now and again. I just can't find any site that go in to the basics of it.

 

[Alchemy]

actually I've been wanting to get around to asking the same question. Playing guitar on keyboard is high on my list since I got the JV 1080 and loved the 12 string preset. I have the P85 Yamaha piano I bought new when they came out and the JV 1080 (external rack mount synth) on ebay for about 200.00. I don't have a bender either and I was looking for something to attempt ventures, pink floyd, lap guitar, type leads as well as strings, flute etc. For lack of correct terms I was looking for basic clean bends.
Gary, am I expecting too much also? If not maybe he could get an external synth like I did. At first, I thought maybe that doepfer was not what I was looking for but then I saw these from your link.

Maybe it's still more than I need since a basic bender would probably be enough. I did look for an inline bender wheel a while back and couldn't find any such thing.

 

[happyrat1]

Actually the Doepfer is nice but very spendy.

Alternatively, look around on Google for "DIY MIDI Pitch Bender" and "DIY MIDI Ribbon Controller" and you will find several low priced alternatives that hackers have designed using Arduino and Raspberry PI microcomputers.

Most of these can be built by the technologically adept for under $100.

Hell, even if you looked up the local Ham Radio Club and paid one of the geezers to build one for you it would still run you less than $200.

Gary

 

[Alchemy]

sweetwater and midi site have that doepfer for $399 so I'm guessing they could be on ebay for under $200? Problem is, there isn't any on there right now. Lots of other doepfer stuff though.

 

[happyrat1]

A ribbon controller is something a musician doesn't get rid of until it dies.

Yamaha discontinued the BC3a and BC2a breath controllers over 10 years ago. Occasionally you'll find someone's spittle soaked used one on Ebay going for over $200. They used to sell new for around $50.

Another company called Kelfar Technologies now makes and sells a plug compatible BC for $200 USD.

The problem is that ribbon and breath controllers are a niche market where it's usually easier and cheaper to build your own rather than shell out for some entrepreneur's get rich quick scheme.

When these items do rarely appear on Ebay they are usually sold within hours or else the bidding runs so high only an idiot would bid against them.

Building a one off electronics project by yourself is not really all that difficult.

Here's a simple video demonstrating the technique. All you need are a few simple tools and parts that won't cost you more than $100 to set up. And once you've popped your prototyping cherry you can attempt other custom effects boxes and projects as well.

https://www.youtube.com/results?q=diy+perfboard+prototyping

Easy peasy

Gary

 

[Alchemy]

I knew there was a solder conspiracy to all this. My policy has always been to stop at boards unless I see a burnt piece I can simply replace or a loose connection. I did consider just getting a pitch wheel assembly off of something and making a nice little box for it and wiring it in somehow but I've spent a month or more on things like that which I thought would be simple.

 

[Alchemy]

What about just finding the "tuning circuit" and connecting a wheel pot to it? Not that I would mess with my keyboard like that but.....

 

[happyrat1]

The "tuning circuit" is probably a phase locked loop and a crystal oscillator controlling a microprocessor clock speed.

Believe me, if soldering a few pins to a board is beyond your scope then you haven't a snowball's chance in hell of redesigning an entire synth's operating system and hardware to go "boing" on command

Honestly, soldering a prototype board is no big deal. If you can follow simple instructions you can wire up a simple Arduino project without too much grief.

Start off with a couple of simple kit projects from reputable manufacturers to get a feel for soldering a board and by the end of the second one you'd be able to tackle a ribbon controller or an arduino mod wheel.

You might fry the first or second kit, but by the third you'll be designing your own mdoular synths with confidence.

Take a look at the search results I linked in my last post. They will tip you off to the sorts of pitfalls amateurs get into.

OR

HIRE A HIGH SCHOOL KID TO BUILD IT FOR YOU

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

Here ya go!

Step by Step full instructions on how to build a MIDI Ribbon Controller!!!

http://synthhacker.blogspot.ca/2016/03/diy-midi-ribbon-controller.html

If you can follow a recipe and bake pot brownies then you can put down the bong and build one of these

If I end up selling my Kurzweil I'll end up having to build one for myself

Gary

 

[Alchemy]

We knew you had a secret link! That's an awesome find!
Do they have instructions for making one in blue?

 

[Alchemy]

could this be easily adapted? It seems to be for specific Kurzweil models and has a plug like an RJ45 (Ethernet).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kurzweil-AM...974893?hash=item27ff8a3fad:g:uNkAAOSw-kdXybfV

 

[happyrat1]

Nope.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I suppose it might depend on whether you're trying to emulate an electric guitar or an acoustic, but one simple thing that can go a long way toward getting a good guitar sound from a keyboard is to play chords with a rolling motion-- i.e., in an arpeggiated or broken style. Keyboardists generally try to play all the notes of a chord at the same time, unless the music is specifically written otherwise. But guitarists never play all the notes of a chord at the same time, because it's more or less impossible to do so.

 

[happyrat1]

True dat Michael,

And also it's worthwhile keeping in mind that a guitar has only 6 strings of which often only 3 or 4 are being strummed at once.

But without at least a pitch wheel or an expression pedal it will be impossible to do a proper sounding steel guitar or rock n roll lead guitar.

Gary

 

[Alchemy]

True Sea, Maybe that's why I like the 12 string/keyboard sound so well. I've done that with piano nearly since I first played even though I'm still not very good but I suppose it depends what I'm playing. It did hit me at one time that "maybe Floyd Cramer liked or played guitar first?" One of the first songs I just had to learn was last date even though my history is more of a 70's rocker. Freebird "pretty for Atlanta" is an example of this but there is so many and it's definitely not just country style. It does seem that style must have come out of the guitar era. But then it sure seems like Canon (1500's) should be played rolling the chords. But maybe that came out of the harp era? The first "pianos," the harpsichord, I'd bet the idea was to try to emulate the harp. Sorry for getting carried away but evolution of music fascinates me and you got me thinking.