I wish this could be a poll

[Terr-or Form]

Since no one else has posted here, I'm curious if everyone plays just keyboards.

I myself play bass and actually can't play keyboards all too well. I arrange and compose on one of two workstations. I create my own samples (as I hate using others) and generally know enough about music to write songs and do all the accompying throught the sequencer. Live we run our sequencers and my wife plays the leads on the boards while I play bass.

We play other instruments too. My wife plays the bodhran (Irish drum) and I can play the flute (would love to do a Jethro Tull style solo in an industrial song someday!!).

What about everyone else?

 

[Skipp]

Piano/Keyboard as a first instrument, but I do play the guitar as well

I own this one (Yamaha CG101)

 

[letsel]

Can play a teensy bit of guitar and drums(still own a classical guitar and a tama drumkit). Use to sing but I'm so out of practice now I'm not going to bother.

I also have bongos, a violin and a jews harp that I never get around to playing.

 

[Skipp]

Oh... by the way... I added a poll at the top

 

[Terr-or Form]

Oh... by the way... I added a poll at the top

Thanks!! I couldn't find a way to add my own but that is exactly what I wanted to do!!!

 

[Laura]

Melodica

Since no one else has posted here, I'm curious if everyone plays just keyboards.
What about everyone else?

Yeah. I started with guitar in 65. Became a bluegrass banjo player in 74. Took up electric guitar in 92, bass in 93. Bought a 12 string fretless Turkish banjo in 05. Finally bought my first keyboard in 07. This year I bought the coolest little thing called a Melodica to take to a folk fest. It has a mouthpiece you blow into, and about 37 mini piano keys. It sounds like a harmonica or accordion, and it's great for celtic, klezmer, balkan, all kinds of tune-centered music. And it;s great for a keyboardist in training because it plays like a piano for those times I can't plug in with my amp.

Google it & read up on it at Music123 or melodicas.com!

 

[Sargas]

Playing guitar as well, with this lovely baby

Only been playing it for about a year and a half, but I'm getting pretty decent

 

[RotorOnTop]

I started on steel guitar when I was 7, went to violin at 9, drummer in parents band 1962, took drum lessons for 5 years and played all through HS and club work at 16-19, got my first electric guitar in 64' Fender Mustang (side instrument) went to bass guitar in 69' Fender P bass, toured 7 years on a bus playing bass guitar. Started playing electric guitar seriously in 1978 and played it till present, I own a 1987 PRS Custom 24 bought it new. I've messed around with keyboards since rock bands in the late 60's, B3 organs mostly/some Rhodes, I'd get on it during practice breaks organ players at time were very curteous. While playing bass guitar I bought my first Moog synth in 74' mainly for Pink Floyd songs. Graduated to a Roland synth in 86' have owned several diff kinds since, I would play piano/organ as a side from guitar in bands + vocals. I only play guitar in the studio nowadays, and play piano/organ out as a sit down for gigs...I've been in music for 52 years, still love it.

 

[Mourndark]

What does trumpet come under!

Been playing trumpet for about 11 years now - mostly big band stuff, but its been sidelined a bit as cash goes towards keyboards, and obviously any trumpet that's not full of dents, corrosion and superglue holding it together has no character. Still works fine(ish) too.

Other than that, I play a few wierd and wonderful medieval wind instruments (from a time before tuning) and some guitar, provided its "Wish You Were Here", "Brain Damage" or Guitar Hero.

 

[Ergo]

I Play Keyboard Bass guitar and alittle Accordion ^^ and soon church organ ;P

 

[Mourndark]

I'd love to learn to play organ - you can really produce some amazing things with one. Certainly standing underneath one with the 32' opened up is a full body experience.

 

[Riotblade]

I played a real organ only once and it was fun, but different.

My crappy keyboard i have now has an organ voice i could use.

I also play Guitar.

 

[JimRH8]

I play the bass

I think this is a little off-topic, but how many of you as Keyboard players veiw the bass as unnececary in band situation, considering a keyboard player can do most of what I do at least with their left hand ? (don't be worried about offending me, be honest!)
Are they simply in your bands to give your left hand an easy time? or do they actually contribute to the rthym in ways your left hand never could ?

 

[Laura]

I play the bass

I think this is a little off-topic, but how many of you as Keyboard players veiw the bass as unnececary in band situation, considering a keyboard player can do most of what I do at least with their left hand ? (don't be worried about offending me, be honest!)
Are they simply in your bands to give your left hand an easy time? or do they actually contribute to the rthym in ways your left hand never could ?

The Doors didn't need a bass. If you are as good as Ray Manzarek and can totally rock w/your left hand have a special Rhodes bass keyboard like he does, ...I guess you don't need a bass.

Last year I used to play bass with some guys, this one guy played a big Korg piano. He was so good at it, it was so loud and he could play the bass line so well... I couldn't hear myself and wondered 'what am I doing here? he doesn't need me."

That was when I decided to learn keyboards.

However, I mostly think that a real bass can boom out and give that percussive effect, I think it's important in a band... at least a real Rockin' band. Maybe it's not so necessary for the laid back 'shoegaze' music.

Also, in a jamming situation, having the interplay between 2 musicians gives a lot more room for creativity than having 1 musician carrying 2 parts.

Since the Doors saved money by not having to pay a bassist, I wonder if the keyboardist got paid more

 

[kanthos]

I play bass, drums, sax and clarinet, although I haven't touched the reeds in years, especially clarinet.

 

[bsr2002]

I play bass, drums, sax and clarinet, although I haven't touched the reeds in years, especially clarinet.

Sax and clarinet as well and has been a couple of decades...lol

 

[fbieler47]

I play the bass

I think this is a little off-topic, but how many of you as Keyboard players veiw the bass as unnececary in band situation, considering a keyboard player can do most of what I do at least with their left hand ? (don't be worried about offending me, be honest!)
Are they simply in your bands to give your left hand an easy time? or do they actually contribute to the rthym in ways your left hand never could ?

Technically the keyboard gets rid of a lot of members in the band...lol...
You can't play the keyboard with your left hand and expect it to really sound like a bass, some of the intonation is there and the attack and such, but there is so much sound coming out of a bass in terms of complexity, that keyboards just can't duplicate. You can hit one note on a bass and it will sound a thousand different ways, by where you pick it, where your hands are, what kind of harmonics are generated just by the pressure on the string over the fret, what kind of strings you have what pick ups you have, too many variations to reproduce faithfully with a keyboard, so the keyboard makes a choice on what the programmer thinks is important. It has to compromise because there are too many variations on the original sound so they pick what's most common and go from there.
This is going on the assumption that you aren't just playing house or trance or the like that just use the same things over and over again, though you can loop a bass to do the bass line it is still not live anymore.
I think this holds true for all instruments, that's why some keyboards have a good piano sound and organ sound and some sound like a calliope on steroids. Or why you can't get a good B3 sound, there are just too many slide bars to modify the tone on a B3.
On the other hand if your bass player sucks then anything is better than that. Drums are the same way, the tr808 didn't put any real drummers out of work, it is a machine and it doesnt have a soul.
It's summed up best by Mojo Nixon's Machines Ain't Music song.

And because I have no idea of what is copywrite protected or not I won't put a clip here

 

[mdloomis]

I've been a guitar player for 40+ years, so that's definitely my main thing.
Picked up bass about 3 years ago.
I'll bang on percussion toys when needed in the studio.
Oh yeah, (since this is a keyboard forum) I can play the reprise from Layla on the piano, but that's about it so far .

Cheers,

Michael

 

[zoranko]

In our band (Guitar, bass, keyboards, drums - we play mostly instrumental tunes..) everybody plays on each instrument. Changing instruments during a gig is funny. But if we start with something jazzy, everybody takes rather his own one...

 

[Mourndark]

We do that in the jazz combo that I'm occasionally part of. Out of the 5 of us, there are two bassists, three horns, three keys, two drums and two guitars. It's a lot of fun, particularly when myself and the other horn swap over on keys in the middle of a song to accompany each others solos!