KEYBOARD
BY JOEL ENGLE
(from Spin 14, Summer 2000)
One
of the first things you need to do is find several great
sounds. I always make sure I have a strong acoustic piano
sound and then a layered piano sound with some electric
piano sounds, too. I use a Korg Triton, which is a great
higher-end keyboard. Before that, I used a Korg 01-W for
years, which was another great keyboard. Some other great
keyboards are the K2000 or K2500 Kurzweill. Roland has several
good keyboards out right now, too. You also want to have
a good organ sound for upbeat rock-style songs. I use a
pad for songs like "Open the Eyes of My Heart"
when the guitar player starts off, and I play the keyboard
part very simple.
I think one of the biggest problems today is that people
think keyboards aren't cool. Keyboards are very cool. Almost
every single hit record from Third Eye Blind to Jars of
Clay to Sheryl Crowe to Michael W. Smith use a variety of
keyboards. It's just that keyboard usage is very subtle
in today's music scene.
There are several ways to get better on the keyboard. Number
one is to learn all the chords. Familiarize yourself with
triads and doing arpeggios on the keyboard. Get a handbook
for working on dexterity exercises with your hands. Every
music store in America has a handbook that is standard for
learning scales and learning all your keys from C all the
way up to the scale from D-flat, D, E-flat, E, etc. You
cannot be too familiar with chords and keys. Learn how to
play "in the groove". Work on your "feel".
Always practice with a metronome, always. That keeps you
honest rhythmically. To be able to play in time, you must
be familiar with the different chords on the keyboard. Practice.
Practice your scales. Practice the songs you are going to
play over and over again. Start off simple. If you're in
doubt, if you're not sure you can play a song, then play
the most simple arrangement you can play. Don't expect to
be Bruce Hornsby or Billy Joel overnight. Just take your
time and learn how to start off simply and you will get
better. The more you practice, the better you will get.
Playing an instrument is just like lifting weights. You
don't start off with a 500-pound bench press! You start
off slowly with a light weight and work your way up. The
same thing with keyboards: you start off slowly and then
you work your way up and learn how to play parts. If you're
playing in a band, you have to learn how to play parts that
don't interfere with other people's parts. Not just in the
actual music you play, but also in the sounds you choose.
Sometimes a piano sound is just not the right sound when
you are playing with a band.
BY JOEL ENGLE
(from Spin 15, Fall 2000)
One of the most important parts of playing the keyboard
is playing the right kind of keyboard. I play a Korg Triton.
It's probably one of the best keyboards around right now...
at least for the next few months (ha ha)! Other good ones
are the Korg Trinity; Roland makes good keyboards, Alesis
makes good keyboards, Ensonic makes good keyboards, and
there are others. The Ensonic TS-10 has been a standard
for a long time. If you have a keyboard that is a MIDI controller,
you can buy a rack-mount version of the same instrument
(perhaps of another keyboard), which is called a sound module.
A sound module contains the sounds of a particular keyboard
without the keyboard, and it's mobile. One of the reasons
why you need to have a good keyboard is so that you can
be inspired by a variety of great sounds instead of being
limited by a lack of them.
Now about improving your playing. You hear the words "practice,
practice, practice" a lot, and although those words
are the best advice, they need to be taken a step further.
To improve, you must practice the right way. I see a lot
of young musicians getting that wrong. When you practice
developing your keyboard skills, you need to always practice
with some kind of rhythm device, such as a metronome, drum
machine, or CD. This ensures that you are developing a sound
sense of rhythm, which is imperative for even any average
player. You also need to work on your scales. Not just playing
them, but smoothly and in rhythm. Lastly, you need to familiarize
yourself with every note on the keyboard, with every scale,
key, chord, and every inversion and variation of each chord.
For instance, you need to be able to play a C chord every
way possible. Obviously you need to know that the notes
are C, E, and G. so, you must know (memorize, learn) the
notes of the chord before you can do that. When you see
the SPIN chords and sheet music, you've got to have "done
your basic homework" of what I just described in order
to play it. When it comes to music, knowledge is security.
BY DAVID PARKER
(from Spin 16, Winter 2000)
Most keyboard players tend to play octaves with their left
hand while their right hand is playing the melody. Doing
this is the easy way, but it's also a less colorful way
to play. There's a lot more beautiful and interesting chords
you could play to add a much better sound to the song. What
I would encourage keyboard players out there to do would
be to try some different things with your left hand. For
example, play fifths, or play variations on arpeggios. Use
your left hand to play more than just bass notes. Also,
moving your hands closer to each other gives you better
sounding note combinations sometimes. Most guys are used
to a big piano, but if you're having to work with a 61-key
keyboard, you have to learn ways to make that keyboard sound
really nice. You can add the second in a chord, suspend
chords, play nines and sixes - those things are simple ways
to embellish chords. When you're learning a song, think,
"What can I do to make this sound different than the
regular-everyday way of hearing this particular song"?
This kind of thinking inspires you to write better songs,
to play more elaborately, and it gives you the ability to
make a "same-old, same-old" worship song sound
fresh musically. I believe that giving a fresh sound to
a familiar song inspires you and the listeners to open your
heart afresh to what the song is saying lyrically. A good
example os this is Lincoln Brewster's version of "Lord,
I Lift Your Name On High". (Lincoln Brewster's album
is available in Christian bookstores; he has two albums
out.) It's such an old song, but it's really done in a fresh
way just by embellished and altered chords.
BY JOEL ENGLE
(from Spin 17, Spring 2001)
I want to give you some tips on knowing when to play and
when not to play when you're playing with a band in a worship
setting. In today's modern rock worship style that the SPIN
tracks feature, keyboard is not the key instrument, usually,
but rather an important supplemental instrument.
The first principle is to know the context of the song.
The keyboard player must learn how to play within the context
of the song. You're not trying to play the same parts as
say, the electric guitar. You want your keyboard part to
complement, not interfere with the sounds of the other instruments.
Focus on adding to the sound of the song by playing simple
chords and progressions in the right places. You can add
color and depth to a song using complex chords, but played
in a simple way. If you're playing in a song where the keyboard
is not the main sound, be sure not to "overplay".
Be aware of the other instrument parts around you and what
they're doing, so your sound doesn't interfere with theirs.
For instance, if the electric guitar is playing the high
part in the song, then you want to go lower. Try to be in
a different frequency range than the other players so the
song won't sound like a bunch of instruments competing for
intensity in the same frequency range. The song should sound
like the different instruments are playing in harmony in
different and complementary frequency ranges. By frequency
ranges, I mean high, mid, and low. If you're a beginner
playing with better musicians, freely ask the, "Am
I playing the right part? Is my sound getting in the way
of your sound? What do you think about this part?"
This will help you grow in the area of learning how to play
in the context of the song.
The second principle in knowing when to play and when not
to play is discerning what the song calls for. With some
songs, you can just hear the keyboard part jump out at you,
and you know what you're supposed to play. Other songs are
not so easy. Listening for keyboard parts on many different
albums will help you develop this skill of being able to
pick out the part that you're supposed to play, even on
songs where the keyboard part isn't prominent. If you're
playing a keyboard instead of a piano, listen for parts
that call for different sounds, like a Rhodes sound, a pad,
Wurlitzer, or even the sound of a B-3 organ. Don't ever
let anyone tell you that keyboard isn't cool. There is a
lot of very hot keyboard influenced music out there, from
Sarah McLachlan to Michael W. Smith.
Always deliver the keyboard parts within your ability. Don't
try things onstage until you've absolutely perfected them
in practice, or else you risk your sound being a distraction
to worship. If you can't yet play the fancy part you hear
on an album, then just play the chord and let it ring out.
It's always better to underplay than to overplay. When you're
playing in a band, it's not about how well you play as an
individual, as much as it's about how well you play in the
context of the band.
The third and most important tip I want to offer about knowing
when to play and when not to play is: Pray! Ask the Holy
Spirit to guide you! I don't know why many musicians pray
about every other aspect of life except their playing! It
really will make a difference!
