2 keyboards in praise and worship music?
- Thread starter blueguy63
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Yes! I do. I play in the youth band, which is a little more high energy than normal praise and worship but it's still close, and we use most of the same songs. I use a Roland Juno-D and an Alesis midi controller along with a Mac book. I use Reason which is great software. Why do you ask? Do you use two keyboards?
I play two at the same time as well, and I've also been in a worship band in the past that had a pianist and a keyboard player, so whether you mean two people or one person with two keyboards, you're covered. Like the previous poster, why do you ask?
Thanks for the replies. I play the guitar (barely) in my praise and worshipband. I really don't think the guitar is my thing. I took piano years ago and can read music. We already have a piano player. I thought about bringing up the idea of adding a keyboard and me trying to get back into the swing of things with a keyboard. I just want to be part of the group and make a contribution. How can a keyboard compliment a piano without taking away from what she (piano player) is doing? Thanks
Sorta hard to come through with that. Keyboards generally take place of a piano player. Keyboards are usually looked upon as an electric piano/workstation. It would be really hard to have a piano player AND keyboardist in a worship band.
Not at all. It's not that hard, but it largely depends on what styles you and the pianist play in. I'm guessing the pianist probably plays melody with chords, or, if he/she is more adventurous, plays extra little riffs, plays thicker/altered chords, and so on. Or, depending on the song, plays a more rhythmic groove.
The challenge of playing with another keyboard player isn't as complex as it might seem. Before you get there though, think a bit about how you'd play keyboards if you were the only person playing keys, because it's not that much different.
If you're the only keyboard player in a standard band with acoustic and lead guitar players, bass, drums, and a few vocalists, you can't and shouldn't just play whatever. Every musician should be thinking about what the others are doing and how their own playing fits into that (admittedly easier for some instruments, like bass and drums, and often overlooked by instruments like acoustic guitar when playing with a pianist). In a band setting, you don't want to step on other people's toes. You usually don't want to try and play the same part someone else is playing.
What you want to do is find spaces in the music and fill them. You don't want to fill *every* space; space is a good thing. But you don't want to overlap much with everyone else. If it's a climactic part of the song (an intense bridge, maybe) with a fairly high vocal part, you might have the acoustic guitarist playing fairly high on the fretboard and the lead guitarist playing fairly high riffs. If you also play really high, you're leaving a fairly empty midrange; that midrange is where you'd want to play. In addition to filling harmonic space, rhythmic space is important too; finding time when fewer people are playing. The first example that came to my mind was the verse on Hush by Deep Purple. Jon Lord on the B3 is doubling the guitar and bass rhythm while the vocalist is singing, but at the end of each phrase, he plays two chords a bit higher up that fill in the space.
Playing with a second keyboard player is different only because it cuts down the type of sound you can use (i.e. you wouldn't want to play an acoustic piano sound) and it cuts down the type of playing you can do (i.e. whatever the pianist is playing for a particular song).
On keyboards, you have a lot of other options that an acoustic piano doesn't have. You can do pads, you can do synth lead riffs (although, since it's for worship and not a rock show, you have to keep moderation in mind, and play well without distracting everyone from the real reason they're all singing), you can do more subtle synth riffs. If you have a keyboard with good organ sounds, you can add B3 chords, pads, or riffs. If you've got good electric piano sounds, you can add little counter-melodies or create a groove. There's a world of possibilities out there; it really comes down to how familiar you are with particular styles and instruments (it's better not to play organ riffs at all than to do them in a way which doesn't suit the organ and is distracting, for example).
Your one biggest asset will be your ears. Not only will you need to be good at listening to what everyone else is doing (honestly, this should be a skill that anyone making music in a band setting, or any setting where musicians aren't playing from notation, should have), but you also will want to listen to recorded music, be it worship or otherwise (personally, I lean towards otherwise; I'm not aware of anyone who plays keys for a worship band who's considered one of the big name keyboard players). If you don't have ideas of your own, you need to listen to what other keyboard players do and figure out how to adapt their playing to your music, and hopefully, in the process, become better at making up your own ideas that fit well with your band. The second-biggest asset will be your ability to improvise. You're not *ever* going to see notation, either because there won't be any or because the pianist will be playing from the notation and you don't want to copy her. Playing without notation is a *very* different thing on guitar than on keyboards.
So, definitely don't write this off; if your team has regular practices outside of Sunday morning, you might want to start there, playing keys in practice to get some ideas and see how you fit but sticking to guitar on Sundays until you're comfortable and your bandmates are comfortable with you on keys. Good luck!
Newbie
I also Play in my church band (check my homepage to see a video) and I currently using a Yamaha DGX-220. I have also just recently purchased a Korg R3 and I was wondering if anyone had any pointers or ideas for using this equipment in a youth band?
I also Play in my church band (check my homepage to see a video) and I currently using a Yamaha DGX-220. I have also just recently purchased a Korg R3 and I was wondering if anyone had any pointers or ideas for using this equipment in a youth band?
I haven't use either of those exact keyboards, but I can give you a few general pointers.
First, I'd unplug the mic from the R3 (if you can). If you're singing and playing keys, do so through a standard mic instead of through your keyboard, otherwise the person doing sound won't be able to isolate your voice from the notes played on the R3. And if you aren't using the mic on the R3, it might be distracting to people in the congregation.
Secondly, get your own amp with at least two input channels and a line out, run both keyboards into the amp, and then run the amp's output into the main mixer. With two separate keyboards producing sound, you need full control over the balance between the two, *especially* if you're playing both at once or are using MIDI to play one keyboard and get sounds out of both. Church sound people are notorious for poor mixing, either from having little training or experience (they are volunteers, after all), or for mixing with their own personal bias (guitars tend to be more important, especially acoustic, so keyboards can often be quiet in the mix). Also, keyboards don't really normalize their volume, so switching from a hammond organ sound to a piano sound may also mean that the piano will be too quiet in the mix (or, if they set your levels while you were playing piano, that the organ will be too loud). Having a second keyboard will complicate things immensely, so get an amp and worry about balance between the two yourself. That's something you can mainly do on your own at home, tweaking individual sound volumes so that you won't have to think about it when you get together with everyone else.
With regards to the keyboards and how they're set up, I'd get two MIDI cables and connect the MIDI Out of each to the MIDI In of the other. It will take some thought for how to do this, but the ideal setup is one where, for a given program, you can play either keyboard and get sound from the keyboard you're playing, the other keyboard, or both. This lets you layer sounds from both keyboards together and gives you the most flexibility, but it depends what your keyboards will support.
As for sounds, I don't know what capabilities the two keyboards have, but generally, stick to stuff that you know how to play. Don't try and add a hammond organ if you're not really sure what to do with it; try to play in style. Acoustic piano will usually be your bread and butter, pads will help add texture, and electric piano sounds add some nice color.
First, I'd unplug the mic from the R3 (if you can). If you're singing and playing keys, do so through a standard mic instead of through your keyboard, otherwise the person doing sound won't be able to isolate your voice from the notes played on the R3. And if you aren't using the mic on the R3, it might be distracting to people in the congregation.
Secondly, get your own amp with at least two input channels and a line out, run both keyboards into the amp, and then run the amp's output into the main mixer. With two separate keyboards producing sound, you need full control over the balance between the two, *especially* if you're playing both at once or are using MIDI to play one keyboard and get sounds out of both. Church sound people are notorious for poor mixing, either from having little training or experience (they are volunteers, after all), or for mixing with their own personal bias (guitars tend to be more important, especially acoustic, so keyboards can often be quiet in the mix). Also, keyboards don't really normalize their volume, so switching from a hammond organ sound to a piano sound may also mean that the piano will be too quiet in the mix (or, if they set your levels while you were playing piano, that the organ will be too loud). Having a second keyboard will complicate things immensely, so get an amp and worry about balance between the two yourself. That's something you can mainly do on your own at home, tweaking individual sound volumes so that you won't have to think about it when you get together with everyone else.
With regards to the keyboards and how they're set up, I'd get two MIDI cables and connect the MIDI Out of each to the MIDI In of the other. It will take some thought for how to do this, but the ideal setup is one where, for a given program, you can play either keyboard and get sound from the keyboard you're playing, the other keyboard, or both. This lets you layer sounds from both keyboards together and gives you the most flexibility, but it depends what your keyboards will support.
As for sounds, I don't know what capabilities the two keyboards have, but generally, stick to stuff that you know how to play. Don't try and add a hammond organ if you're not really sure what to do with it; try to play in style. Acoustic piano will usually be your bread and butter, pads will help add texture, and electric piano sounds add some nice color.
Hello! Im kinda new here but i play for churches all over the cleveland area, and i have modeled most of my playing off of hillsong, who uses 1-3 keyboardists (usually two) that have 2 keyboards each. Its pretty easy to have more than one keyboard because one can always play a pad sound (some of the best pads are just synth strings with the cut off set real low, and only play two - three notes at a time) or add strings or something more supportive. In most contemporary/modern worship a keyboard plays more of a support role rather than a piano led worship as it was mainly 10 years ago. a great article to read would be http://hillsongcollected.com/creative/approach-keyboard-playing.
I know this is late but hopefully this can help somebody.
His Kingdom come, His Will be done!
I know this is late but hopefully this can help somebody.
His Kingdom come, His Will be done!
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We quite often use a piano and a keys player. The pianist (which has been minimized in the amount of notes they play) always have to watch out for a couple electric guitars, acoustic anyways, so the keys player provides more ambient texture, as well as lead synth lines. Lots of pads/strings + leads + B3. The two players, as with all of our band, simply communicate as best we can about what is necessary for a part and how those parts will be divvied up. A big part of playing like this is knowing when NOT to play. It's okay to not play all the time, or just to hold that one common note that provides the tension and release of a progression without playing the progression yourself. Texture is a keys players best friend.