Playing in a band.
- Thread starter Snow Kun
- Start date
Look at the specific Workstation Keyboards, how much you spend is up to you, if you post your budget then specific keyboards can be suggested. Typically a good workstation such as the Korg Kronos or similar is £3000 in the UK.
Head over to Youtube and look at keyboard reviews, and online tutorials, do be careful as sorting the good from the rubbish is a lot of work (anything starting wasssuuppp is a certain dire rubbish).
For backing type keyboard tutorials Tim Gross the keyboard player in Rick Springfield's band has a great site, he has some free tutorials available the full course is paid only, check out pianogenius.com
Head over to Youtube and look at keyboard reviews, and online tutorials, do be careful as sorting the good from the rubbish is a lot of work (anything starting wasssuuppp is a certain dire rubbish).
For backing type keyboard tutorials Tim Gross the keyboard player in Rick Springfield's band has a great site, he has some free tutorials available the full course is paid only, check out pianogenius.com
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
First off you don't need a $5000 workstation to play in a band.
Secondly if you are totally green at keyboards and have been invited to play in a Garage Band type of situation I seriously doubt your bandmates will be expecting Keith Emerson at the keys.
Assuming you have a budget of between $500 and $800 USD you should be looking at professional entry level synths and workstations.
This includes but is not limited to the Roland Juno line (new or used), the Korg X50 or X5 or Korg Kross (new or used), Some of the mid range Yamaha PSR Line (new or used) and even the upper level Casios like the Privia PX-5S, PX-350 or PX-360 (new or used).
With that you will also have to budget a couple of hundred for a decent Keyboard Amp (NEVER use a Guitar Amp with a keyboard).
As for what you have to learn? I suggest you take a look at the tutorial links thread here on the forums.
https://www.keyboardforums.com/threads/good-tutorial-links.24556/
If you want more info then give us more details of what style of music you want to play, what sort of venues, and what your actual budget is?
Gary
Secondly if you are totally green at keyboards and have been invited to play in a Garage Band type of situation I seriously doubt your bandmates will be expecting Keith Emerson at the keys.
Assuming you have a budget of between $500 and $800 USD you should be looking at professional entry level synths and workstations.
This includes but is not limited to the Roland Juno line (new or used), the Korg X50 or X5 or Korg Kross (new or used), Some of the mid range Yamaha PSR Line (new or used) and even the upper level Casios like the Privia PX-5S, PX-350 or PX-360 (new or used).
With that you will also have to budget a couple of hundred for a decent Keyboard Amp (NEVER use a Guitar Amp with a keyboard).
As for what you have to learn? I suggest you take a look at the tutorial links thread here on the forums.
https://www.keyboardforums.com/threads/good-tutorial-links.24556/
If you want more info then give us more details of what style of music you want to play, what sort of venues, and what your actual budget is?
Gary
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You don't need to know how to read notation for a band, but you do want to be able to read basic chord charts. This is the language used by most rock/pop/metal/country/folk and even jazz 90% of the time. Without some sort of common language, it will be very difficult to communicate material to bandmates or learn cover tunes from tab. Learning chord charts will require learning a little basic theory, but that comes with the territory. For example, you'll want to know what a Dm chord is, and in what voicings (fingerings) you can play it.
The one thing to consider, is you should probably learn A LITTLE notation along the way, even if you can't do it in real time. Often, keyboardists are called on to do melody and lead lines, which have to be presented in notation, unlike rhythm parts (chord symbols).
All said-and-done, learning by ear is the most important. Even classically trained musicians (myself included), play by ear most of the time. Notation is just an artificial map. It's good to think with your ears, so whatever method works for you to learn the material, not gonna judge!
As for gear, what kind of music and material are you hoping to play? In most bands outside of purely electronic music, you'd be surprised at how much tried-and-true triumvirate of [piano, electric piano, and rock organ] are used. I'm on one of those sounds about 80% of of the time, no matter the genre. They blend well with all other band instruments, they're traditional and don't sound out of place, and the most versatile sounds that a keyboard player can use. So make sure, whatever you get, has good solid basic keyboard sounds. Those are the most important, bar-none, so get comfortable with pianos first, and "rock" organs next if your genre uses them (most can). Next up are the two synthesizer sound categories: Pads (for filling background space), and Leads (for playing melodies and solos). Synthesizers are fairly genre specific. You won't hear them in acoustic styles, country, classic punk or grunge, though all of those can include piano/organ.
I recommend something simple and cheap to start off with. Skip a synthesizer or workstation, go for a 61key "keyboard" with a wide range of sounds that you can just switch to and play. Don't worry about more complicate instruments with sound creation engines (synthesizers), at this point in your learning, it's good to be un-incumbered by non-performance features, so you can concentrate on putting fingers to keys. I can't recommend a specific brand or model, since they change all the time and I'm not personally in the market for something like that.
Finally, playing in a band, you're gonna need an amp. Many smaller cheap keyboards like what you're looking for will have builtin speakers, but they'll NEVER provide the volume to play with other musicians. So, don't worry about the quality of built-in speakers and get yourself an inexpensive external keyboard amp (but NOT a guitar amp, those are different).
Should be able to find a small, simple keyboard for $150-$300. Small keyboard amp for $100-$150, and stand $25. So you're looking at anywhere between $250-$500 for everything, maybe even less if you buy used or get a good deal. It's a shame you're looking now, holiday sales tend to have TONS of discounts on cheap music gear.
The one thing to consider, is you should probably learn A LITTLE notation along the way, even if you can't do it in real time. Often, keyboardists are called on to do melody and lead lines, which have to be presented in notation, unlike rhythm parts (chord symbols).
All said-and-done, learning by ear is the most important. Even classically trained musicians (myself included), play by ear most of the time. Notation is just an artificial map. It's good to think with your ears, so whatever method works for you to learn the material, not gonna judge!
As for gear, what kind of music and material are you hoping to play? In most bands outside of purely electronic music, you'd be surprised at how much tried-and-true triumvirate of [piano, electric piano, and rock organ] are used. I'm on one of those sounds about 80% of of the time, no matter the genre. They blend well with all other band instruments, they're traditional and don't sound out of place, and the most versatile sounds that a keyboard player can use. So make sure, whatever you get, has good solid basic keyboard sounds. Those are the most important, bar-none, so get comfortable with pianos first, and "rock" organs next if your genre uses them (most can). Next up are the two synthesizer sound categories: Pads (for filling background space), and Leads (for playing melodies and solos). Synthesizers are fairly genre specific. You won't hear them in acoustic styles, country, classic punk or grunge, though all of those can include piano/organ.
I recommend something simple and cheap to start off with. Skip a synthesizer or workstation, go for a 61key "keyboard" with a wide range of sounds that you can just switch to and play. Don't worry about more complicate instruments with sound creation engines (synthesizers), at this point in your learning, it's good to be un-incumbered by non-performance features, so you can concentrate on putting fingers to keys. I can't recommend a specific brand or model, since they change all the time and I'm not personally in the market for something like that.
Finally, playing in a band, you're gonna need an amp. Many smaller cheap keyboards like what you're looking for will have builtin speakers, but they'll NEVER provide the volume to play with other musicians. So, don't worry about the quality of built-in speakers and get yourself an inexpensive external keyboard amp (but NOT a guitar amp, those are different).
Should be able to find a small, simple keyboard for $150-$300. Small keyboard amp for $100-$150, and stand $25. So you're looking at anywhere between $250-$500 for everything, maybe even less if you buy used or get a good deal. It's a shame you're looking now, holiday sales tend to have TONS of discounts on cheap music gear.
How long do you want to take before you can at least play something?
I agree with Eric, ignore the synth keyboard, at least for now,
To get you going learn basic music theory and with it learn a bunch of chords, Major, Minor and 7th chords are not that many to learn and there are simple formulas to learn that apply to the chords. These will get you going and will form the basis of making progress of learning more.
Thousands of songs only consist of three chords so you should be able to play along and provide backing within a short while once you learn the chords.
Guitar chord charts give the lyrics of a song with the chords printed above where it should be played, to see these in action and how they form the rhythm, look up justinguitar on youtube and watch a few of his beginner guitar tutorials. Before others here diss this advice, think about it, you want to play in a band, you therefore need to know how the rest of the rhythm section works so you can see where you will fit in.
I agree with Eric, ignore the synth keyboard, at least for now,
To get you going learn basic music theory and with it learn a bunch of chords, Major, Minor and 7th chords are not that many to learn and there are simple formulas to learn that apply to the chords. These will get you going and will form the basis of making progress of learning more.
Thousands of songs only consist of three chords so you should be able to play along and provide backing within a short while once you learn the chords.
Guitar chord charts give the lyrics of a song with the chords printed above where it should be played, to see these in action and how they form the rhythm, look up justinguitar on youtube and watch a few of his beginner guitar tutorials. Before others here diss this advice, think about it, you want to play in a band, you therefore need to know how the rest of the rhythm section works so you can see where you will fit in.
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Thank you guys. This is the genre, that we're going to play. And I was assigned to be the keyboardist. And there are electronic genre too. But I don't need to copy what exactly the sound is. . And I'm planning to get Yamaha PSR 290 guys. What do you think?
There is no way you will achieve these sounds with the keyboard you quote and in any case I believe that the PSR 290 is a discontinued product.
Check out the PSR EW300 and it bigger brother the PSR EW400 as these may satisfy your needs until you outgrow the functionality of these keyboard.
A Yamaha PSR E453 may also fit your short term needs.
Do note that the model you quote and these I quote are in reality learner and hobbyist keyboards and hence they are cash limited in their inbuilt sounds.
A gigging keyboard amp for a small venue would be 3-400 bucks so you will need to factor this at some stage, in the meantime an arranger keyboard with its inbuilt 2x6W amps and speakers will be sufficient to play along with your friends to practice.
I you can advise on your budget then better advice can be given since there maybe second hand keyboards that will also fit your needs and you could get a reasonable quality keyboard and amp to grow into rather than having to replace a beginner level keyboard.
The keyboards you see in bands on stage are often about $3000 and the Synths can range from $800
Check out the PSR EW300 and it bigger brother the PSR EW400 as these may satisfy your needs until you outgrow the functionality of these keyboard.
A Yamaha PSR E453 may also fit your short term needs.
Do note that the model you quote and these I quote are in reality learner and hobbyist keyboards and hence they are cash limited in their inbuilt sounds.
A gigging keyboard amp for a small venue would be 3-400 bucks so you will need to factor this at some stage, in the meantime an arranger keyboard with its inbuilt 2x6W amps and speakers will be sufficient to play along with your friends to practice.
I you can advise on your budget then better advice can be given since there maybe second hand keyboards that will also fit your needs and you could get a reasonable quality keyboard and amp to grow into rather than having to replace a beginner level keyboard.
The keyboards you see in bands on stage are often about $3000 and the Synths can range from $800
Rayblewit
Love Music / Love Life
Hey Snow Kun,
Back in November you asked us about buying a psr s453.
What happened?
Now talking about a psr 290? Playing in a band?
Get real?
You are playing games with us or living in a pipe dream.
Ray
Back in November you asked us about buying a psr s453.
What happened?
Now talking about a psr 290? Playing in a band?
Get real?
You are playing games with us or living in a pipe dream.
Ray
Thanks for pointing that out Ray.
Two months later and still no nearer getting a keyboard, that is c100 of potential practice and learning time missed.
Two months later and still no nearer getting a keyboard, that is c100 of potential practice and learning time missed.
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Sir, the yamaha e453 that I bought. Has an issue. Because it's a second hand keyboard. there are 4 keys that doesn't work and after a month. The screen doesn't work anymore.
Rayblewit
Love Music / Love Life
So Sorry Snow Kun! My sincere apologies for being harsh!
I hadn't realised that you had already bought one. (PSR 453)
That is a shame that it has faults.Can you return it for refund?
Anyway don't even look at the PSR290. This is no good for you for playing in a band.
You need something much better and the above information from Biggles, Happyrat1 and Eric is very good advice.
Best wishes.
Ray
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More than that. He clearly has a lot of spare time, assuming he works 9-5 he's missing two hours of morning practice and three hours of evening practice potentially. Over the course of 60 days that 300 potential hours of practice wasted.
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
Those may be simple repairs. I'm guessing it may have been opened up for service before and the display connector may be loose.
As for the 4 non working keys?
Again if it was serviced by a noob it may simply be that the silicone key contacts were replaced misaligned.
If all that's really wrong with it is mechanical problems then it may very well be easily fixable.
Gary