Like many of the forum members here, I began performing with an instrument other than an arranger keyboard. I kicked off with a guitar, a six string acoustic that I purchased for $20 in a pawn shop right after I got out of the Navy. At the same location I purchased a 100-watt amp, a beat up Shure mic, and a mic stand. I played some of the local blood and guts saloons, made hundreds of dollars a year, sometimes I managed to get a band job and split the same amount with four other guys - it was an amazing time in my life. I WAS A STAR! Well, kinda.

Then one day, while in a local music store buying some new guitar strings, the owner, who is still a good friend, showed me a Roland drum machine - WOW! This thing was incredible, and the owners of the bars I performed at said it really added to the performances. A few years later, I was in the same music store, and the owner introduced me to an arranger keyboard. He said, "You're gonna love this thing." He was right. It was a 61 key arranger, had 12 styles, and six voices. I was blown away, I used it in conjunction with the guitar and the audiences all responded favorably.

I don't remember the year, but the same store brought in some newer keyboards, one of which was a PSR-500. WOW! This thing was incredible. Then I purchased a big Apex stand, a triple decker, and placed a Roland G-800 on the bottom tier. It was a monster, really sounded good, but really heavy. I had that Roland for about a year when the PSR-5700 became available. It too was pretty heavy, about 51 pounds, sounded great and there were loads of styles available for it from a British guy, whom I believe still sells style files.

As the years progressed, I continued to upgrade arrangers and sound systems till I'm where I am now. I believe DonM is correct in that we were cutting edge technologists and still are. When I head south next month, I'm fairly confident that there were be a lot of have guitar will travels guys there, and if it is like the last time I was there, I'll likely be the only keyboard player on Marathon Key. Come to think of it, I didn't see any arranger keyboards in Key West either. There were a couple bands that had Motifs, but no arrangers, and no OMB arranger entertainers either. Are we a dying breed? I hope not, but only time will tell.

Cheers,

Gary