Like my dear friend, DonM, I'm sure glad I didn't know all this or I would have had to find a real job, too.

Also like many others on this forum, we have been in bands for many years, some still are, such as TonyM, but for one reason or another, we prefer being on stage with our arranger keyboards. In my case it was a combination of economics and reliability. The guys I performed with were all considered great musicians in their own realm - no doubt about it. The problems I encountered with some was they failed to show up on time, and some had a drinking problem, which by the end of the night effected their performance ability.

Economically, even when we played the highest paying jobs locally, at best we managed to scrape out $100 per person before expenses for a 4-hour job. Jobs for a full band didn't come along more than once a week, and it was impossible to support a family on $100 a week, even back then. Consequently, I went solo, switched to the senior circuit, switched from a 12-string guitar and singing to an arranger keyboard and singing, and was able to find work 7-days-a-week. I wasn't a better player or worse player because I switched to an arranger keyboard, well, maybe a bit better because it really improved my timing.

Ironically, my audiences were all about the same age, despite whether I was playing in an upscale restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy or a retirement community on the outskirts of town. Even when I performed at The Raven Inn, a local nite club in Towson, MD, the audiences ranged from 55 to 75 years of age, with an occasional 25 to 35 year old couple on the dance floor.

Now, when I was a have guitar will travel entertainer, I thought I was pretty versatile, but in reality, I was not. Sure, I could vary my style of strumming and picking, but it was still just a single person on the stage with a guitar and singing.

When I switched to an arranger keyboard, that single entertainer on stage was transformed into the most versatile player in the area. I could play just about any song there was and do it with a style that lent to that song sounded very close to the original rendition, which is what the audiences wanted to hear. Yet, I still had lots of latitude to be creative, add some licks of my own, throw in some neat breaks and utilize sounds that I never had access to with the band. I was having fun, making lots of money, and only working a couple hours a night, or day.

Ironically, most of the pro musicians I worked with were still working one day a week or less, they were still just as proficient as they were in the past, but ALL had other forms of income other than music. I was not nearly as musically skilled as some of them, but I was working every day, often more than one job a day, putting money in a savings and retirement account and able to support my family. For me, the arranger keyboard is probably the most versatile, musical instrument ever created - bar none! There is absolutely no limit to what you can do with it both on stage and off. You just need to use some creativity.

When it comes to stigma of playing an arranger keyboard on stage, I believe the only stigma comes in the form of professional jealousy. Yep, I'm on stage, singing and playing to a variety of audiences, and making a damned good living doing so, while those guitar players, sax players, horn players, piano players, etc... are sitting in the audiences and not working.

Good topic,

Gary