There are a few different ways I approach arranger playing ( or more accurately live play ) Among them :

1. I play using the arranger to play left hand bass and right hand rythym & chords. In this case I have to use a pedal to bend notes ( I'm not very good at this ). I don't use this method to play any songs that require me to emulate guitar solos

2. I use left hand for chords in the chord memory mode so that I can remove my left hand for quick setting changes and an occasional pitch bend. The right hand plays more melodies and solos. In this setup my PA80 recognizes single, dual fingered, and full fingered chords, ( which is also necessary for me to be able to control the amount of real time harmony voices coming from the harmonizer of the PA80 ). I've gotten pretty good at this and can get emulate a decent solo especially if the rythym line is simple and the song has few chord changes. There of course is no left hand split voice assigned when I am playing a song that I know I'll be using the pitch wheel for.

3. I scrap the arrangement entirely and play from a midifile. This setup is always used ( but not limited to ) for the songs that have parts that include very complex melodies and solos that I want to emulate.

I read a lot that players will start the wheel set to a whole ( or half ) step below the note and bend up 'til the wheel is back to the middle ( it's resting position ). I start from the resting position and bend up. I'm already into the bend as I am striking the note. I started playing solos this way when I got my first pitch wheel kb ( my Poly 6 a good 20 years ago ) and I never even realized that a lot of players start from the bottom and work back to the middle. I tried that but it just doesn't feel natural to me.

Having a joystick is also a big plus. Pitch bends and mods on the same stick, with a lot more finesse than using a wheel. I use the stick to do more than bend notes up a half or whole step, especially on guitar pieces. Very minute bends back and forth gives kind of an effect of string resonance. I don't know how else to explain pitch bends except to say that I've used it to the point that it's so natural to me that I don't think at all about it when I'm doing it. Kind of like the way my left foot works when driving with a clutch.

How often do I use it ? Suffice it to say that I would not own a keyboard ( aside from a piano / EP of course ) that does not allow me to bend notes. I use the "stick" for guitar and harmonica emulations as well as sax / trombone and of course for those Keith Emerson / Rick Wakeman types of synth solos ( that we rarely get to do live )




[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 07-08-2002).]