Yeah ! What Cass said !
BTW - I notice from your profile that you're a rascals fan. Very cool ! Love that sound.

Yea! Dino Dinelli Rocks!!

Hello

I was just thinking this over and you know because of my line of work which is music retail selling and teaching, I find it interesting that this is a big issue. If there is a slight difference in key size it has never made any difference in my playing. I don't play walking bass in the left hand, but I can tell you my right hand can go all over the place when I want it to, a bunch more than any bass part would require. So, with this as my backround, I would imagine I probably have played more keyboards of all sizes than most people.

Then I started thinking about the students I teach, and I began wondering if their most common fault is happening here. They tend to play with their fingers only touching the white keys, which means unless you are looking, you have no clue where you really are. I have seen exceptional pros play this way, but I have found for most people, if one slightly touches the sides of the black keys while they are playing you have in a sense "landmarks" to know exactly where you are without looking.

I remember seeing a guy playing an accordian many years ago on either the Ed Sullivan show or Ted Macks Origianl Amatuer Hour. Of course the keys on a lot of accordians are exta skinny. I am not sure what the case was with this guy, but, he was playing, and he really had chops, the audience loved it, and then half way through his act the keyboard on his accordian was covered with cloth, which to the audience they thought, hey he can't see the keys. Well he played brilliantly with this cloth over the keys. He really had his fingers flying. Of course the answer here is he had his fingers touching the black keys to keep his bearing. I think this is the way he played with or without this cloth.

Depending if I am playing a single note line or playing a chord that is spread out more or less dictates if I am just touching the very ends of the black keys or if I am at or past the halfway mark while playing full chords.

So, Uncle Dave and all those that seem to have an issue here, I have to ask, are your fingers only touching the white part of the keys or are you slightly touching the sides of the black keys?

I am very interested in hearing your answers. Because in most cases, I would bet you a cookie, you are on the white keys only and that's why this becomes an issue for a player.

Best
Scott Langholff

Uncle Dave, do you want some cheese with that whine?

Al

Uncle Dave: I was pretty SHOCKED to discover you recently purchased a Tyros (as well as a PSR2100) especially considering all the trashing you had given the Tyros here, as well as the fact that you had also already owned a PSR2000 and had been so disatisfied with its flimsy keyboard build & feel.

As a child taking piano lessons, I played a Baldwin spinet piano at home. My piano teacher had a Steinway Grand with much heavier & slightly larger keys, so it was initially frustrating to seemingly play my songs well on the spinet, yet sound miserable when attempting to play that same song for my teacher on her Steinway. I bitterly complained to her about this, but over time (thanks to her persistance), I was able to develop the keyboard playing 'adaptability skills' required to adjust to playing on different makes & model acoustic pianos, each with a different keyboard feel. Later, when I began playing organs & synth-action keyboards, this frustration reappeared as I had to re-educate myself (yet again) to adapt now to non-weighted action keys in addition to their slightly smaller key dimension as well. I'm grateful now that I took the time to develop the patience & persistence required to develop keyboard playing 'adapability skills' because I enjoy playing BOTH my Steinway acoustic grand & Tyros, as well as the PSR2000.

Good luck in whatever keyboard you end up deciding on and (hopefully) keeping.

Scott

Uncle Dave, why a KN7000????...I heard one in a choir the other day and the sounds were horrible....now, it could have been the tweaking, or the sound system in the church...but for the most part, all the sounds were incredibly thin...tinny....the acoustic piano was one of the worst I've heard..How bout that 9000 Pro cmon.... 61 keys for a pro like you???? say it isn't so....go back to the Pro....It's calling your name...

Uncle Dave
I went from playing organ to full sized accordion, it took
some getting used to.
Then sold every thing, later on got a MID sized accordion
for a little bit of nothing just to keep up with playing music,
talk about a change in size of key's !!!!!!!!!!!
But I made the grade, played that little thing for years,
then went to Technics KN5000 no problem, then went to the
9000 Pro still no problem.
I'm not as good as you, but I can't blame it on
the size of the key's.
Good luck with your search.
Maybe the Korg PAX-1 will be the one, let us know.
Denny

9k pro: on stage..No Speakers = No Dave!

PSR9000?

In my opinion, the problem here is not to tell Uncle Dave:
Dave, learn to play both size keys!

The problem is:

Why Yamaha (and not Roland, Korg, Technics) make and sell keyboards with no standard size of keys?

I know Yamaha may say: I make keyboards as I want.

Buy, then, if so, why Yamaha don't write in all its keyboards, and in a great type letter, this sentence:
ATTENTION: THIS KEYBOARD HASN'T STANDARD SIZE KEYS! ??