practicing is only repeating what you already know..learning is the real enjoyment, for me, in music...so i play everyday,not practice, trying to learn that one new technique, or a new tune that i didn't know yesterday...
dennis

Extensive study and knowledge of chord theory is an attribute that arranger players are proud to have - I doubt you could teach that to a monkey.

zuki

yep, hold down a white key then add a black one below it, and there ya go a minor chord yippee!! certainly could not teach that to a monkey.....

There are some pretty smart monkeys out there....

But pat yourself on the back if you think that's enough. Most jazz guitarists and pianists are supposed to know that, AND turn a great solo in, too.

Stan Getz, Bird, Trane, you name 'em..... I defy you to find one solo they ever played that doesn't use slurs, scoops, bends, trills, cross-fingering, a myriad techniques to get more than just 'the note' and then 'the next note'. How they are joined up, how they transition from one to the other has as much to do with their individual styles as the notes themselves.

If you ever want to get away from pianism, and explore expressive horn lines, you HAVE to learn these techniques. There is nothing in the world more 'fake' than listening to a keyboard 'sax' solo that doesn't use the bender, or can only use it at times when there are no changes.

We'll discuss piano sample sets 'til the cows come home, but then play a decent sax sound so poorly that it will make any horn player in the house want to get up and leave. That's the thing about synthesis - every sound demands a different technique to make it realistic (at least imitative synthesis), you have to use the tools that make it work, or better to not play the sound at all.

Just as Yamaha have finally cracked the 'tongued/legato' problem, with the SA technology, they tie it to a system that doesn't allow (short of sequencing in advance) you to use the other thing that makes saxes (and so many other sounds) so expressive.

One step forward, one step back.....

Kind of throws the topic off topic, but couldn't pitch bend be set up on a controller pedal, a foot pedal, to get around the not having a chord sequencer feature?

correct diki, never heard a guitarist yet who could bend down...but you have people playing guitars on keyboards bending every which way..

I often use a pedal(FC7)for pitch bending on my PSR-3000...I'm sure other arrangers can be set up in a similar manner.

I first used this technique on the Yamaha Electone HS8...takes a bit of getting used to but it does the job admirably.

Aftertouch, on keyboards so equipped, can be used to replicate the modulation wheel.

Breath controllers are very handy and used to be on Yamaha synths as well as the Kurzweil K2500 and others.

Anatek used to make a little MIDI box for the Yamaha Breath controller, and I believe a company called MIDI Solutions makes one that is still available.

You can assign aftertouch, pitch bend, control change etc.

These devices add incredible expression to your playing, but they require the ability to ADAPT and a commitment to practice.

Ian


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Cha d’dhùin doras nach d’fhosgail doras.

Well, if you start from a bent string, you can indeed bend down. Sometimes you bend the string before you pluck it, and then release the bend after. And of course, there is also the option of having the wammy bar floating trem on your guitar, in which case you can bend down quite easily. So, the arranger player could theoretically bend down without breaking laws of guitar, provided he knew how it could be done.

well, yes, but that was not what i meant..and i think you knew that

Sorry, miden, but he's right. The way on a guitar (AND a keyboard) to bend DOWN, THEN carry on the phrase is to start bent up, then return and continue. That's why aftertouch is useless as a bender - you can't bend up first without hitting the note.

Foot controller bending IS a viable option, but it fights with sustain, variation selection, and a host of other things your feet are usually doing (including possibly playing the bass line!), but in lieu of a chord sequencer, I would be happy if Roland offered it as an option (they don't).

But it also flies in the face of over 37 years (at least since the minimoog) of using your left hand to control pitch, timbre and vibrato. Talk about practicing! Why not ask a sax player to use a trumpet mouth piece, or a bassist to use a MIDI mandolin....

It kind of reminds me of Joe Zawinul's experiments with the 'reversed' keyboard on the Oberheims. Sure, you COULD learn to play it as fluently as the other direction, but why would you? Even Joe only used it as a gimmick, to break pre-concieved patterns of playing, not as a substitute for a normal keyboard.

Two (maybe three!) generations of synthesizer players have grown up with the concept of using their left hand to alter pitch and other non-keyboard aspects of sound. But here come a few to say, 'oh no... you can't use that skill on an arranger, you have more repetitive things to do with your left hand'.

I say rubbish! Roland already worked out how to get around the problem. The trouble was, so few arranger players (and let's be honest, while some are VERY skilled, they are the exception, not the rule in this 'hobbyist' form of music-making) recognized the opportunity this afforded them (if you lack the skill to utilize a feature, what value does it have?) that Roland's marketing division must have gone 'drop it, no-one uses it....'