Thankyou all for your responsiveness.......I have been playing now 10 years, my wife say's its nearer 20 years and she should know having to listen to the same song being practised over & over.

It is obvious that I need to concentrate on this left hand BASS, so I have been looking at the different instrument Riff's that Band-In-A-Box can produce. This program also enables you to print out clearly any of the parts. You can print just the Bass line with Chords.....You see you have now got me all fired up.

Quite an interesting subject.....that is if this 64 year old can keep up the pace?....HA!!

Graham UK

The last couple days I have been putting some of your suggestion above into practice...I find it easier to play Bass with right hand and Chords as normal in the left split.......It just feels more natural to me... plus I have the benefit of being able to read the left Bass Clef part and still play the part with my right hand......Do you think this is an acceptable way to play?

Graham UK

I don't see why not. But so far I have NEVER seen anyone play manual bass using keyboard with their right hand. Most people are right handed and do things better with their right hand. Bass is very repetitive - that is why I use left hand since I don't have to dedicate my brain resource too much for my left hand.

Though I'd personally prefer (when playing manual bass) to trigger chords with my right hand (piano comping sound) and play manual bass with the LH, my arranger keyboard only supports right hand bass playing while triggering comping chords with LH, so I HAD to adapt to playing your right hand bass playing style. The bottom line is: Do whatever works best for you, but sometimes we just have to adapt to the limitations of the keyboard even if it means expanding our keyboard skills. - Scott

Hi Graham,
64 huh I was 64 in Jan. 13 this yr. Yes I was born on a friday!! Yes my wife probably gets tired of listening to me too, but I put her to work singing harmony. She sings alto.

Just My opinon Ok?
I believe you would be better off to learn the bass runs(your walking bass) with your left hand! Because it is at the bass end of your KB. You will be wanting to play some fill in behind your singer.

Another thought, When You are playing Your KB
in the normal way with arranger off, this will give you a new way to back up your right hand. I know you likly do great playing the KB straight the way you've always did it, but just think of the possibilities!
Best Regards
Nobby

PS. Hope Fran doesn't check my spelling!Ha!



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Scott,
If you play the bass line, why not turn OFF the arranger? The kn5k will do that easily. Just split the board and assign the bass to the left and a chord sound to the right. Then just use the drums to finish the sound. It's very refreshing - especially in a more intimate setting.
Try a sipmle swing tune that only uses a few chords (Rt 66???) and walk your way through the changes. It comes as second nature after a very short time and you regain total creative freedom over the arrangment. You are the MASTER, not just the conductor. Try it!

Hi Uncle Dave: I really 'DO' love (and prefer) playing in the fashion (non auto accomp chord arranger mode) you describe. It allows you complete freedom to play ANY chord voicing in the right hand (root & rootless ) YOU choose and not have to worry about arranger chord recognition. But this is NOT true arranger keyboard playing. It is essentially the SAME as playing an acoustic piano (but with a bass sound in the left hand) along with a drum machine.

Sometimes I like to play bass lines with the arranger turned ON (with all auto accomp instrument parts (except bass) playing (horns, guitar, strings, etc). In this situation (at least on the Technics KN keyboards), I have had to adapt to playing bass lines with my right hand. I usually do this when I want to play a short bass solo or when I want to add some LIVE bass line riffs in the middle of a tune. Playing bass with the RH was confusing at first, but it ended up working out fine and (as an added bonus), provided me a NEW keyboard skill.
- Scott

I guess I prefer the "non" true arranger playing method. I LIKE being the aranger! More proof of Chocolate & Vanilla!

Simple tip leave the chord on root note as a test EG Key C cgcgcgcgcc fcfcfcfcff gdgdgdgdgg cetc Pierce.

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Once more please, Peirce.... if you please.