4 comments! And 3 of them coming from keyboardists.
This proves a point or 2:
1. There are just too little keyboardists out there.
2. People just don’t care about keyboardists.
We are a much overlooked bunch!
Everyone takes notice of:
The lead singer - How well he/she sings.
The lead guitarist - How well he shreds.
The other guitarist - How high he jumps.
The bassist - How stoned he is.
And the drummer - How hard he hits.
We keyboardists just stand/sit quietly at the back, play our stuff, then leave the stage quietly too.
Here are some tips for aspiring keyboardists who wanna impress the crowd, while aiming to do it stylishly at the same time.
1. Increase your gear
Play with as many keyboards and pianos as possible. Stack your keyboards as high as the Petronas Twin Towers, put a piano on your right, and an organ on your left. For the heck of it, put a grand piano behind you, so that when you do your solo on it, the crowd can’t see your stupid smirk.
Even if you do use the gear, it will still make the crowd go: “Wow, that’s what I call multi-tasking!”
2. Use a towel
When your adrenaline is pumping, when the bright lights are shining down on you, and when you’re playing your keys with such intensity not even Rambo can muster while killing his enemies…
You WILL sweat.
One important thing to do is to of course, wipe it off with your hands. But at the top of the list, is to actually wipe it off without being caught on camera. Or worse, a video camera. The last thing you want is people passing you on the street going: “That’s the keyboardist that wipes his sweat 10 million times! On stage!”
But it’s hard to know when a camera is focusing on you; these camera people just LOVE candid shots, especially shots of you in a vulnerable state.
So, bring a towel on stage! You can wipe the sweat of your forehead, and look presentable doing it. Use a white one, it will blend in with the background well.
3. Prepare jumping platforms before the gig
You see, unlike guitarists or bassists, we keyboardists are more restricted in our movements. These axe-wielding lads have every chance and opportunity to make crazy jumps and leaps while playing their instrument. We, on the other hand, don’t. The moment we move away, sound stops coming out from the keys. Unless you have a remote of some sort. Hmm…
So, we’ll try to make use of the pauses in the middle of the songs to make a spectacular jump. Parts where it’s just the drums playing, that sort of thing.
But, to make a spectacular jump, you’ll need height. You’ll need a platform of some sort which will enable you to land your fingers nicely on your keyboard to continue playing the song. A chair just doesn’t cut it - It’s too pansy. A good choice would be the bass drum, but my drummer would hurl a drum stick at me the moment I get within 1 metre of his rig.
An amp would be the best bet, or some giant speakers. Make sure they are stable though - Piano stools are a bad choice, they are too wobbly.
Remember - Practice your jumps before the gig. You wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself by breaking a piano stool and landing on your behind in agony.
This could work too.
That’s it! Keep these 3 tips at the back of your head, and you are on your way to gigs & chicks!
P/S The above post is written purely out of personal experiences and are true stories in every way, though massively exaggerated at times. Only at times.
