(a bit long, sorry)
So this past weekend was my very first opportunity to play keys live with my band 'NRG'. Since I am new to playing keys on stage, I wanted to keep it simple. Just brought one keyboard, one effect, played one song.
There were lots of issues to learn and sort first.
-Learn the song (that was the easy part)
-Tuning the keyboard
-Transposing the keyboard
-PA hookup
-Onstage monitoring
-EQ’ing the keyboard channel on the PA
-Adding and adjusting effects
Now, to the fun part… It’s the 3rd set, 6th song… time to hand my bass over to another band member and play keys!! Ok, I was a bit nervous. Never done this keyboard stuff with a club full of folks, being amplified by a 4200 watt PA. It felt a bit different than just me in my music room. When we started the song, the first thing I noticed was my level of concentration (the chords and dynamics). I really had to think about what I was doing, whereas bass playing just seems to flow out of my fingers without thought or effort. I also noticed that it was easy to be a part of the groove, even though I wasn’t holding my bass. The sound on stage was really much nicer than I expected, it cut through the stage mix well, considering that I was just using our monitor system (which is eq’d for high vocal gain without feedback).
I loved it!!! The way it felt to play, the way the chording lays in the acoustic landscape, and the whole bit. Can’t wait to play again, add songs, etc. The band member who played bass sounded good and seemed to enjoy it!!!
To Yamaha Musical Instruments:
Happy 20th birthday, DX7. Glad we finally share the stage 
To my deceased keyboard teacher / friend, Rod:
Thanks for everything you taught me, and for the inspiration 
First performance on keyboards!! 
