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Viewing 1 to (9 Total) New Member |
United Kingdom
Total Posts: 4
Joined: March 24, 2016
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Hi everyone.
just wanted to say hi and introduce myself
I'm Bill and I live in North Norfolk have done for yonks.
my musical ability is pretty poor bearing in mind that i have had various keyboards for probably 25 years --at least. I just find it so damned hard this sight reading
thing!
At the moment I have a KN6K with 6500 update and SX3 hard drive. I have had it for quite a few years and still love it. (Although there are times when I feel like chucking it in a skip out of frustration at my lack of skill )
I'm looking forward to participating on this site and reading some articles and also using some of the downloads.
Best wishes
Bill
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Posted on March 28, 2016 at 3:55 PM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 360
Joined: June 8, 2014
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Re: New Member
Hi Bill, welcome to the site,hope you find items of interest and useful downloads , if there is anything you need help with please don't hesitate to shout out
All the Best John.
Posted on March 28, 2016 at 4:17 PM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 1055
Joined: February 2, 2014
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Re: New Member
Hi Bill,
A very warm welcome to you I hope you enjoy the websites.
I wanted to ask you about your sight reading because I'll be writing some articles about it shortly. I started learning when I was about 13, you'll see some forum posts about it here and there, and I taught myself using the big note type music, where the letter of the note is inside the dot. I progressed to 'normal' music over the years but even though I now read music fairly well, frankly, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I have some great big note music that I put up on the music stand sometimes.... I find it a bit like having a McDonalds... it tastes good and you don't have to chew too hard! Haha.
Anyway, I wondered how you had gone about learning to sight read?
Best wishes,
Mike
Posted on March 28, 2016 at 5:31 PM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 4
Joined: March 24, 2016
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Re: New Member
Thanks for the welcome gents.
Mike,as far as my sight reading goes....ummm well put it this way, its kind of you to say "how you had gone about learning to sight read " because I still cant do it .
However,like you l started with the easy books where the notes are large with the letter inside the dot and chord symbols. I carried on this way until I wanted to play songs that were more challenging. So gradually the treble notes became more familiar just by lots of practise and playing good songs that were fun to play.
The main difference between us is that you started at the sensible age of 13....I was disinterested in music until more like age 30....probably too late,-learning ability dramatically reduced. I have never had any proper lessons....I wouldnt mind but I think at age 56 and been trying for about 26 years its probably too late now.
The next episode is of course?....yes bet you guessed it......learning bass stave and trying to play properly on piano.This has been really testing and i now find that ive gone backwards (this has even made me think once or twice about giving up and chucking both the KN6K and the wifes piano in the skip....ha-ha).
I remain a very poor reader and accept that my enjoyment comes from learning songs very slowly note by note and relying on note and muscle memory (an interesting topic on its own ) in order to play songs.
Hope you find this useful....
Best wishes
Bill
Posted on March 28, 2016 at 7:41 PM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 360
Joined: June 8, 2014
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Re: New Member
Hi Bill , You would be surprised it is never too early or too late when it comes to when to start,when I was a music teacher back in the late 1970's i had a pupil who at the age of 78,and with the fact he was a wood worker who had tried to reshape the ends of his fingers with a planing machine/. Credit to him he did make music and did the most important thing of all ,he enjoyed himself and had fun.!!.
We all watch other players doing things and utter the words like "I will never play like that!!" but we all had to start somewhere and you will often surprise yourself. thats what makes it very rewarding and B----Y frustrating !!!!!! Just keep playing those keys.
Regards John.
Posted on March 28, 2016 at 11:17 PM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 30
Joined: September 7, 2014
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Re: New Member
Hello Bill,
How nice to meet you and welcome. I've no doubt you will get so much from being a member of this fantastic site and Mike is just a diamond.
Like your good self I started playing the keyboard very late in life and I can't site read either although I can read music as I did play clarinet and sax (so many moons ago when I could still blow!) I tried lessons but the brain didn't want to join in and even though I taught myself Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata from start to finish it took about a year to memorise it because I had to keep looking at the keys and not the music!
I lived in East Harling, Norfolk for about six years but I live in Clacton, Essex now. I also owned a KN6000 with the upgrade and sometimes I wish I still had it for the voices especially. I have the KN7000 now but mainly for the SD facility if I'm honest.
Don't be a defeatist....KNs are for everybody whatever their limitations. These days I mostly use the sequencer to create arrangements as this gives me a great deal of satisfaction rather than feeling I'll never be able to play as well as other people. Maybe this would interest you. If you need some pointers drop me a line.
Nice to have you onboard
Posted on April 6, 2016 at 4:34 PM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 4
Joined: March 24, 2016
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Re: New Member
Hello Mel
Thank you for your kind welcome.
Your story sounds so familiar,especially the bits about the brain not playing ball.! Although I havent had any lessons apart from ideas and suggestions from my wife who although a certified grade 8 player ,has always struggled with sight reading too. I think I just have to practise everday ...im assured its very important.
I am intrigued by the sequencer...I have done some songs using step record which i find really quite laborious, and im not clear about using backings or not when sequencing. All I've done is a coupe of tracks one for bass and the other for treble with piano voice pieces. Im not sure how to integrate a preset backing into a sequence. ..I'll have to get the manual out again.
On a similar topic, I would like to create my own backings-- and have had a go,but I found it frustrating that having done variation 1 ...you have to start all over again to do the other 3 variations and also the intros and endings......have i missed something here...or can you copy variation 1 to the other 3 then make adjustments. Naturally you want all 4 variations to be similarly based......ie more detailed or embellished as you go from vari 1 to 4.
Its nice to talk to peope with the same interest.
best wishes
Bill
Ps
Did i pickup a vibe from you that you wouldn't recommend necessarily changing up to a KN7K from my 6K + 6500 upgrade and hard drive with super sounds expansion board? I had been thinking of this recently.....even thought about looking at a Tyros 5. ...lot of money though!
Posted on April 8, 2016 at 7:54 AM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 1055
Joined: February 2, 2014
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Re: New Member
Hi Bill,
Once you've made one variation you can copy it to the others using Pattern Copy (Page 115 of the KN6000 User Manual, Page 119 of the KN7000 User Manual).
Should you decide to swap to a KN7000 ever then you can of course take the expansion board with you.
A good way to start out with the Sequencer is to use Easy Record. Just play as usual, imagining that you are 'backing yourself', so that you play all the backing parts into the sequencer. The auto accompaniment, chords etc will get recorded automatically. You can then move your right hand part tracks to other tracks and then you'll be able to play along with your new backing track. If you need more pointers about that, ask away.
Hi Mel,
What Sounds are you wishing for? The KN7000 has every Sound that is in KN6500, if some are not in the usual Sound Group buttons have a look in Sound Explorer. Once found you can always copy them to the Sound Memory group for easy access.
Best wishes,
Mike
Posted on April 8, 2016 at 9:58 AM
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United Kingdom
Total Posts: 30
Joined: September 7, 2014
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Re: New Member
Hi Bill,
I have only ever created a backing on one of my arrangements (You’ve Got Your Troubles) and that was because I simply couldn’t find a convincing pre set backing for that song. Nine times out of ten you’ll find a suitable style available and remember if the pre set backing has something in it you’re not keen on you can mute that part. I do sometimes make an extra bass line or drums on a separate track or add drum fills to enhance things.
I usually record all the tracks I use via Prog Menu/Seq/Rec&Edit/Realtime Rec then re-address each track in Note Edit and only use Step Rec with tracks 5 and 6 (chords and ctl) because there is no alternative on these tracks. You really would be there all day if you used Step Rec on every track and frankly it would be quicker to learn to sight read! So I can’t comment about Easy Rec. I’ve simply found this works and I’m too lazy to learn another method!!!!!!!!!!
If you do need/want to create your own variations I know Mike has just the tool for you by way of his “Easy Composer Worksheet” pdf. I wish I had had it at the time because now I will never know what I used for ‘Troubles’. I’m sure he will provide the link to save you searching the site.
The article on sequencing that I submitted to this site may be of interest to you and possibly even the sequenced songs themselves which are also available for downloading so that you can take a look at the finished article so to speak.
As for upgrading your keyboard... it's personal choice. What you have is already fantastic but for my needs at the time it proved a little slow and restrictive in terms of the floppy disk versus the sd card. I believe Mike when he says the voices are all still on there even though I haven't counted them and of course I have the option of loading up the KN65 styles (which is probably what I was really on about!)
I owned a Tyros 3 for a little while and I will have to be careful what I say here for fear of offending anyone but in my LIMITED experience and disregarding the extraordinary advances in technology that Yamaha have made (ie the articulation effect that I would give my right arm for if Technics were still producing keyboards) I have to say that they aren't without their frustrations and faults. A sales man in the music shop more or less laughed at me when I said I owned a KN65 and that the Tyros3 had more technology in its little finger! Yeah, he was right but that didn't stop it defaulting to a crash cymbol in performance pads whatever the one touch play. Just lazy programming. (But please, guys I don't want to cause a war here. It's just an observation)
It’s really nice to chat to you and do feel free to email me personally (see my profile) anytime.
Regards Mel
Posted on April 9, 2016 at 4:40 PM
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