It's Sad, But It's Time For It To Go

[Sean Regan]

I've had electric organs or pianos since the seventies.

Five in all.

My first was a second-hand one I bought from a friend, I think I paid around fifty quid. I can't even remember the make. It wasn't one with which I was familiar.



The second was a new Farfisa double-manual, like this. It had a roll-top and at the time was very expensive. A real piece of furniture. But it was only an organ, it couldn't produce a “piano sound.”

Then the age of the synthesized technology came in and such instruments were out of favour, so I traded it in for a suitable Yamaha in the late 80s.




Then came an upgrade for another Yamaha in the 90s,



Finally, that was traded in for my Yamaha PSR 1000, in 2000.



A 61 key piano which records to floppy discs. Talk about old technology. It's still in great condition, but as I'm getting old, my interest in it has waned, so sadly, it has to go. I'm putting it on e-Bay.

It'll be soon forgotten as I've other hobbies in which I'm interested,



But..



As one door closes...



Another opens...



I've just bought



One of these.



A 76 key Yamaha Tyros 5.

I'm not sure if the kids would approve of me starting to spend their inheritance.


Actually, that's not true, they're encouraging us to spend it, after all, they've said they're going to spend their kids'!

 

[CanadianLori]

What type of music do you play?

 

[Sean Regan]

What type of music do you play?

Cue for a song!

Classic ballads

https://app.box.com/s/sdnjk4oqoyc2ssepb1qt

https://app.box.com/s/ve7svq77gbovhmqaih02ss1lt8eat8hg

Jazz Standards

https://app.box.com/s/n3mofjmonx89fuz497vtu4n89sp2n6jy

https://app.box.com/s/hxmmqleroxtv4cmoirlsj75sll5x402j

Four Freshmen

https://app.box.com/s/6sqzq1rsp4oksqk6tqzy

Vintage pop.

Tod Rungren

https://app.box.com/s/jb845tt60coqlsi11p7myx6z77yav2oj


Everlys
https://app.box.com/s/h3ops9jewgvdscvz0qmv

https://app.box.com/s/kr1ty9p7ze3qywle0l550x3z5p55lvfj

Neil Sedaka

https://app.box.com/s/rxajej524xol8vzeqa6q

Bobby Vee

https://app.box.com/s/wid04me9cn5a5c5wheey

Carole King

https://app.box.com/s/wcflqk6eprl90i8h42lv

Rod Stewart

https://app.box.com/s/uluoz3q8m912nqr6s74a

Elvis

https://app.box.com/s/bw4tsosvw5qjrqxevoqh

Fleetwood Mac

https://app.box.com/s/97bt116exm78zcb40q40

ELO

https://app.box.com/s/2xmirb2lxksibwul3ij9yzajoy0vpaai

Motown

Sam Cooke

https://app.box.com/s/cuv9df4cnjcr1h97abk3

Aretha Franklin

https://app.box.com/s/ii2n03p4essctlf7bane


I've another 200, "when you're ready."

 

[CanadianLori]

Woe Nellie! Hold up there

I'll try to find time to follow your links soon. Thank you

I mess about a little on my electric 88 fully weighted key piano. Jazz standards too... except I play the creatively mangled version. Everyone is happy I wear headphones

 

[Sean Regan]

Woe Nellie! Hold up there

I'll try to find time to follow your links soon. Thank you

I mess about a little on my electric 88 fully weighted key piano. Jazz standards too... except I play the creatively mangled version. Everyone is happy I wear headphones

You asked and I gave you some examples.

I usually wear headphones, if I'm practicing a new song.

For most pop stuff I just busk it, many have quite simple chord progressions. What I like to do is to play the substitute jazz chords for many standards. You can get song books which have both in them.
I make a lot of backing tracks which I use so that I can play along with them on my tenor saxophone.

 

[headfullofbees]

Kids have the right to earn and spend their own money; they do not have any right to an inheritance.

 

[alp]

Cue for a song!

Classic ballads

https://app.box.com/s/sdnjk4oqoyc2ssepb1qt

https://app.box.com/s/ve7svq77gbovhmqaih02ss1lt8eat8hg

Jazz Standards

https://app.box.com/s/n3mofjmonx89fuz497vtu4n89sp2n6jy

https://app.box.com/s/hxmmqleroxtv4cmoirlsj75sll5x402j

Four Freshmen

https://app.box.com/s/6sqzq1rsp4oksqk6tqzy

Vintage pop.

Tod Rungren

https://app.box.com/s/jb845tt60coqlsi11p7myx6z77yav2oj


Everlys
https://app.box.com/s/h3ops9jewgvdscvz0qmv

https://app.box.com/s/kr1ty9p7ze3qywle0l550x3z5p55lvfj

Neil Sedaka

https://app.box.com/s/rxajej524xol8vzeqa6q

Bobby Vee

https://app.box.com/s/wid04me9cn5a5c5wheey

Carole King

https://app.box.com/s/wcflqk6eprl90i8h42lv

Rod Stewart

https://app.box.com/s/uluoz3q8m912nqr6s74a

Elvis

https://app.box.com/s/bw4tsosvw5qjrqxevoqh

Fleetwood Mac

https://app.box.com/s/97bt116exm78zcb40q40

ELO

https://app.box.com/s/2xmirb2lxksibwul3ij9yzajoy0vpaai

Motown

Sam Cooke

https://app.box.com/s/cuv9df4cnjcr1h97abk3

Aretha Franklin

https://app.box.com/s/ii2n03p4essctlf7bane


I've another 200, "when you're ready."

LOL! Lori, you've opened a sluice gate.

I am sure every one of them is a testament to good memory!

 

[Sean Regan]

The problem is that there's only twelve notes in an octave. So there's a finite number of appealing combinations to make a nice tune.
So many contemporary tunes seem so similar and female vocalists so often think they have to shout!
And there's so much repetition of the same phrase or complete lines in some so called "tunes," talk about lack of imagination.
There's been some research I read, that many older people prefer the tunes popular in their youth and the "researchers" concluded that it has to do with nostalgia.

"What were the chances of that happening?"

For cryin' out loud, talk about "specialised subject, statin' the bleedin' obvious."

 

[alp]

MAY NOT BE RELATED!

You know what you can do, Sean! Put the notes in a bag and pull them out and arrange them and then into major or minor or even atonal!

Nostalgia and ear training. Our ears have been trained to accept certain sequences. That's why the best way to break the mould is to pull notes out of a bag and start from there.

 

[Sean Regan]

A lot of contemporary tunes are written around a chord progression, much the same of many tunes of all eras.
The best tunes have the melody written first, then the necessary chords found.

 

[Sean Regan]

As an experienced eBay seller and purchaser, it surprises me when some professional retailers who also use e-Bay, as many do, "get it wrong."

I've mentioned before how much traders value their e-Bay ratings and will do their best to preserve it and will usually be accommodating. The music store chain in this case has asked in their sale confirmation e-mail that I give them a "5 star rating" and positive comments, if I'm happy with it.

After placing the winning bid on this second-hand keyboard, I phoned the store that listed the item, to ensure that the stand displayed in the photo would be included in the sale. The young lady at the end of the phone said it wasn't, as it hadn't been mentioned in the description. She referred me to their head office. Where I got the same story.
I then (politely) told them that the young lady to whom I previously spoke, told me they used a generic photo of one they had somewhere in one of their stores. I said, in fact, I knew they'd used it before for earlier sales. (You can go back on eBay to check "completed listings," to see what did or did not sell and at what price). You can then assess the true value of pretty much anything.

I explained that as a former professional retailer, I was aware that the rules of e-Bay are quite clear. Illustrations must be of the exact item that was being offered, or a note to say that what could be seen was just an example. Otherwise they would be guilty of "passing off." I agreed that the stand wasn't listed as being included, but neither was it stated that it wasn't.

The consequence, is that I'm getting a stand included in the sale. This means I can list the one I've already got when I attempt to sell my old piano.

As a two year guarantee is included in the sale, I consider I've a good deal. I'm pretty sure they'll make sure they send me the best example they have amongst their many stores.

"They don't want to mess with me."

These tried and tested keyboards are becoming available as Yamaha has finished making this series of work stations as they call them and are now pushing the new Genos range, consequently users with more money than sense are trading in their Tyros 5s to have the "latest" untested examples.

"They could be like the difference between Windows eight and ten."

Yeah!

 

[Sean Regan]

Well it's finally arrived, as I'd hoped there's not a mark on it, I guess they're clearing all their demo models now.
I'm glad that my foot controllers that I had with the other one work on this one.

The stand they provided is better than the one illustrated, being more like my old one, it'll be easier for my wife to vacuum round it and less chance of me tripping over the front legs.


Just waiting for Miele to deliver our replacement fridge/freezer later today.

 

[Sean Regan]

I've sorted out the cabling on this now which will please my wife no end. I'm getting to grips with the programming now. Fortunately it's just an extension on the way the old one works (with a few thousa0nd more options). There is a dedicated Yamaha message board for their electric pianos, (which isn't run by Yamaha, so there's always a "search" facility or you can just ask a question on the many model related forums. But even better is now you can just look for it on YouTube. As they say " a video is worth a thousand words."

 

[Sean Regan]

I've recorded a lot of tunes lately. I post the links to them on a dedicated Yamaha electric piano message board as do many other contributors.
I'll play anything that interests me, but I do like to play the classic standards. Memorable tunes that have a good melody and really nice chord progressions, like this one from 1946.

This is just me choosing the style, the "voices, " then playing the chords and the melody, the piano does the rest.

Isn't technology wonderful?

https://app.box.com/s/n1wywlkf8tdjgajqi2w9zxjm4nrmf6p8