Recent Posts

1

Genos Styles/OTS/Multi Pads / Re: How to find the melody?

« Last post by RoyB on Today at 10:58:42 AM »

Mike

Your point about some chord derivatives containing too many notes to play with one hand is noted in my program for those derivatives, meaning that the only way of attempting to play some of them on an arranger is by missing out a bunch of notes, and perhaps playing them inverted as well.

2

Genos Styles/OTS/Multi Pads / Re: How to find the melody?

« Last post by RoyB on Today at 10:49:41 AM »

Mike and others

I agree with all of that, which is why the emphasis on the help tutorial part of the program will be on the KEY side of the program and practical chord usage and how chords relate to scales. I hope the program can be a useful tool to help learn and understand that, and help beginners to learn chords and to play in key scales other than C by seeing what chords work in those scales, and to help them learn those chords and use them in progressions. The working assumption is that there are some hobbyists who are beginners to keyboards and have little or no music theory knowledge, and who may not yet even be familiar with scales. The chord derivatives part is just a handy look-up reference for those (like me) who need to lookup chords from time to time for some chord derivatives in more complicated keys when they are used in sheet music (which is why I started the program in the first place for my own use).

The purpose of the program is to be a practical help tool, rather than a theory learning tool. So the emphasis of the help tutorial will be to demonstrate how chords relate to scales (using information from the program), how easily to get to the diatonic and chromatic (secondary dominant) chords (without getting bogged down in music theory) and why they are important, and then give simple practical examples of how they are used in chord progressions (I hope to give one example of a very popular song from the 1960s where all 6 of the diatonic and chromatic major chords shown, plus some of the minor chords, or their 7ths, are used just in the first verse).

Another aspect I will be promoting in the help/video tutorials is to practice using the chord inversions shown in the program, and I hope to demonstrate the practical benefits of chord inversions in the tutorials.

Regards

Roy

3

PSR-SX900/SX700/SX600 / Re: How can I quickly switch on/off the "vocal harmony" function

« Last post by DerekA on Today at 09:58:20 AM »

It would be ideal, as we suggested to Yamaha many years ago, if there were two independent instances of reg banks that could be active at the same time (one bank for normal playing and a global bank, e.g. for basic settings such as pedal settings or reverb/VH settings). Unfortunately, this request has not yet been taken up by Yamaha ...

Yes, I can see how this would be useful.

4

Genos Styles/OTS/Multi Pads / Re: How to find the melody?

« Last post by mikf on Today at 09:46:16 AM »

Keith
When people know the scale they can just remember major and minor chords are both notes 1 3 5 of the appropriate scale.
But your way is the 4/3 …3/4 is also a very good way to remember the pattern - essentially a major third is 4 semi tones and a minor third is 3 semi tones. And a major chord is a major third and a minor third, a minor chord is one minor third and one major third, and a diminished chord is all minor thirds. It’s all simple patterns,
The half diminished chord is always written like this - F#min7b5 - and can look intimidating. The notes following the scale method would be 1 3 of the minor scale, the flattened 5 th of the scale and the added 7th. Fairly easy to work out the notes without a table. But even easier is to recognize that it’s a half diminished and their pattern is always two minor thirds and a major third.
It’s all about memorizing only 3 or 4 patterns to do everything, instead of hundred of individual chords.
One thing that you can’t get around though is how difficult these extended/altered chords can be to play on an arranger even if you know the notes to play. Piano players do this across both hands, so adding notes is relatively simple, but using lh chord drivers with a split on an arranger these chords can sometimes be really hard to finger.
Mike

5

PSR-SX900/SX700/SX600 / Re: Re-Arranging Register Banks

« Last post by Bernie9 on Today at 09:41:28 AM »

I have it now, Chris.  It is much appreciated.

Bernie

6

Genos Registrations & Playlist / Re: Marcos Mendez Registrations

« Last post by Tony09 on Today at 09:41:08 AM »

Thank you so much Mark for asking your question and thanks also to Chris for the links.

Since reading your posts I've become totally hooked on what Mr Mendez has provided on his website. I'd never heard of him before. He's great. He explains some things that I've never seen anyone else do. If you're a beginner or intermediate like me you are going to benefit from what he teaches.

Apparently his web presence was brought about by the regulations around Covid. 

I downloaded his Freebies set and am very impressed by it. Eager for more (of which there an abundance) I found in his Digital Classroom that "After April, 2020, the monthly fee for materials will be $50 / month." I interpreted that to mean that if I subscribe it will cost me $50 a month. Oh no! I can't afford to put out $50 a month on my hobby. I later came to realise that isn't what it means. It simply means, if you want to purchase the songs he's covered in any particular month, it will cost $50. Some months  have 4 songs, some five. Do the sums. It probably averages out at $11 a song. The Freebies pack is equivalent to any month so you get quite a bit for $50. See for yourself.

His Freebie set introduced me to a beautiful song I'd never hear before, "This Is The Moment" from "Jekyll & Hyde".

As to his registrations, I really like them as they have a good mix of voices, apart from volume level which I find too loud. So I'm tweaking them, which is something we all do to other people's regs anyway.

So anyone who hasn't already done so, download his Freebies and give them a try. I'm sure that, like me, you'll be ordering a few of the 30+ months currently available.

I have no connection with Mr Mendez or his associates.

Thanks again,

Tony

7

DGX Portable Grand Pianos (DGX 620,630,640,650,660,670) / Re: Do freeplay styles work in the DGX-670?

« Last post by Graham UK on Today at 09:22:38 AM »

Rich. We all have different ways of working.
I keep possibly 30+ favorite styles. Remember you can mute or re-voice style parts to give variation.
I use a lot of Piano in MAIN with PAD or choir in LAYER.

My DGX keys are not noisy.

User Memory I use for editing only, everything else is on USB.
Folder Styles (of interest)
Folder RGT & STY (Styles used in Registration I keep together in this folder)
Folder RGT Voices (My favorite voices saved with STY not-ticked)

8

Genos Styles/OTS/Multi Pads / Re: How to find the melody?

« Last post by BogdanH on Today at 09:13:48 AM »

I'm with Mike on this.
In my opinion, chord tables, no matter how logically made, are useless if we don't understand chords in first place. But if we understand chords, we don't need tables anyway. Chord table is only a summary and as such, it doesn't really help learning.
And then, as a hobby musician (beginner), why would I even bother with some exotic chords that I will probably never use -they just add the unnecessary confusion.
I'm an amateur musician and honestly, so far I only needed major and minor chords for songs that I play.

It's not a shame to admit, that big majority of us (hobby musicians) only play in Cmaj key: we only use C-F-G major chords. And over the time, we additionally learn some other chord when the song requires it -that is, on the need basis. The goal is to play songs and not to learn all existing chords at once.

Bogdan

9

PSR-E Series / Registrations

« Last post by Mick47 on Today at 07:29:57 AM »

Gday
Have an E433..Have not been on this forum for a long time.I seem to remember some members showing some registrations for popular songs that I could set up on my E433
Just wondering if I would be able to access some to get me restarted on my keyboard again
Regards Mick

10

Genos Styles/OTS/Multi Pads / Re: How to find the melody?

« Last post by Divemaster on Today at 06:56:41 AM »

 What Mike says is very good advice, and how I start every playing session. With about 5 or 6 minutes playing nothing but scales and chords.
It really loosens up your fingers, gets you relaxed for playing, and helps me decide what to play.

For new players, a tip.

Playing basic Major and Minor Chords is easily remembered using the simple 4/3  3/4 method. That's all you need to remember.
MAJOR  is  4  3     MINOR  is  3  4.
 
Major chord for example: C Major
C +4 notes is E +3 notes is G   so  CEG.

Minor chord for example: F Minor
F +3 notes is A flat + 4 notes is C   so   F Ab C

Very easy to remember.

I play lots of chords. Some of them sound really good, but I've never been able to name them all. Just enjoy playing is key. That, and trying to learn something, no matter how small each time you play.
Over time it starts to fall into place. Never give up!

Keith