Once again I am going to write from the perspective of the keyboardist, which I can fortunately do not only because I am one, but also because keyboardists are the biggest offenders at this! It is actually pretty hard for a guitar to get down in that range, in the same way it’s hard for a viola to step on an upright base, or a cello to step on a violin.
So, dear keyboardists – your wax- on wax-off is to sit on your left hand. I’m serious – you don’t get to use it – not at all.
And here is the really beautiful thing. Your sound guy will appreciate it. The piano will sound better. Your band will sound better. It will be less muddy. Your bass player will probably take you out for dinner! It’ll be a win-win-win-win-win, at least a five-way win.
Once it starts making sense to you what you should be playing, that you can indeed get away with using just one hand, once you don’t need it anymore – then you can finally have that hand back. And you will find that you will sound better than ever.
You were getting bored doing the same old thing week after week anyway, weren’t you? You needed a challenge. Well this is it.
Protip: don’t forget to do your Hanon exercises so your left hand doesn’t atrophy!
Pete – I have a feeling you and I are going to get along delightfully in Jamaica! As a bass player married to a keyboardist who is a classically trained pianist, it is hard to convince her that less is more and she doesn’t have to play my notes and hers all at the same time. Looking forward to working with you.
As a church and funk band keyboardist, I can’t agree more with what you’re saying here! Too often, pianists make the mistake of playing “too many notes” when they should just concentrate on keeping it simple. The goal is to make the music as a whole sound as good as possible, not to impress anyone with how many notes you can play at the same time. 😀