General Music Chat

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Hey, Chippy. I use exorcises to keep the evil spirits out of my fingers. I use exercises to keep the arthritis out.

Sorry, had to be the first in a long line of smartasses to reply.

Keep well.

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I use the same springy thing and a rubber ball for my hands and fingers . More the left than right but I exercise em both all the time.

And its another day in Paradise !!!

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Folks and generally earmarked for the keys players among us. Do you use exorcises to keep nimble and if so what ones and is there an example I could look at somewhere please?

I'm a drummer (Enough said on that).

When playing guitar I had a finger strengthening device that had springs on it for each finger. This helped massively as regards string dampening. Are there things that I can do to keep my fingers or get them a little more nimble than they are at present?

I'm not planning on being Beethoven or anything, just get my fingers loose.

Many thanks.

Chippy.

When I'm not near a guitar (which sadly is most of the time), I'll do the 4 finger table tap thing people do when they're bored. You know, when you have your hand palm down on a table and tap your fingers in sequence starting with your pinky and ending with your first finger. I'll do that as fast as I can, then I'll work on mixing it up, first-last, second-last, third-last, then back again. I do that on the steering wheel (the horn while driving and also at the office when I'm thinking about a project. I'll do that along with music too if I'm in the car or sporting headphones.

It really works the fingers and the forearms for me, keeping them loose and warmed up.

Chris

Chris

I run scales in all modals and keys

I run scales in all modals and keys

^^^ hehe dont forget to use this with practice:

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Folks and generally earmarked for the keys players among us. Do you use exorcises to keep nimble and if so what ones and is there an example I could look at somewhere please?


Many thanks.

Chippy.

Chippy,
I once considered exorcising the evil spirits from my old piano with some holy water, but when the priest found out that I wasn't Catholic, he wouldn't give me any.

Seriously though,
I practice bad fingering positions due to the fact that I'm a self taught old dog who finds it difficult to learn new tricks. However, I recommend that any new keyboardest learn proper (standard) finger positions. I'm sure that a google search would reveal many instructional vidios.

I recently picked up some drum playing rudiments on line to help my granddaughter learn to play. (she is already now a bitchin' shuffle drummer. )
Howlin'

Here Ya Go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNQqe7mGlyQ

(I'm gonna check this out myself! (maybe ya CAN teach an 'ol hound new positions! )

HJ

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If you can, don't do your exercises on Divingboard keys like on most synths and organs, but use waterfall keys like on the B-3 and M-3 organs or do them on a piano.

Doing exercises on lightweight diving board keys is sorta like pumping Iron with 10lbs

you can usually pick up a $100 or Free M-2 or M-3 Hammond on Craigslist.

The L-100's and M-100's E-100's and H-100's have the lighter weight diving board keys.

Check youtube, lots of lessons on scales on there

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Yeah, I noticed the last time I went keyboard shopping how horrible all the action and cheap the keys have become, Man...what Junk is out there, I was even disappointed with the Nord.

I still use my old Ensoniq SD-1's, I'm pretty happy with the action and feel of those keys and they have held up with over 18 years of gigs very well.

I think my next project will be a Waterfall Midi Keyboard using a manual from a broken Older Hammond organ and using a Midi Encoder
( http://www.sound-research.net/keyboard_encoder.html )
so I can run it to a Rack Mounted midi Sampler. Testing the idea with my current Midi Organ Pedal project. I don't have the money to spend on gear either so I build a lot of stuff myself from free old organs and shop around for older used stuff that seem to be better made.


You would be amazed what people throw away!!! Check out the top video on my profile of a Buchla Music box we found in a dumpster!