How to Play Keyboards With Your Friends

After you have explored your new electronic keyboards alone for awhile, you'll find that it's fun to play with friends using different instruments or even other keyboards. You might even form a band. Here's how to go about it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Electronic Keyboards
• Keyboard Sustain Foot Pedals
• Sheet Music
• Keyboard Benches
• Keyboard Dust Covers
• Keyboard Stands

1. Set up your instruments.
2. Tune them with each other. Have the guitars and other stringed instruments and the flutes tune up to your keyboard. If you are playing with another keyboard player, one of you needs to adjust the pitch control.
3. Set your instrument to the key of Bb if you are playing with clarinets, tenor saxophones or trumpets. Most electronic keyboards have a transposer that will allow you to do this.
4. Tune your keyboard to the piano if you have a pianist in your combo. Set the pitch control of your keyboard to middle C of the piano.
5. Choose tunes that all of you know well.
6. Read the same music if possible.
7. Practice pieces you don't know alone before you play them together, especially when preparing for a performance.

Tips & Warnings

• The keyboard blends in well with most other instruments if you choose the right voices and provide solid backing with your built-in rhythm machine. However, if two keyboards play together, only one of them should use auto-rhythm, since it is almost impossible to synchronize the two rhythms.
• If you don't know anyone to play with, ask at your local music store, put up a note on its bulletin board or place an ad in your local paper. Many musicians like playing with a keyboard player; you'll be surprised how many responses you'll get.