Keyboard versus Guitar

Hearing Billy Joel's music starting around age ten hooked me on piano for life. I dabbled with guitar in my teens, but I've always been much more of a pianist than a guitarist.

I've always thought of the piano as the mother instrument at the center of all music with its spread of 88 keys perfectly laid out as a reference point for all instruments. As a player, the bing of a key strike mesmerizes me. I understand it is simply a hammer hitting a string, but it sounds like something above and beyond that--something unique.

But that hammer strike separates that pianist from the strings. The many moving parts between the keys and the strings result in the player only being able to manipulate the strings indirectly. This results in an instrument with limited dynamics.

The guitar, on the other hand, is just about opposite the piano in this regard. A guitar player directly manipulates the guitar strings with both hands simultaneously. With one hand, he can bend notes, slide down the strings, hammer on, and pull off. With the other hand, he can strike the strings with a single pick, a pick attached to each finger, his fingernails, or his fingertips themselves. He might slap the strings rhythmically. Because of these possibilities, the guitar is an extremely dynamic and versatile musical instrument.

But there are hot sounds to be produced by piano keys too. The 1960s to the 1980s gave us some lovely electric pianos. The Fender Rhodes electric piano may be the most dynamic of these new instruments. More than just the pitch changes as one moves up or down the keyboard and more than the volume changes when you hit a key lighter or harder. Herbie Hancock describes the Rhodes as having many colors that can be brought out. The Wurlitzer electric pianos, too, have a color all their own. Yamaha CP models also expanded the range of sounds a keyboardist could produce. And throughout, organs evolved--particularly the Hammond, which became a fixture of much of the rich music being produced as the century wrapped up with synthesizers able to create any sound imaginable.

Now every keyboard sound ever produced is available through relatively affordable digital pianos and keyboards. I don't think you can have one electronic keyboard for everything, though. A piano, for example, needs to have key action that is vastly different from what you would want for a Hammond organ.

But the rich evolution of keyed instruments still doesn't result in parity with the guitar, because the directly string manipulation, to me, can't be surpassed by any keyboard. In addition, the guitar is simply a friendly instrument. A teenager can buy a guitar for a hundred bucks, learn to play, and bring it to college with him. Pianos are expensive. Often they are just there, already in the household. College is a prefect time to let one's piano skills atrophy because the instrument stays with mom and dad.

Sure, you can bring a portable keyboard to college, as I did, but it wasn't the same as the piano I left back home. And there never was a good way to set it up in my dorm. My guitar traveled several times between my dorm and my parents' house, no problem.

Another advantage of the guitar is that it can be enjoyed by players with a huge range of skill levels. You can learn a handful of chords and strum your way to years of enjoyment while the next guy is a virtuoso. There is a larger hill to climb before getting anywhere on the piano.

But I love the piano because I am a pianist, while I recognize the magic of the guitar.

The Korg SV-1 is Kewl

I'm in love with the look of the Korg SV-1. It looks like a replica of a 1970s electric piano that never existed in the 1970s. Someone online described it as very Jetsons in appearance. And that fits, because it has all the computery insides, but only analog controls.

I didn't research the SV-1 when I was preparing to purchase a digital piano because I knew I wanted internal speakers. But after falling in love with the Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano sounds on my new Yamaha P-255, the Korg appeals to me. The Korg has 12 electric piano sounds and a lot of variables to play with to get the sound you want. And it just looks awesome.

I know that there are a lot of different stage pianos available. So if I ever started looking seriously at the Korg, I would do the same kind of extensive research that resulted in my Yamaha P-255 purchase. I know I love the look of it, but I would want to know more about the quality of the sounds. And I would ask myself whether there are electric piano sounds I want that it doesn't have. And I would learn a little about whether the features controlled by the knobs would suit me.

The Korg has a vacuum tube that it runs amp effects through. I call it a Flux Capacitor because that is what it looks like to me. But I have heard online that the tube is quite an ordeal to replace. It looks like an unnecessary gimmick.

So, yeah, I would take a good look at a range of stage piano models before buying one.

Guitar Center haggling

There are times when I am playing my new digital piano (review here) and the piano sounds and feels simply delightful. And when I put on my headphones to play, I realize that option is a luxury, since there is no way I could play an acoustic piano in this house except during very limited hours.

Besides the joy of finally bringing home a new toy, it was a relief to put behind me the experience of dealing with that bullshit of salesmanship. I want to recount some of that experience here because it was an interesting sort of roller coaster ride for me.

I began my search for a digital piano at a local Guitar Center on Black Friday weekend. One of the employees was aggressive in trying to make a sale, yet completely professional and pleasant. She quizzed me on what I was looking for and pulled up a piano on her computer that she had in stock and offered me 15%, and then 20% off the store's list price. I felt that I had more research ahead of me, so I couldn't buy it that day.

After doing some research, I saw a used model at Guitar Center that I know I would be happy to buy at a lower price than shown on the tag. I approached an employee and asked what the history of the item was. He explained that it is a consignment item and they don't ask the owner for any history. They only screen the serial number to try to make sure it is not stolen. I asked what kind of guarantee the store has for the product. I think he told me it is 45 days and then pitched the protection plan that comes at an extra cost. I hear that Guitar Center employees have a lot of pressure on them to sell the protection plan, and its value is questionable for a solid new product with a manufacturer's warranty. But I suppose such extra protection might make sense for a used item with an unknown history.

Inspired by the Guitar Center employee who earlier offered 20% of the store's list price for a new item, I offered about 40% under list for the used piano, thinking we might negotiate to a higher, but fair price. I felt like and asshole when he told me my offer "wasn't even in the ballpark." I asked what then could he do for me for a price, and he stated the list price. That to me isn't a ballpark, or even a strike zone, but a tiny bulls-eye. I felt burned, after being set up by the other employee's aggressive discounting. But I thanked this employee politely and left.

My later interactions with digital piano salespeople at other stores made me wonder about my failed Guitar Center haggling. By making an offer on an item, I was clearly ready to make a big purchase. He should have shown me some other options that he could sell me for what I could pay (there were several such products at that store). Also, with subsequent research, I now think the store's list price on the used piano was probably a good value. He might have been able to convince me of that with straightforward information about the product.

But I do take responsibility for how sour my failed Guitar Center experience felt to me. My offer was very low. I didn't know what to expect and I wasn't really ready for the haggling experience. But I decided to do my best to have a good experience with any haggling that followed. Though I still disliked the salesiness of the experience that followed. With one store, I disliked how obsessively they link you to one particular sales associate, and I worried I was offending them if I talked to another associate. But my experience after Guitar Center was generally pleasant, even though my purchase occurred after several additional unsuccessful, but very human and respectful, price negotiations.

Weeks after my purchase, I walked around a Yamaha digital piano kiosk at a mall for a fast look for the fun of it. I did not want to engage with a piano salesman, but my partner did not know this. When the salesman approached, my partner said, "He just got one." The salesman asked what I bought and I told him, a P-255. He replied, "That's different. That's a keyboard. These are Clavinovas." I said "uh huh", thanked him and we went on our way. I felt like he had disparaged my purchase. Yes, the P-255 is a portable slab, but it has 88 full-sized weighted and graded keys. Most, including Yamaha, seem to refer to it as a digital piano. I understand that Clavinovas are great, but they are also furniture style (which I didn't want), and expensive beyond my means. And I question whether it is appropriate to spend thousands on an electronic product that could be very much obsolete in a few years and may have a functional life expectancy of 10 years.

So there you have it. I enjoyed reading other people's Guitar Center experiences that helped me fell justified in my feelings after my sour experience. I was once a retail employee and the experience made me intent on treating these people respectfully, even if I am not pleased with my experience. That is because they are human beings who are more than their retail job and they deserve to have their humanity respected.