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If you play guitar AND keys...


mstreck

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... I would appreciate any tips for setting up at a gig. Do you keep your keyboard right in front of you so you're constantly behind it, or do you have it off to the side so that you need to turn away from the audience to play it. Neither seems all that appealing.

So what do you do?

Thanks!

Mike

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Quote Originally Posted by twostone

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So when playing KBs do you have to look at the keys? so does it matter if you front or side if your watching your hands press which keys that need to be pressed?

 

Depends on what parts I'm playing, haha! I'll have two keyboards stacked on a single stand, and I really don't want to spend all night hiding behind them. I spend most of my time on guitar, at least for now, so I'm thinking of maybe setting it up at a 45-degree angle kinda off to the side, faced away from stage center and out of my way for most of the night. I have a couple of weeks to figure it out.
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Quote Originally Posted by Miko Man

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To the extent that you can set the guitar/keys player on stage right with the keyboard further SR, the better it will be (assuming a right-handed player). The keyboard at 60 degrees to the front of the stage might help too. Mark C.

 

That's my situation. And that sounds like a very viable solution. Thanks!
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I use swell and sustain pedals with my keys and a pedal board for guitar so doesn't work for me to set keys facing audience. Usually set keys perpendicular facing sidestage for ease of change and movement flow to rest of band. I also set up two vox mics for ease of switching.

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I can't play anything less than an 88 anymore so space is often an issue and I like to do a lot of keys, in fact, I'd prefer to chuck the guitar and just do keys so the keys for me are always front and center. Many is the time that I'll be switching between guitar and keys during the same song and I'm using the same vocal mic either way. It's also important that they are positioned where I can look over at the rest of the group. I've found it's very difficult to try and place the keys at an angle because 90% of the time stage depth is a bigger issue than width and it's easy to get oneself blocked in.

The answer is sure to be different for everyone and probably depends mostly on how much keyboarding you're going to do.

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Are you the only person on your side of the stage? If so, then set them up next to the drums, facing them, so they are at a 90 degree angle to the front of the stage. Then you have your guitar player room, and can still get to the keys easy.

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I used to work with a guitarist who also played keys. He just played guitar behind his stand up keyboard. (I have never played keys standing up.) I play bass and keys at times. (Not in my current band.) And I would play the bass while standing behind the keyboard. So in our cases it was pretty much the same.

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Quote Originally Posted by dan88z View Post
Are you the only person on your side of the stage? If so, then set them up next to the drums, facing them, so they are at a 90 degree angle to the front of the stage. Then you have your guitar player room, and can still get to the keys easy.
I don't like the look of a guitar player playing guitar standing behind a keyboard, either.
Maybe if there's enough room on the stage angle the keyboard slightly so you're at least sorta looking toward the audience?
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Maybe get a cordless guitar rig and walk out a few steps to look nice?

Wynn -- you should try playing and standing. Unless you're trying to play really technical parts that are heavy on damper, you should be able to transition very quickly from sitting to standing. I believe that keyboard plays look better standing up. It's easier to connect with the audience.

There's a guy on here ... ScottS? .. that has a really cool rig where his keyboard is angled down so the audience can see it, and his body/frace has more exposure when he's singing (boom stand). I think that's great presentation.

Wes

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I'm stage left and play guitar 90+% of the time. My keys are to my left at almost a 90 deg angle to the stage. Standing behind them would kill crowd interaction for me plus it would take up the room I need for my pedal board. When I have room, I put it at a 45 deg angle.

 

I agree it's not that appealing facing away from the audience, but as someone else mentioned I'm looking down at my hands pretty much the whole time anyway aside from the few moments I look up to check things out...so it doesn't matter. Stage presence for me on lead guitar is much more important.

 

EDIT: Just check out my avatar!! :thu:

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Just check out my avatar!!
:thu:

 

Yeah, I was hoping to have it sit at a 45-60 degree angle, but I have a feeling that limited stage room is going to force it into a 90. I can only think of one or two places that we play where I can get away with anything other than a 90.:facepalm:

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Just depends on your style, I suppose. I play keys on probably 75-80% of the tunes (and play both keys and guitar on a few), so I set up like the pic in my avatar shows---the keys in front of me along the front line so when I put on the guitar I have the room to move across the stage. I now also have a third keyboard that sits off to my right forming an L-shaped keyboard set up.

 

I also just opened up a box with my new keytar inside last night! I hope to use it 4-5 times a night.

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