Jerry Kovarsky

Playing keyboards takes you on a journey that goes far beyond just playing the music. You have to keep up on a lot of tech talk and sift through a wide variety of gear and manufacturers.Common keyboard terms and abbreviations Keyboard manuals use all sorts of abbreviations and terms you may not be familiar with.

Perhaps your keyboard doesn’t have onboard speakers, or you just want to enjoy some private practice time. Every electronic keyboard offers a headphone output for that purpose. (Often, if a keyboard does have onboard speakers, plugging a headphone in will automatically turn off the speakers. Smart, huh?) Break down headphone varieties You can use a number of different headphone types.

MIDI is a digital language developed in 1983 that allows instruments and devices to talk to each other by sending various messages back and forth. These messages include performance gestures, such as what notes you play, how you play them, whether you move any sort of controller, and so on. In 1996, the music products industry agreed on a set of standardized sounds, effects, and controller message response called General MIDI (GM) so that MIDI songs could be shared between devices and always play back sounding more or less the same.

There are many different ways to match the right types of sounds to plays melodies to a particular style of music on your keyboard. Of course, rules are made to be broken, but here are some common practices and guidelines for matching styles and sounds. Acoustic and electric pianos: Work well for pretty much everything except heavy metal, punk rock, grunge rock, and polka (you gotta have an accordion for that!

An instrument with drums, like your keyboard, always has a beat ready to go; you don’t have to dig through a bunch of menu options or anything special to hear them. If what you get isn’t the groove you want to play, you can explore how various keyboards present their drum rhythms. Portable keyboards Simple portable keyboards don’t always have full auto-accompaniment, but they often offer drum grooves.

Many brands offer entertaining ways to allow the novice player to have fun with music. Learning to play doesn’t allow for shortcuts; that’s why a good teacher can make all the difference in whether students (of any age) stick with their lessons. Here are some of the ways that certain models add to the enjoyment of playing a keyboard.

Knowing a bit about the keyboard manufacturing landscape while keyboard shopping gives you an idea of all the instruments available. The following list of keyboard companies is a helpful introduction to major manufacturers; use the key to determine which type(s) of instrument each company produces. Key: A = a

Keyboard manuals use all sorts of abbreviations and terms you may not be familiar with. Understanding this common keyboard terminology can help you make the most of your electronic keyboard. Here are some common abbreviations/terms you may encounter: Action: The mechanical design of the keys themselves. Used when describing the feel or touch of a keyboard.