Re: OT: Is Keytar cool (again) or not?

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

My general view is that I'd rather listen to what the musician plays
on the Keytar before I I'd know if it's cool with me or not. But I
think my general perception of the instrument has been badly damaged
by keyboard players that sonically mimic the  expression of the
electric guitar. There are certain limitations with a guitar like for
example the tuning range between strings that favors certain note
bends within a scale. A piano style keyboard doesn't share those
limitations so why the hell make it sound like a guitar then! That's
such dumbing down attitude that I have rarely been thinking about the
Keytar as an instrument in its own right. Which was a mistake. Of
course there are musicians out there that make creative use of the
Keytar, I guess their voices just didn't cut through the massive
dumb-down dough ;-)

I think it is nice to be able to stand up when playing an instrument
because to me playing music  is like dancing, and I think many
musicians would agree to that. I also appreciate being able to walk
around on stage when playing. Both for finding sweet spots in the
stage monitoring in order to play wall and also for putting on a good
show for the audience. So by this the Keytar should be a pretty sweet
instrument! For electronics I prefer using an EWI but a Keytar would
definitely be better for traditional chord pad playing.

Keytar is not all bad, he just had some rough time slipping into bad
company. We should give him a second chance and listen to what he has
to say. ;-)

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com