I did my Xmas party today at 5 pm for Ms. X like I’ve done every year now. She has a Steinway piano. I did my Xmas sing-a-long, but while playing I noticed something. I was hardly making any mistakes. The keyboard on that Steinway made the difference. Easy action…light as a feather, yet the feeling of a solid key under your finger tips. Your finger feels like it’s going into a groove…dead center into the middle of each key. What a delight to play. I could have played it all night and not got fatigued!

I compare that with my home piano. The keys are glossy and slippery, they feel rounded, a very heavy action that tends to wear you out, very difficult to do dynamics with. So bad that I never feel I have control of the keyboard.

That is part of the answer to good playing that I always forget to remember. The keyboard. As I look back at playing the G-70 in the store, I remember that’s the first thing that impressed me. I remember commenting to the salesperson how much better I was playing on the G-70.

I think if I spring for another keyboard now, it’s going to have to have the right “feel” or I’m not going to enjoy playing it no matter HOW it sounds.

BTW…the reason I keep my “difficult” piano is because of a lesson I learned many years ago when I was studying to be a pool hustler! There was one pool table in the middle of many that had very “tight” pockets. Most of the guys wouldn’t play on this table. I had enough sense to realize if I can master this table, then any other table would be a cakewalk. And they were...all cakewalks after that. Same with my piano. It keeps me on my toes navigating this keyboard, so that when I play a different one on the job, my fingers just flow!

Lucky