Every arranger keyboard has a myriad of wonderful features available that make live performances easier. And, with each ensuing model those features have become more accessible and user friendly. Unfortunately, MOST arranger keyboard players do not take the time to explore their keyboards and discover all the wonderful and exciting features it has to offer.

Diki and I don't often agree on many subjects, however, this is one that both of us feel very strongly about. It is likely that less than 10 percent of the world's arranger keyboard players ever take the time to read the owner/user manual that comes with every keyboard. Granted, the manuals are very poorly written and trying to read an arranger keyboard manual from cover to cover would put most people to sleep before finishing the first page. Fortunately, there are keyboard specific forums such as www.psrtutorial.com where information pertaining to Yamaha PSR and Tyros series keyboards can readily be found and questions are quickly answered.

During the past two decades I have learned a lot of neat short cuts that really improved my performances. I must give credit to individuals such as DonM, DNJ, Pose, Uncle Dave, Fran, and others for sharing their tips and performance tactics with me.

The one item on my Yamaha PSR-3000 that has been extremely beneficial is the Music Finder Directory. It's an extremely versatile tool that is essentially a list of miniature registrations that allow you to quickly select scroll through a song list and make a selection with a single button push. You can do this while playing another song and the operation will not interfere with the song you are performing. And, since the advent of Michael Bedesem's Music Finder View, a free program that allows easy editing of entries, you can create custom lists on your PC, then transfer them to the keyboard when needed.

Cheers,

Gary