No, you don't have to be a rocket scientist, but it would sure make things easier if you were. I am always amazed at the number of people that never take the owners manual out of the zip-loc bag it came in with the keyboard. The very first thing they do is jump onto a forum and ask someone else to do it for them. Typical! There has been several occasions where someone would post a question and I would provide the answer and the page in the owners manual where the information could be found. Unfortunately, this was never a deterrent and those same folks would be asking more questions an hour later, often on the same subject.

Knowing the ins and outs of the keyboard's OS, obviously, make navigation faster and easier, thereby making you a better and smoother entertainer. Additionally, when someone comes up and requests a song, one that you may know but have never set up in registrations of the MFD, it only takes a matter of seconds to select a proper style and get into the song if you have already auditioned all the styles.

All of this takes time and effort on the part of the owner. John is absolutely correct when he stated that "knowing more about your keyboard will help." Those that know little about their keyboards are the guys and gals you see sitting on stage pushing a lot of buttons trying to figure out where to go next to put forth the next song. They usually have horrendous dead time between songs, flip through many pages of sheet music, or scrolling their I-Pads to find music for the next song. I saw an arranger keyboard player a couple weeks ago, very attractive, young lady, who experienced at least 2 minutes of dead time between songs and was constantly scrolling through the pages of her electronic fake books. I don't think she ever looked at the audience once during the hour she was on stage.

Technical knowledge is a key ingredient to being a highly skilled and successful arranger keyboard player, OMO.

Gary