One of the things I discovered about arranger keyboard user manuals was they were written by engineers, for engineers. In other words, they are very poorly written when it comes to the average consumer.

Many years ago, I was a full-time, freelance, outdoor writer for many publications. My very first assignment was for a small newspaper in Shrewsbury, PA, The Free Press, owned by the parent company, The York Dispatch. The article was to be about Catching Slammer Bluefish in Chesapeake Bay's Shallows. After writing the article, I decided to enlist the aid of a good friend, Lefty Kreh. The article was just over 4,000 words. Lefty took one look at it and said "If you want sympathy, show this thing to your mother. It's way too complicated, way too long and it will not hold the reader for more than 2 minutes before they go on to read something else."

Lefty went through the pages with a red pen, striking out most of the words and said "The key to success when it comes to writing a how-to, where-to article is to use the least amount of words with the least amount of syllables to get the point across. Then, and only then, will everyone one understand you." Lefty was the king of one-liner jokes and followed this by saying "Let me give you an example. There was a copy-boy that worked for the Miami Herald when I wrote for them, his name was Moses, and he was damned good at his job, but didn't make a lot of money. Moses soon discovered that if he worked overtime, he was paid time-and-a-half. He was elated. A couple days later he found out that if he worked weekends, he would be paid double-time. This went on for about 6 months - Moses was making more money than he ever dreamed of making."

Lefty said "At the end of six months, Moses was sitting at his desk, opening letters and one was addressed to him from his wife. He suddenly jumped out of his chair, ran to his car and drove off at a high rate of speed and fuel consumption. I picked up the letter and it said 'Dear Moses, there's gonna be some serious screwin here tonight, and if you're not here, you're not gonna be part of it.' Now, that woman knew exactly how to get the point across, using the least amount of words and the least amount of syllables."

That was nearly 50 years ago, and I never forgot his words. Lefty passed away about a year ago, and I miss him dearly. He was a great friend and mentor. I went on to write for 25 major publications and made a pretty good living until print media fell away to the Internet, which paid nothing. It was at this point when I decided to go to full-time as a musical entertainer. Prior to this, I was a weekend performer.

Don't be surprised if that user manual seem complicated - it is! Fortunately, we have forums such these to go to when the answer is not clearly spelled out in the manual.

Cheers,

Gary