Hi everyone, had a call from a friend who asked a question ( another question) I could not answer fully. He wants to know what to use and how go about playing bass on a keyboard.
At his church they have 3 guitarists , digital piano and sometimes drummer. The Piano player on the keyboard plays the treple as usual but thumps out a drone ( on the root note of the chord) in the bass keys. They are crying out for a bass player.
Well, my friend has a cheap keyboard Casio KW 3800 and wants to play the bass part but he says he is too old to go and buy a bass guitar to learn on - it would take too long to learn.

Any suggestions I can pass on would be great. He only has at this time that keyboard and inbuilt (sad) 6 watt speakers, but can connect through the PA.
Looking at any directions that would help out him and the church of about 60-80 max.

Thanks Allan

Hi Allan:

I'm not familiar with the KW 3800 but... if it has "arranger capability"... simply select the bass instrument (Yamaha calls them voices) that sounds best for the group's style of music... then turn off all other instruments, crank up the volume to where it needs to be... and play the keyboard chords needed to emulate a bass. It may take a little "fine-tuning" to reach the sweet spot desired but should be possible... given the "caveat" that the keyboard needs to have arranger capability or similar features.

Let us know if this does the trick.

Regards,

Dave Rice
Songwriter

Thanks Dave, looks like I did a typeo there, it's a WK3800 and it is an arranger, I was told. His issue is that he can do that but he says it just doesn't sound right. I guess he saying it sounds "cheap" through the speakers in the board, but can't hear himself in the PA when he is playing. The sound it "too dry and too thin".

I've got him playing around with the DSP's to bulk out the sound. Trying different Chorus values and Delays etc. Some sound great to me but others just don't work well at all.

Also, tried fretless bass with different effects but it's hard to see what it is adding to the sound. A better keyboard would be the answer I know that, also better set of powers speakers too.




Allan