How do you handle the worst problem we have when using a style -- BOREDOM. If you are not using a style to perform please don't steal/kill the post.

John C.

John ... I will try to edit the style - change voices, add a 'riff', use Pads, etc. etc. ... also, I will experiment with changing the tempo, for example take a ballad style and speed it up or take an up tempo style and slow it down ... we are only limited by our own imagination ...
Which CAN be quite limiting ...

I only use styles I perform with all else gets deleted, might keep a few as backup on my usb stick, pretty much in the way of the old Roland EASY 30 format which still works today, especially if your a SINGER/Player.......what remains is perfectly edited styles for my needs and with around 40+ ones I can do just about anything with no problem..when I hear people tell me, .....
"I have over 5000 styles onboard"
I just roll my eyes and say to myself FOR WHAT???
but hey to each their own....just not my cup of tea at all.
I never get bored because I use my playing talents, mixing it up, never use charts as a crutch which makes it always the same & repetitive and use improvisation with all my music vocally and musically makes it fun and different every time..

John...there are many here who have more experience at modifying styles to mix it up. That is a problem with arranger keyboards. Yamaha probably has the largest array of unique styles at there music soft website. Sometimes just listening to them can stimulate new thoughts for grooves.

Henni seems to be on a crusade to embellish Yamaha styles...maybe he would be a good resource.

jingleman

My point is not how good the style is, or how you might edit it – but how do you make that same style more interesting. Not what the style is doing, but what are you doing to create. A style normally has four variations, and that’s a blessing. But what are you doing with your left hand and your pads – without using them the style will repeat and repeat and repeat. It is easy to tell, most of the times, that an arranger keyboard is being used.
By Donny:
I never get bored because I use my playing talents, mixing it up, never use charts as a crutch which makes it always the same & repetitive and use improvisation with all my music vocally and musically makes it fun and different every time..

Donny, Please tells us what your tricks are so that we may all learn --- that’s what this post is all about, sharing.

John C.

John your question although specific is almost impossible to answer do to the nature of the being inside of us that we all have..
first of all you have to admit to yourself as an arranger player you are first and just an "OPERATOR OF AN AUTOMATIC ACCOMPANIMENT MACHINE" as we all are with style play, ....the combinations of what you can do with styles is endless mixed with multipads,editing, left & right hand playing then add vocals too at the very least.
I have been doing that since arranger KB inception and then 25 years before they were even invented in all kinds of bands playing all kinds of kbs,....it takes a life time to develop a certain style of playing for yourself which is just that FOR YOURSELF it works for me but it might not work for anyone else because we are all so different as human beings..As a pro on stage is one thing
....alone playing in your little bedroom is another...all I can tell you and what I have done all my life is watch others better then you take away what you can to inject it into your style of playing and make what you do better and better each time you perform...and add to that MIX IT UP for you audiences with what THEY like not what YOU like,......try to memorize everything so you can look them in the eye when playing and make eye contact which is so important to get that connection of what you feeling and what they are feeling instead of you head buried in a chart or whatever..mix up the same songs in many different styles to eliminate boredom also. Think like a real band and play each instrument and part as if you were really playing it within it's limits something many don't do. Besides using always styles create and record backing tracks to change it up during your act and release yourself from the crutch of repetitive style play and let your self play two handed parts and make some songs sound exactly the way YOU want them too be arranged not what a dictated style wants you too do...there are no rules but only good music IF you know how...so to recap....
LISTEN, ABSORB FROM OTHERS BETTER THEN YOU, MIX IT UP, MEMORIZE, LOOK THEM IN THE EYE, PLAY FOR THEM NOT YOU, PLAY SONGS IN MANY STYLES, DECREASE YOU IN-BETWEEN SONG TIME, DROP THE BIG EGO IF YOU HAVE ONE AND BE HUMBLE..........AND HAVE FUN

Well, first there is offcourse the pads... you can add them...

Then there are easy ways of muting channels live while playing..
You can do this on the pa4x using kaoss
With style modelling/launchpas on the ketrons
And there is a superb live knob on the genos and psr s series to quickly mute tracks..

Then there is offcourse how do you play your chords?
Fullfingered chords, allowing you to use the lefthand sounds for adding a counter melody,

Then there is an option that changes your volume when you play the chord hard or soft...

There is a chord sequencer on the pa4x.. this frees up your left hand to do all kind of things...

Also ketron has some styles with the riff feature..which can spice up things on the D variation..

And korg styles can be programmed to have different parts for different chord types.. you can have the guitarist play something totally different on a major and a minor chord..

Another option is using arpeggiators on top of the left hand (external instrument) lots of fun for creating for example your own guitar riffs live..


There is so many things your left hand dan do with a little training, its almost a shame to play single finger chords every 2 measures or so..

A simple solution is don't let the Style dominate the performance. Changing sounds, tempo, and keys for different songs along with good vocals puts the Style more in the backround as a supporting function as I believe it was intended.
EX: One of the popular groups here ,Target, is a trio of older musicians. Guitar/Vocals, Female keyboardist/vocals and her husband on bass. They use an old Alesis SR16 drum machine and only use a handful of simple beats. No one notices because of their great vocals, dancable medelys of songs, and they SMILE while they play !!!
I listen more carefully than most and it really doesn't bother me either. They're entertaining.

Another trick is to use endings and intros for refrains;works well. I like the toggle Korg feature too. Lot of creativity to be had on an arranger.

My favorite way to use styles is a little different from what I am reading here..

Like Bill says , don't let the style dominate..

I believe less is better... where it seems that the majority like to load up a style using pads and everything possible.. I would find this unsatisfactory.

I like to simplify the style and have a consistent band same players for all songs..
I like to use bass and drums and maybe a rhythm guitar in the style .. and add color on my right hand.. organ, sax, etc.


And I want to keep my option to cut accompaniment, just drums and play left hand bass in spots , then back into the basic style again..


This is not boring at all because you are controlling the style... the style does not control you and you are making it your own with live play interaction.