using breaks and fills effectively

A while ago, I posted about how "no one bothers to use fills and breaks...including many demo players." Everyone just seems to hammer away at the keyboard only playing their best piano licks. Can you imagine if a 747 pilot only used one control out of the hundreds he has on the panel in front of him. I think the passengers would have a very bumpy ride.

I'm sure most of you remember Joe Ayala....an excellent musician and vocalist. I saved this recording as I thought it was one of his "keepers."

As I listened to it again recently, I suddenly realized why his version of Summer Wind is so satisfying. He's constantly (and tastefully) changing the rhythm and using fills and nice background melodies. Compare that with many of the Youtube hero's, many of who could probably play better than him, but very few actually know how to present a song in such a palatable way that way Joe did. His Sway is also a great example of how he utilized different functions. If I'm correct he was playing a Ketron?

Interesting. Someone commented that my keyboard looks like a cockpit of a plane (I wouldn't know) and I told them that every little button has a purpose.

I use these buttons extensively. That is why they are there - and why the layout is ergonomic for live players. Switching up on the fly makes for a whole new level of playing.

Try everything, use every button. Make a song a song and not a boring, repetitive boom box....

"Great minds think alike!"

Still wishing there where even more buttons for certain functions ... and some programmable encoders... good ideas for a pa5x.

But we should not forget we have grown with all these features, and to us they have a very logicalmlayout....but they can be quite confusing for people that are not acustomed to arrangers, even musicians...

Most do not use breaks and fills because their focus is on the song and the keyboard forgetting how the original performance was played.

John C.

I've always used fills and breaks as a active part of the playing, but very carefully not to overdo it and it has to be natural in the song.
Some intro variations can also be very well fitted to use as a kind of bridge during the song.

if your not using breaks & fills your not arranging imo..

Sometimes they are not necessary and an easy change of variation for lets say a bridge part works better then a fill...

But in songs where the whole sounds kind of uses the same backing, using fills at the right moments works well to make things a lot more sparkling,,

Next to fills and breaks and variations, there are also the multipads to make a performance more dynamic, which is another way of realtime arranging....

And lastly on the Genos, there is the live arpeggiator for the right hand, which also can be used to weave in with the rest of the arrangement..


Which leaves me to conclude that fills and breaks are certainly very important, but not the only way tonarrange on an arranger key...