Jim Atwood in Japan

Sound Advice with Dave Polich

A couple of days I ago I purchased the Sound Advice DVD with Dave Polich from Keyfax. I had my eye on this DVD for a while as a great resource for exploring all aspects of synthesizer programming. I thought this would work well for helping me to program better my Roland and Yamaha synthesizers.

The Sound Advice DVD download was available from Keyfax. It was nice to see that they made their library of DVDs available for download. Unfortunately the download experience with Keyfax was extremely frustrating and I’ll likely avoid downloading from Keyfax in the future. With that said, I was issued new working download links 24 hours after purchasing. No reason was issued for why I had download issues.

The Sound Advice DVD was money well spent. There were three downloads each around 1GB in MP4 format. The quality was good for a download and it is a pleasure to watch. I’m currently working my way through the 1st DVD and will follow-up this post with additional comments and thoughts as I progress. There is another review of the DVD set already found HERE for those interested in reading about past comments. I primarily picked up the DVD to learn more about synthesizer programming with not only my Motif ES, but also the Roland Gaia and other synths that I have. Although the Sound Advice DVD references the Yamaha Motif Line of keyboards, I find the information is general enough to apply to other brands most definitely.

I must thank Dave Polich for putting together I great DVD tutorial about synthesizer programming. I look forward to finishing the series and applying what I learn to my synths. It should be fun indeed.

Stay tuned for updates shortly.

Jim

Fender Rhodes 1971 Suitcase Piano

I have always been a huge fan of the Fender Rhodes Electric Piano Sound. I love listening to some of the great artists like George Duke, Jeff Lorber, Bob James, Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith, Herbie Hancock, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Sample, The Crusaders and one of my favorites Eumir Deodato jam on the Rhodes Piano. It’s simply breathtaking and inspiring.

There are plenty of great hardware and software Rhodes Emulations out there from the Yamaha Motif Series, Nord Electros, Kurweil, Korg SV-1, to the Roland classic Vintage Keys expansion cards. Scarbee, Lounge Lizard, and Mr. Ray are a few of the top Software choices emulating the popular Fender Rhodes sound.

So what are some of the top Fender Rhodes Sounds and Samples? Well as of writing this post there are a load of Rhodes Sample choices out on the market. I have narrowed down a few that are popular, plus a brand new one released this week for the Yamaha Motif Series Keyboards.

1. Neo-Soul Fender Rhodes Sounds and Samples – by Jamal Hartwell from Gospelmusicians

2. Fender Rhodes Suitcase Premiere – RHODES Premier Japan

3. Dusty Electric MkII by Precision Sound

4. Real Rhodes by Pyramid Sound Productions

5. 1977 Mark I Rhodes Stage Piano by Learjeff’s Soundfonts

6. Scarbee R.S.P. ’73 – RSP 73 is the most comprehensively sampled Rhodes piano on earth.

7. E-PIAN by Acoustic Samples – a Classic 73 Keys Electric piano from 1972 recorded

8. Tubed Keys Mk I 73 by SampleTekk – The Rhodes challenger! Sampled using a Fender Twin (c) amp.

Here is a video of Jamal Hartwell’s new Neo-Soul Fender Rhodes Sounds and Samples for your Yamaha Motif ES/XS/XF.

Hot Gospel Chords and Progressions

Recently I picked up this DVD download entitled “Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions with Carlos Encarnacion!” from Gospelskillz. It was an 80 minute, 1.28GB Dvd for only 10 bucks that actually had some really good bits of information on it. I couldn’t pass up the price and I’m always interested in picking out interesting ideas, so this DVD did the trick. There are a couple of others titled “Keyboard Sessions With Paul Whitley” and “Vertical Worship Volume One” which I’m on the fence about. The first one with Paul Whitley looks cool and I may jump on that to get his viewpoint on Fourths and Tritones, plus the band sessions.

The Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions download was great because there is no way I’ll ever be buying a physical Dvd from Gospelskillz with their exorbitant shipping prices. For example the “Unlocking the Keys” DVD they had $30 shipping to Japan. Showmethat shipped it for $14, but charged me $20, while Hearandplay ships to Japan for $10 or less. I’ve lived in japan for almost 17 years now and I know shipping rules and rates rather well. Gospelskillz is a big rip off with regards to shipping internationally. So, I was happy to see a few DVDs were offered via download.

So what’s on the Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions DVD? Here is a rundown of what’s offered. With Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions instructional video, you can learn to PLAY GOSPEL music by EAR. This DVD covers Jazz Chords, Preaching Chords, Shouting Chords, licks, and runs to add to your Piano, Organ, and Keyboard playing IMMEDIATELY! Play black gospel piano, organ, and keyboard the way you have always heard it. There’s also sections on re-harmonization, bass lines, recognizing patterns, and other tips.

Basically I found the DVD to be a good listen and I did find some pretty useful stuff on it. My expectations were low due to the price and the fact that I don’t know the contents, so when I was done watching, I was pleasantly surprised. With different players, there’s always something to learn and for the price of $10 for 80 minutes of keyboard instructional talk, I found it to be a real bargain.

FlavaChords Keyboard/Piano Skills

A month ago I picked up the FlavaChordz 2 hour Gospel keyboard dvd and it’s simply awesome. The DVD is very clear, concise, and above all easily applicable to your playing right away. In fact, I think this is definitely one of the better packages out there and I highly recommend it. My only hope is that there is a follow-up to Flavachordz and that this is not just the only DVD that will be available. Jessie has a very relaxed and smooth way of taking you through each chapter. His explanations and examples are very clear and easil to understand. I particularly liked his explanations of ditones and tritones. This is a 2+ hour DVD that costs $14.99 which is a no brainer in my book. There’s something definitely in this for everyone.

Note I am no affiliate as with all the products I review. I feel like anytime you are an affiliate it’s like “of course” you’re going to give a good review. This DVD is ten times better than the Gospel Fingers download I reviewed earlier by the way for the same price. Both are different I know, but the value for you money is huge with Flavachordz.

If Jessie at Flavachordz reads this, please consider a follow-up DVD and thanks for the excellent job on this keyboard tutorial. Although it’s titled a Gospel Keyboard / Gospel Piano DVD, I think anyone interested in Piano will find something of interest in this production.

Please feel free to comment and share your opinions or experiences with the Flavachordz DVD.

Chapter 1: Finger Drills
Chapter 2: Stacked Chords
Chapter 3: Ditones
Chapter 4: Tritones
Chapter 5: Inversions w/Flat 5′s
Chapter 6: Substitutions
Chapter 7: Grace Notes
Chapter 8: Runs, Extensions, Clusters
Chapter 9: Walking Bass
Chapter 10: Preaching And Shouting Chords
Chapter 11: Miscellaneous Chords
Chapter 12: Worship Chords