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THE COMPLETE
KEYBOARDIST
A Guide for Musical Improvement
 Do you ever feel frustrated that you’re not
advancing musically as quickly as you want?
Or do you perhaps feel stuck playing the
same way over and over?

Sometimes the answer lies not

in practicing more, but in
simply having a clear vision of
where you’d like to go.
I’ve assembled this guide to help you assess where you are right
now and share some insight on what your next level of keyboard
playing might look like.

In this guide, we will explore beginner, intermediate, and

advanced levels for three categories: 1) Keyboard technique, 2)
Gear and sounds, and 3) Musical artistry.

Each section will give background information, then point you

toward tutorial videos you can watch on YouTube.

Some videos you may have seen and others not. You don’t need
to go through the whole guide and certainly not every video.

But my hope is that by putting them together in a logical

sequence, you will find something that will unlock your most
helpful and needed instruction.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or if there

is something else I can do to help you advance as a keyboard
player!

Peter

p. 3 p. 8 p. 12

PLAYING GEAR & MUSICAL

TECHNIQUE SOUNDS ARTISTRY

SECTION 1: TECHNIQUE
BEGINNER

In most modern music, the keyboardist plays from a

chord chart. The first step is interpreting what notes to
play based on the chord symbols. If you would like a
cheat sheet that gives you the notes for each chord,
you can find one here in my Music Theory Guidebook -
click here. While you’re learning the notes, however,
pay attention to how the chords relate to each other -
it will pay off later. This video (the very first
OurWorshipSound video!) shows what I mean.

As you are developing confidence

in playing the chord notes, the next
steps are learning to play the notes in
different orders (inversions), adding
the left hand, and creating rhythm.

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SECTION 1: TECHNIQUE
INTERMEDIATE

Once you understand the

basics of chords, it’s time to
spice them up a bit. There
is ONE BIG KEY to knowing
what to do with chords.
Can you guess what it’s
called? That’s right - it’s the
key. Knowing the key and
corresponding scale of a
song unlocks several big
connections and the ability
to transpose, play by ear,
alter chords, and add
melodies. You can take the
first step this this video.

Finding a song’s key is not always a

clear-cut process. There are two basic
ways to get there, and sometimes you
need to use them in combination. This
video breaks down the process.

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SECTION 1: TECHNIQUE
INTERMEDIATE

Music teachers like to hammer on the

importance of knowing scales.  At this point,
you don’t need to be able to play scales with
blindingly fast technique.  But you will benefit
greatly from knowing how to form the scales
for each key and how to keep track of what
sharps and flats are in each one.  This video
shows the easiest way I’ve found to keep track.

In the beginner section, I talked about

choosing chord inversions to minimize
movement around the keyboard. There is
one more skill that fits in the intermediate
category: choosing inversions that create
interesting melodic movement. Click on the
link below to take you to the portion of a
video that discusses this skill.
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 SECTION 1: TECHNIQUE
ADVANCED

In my mind, the best way to go beyond the written chords

is to play melodically. With this method, you either add
melodic notes in between your chords or just allow the
left hand to outline the chords and play only melodies
with the right hand. It’s best to start with a small number
of scale notes and go from there.

Click on this video and watch about sixty seconds for

another quick demonstration of melodic playing:

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SECTION 1: TECHNIQUE
ADVANCED

When you’re growing into advanced levels of keyboard

playing, a lot of it is about hearing and learning chords
and riffs.  When you find something you like, you need
to learn to own it and make it something you can play
in different songs, whenever it feels right. Here is a
helpful process to help you do this.

As an advanced player, you want to make sure you’re

shoring up any weak areas of your technique. As you
do, muscle memory is your friend, as you learn to
execute your technique more and more efficiently.
Here are some tips to help grow your muscle memory:

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SECTION 2: GEAR & SOUNDS
BEGINNER

There’s a difference between

pianists and keyboardists.  In
addition to piano technique,
keyboardists are responsible for
playing great sounds.  In this
section, we will talk about sound
techniques and how to set up your
gear to ensure your playing has
maximum impact.

Nothing will detract from your performance

like poor sound quality.  Hissing, crackling,
humming, and distortion can ruin even the
best playing.  Step one to fixing some of
these issues lies with proper gain staging.
You will want to check and periodically
recheck your keyboard setup to make sure
you are practicing these concepts.

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 SECTION 2: GEAR & SOUNDS
BEGINNER

There is no video for this part, but

there are some gear tips to insert in
this section.

Most keyboards have stereo (left and

right) outputs. When plugging into a
sound system, I always aim to connect

1 both channels to the main mixer. Even

if the have
Most keyboards final stereo
not a sound
unusual),
mix output
(left andisright)
mono (which
outputs. Whenis
plugging into system,sending
I always aim both channels
to connect both
from your keyboard will ensure that the
channels full
to the main mixer.
sound output Evenwillif be
the heard.
final mix output is
mono (which is not unusual), sending both channels from
your keyboard will ensure that the full sound output will be
heard.  For a clean, hum-free sound, you want to send an
isolated
For and hum-free
a clean, balanced signal
sound,to the
you mainwantmixer. 
to To do this,
connect
send your keyboard’s
an isolated outputsignal
and balanced into atodirect
the box (use two
of them
main mixer.  for To stereo).
https://amzn.to/2SbCIcX
keyboard’s
Direct boxes
do this, connect
) will isolate
output into a direct box (use
your
any two
2
(like this:
ground hum, and
ofthe
thembalanced output
for stereo). is less
Direct boxessusceptible
(like this: to outside
interference.  When usingwill
https://amzn.to/2SbCIcX) an amp isolatewith any
a sound system,
connect
ground hum,firstand
to the
the balanced
direct box and issend
output less the balanced
output to to
susceptible theoutside
main mixer.  Then, you can use the other
interference.
1/4-inch connector on your direct box to connect a cable
to your amp.
When using an amp with a sound
system, connect first to the direct

3 box and send the balanced output

to the main mixer. Then, you can
use the other 1/4-inch connector on
your direct box to connect a cable
to your amp. 9
 SECTION 2: GEAR & SOUNDS
INTERMEDIATE

The first sound to add to

your main keyboard
sound (e.g. piano or
electric piano) is a pad
sound. A pad is the
sustained wash of
sound that glues a mix
together. The easiest
way to add a pad sound
is to play a drone
recording for the key of
your sound. This video
shows how.

Once you’ve learned

to layer a pad sound
with your piano, you
can use the filter
setting to widely
vary the tone
quality, adding
dynamics to your
sound. Here’s how:
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 SECTION 2: GEAR & SOUNDS
INTERMEDIATE

Computers add an incredible amount of ability to play

great sounds.  I love to use Apple’s Mainstage software
and have transitioned toward using it for all my sounds
when I play live. I have learned several tricks for
smooth performances. This video shows how I set up
different layers to progress dynamically through a song
for greater impact.

I have some additional resources to help you with

Mainstage. 

The first is a free mini-course:

Get Started With Mainstage

Once you decide that Mainstage is

right for you, the Mainstage Keyboard
Course will save you loads of time.

Most of the sounds I use are

ones I’ve developed myself. You
can get them here.
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SECTION 3: ARTISTRY
BEGINNER

Since our end goal is to move people

emotionally, solid technique and great
sounds aren’t enough without musical
artistry.  Here’s where we’ll talk about
how to carry a sense of artistry in your
playing. Though our specific medium is
church/worship music, many of these
tips are more generally applicable.

Often, the musical fit in a moment

isn’t something on the chart, and a
chord progression you create will
feel best.

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SECTION 3: ARTISTRY
BEGINNER

One of the best ways to express emotion in your playing

is to create dynamic changes.  This video shows what I
mean.

The rhythms you choose can also carry a

sense of emotion and artistry.  Here is a
very simple rhythmic technique that
creates a musical tension and resolution
with every chord.

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 SECTION 3: ARTISTRY
INTERMEDIATE

I’ll say it again: rhythm is

very important to your
sense of musical artistry. 
You can’t have too many
rhythmic techniques in
your repertoire. Here are
ten ideas to explore.

Musical artistry requires

sensitivity. Here are some
tips for controlling your
playing and your sounds
that will help you to
sensitively and artistically
support what’s going on
around you.

Maintaining a musical
moment requires smooth
song transitions.  Often,
the keyboard player is the
one responsible for those
transitions.  Key changes
create challenges, but
here are some strategies
for making them easier.
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SECTION 3: ARTISTRY
ADVANCED

Artistic keyboard playing

requires great sounds,
but your artistic impact
also depends on being
in complete control of
them.  That can be quite
the task when you also
have to play difficult
parts or even sing! Here
is one way to set up
sound patches for quick
and easy changes. This
tutorial uses Mainstage,
but you can apply the
general concepts to
other technology.

If you are a
keyboardist who is
also in charge of
triggering backing
tracks and/or loops,
you can streamline
your sound patch
changes by setting up
your different
software applications
to talk to each other.
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THANK YOU
for viewing this guide! 

For complete keyboard instruction, check out:

Fluent Piano video courses:

Chords, Melodic, and Background

The Mainstage Keyboard Course

Custom Mainstage sounds

from OurWorshipSound

© 2020 Peter Thompson / OurWorshipSound  All rights reserved.