keyboard!!

Sent saxophone in to a music shop on the East Coast – they take trades – didn’t get as much as the sax was worth of course, but wasn’t expecting to.. got about what I’d expect it would sell for on eBay. In trade, plus just under $65 to make up the difference, I got a basic but apparently QUITE good keyboard – piano, organ, strings and harpsichord sounds are awesome! It’s called the Yamaha NP-30. It arrived today.

I bought a sustain pedal this evening at Guitar Center. I checked the online prices for this item at Musicansfriend and music123 – same price on both, and Guitar Center matches whatever competitor’s price you can find for any new item. I saved 12 bucks, so bought the 2 year warranty for ten dollars, because I get a little paranoid about stuff breaking – still ahead by 2 dollars. Cool!

Checked out the keyboard – headphone/output jack works with both headphones and 1/4 inch cable to amplifier. Sustain pedal works well – power supply and music stand that were in picture online were included and item was packed well. I hope the keyboard continues to function excellently.

These past years I’ve already bought several piano and theory books, software, DVD’s and sheet music. Chords and lyrics can be found for free on various guitar sites, and I can pay to download full scores from musicnotes.com, which is helpful. Also, some fantastic apps for iPod touch and iPhone.. I have an iPod touch. There’s a piano chord finder, a reverse chord finder, and a good theory/finding notes app called ireadmusic. These will really help! No fooling around with chord books anymore. I’ve already tried all 3 apps and they work well. The ireadmusic app also has settings for guitar, violin, mandolin, several bass guitars, and banjo. I’ll be sticking with the piano settings, thank you. I know where the notes are on the piano.

Still might buy a two tier keyboard stand, since I have a cheap little keyboard that I can play through a guitar effects box and run both keyboards into the amp, along with a mic, once I get good enough at playing to sing along!

I have a lot of work to do, but I think it will be enjoyable work.