Chord Fingering Modes - are they helpful, or a complete waste of time?

[⚅Hugh Wallington]

What is an ‘arranger keyboard’?
 
Doing a Google Search will tell you this ...
 
An arranger keyboard is a type of electronic keyboard designed to assist musicians in creating full musical arrangements by providing automatic accompaniment and a wide range of instrument sounds. These keyboards often include pre-programmed "styles" that can act like a backing band, offering rhythmic and harmonic patterns to follow while you play. 
 
Of course you can set up the keyboard to play eg. a piano from top to bottom, but if this were the case I would have bought a Clavinova rather than a Tyros 4. As an ‘arranger keyboard’ my main objective is to have a STYLE as a backing band; set up a ‘Split Point’; play Chords to the left of the split and the Melody to the right.
 
Note that to play chords with a STYLE you need to have the ACMP ON.
 

 
The essence of playing this way is to ’hold down’ the chord you are playing .. and the STYLE will create a rhythmic pattern for you ie. you don’t have to play a rhythmic pattern with the chord yourself.
 
There are options for how to play these chords .. the first being SINGLE FINGER chords.
 

 
Watch the below to see how these work.
 
Single Fingered Chords
 

 
The problem with doing this is that the logic behind forming these chords has nothing to do with the structure of the chord itself. If you have splashed out and bought yourself an arranger keyboard you may as well spend some time understanding a little bit about ‘harmony’, and how the chords written on sheet music are structured.
 
A Google search for ‘harmony in music’ will tell you this:
 
In music, harmony refers to the simultaneous sounding of two or more musical notes, creating a pleasing or complex musical sound. It's often described as the vertical aspect of music, focusing on the notes that sound together at a particular moment, rather than the horizontal flow of notes (melody). Harmony is a key element in Western music, often involving chords, which are groups of notes played at the same time. 
 
You can read up about how to form chords here:
 
https://chellos-keyboard-players-club.co...17827.html
 
Why bother learning three/four fingered chords?
 

 
This video really brings home the fact that the ‘harmony’ created by the chord you are playing is just as important as the melody .. and I would say, is the essence of what you are listening to.
 
But what do you listen to when you listen to music? Maybe it’s the words of the song that you listen to? Or the rhythm that gets you going.
 
Maybe this is the type of music you like to listen to.
 

 
Or something a bit more traditional .. Sunny Side Of The Street.
 

 
But neither of these are my kind of music as the first one has no melody or harmony; and the second, although it has a melody, has no harmony (or maybe I should say ‘no harmony I can relate to’).

Topic is continued below ...

[⚅Hugh Wallington]

They do say that the music you were brought up with has a great influence on your musical taste, and for me, growing up in the 50s and 60s it was people like ...

Pat Boone ...
 

 
Petula Clark ...
 

 
Connie Francis ...
 

 
Cliff Richard ...
 

 
... who gave us the music we wanted to listen to.  I remember my Dad trying to get me to listen to Victor Sylvester and Bing Crosby, his favourites.
 
That really was a trip down ‘Memory Lane’ .. and YES, we did listen to this type of music in the 50s and 60s! And you will see (sorry, hear!) from the videos above why I like this sort of harmony, which is created from the chords you are playing (the ‘vertical’ aspect of the music). And this ‘harmony’ can be emphasised by having a Left Hand Voice. The STYLE will play the same backing whatever inversion of a chord you play, but the keyboard will pick up and play the actual notes in a chord you are playing, so it makes a difference to the overall sound whether you have the root of the chord, the third, the fifth or the seventh as the top note.
 
But I digress.
 
To play these three/four fingered chords you need to select FINGERED chords from the list.
 

 
Now listen to a DEMO of using FINGERED chords. The first bit is based on the harmonies he had in his YouTube video “Why bother learning three fingered chords” .. but I have based the chord sequence on a D major rather than a D minor.
 
/ D - - - / Em - - - / Em7b5 - - - / Asus4 - - - / A7 - - - / D - - - / (twice)
 
And the second bit is Sunny Side Of The Street with 50s/60s harmonies.
 
/ C - - - / E7 - - - / F - - - / G7 – Abdim - /
/ Am7 - - - / D7 - - - / F6 - - - / G7 - - - / (etc.)
 
https://audio.com/hugh-ar/audio/justharmony
 
Topic to be continued ...

[⚖Robinez]

interesting topic,
my opinion is that you use the chord recognition song based on the song you play, for instance when playing Besame Mucho, then you need the Fingered on Bass mode (because the bass in the original isn't the root note of the chord in certain parts of the song), or when you play Jazz songs or R&B songs, then you need the Full chord recognition mode (without a split point).

Most of the time I use the full chord recognition mode because I play a lot of Fakebook songs. There is a simple trick to play fakebook songs in full recognition mode, just play the 1st and the 5th of the chord with your left hand, and the 3rd and 7th in the right hand and play the melody with the top note (often with your pinky).

For the korg Pa5X I created a tutorial for those modes where I explain all these differences with lots of examples. Maybe it adds somethiing to your thoughts.

[♔Chello]

interesting topic,
my opinion is that you use the chord recognition song based on the song you play, for instance when playing Besame Mucho, then you need the Fingered on Bass mode (because the bass in the original isn't the root note of the chord in certain parts of the song), or when you play Jazz songs or R&B songs, then you need the Full chord recognition mode (without a split point).

Most of the time I use the full chord recognition mode because I play a lot of Fakebook songs. There is a simple trick to play fakebook songs in full recognition mode, just play the 1st and the 5th of the chord with your left hand, and the 3rd and 7th in the right hand and play the melody with the top note (often with your pinky).

For the korg Pa5X I created a tutorial for those modes where I explain all these differences with lots of examples. Maybe it adds somethiing to your thoughts.

⚖Qui


Special thanks for this tutorial !
I have always used Advanced / Fix Arr. + Lower, but never got it to work the way I want.

With your tip about using Chord + Lower and checking Damper & Latch, chords are now the way I want.

This has expanded my possibilities for using chords the way I want dramatically !

[⚅Hugh Wallington]

Robinez. Thank you so much for posting your Tutorial video on how to use the Chord Recognition feature on the Korg Pa5X. The one I found really interesting was the Full Chord Recognition Mode (and not using a split point). A pianist’s dream!
 
It was a real pleasure to listen to you playing. I have been very impressed with all those sophisticated chords. I don’t think I have moved on from those basic harmonies of the 50s/60s!
 
Continuing with my Topic ...
 
One thing I hadn’t realised with SINGLE FINGER chords is that when you are playing more than one note (eg. a white note below to get a 7th, or a black note below to get a minor .. or both to get a minor 7th) the keyboard applies the interpreted chord notes to the Left Hand Voice as well as the STYLE, so you get the correct harmony ie. the Left Hand Voice doesn’t sound the actual notes you are playing. That’s clever! So you can use a Left Hand Voice when using these ‘short cut’ modes.
 
Going back to what I was saying about HARMONY.
 
On my Tyros 4 I have my Split Point set at G2 (ie. G2 goes with the chord I am playing with my left hand). I do this so that when I am using a Left Hand Voice I can include that higher G note in my chord, keeping away from playing notes right at the very bottom of the keyboard. Of course as far as the STYLE is concerned, it makes no difference what inversion of a chord you play, or where on the keyboard you play it.  But with a Left Hand Voice, notes played too low down tend to ‘growl’ at you. So by including G2 I can play a basic C chord as C-E-G higher up if I so wish. And a G chord can be G-B-D-G (with the ‘root’ on top); an Am7 chord can be A-C-E-G; and an A7 chord A-C#-E-G (with the 7th note on top). The ear picks up more predominantly the highest note of a chord you are playing, and I prefer to hear the 3rd, root, or 7th note as the top note.
 
Below is a DEMO of (a) chords being blayed at the very bottom of the keyboard, and (b) playing inversions of those chords higher up, using that G2.
 
Chords played are G; GM7; G7; C; G; D7; G.
 
(a) D-G-B (way over to the left); D-F#-G-B; D-F-G-B; C-E-G (right down at the very bottom); D-G-B; C-D-F#; D-G-B.
(b) G-B-D-G; G-B-D-F#; G-B-D-F; G-C-E; G-B-D-G; A-C-D-F#; G-B-D-G.
 
And repeated that.
 
Are your ears sufficiently ‘tuned’ to hear the difference? I am using Dark Fat Saw as my Left Hand Voice. In (a) the notes sound ‘muddied’; whereas in (b) there is a clear ‘walk-down’ of the harmony.
 
https://audio.com/hugh-ar/audio/chordpositiondemo
 
Another option to choose from Fingering Types is MULTI FINGER.
 

 
Now this is a combination of SINGLE FINGER and FINGERED, so you can do either and the keyboard will pick up the chord and play it. In the YouTube clip above entitled “Why bother learning three fingered chords” he must have had his keyboard on MULTI FINGER mode as he shows us both ways of doing it.
 
Another video explaining MULTI FINGER mode.
 

 
The shortcuts to getting 7th and minor chords for this one are not quite the same as for SINGLE FINGER chords though. You have to press the closest white or black note immediately below, whereas for SINGLE FINGER mode it can be any white or black note below.
 
Topic to be continued ...

[⚅Hugh Wallington]

But the one I was really interested in was this one ...
 
Fingered On Bass
 

 
As I played an organ for many years, which of course had bass pedals, I mistakenly thought that this feature would enable me to play bass notes of my choosing with a chord I was playing. What I hadn’t appreciated was that the order of attack is (a) first play the chord represented by the three/four notes played, then (b) play the lowest of those notes as the bass. So when I was expecting to get this (a C chord with the bass ‘walking down’ C, B, A, G) ...
 
https://audio.com/hugh-ar/audio/fingeredonbass1
 
... I in fact got this. C (with a C followed by a G in the bass); then CM7 (with a B twice in the bass .. hooray!); then Am7 (with an A followed by an E in the bass); followed by a C (with a G twice in the bass .. hooray!). So much for a ‘walk-down’ bass with the harmony of the C chord!
 
https://audio.com/hugh-ar/audio/fingeredonbass2
 
Here is a proper explanation of how this feature works. You use it for chords where you don’t want the bass note to be the root of the chord eg. F/C, or F/A .. and you play the inversion of the chord with the note on the right of the slash (/) at the bottom.  
 

 
More to come ...

[⚅Hugh Wallington]

Before moving on to the other Fingering Modes I want to bring up something that I should have mentioned about FINGERED CHORDS .. which to me, is a really important feature of how this fingering mode works.
 
In this mode, chords are made with three or four fingers, and the keyboard recognises them and plays the backing accordingly. 

But ...
 
if you play some single notes while the style is playing, the keyboard will play them ‘as is’ using the Left Hand Voice chosen (ie. you have to have selected a Left Hand Voice in order for it to do this) .. while the backing continues playing the style keeping the same harmonies as before.
 
Listen to the below to hear how much of a difference this can make to what you are playing with your left hand (ie. all that you hear is done using the left hand only. Fingers are taken off the chord when playing those single notes).

NB. The Left Hand Voice I am using is Dark Fat Saw.
 
https://audio.com/hugh-ar/audio/fingeredchordsdemo
Note: It will not do this when any other fingering mode is selected. 

When I bought it, my Tyros 4 was set up to to do AI Fingering, and as this seemed to be the one everyone was saying keyboard players should use, I left it on that setting. In my next post I will be putting up comments about AI Fingering, which to me is having to learn a whole new lot of ‘short cuts’ for the keyboard to pick up what you want it to play. So quite a while ago I switched my Tyros 4 to playing Fingered Chords. I do know that I can continue playing three/four fingered chords with it on AI Fingering, but I want to be able to play single notes with the left hand as per the above. I think if I was wanting to play some ‘slash’ chords (eg. F/C) in what I was playing then I would switch back to AI Fingering, as this is one thing AI Fingering will do .. play FINGERED ON BASS.  But again, there is a 'short cut' you have to learn in order to get it to do this!

[⚅Hugh Wallington]

AI Fingering
 

 
This is what my Tyros 4 Reference Manual says about AI Fingered chords:
 
Basically the same as Fingered, with the exception that less than three notes can be played to indicate the chords (based on the previously played chord, etc.)
Note: AI stands for ‘Artificial Intelligence’.
 
So what does this mean? It means that you can play three/four fingered chords ‘as normal’ .. or you can learn a whole load of ‘short cuts’ and get the keyboard to make the chord for you.
 
Note: If you are using a Left Hand Voice, by only playing two fingers this is all you get coming through .. which makes a mockery of the harmony you were getting from playing a three/four fingered chord.
 
Short Cuts
(Note: The below are all based on a C chord. For other chords, do the same ‘intervals’.)
 
1.  C (major) in ‘root’ position ie. CEG. Just play the two notes C and E instead (ie. first and third together).

2.  Cm (C minor .. ie. C,Eb,G). Just play the two notes C and Eb.
 
3.  Playing CM7 (normally played with four fingers .. C,E,G and B) .. just play with two fingers .. C and B (Note: the B has to be above the C. If played below the C the keyboard interprets it as a ‘slash’ chord ie. C/B .. see No:9, below).).
 
It says in the description of AI Fingered “The actual chord used depends on the previously played chord” (in the Reference Manual it says based on the previously played chord, etc.. What this means is that you will get a CM7 chord if the previous chord played was C major.
 
4.  If the previous chord played was C minor, then playing the two fingers C and B (C with B above it) will give you CmM7.
 
5.  C7 (normally played as four fingers .. C,E,G and Bb) .. just play with two fingers .. C and Bb (Note: the Bb has to be above the C. If played below the C the keyboard interprets it as a ‘slash’ chord ie. C/Bb .. see No:9, below).
 
6.  If the previous chord played was Cm, then playing the two fingers C and Bb (C with Bb above it) will give you Cm7.
 
7.  To play a C9 chord (which is a C7 chord + the ninth note .. not to be confused with C+9, which is a C major chord + the ninth note and is sometimes called C+2 .. just play the three notes E, with Bb and D above it ie. the 3rd, 7th and 9th notes.
 
8.  To play Cm9 (not to be confused with Cm+9) play the three notes Bb, with D and Eb above it.
 
9.  To play a ‘slash’ chord (ie. with the note to the right of the slash playing the BASS note) eg. C/Bb, play C with the Bb below it. C/G is C with the G below it. And it has to be just the two notes. If you play G,C,E (as you would for Fingered On Bass .. as this mode analyses the chord and then plays the note at the bottom as the bass note) it will just play the C chord with a C bass.
 
Try this moving BASS with the setting on AI Fingering.
 
CE (C with the E above it .. these two notes played together give you C in the ‘root’ position, so you get a C bass note); then C/Bb (C with the Bb below it, gives you a Bb bass note); then C with the A below it (this is Am in it’s ‘root’ position, so you get an A bass note); and finally C/G (C with the G below it, which gives a C chord with a G bass note).
 
Please note that in order to use AI Fingering to full effect, you do have to play these ‘short cuts’. I know you can play three/four fingered chords as well in this mode, but I suspect it’s only the ‘slash’ chords for the bass notes that you may find useful. In AI Mode these are played with two fingers .. but you do have to know which two-fingered chords will give you a bass note.  Eg. An F note with a C below it will give you an F chord with a C bass.
 
Rimmers Music .. using AI Fingering for the bass notes.
 


More to come ...

[⚅Hugh Wallington]

Full Keyboard
 

 
As far as I can tell this Mode is similar to the one Robinez demonstrated for us on his Korg Pa5X. 
I have checked that it is a Full Keyboard, and it is ...
 

 
.. but what I can’t fathom out is why the keyboard is not telling me (correctly) a chord that I am structuring with both hands. I am playing CEG with my left, and a Bb in my right (higher up). Now that, to me, is a C7.  But the keyboard is telling me it’s a C.
 

 
And also, it seems to be giving me Fingered on Bass, as when I play EGC as my C chord (and FAD as my Dm chord) it is showing me ...
 
  
 
.. ie. C with an E bass; and Dm with an F bass.
 
Now the whole idea of this Mode is to determine the chord I am playing, and have the ‘backing’ (STYLE) playing along with me as I play. So I would want to hear the ROOT of the chord playing in the bass, as a ‘slash’ bass does make the harmony sound a bit strange.
 
The video below gives a good explanation of how this Mode works. As I said, it’s not just a ‘chord identifier’ .. it’s supposed to get the ‘backing’ (STYLE) to follow what you are playing with both hands.
 

 
I have set up a REGISTRATION so I can play across the keyboard with both hands. 
I have adapted my Chanson D’Amour Registration by changing the STYLE to 3/4 time, and have cut out the 1’ drawbar on my Organ Flutes in R1.
 

 
With the Mode on Full Fingered the STYLE will start as soon as you play any note. So as I have a couple of notes to play before the first beat of the bar, I have made sure that the SYNC START is OFF .. and press the SYNC START whilst holding down that last note before the first beat of the bar. Then the STYLE and the MELODY come in together on the first beat of the bar.

Oh What A Beautiful Morning 
https://app.box.com/s/j3rbj29vlwhuvqi9g697nsm1oz5ldavm

Hugh