Topic: Using Pianoteq 8 to "Learn to play guitar!"
With all due respect to John Mellencamp for the title's lyrics line, the new Pianoteq nylon string guitar has a fabulous sound, and is inspiring for non-guitarists like me to learn to play riffs with the new instrument. So, since the mechanics of playing the guitar are so different from playing a piano or other keyboard instrument, I searched YouTube for some instructional videos on how to pick and strum on the keyboard to make it sound like a guitar. I found a few videos that I think are quite good, including one that is nothing short of amazing. I will post them below, figuring that these videos would serve as inspiration for others to use the new Pianoteq instrument to create some compelling guitar emulations:
1) Here's the amazing one first: Daniel Fisher is a consultant and demonstrator for Sweetwater, an American company that specializes in the sale of high-end gear to musicians, both pros and advanced amateurs. In this video, he deftly goes through all manner of acoustic and electric guitar styles, playing famous riffs from a vast number of genres, which would otherwise make you believe that they are fingered off of a fretboard. Not only does he walk the walk, but he concisely talks the talk, teaching how to achieve these styles. I enjoyed using his two-handed technique to duplicate the riff from Heart's "Barracuda", using Pianoteq's Electrified preset. Hey, Philippe, maybe you can get him signed as a pro?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLtwHzJ2s3g
How to Play Guitar Parts on Keyboards — Daniel Fisher by Sweetwater [YouTube]
2) Not far behind Fisher is this guy, Paolo Di Nicolantonio, who starts with some great tips on keyboarding a guitar, but then expands into how to simulate all kinds of different instruments. There are similarly skilled people running the trade show circuit, such as Craig Knutson playing Yamaha's Clavinovas, but this was one of the best videos that I found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmQETKtz1Ws
Keyboard playing techniques to emulate other instruments by SynthMania [YouTube]
3) Though not as transformative as the first two, Lionel D'Mello has a simpler video where he breaks guitar emulation into three types of play: Plucking, Strumming, and Bending, giving examples and instructions for all three - It's great for learning how to make the most of the new Pianoteq instrument:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sofRRVWR3y0
How to Play Guitar Parts on Keyboards | Piano For Beginners | Music Pandit | Lionel D'mello by Music Pandit [YouTube]
4) On a more specific 'note', Assaf aims to teach strumming techniques for keyboard players, using regular pianos and not necessarily using guitar plug-ins. It's more geared towards [as he puts it] "learning to think like a guitarist". I found two of his videos with different nuances, with the older (and I think the best) placed first:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJR27XnzjQ0&t=281s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUqKWy9SvhI
"Strumming" the Piano? Thinking Like A Guitar Player by Mangold Project [YouTube]
Piano Lessons for Beginners: Part 5 - "Strumming" on the Piano by Mangold Project [YouTube]
5) While I found a multitude of other 'learn to strum a keyboard like a guitar' videos, another one that I thought deserved mention was this one by Wade McNutt because it emphasizes working out realistic up-to-down and down-to-up strokes on the strumming patterns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4l4C55Kou4
Guitar Strum on the Piano by Piano Chops [YouTube]
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Anyway, I know that this post has not begin specific to Pianoteq, but I hope that you find its contents interesting and at least entertaining!
