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“Keytar” is just about my favorite portmanteau (shout-out to “cybernetics” and “ginormous”–which i must also welcome to the dictionary). The keytar’s existence is credited to composer and guitarist Steve Masakowski, and the inaugural keytar, Moog Liberation, was released in 1980. After it gained exposure thanks to bands like Devo, Flock of Seagulls, Poison, and Van Halen, it was semi-superannuated. But keytars could be making a comeback. A friend of mine who wants to bring keytars back recently purchased one–used, mainly because Yamaha has long since passed the torch–but despite a manufacturing hiatus, you can now buy new, though modified, keytars here. Shania Twain rocks one in her band, as do Marilyn Manson and Le Tigre (now that would be an interesting concert line-up). Anybody out there sitting on this very special kind of ‘tar?
Comments (7)
Comment
Don’t forget the Doodlebops! ;-)
posted by KG on 7-11-2007 at 2:05 pm
Actually neither Poison or Van Halen use Keytars. They use Keyboards. The keytar is played like a guitar, but as I said neither of them use them either onstage or in a studio.
posted by Tod on 7-11-2007 at 2:51 pm
Check out “Fastest Finger” Belinda Bedekovic. She had a great duet with Borat that didn’t make it to the film - check youtube for some fast finger action
p.s. the Doodlebops freak me out…yes even more than Belinda…
posted by Eric on 7-12-2007 at 9:08 am
There is some considerable confusion about keytars, exhibited here.
There are two varieties, with entirely different lineage. The branch leading from the Moog Liberator has little to do with the Williams keytar, Inc …er…thing.
Originally, a keytar was a keyboard controller (with or without a voice module built-in) which was meant to be worn around the neck from a guitar strap, with the option of controllers mounted on a stubby neck-analog. The action of the hands was identical to the action of hands on a standard keyboard (i.e., play notes with both hands, or play notes with one hand while operating controllers with the other). Its purpose was to allow a keyboard player the kind of ‘dance-around’ mobility that guitar players have. Usually sporting three or more octaves of keys, the more popular versions had midi output, which was fed via cable to voice modules and amplifiers the way the guitar’s cord fed pickup sound to the guitarist’s amplifier. Note the major feature: the player uses both hands to play notes, or one to play notes and the other to operate synth controllers on the stubby analog to a guitar neck. Someone I can verify uses this kind of keytar in performance is Rick Wakeman and his son (whose keytar battles are pretty spectacular.)
The Williams keytar, inc. beast is an ersatz piano keyboard section arranged over a set of strings so that pressing a key “activates” the associated key. In this respect, it is entirely an evolution of the Autoharp, and outside of shape and being hung on a guitar strap, has little to do with the original keytar. It is, in essence, a guitar with a fretboard replacement, not a synth or controller at all. Note the operational feature, making it very different from the Liberation: one hand operates the keys while the other hand strums the strings. Again, the similarities to an autoharp (which has a multiplicity of strings which are selectively muted by the chord bars, and is strummed with one hand while operating the bars with the other), and the lack of similarity to the original keytars: if you try to use both hands on the keys, it remains pretty quiet.
If you wanted the next step in evolution from the Yamaha and Roland keytars, you should be looking at Starr Labs www.starrlabs.com midi guitars and custom controllers. These replace the fingerboard with a 6 x 24 matrix of keys (one for each fret of each string), and allow the player to use both hands ala synth keyboard to play notes. (They also have additional actuation controllers, including string actuators which are supposed to ‘feel’ like plucking guitar strings, which muddies the water even more!)
So as far as lineage goes, I’d order things thus:
Keyboard synths, keyboard controllers on guitar straps, Moog Liberation, Roland and Yamaha keytars, Starr Labs controllers.
Clavichord (this is a guess), autoharp, Williams keytar.
posted by onlyocelot on 7-12-2007 at 9:29 am
let’s not forget “Revenge of the Nerds” !
posted by LizardBreath on 7-12-2007 at 10:59 am
Hey - The girl from the band Cobra Starship rocks hers hard core. Loved them live.
posted by Janet on 7-17-2007 at 11:47 am
Actually, the Williams Keytar has more in common with the bulbul tarang (Indian Banjo) than the autoharp.
With the autoharp, pressing a chord button dampens all the strings except for the ones in the selected chord. With the WK, all strings are already dampened until you press a key or keys to undampen them.
Like the bulbul tarang, the WK frets the strings when you press the key or keys. Unlike the tarang (or the autoharp, for that matter), it’s one key per string, and it is this that allows it to be truly polyphonic, while the tarang is monophonic with sympathetic strings.
Yes, I have an autoharp, a bulbul tarang, and (now) a Williams Keytar, the V-1 model, so I have first-hand experience with their mechanics.
I agree that the Starr Labs’ instruments look interesting, but expensive. However, I’m more keyboard player than guitar player.
posted by macsnafu on 8-11-2008 at 10:55 am