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Firstly the set is based on having keys in most songs.
Some benefit from adding. We do crazy little thing called love but the live version has a piano. Also brass in pocket and there is an ep run in one place, so I added an ep.
Sometimes I'll try and fill a 2nd guitarists parts as we only have one guitarist.
Other things like faith doesn't have keys nor does it suit. I play tambourine in that
I feel its important the keys player has vocals as well. Can do complex harmony work if not playing key parts.
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And this is the sort of shit I am living with at the moment. Our other guitarist plays electric like an acoustic but he can handle keys. The only problem is that he insists on overplaying and doing it loud, and badly. It's like if he is not outplaying everyone else, he will lose the competition. The point being that it results in stuff get heavily cockneyed up.
If it's rock covers in pubs I'd generally let them use keys to make things sound bigger. On your immigrant song example I'd be straight on the dirty Hammond as a starting point.
In one band I put a full orchestral patch behind Run to the Hills - strings in verses and brass with timpani added in the chorus - obvs not authentic but it sounded big, dramatic and a bit of fun.
Often put Hammond behind acdc. Some subtle synth strings behind Panama...
Depends how good the player is at listening and adapting too - if they don't get it, like some of the examples above, then I guess you may need to be more prescriptive.
Ideally it's always better to have someone who can play keys and guitar, pref with a good backing vocal too.
One of the advantages with keys is you don't need to just play keys parts, you can sample and trigger anything from backing vocals to guitar stabs to bits of ambience that you don't even know is there until they take it away.
All the 3 bands I play in have the same keys player and in the tribute we have 3 keys players inc me. But the patches need to be carefully considered and worked out, you don't want someone just banging hammond on everything.
Having a sound engineer helps as keys can use up a lot of headroom in a PA and generally swamp everything onstage. We are all IEM in all bands so it's not a big problem and I enjoy listening to our guy panned in stereo in my ears. He plays all the little production tricklets live that are on the record.
Ultimately is a good idea to have a keys player as there really isn't any cover you can't do with a bit of thought with a good keys player who's up on the production side as well
Stuff that sounds impressive on a guitar is usually pretty easy to play on a piano so some folks fall into the trap of then trying to overplay to show their supposed "mad skills" but actually end up just swamping the mix and making it sound like they are an old bloke at Blackpool Tower.
That said, I think it's hard to find lessons or tutorials or what not on skills that are useful for a band context - largely keys lessons tend to be about physical technique rather than application. I can already play piano (did all the grades and diploma etc) but never did get into modern band playing because I could not work out what skills to learn, how to use the synth side of things in context, etc
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Apparently he does play a bit of guitar but I don’t think it’s his forte so I’m saying keys only right now and then we can see how it goes.
IMHO you will either have to convince Richard Clayderman that he's the utility guy on keys, bv's and percussion or change the set.
I don't know if your band has two guitarists or not. Mine does and I wouldn't add a keyboardist. I cover pads on a Mel 9 or synth 9 when needed.
Each musician should have enough to do in a set. Sometimes they are the star sometimes not. I gave up playing bass in bands because you can only play root fifth for so long without having a melt down.
I check with the others, well, before covid, and make sure they are happy. I've added easy songs to coast and a couple that are difficult or stretch our abilities.
Q what should I do with my left hand when playing keys in a band?
A sit on it.
I tend to try and limit the amount of things that can go wrong and make it work with as minimal people as possible. There has been talk about a second guitarist but I’ve decided against it every time. But we have been talking about adding keys as a compromise and it’s the drummers mate so he’s recommended him, and we’ll give him an audition.
In my mind the guy needs to be able to do synth and keys. So everything from adding rock and roll piano to classics like Johnny B Goode to pads and lead lines for more modern stuff.
In your situation keys would fill it out and an audition is wise. Most keyboardist I have played with over play, have no dialogue, use wrong sounds, refuse to play pads and over power the bass player in varying degrees.
One of the 'best' players I have worked with started on a mono synth and could just about play chords. It fitted in with what the rest of us were doing.