Total n00b to sustain pedals! Help!

[Spock's Theater]

I just bought a sustain pedal for Casio a week ago and I have no idea how to use it. First I'd like to learn to use it on piano stuff and everything else comes after that. Do I need to get a teacher for this? I've never had one and my economical situation makes me a bit reluctant to get one... :?

[merijn]

eh well, just plug it into a pedal jack. Then ehm, you're done! Just play!

[Spock's Theater]

Well that's exactly what I've been doing so far but I was just wondering if you guys have any tips. :lol:

[merijn]

There is nothing to it! :lol:

[St0rMl0rD]

tips for what? :roll: :lol:

[Lyngs]

This thread definitely deserves

The WTF-award of the month!

Congratulations!

:lol:

[Poopshred]

This thread definitely deserves

The WTF-award of the month!

Congratulations!

:lol:


:lol:

[Spacehog]

Yeah... er... it's a sustain pedal! You press the pedal down, the notes sustain... you release the pedal, the notes stop sustaining... there's nothing really to learn about it!

Martin

[Liquid Shadow]

Just push it down and let it go when you think it should be done. When you want things to sound smooth then push it down, but let up when it starts to get muddy (just come off and then go back on again)

That's for piano playing of course. There are other uses like if you were able to make a monophonic lead on the Casio then you can press it while doing solos and everything will sound smoother, or just holding out notes for whatever you need, which I do a lot.

That reminds me of a funny story...one of my bands was rehearsing and the key part to the intro of the song is just holding out a chord with a string/choir patch. I was getting really thirsty but I didn't get a drink before the song started, so I played the chord, pushed the sustain pedal down, bent over and picked it up and kept it pressed down with my hand, walked across the room, opened a soda, drank half of it, walked back behind my keyboard, and all in time to come in for the next part of the song.

If that's not \m/ then I don't know what is.

[Poopshred]

Just push it down and let it go when you think it should be done. When you want things to sound smooth then push it down, but let up when it starts to get muddy (just come off and then go back on again)

That's for piano playing of course. There are other uses like if you were able to make a monophonic lead on the Casio then you can press it while doing solos and everything will sound smoother, or just holding out notes for whatever you need, which I do a lot.

That reminds me of a funny story...one of my bands was rehearsing and the key part to the intro of the song is just holding out a chord with a string/choir patch. I was getting really thirsty but I didn't get a drink before the song started, so I played the chord, pushed the sustain pedal down, bent over and picked it up and kept it pressed down with my hand, walked across the room, opened a soda, drank half of it, walked back behind my keyboard, and all in time to come in for the next part of the song.

If that's not \m/ then I don't know what is.


Hahaha... but wouldn't that chord have faded out by then?

[Lyngs]

Just push it down and let it go when you think it should be done. When you want things to sound smooth then push it down, but let up when it starts to get muddy (just come off and then go back on again)

That's for piano playing of course. There are other uses like if you were able to make a monophonic lead on the Casio then you can press it while doing solos and everything will sound smoother, or just holding out notes for whatever you need, which I do a lot.

That reminds me of a funny story...one of my bands was rehearsing and the key part to the intro of the song is just holding out a chord with a string/choir patch. I was getting really thirsty but I didn't get a drink before the song started, so I played the chord, pushed the sustain pedal down, bent over and picked it up and kept it pressed down with my hand, walked across the room, opened a soda, drank half of it, walked back behind my keyboard, and all in time to come in for the next part of the song.

If that's not \m/ then I don't know what is.


Hahaha... but wouldn't that chord have faded out by then?

A string/choir sound doesn't doesn't fade out, mostly. :wink:

Cool story! :) And the audience is like "WTF? Fire ze missiles!" :lol:

[Liquid Shadow]

:lol: Since there's such a huge audience at band rehearsals


And no, the patch didn't fade out. I don't know of any string or choir patches that fade out at all...

[Poopshred]

:lol: Since there's such a huge audience at band rehearsals


And no, the patch didn't fade out. I don't know of any string or choir patches that fade out at all...

Mine does if I don't hold the key down.

[Spock's Theater]

WTF? Oh, okay. I thought there was a certain way how you should use it but oh, well... :wink:

@Liquid
Cool story btw!! :lol:

EDIT: How do you make your leads monophonic on the Casio, Liquid Shadow? I didn't know that you could do it on this board.

[The White Raven]

to use a sustain pedal is mostly by ear........sometime only you know when to push it but on thery while you're pressing the pedal the key is going and up and viceversa.....like a swing


............................\
..............................\
.key-goes-up----->..\
.................................||
....................................\
......................................\
........................................\ <------- pedal goes down



........................................../
........................................./ <------- pedal goes up
......................................../
......................................||
...................................../
.key-goes-down--->..../
................................../




at



ps: ignore the dot's.....just to keep the ''image'' on position

[Liquid Shadow]

WTF? Oh, okay. I thought there was a certain way how you should use it but oh, well... :wink:

@Liquid
Cool story btw!! :lol:

EDIT: How do you make your leads monophonic on the Casio, Liquid Shadow? I didn't know that you could do it on this board.


You can't, I was just saying if you could then that would be one thing you could use the sustain pedal for.

I tried it on the square patch that sounds semi-mono and trust me, you don't wanna do that (aka it sounds horrible :lol: )

[Enigma™]

BTW: Moved to gear talk :)

[Lyngs]

BTW: Moved to gear talk :)

WTF!!!111 U MOVDE ZE TRED TO GEAR TLAL!!! ARRHHHH!!!! 222 LOL OMG!!! 111 FIRE ZE MISSILES!!!! 111

:lol:

[Deceit]

Wasn't that a +1, Lyngs? :P.
However, a sustain pedal is just a sustain pedal. This is the absolute truth.
Deceit.

[Lyngs]

Wasn't that a +1, Lyngs? :P.
However, a sustain pedal is just a sustain pedal. This is the absolute truth.
Deceit.

Oh, you got me... it certainly was... :P

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/forumfun/spam1.jpg


:lol:

[merijn]

This thread definitely deserves

The WTF-award of the month!

Congratulations!

:lol:

He Ulrik, no Ebaumsworld pic!? 8) ''Hootie the wurm says, ''WTF''



EDIT: I didn't see the one above my post hehe! Well done!

[Lyngs]

This thread definitely deserves

The WTF-award of the month!

Congratulations!

:lol:

He Ulrik, no Ebaumsworld pic!? 8) ''Hootie the wurm says, ''WTF''



EDIT: I didn't see the one above my post hehe! Well done!

Oh... I should have done a pic with the WTF-award too, you're right! :) :lol:

[Spock's Theater]

I want a picture Lyngs!! Now!! :lol:

[lighthouse]

Actually I have a funny story concerning a sustain pedal.
So I`m in a gig and I`m playing this string pad and suddenly my nose starts to itch so I press the sustain pedal to scratch it and then I hear someone from the audience screaming: Hey the keyoard guy isn`t playing, so I then smile at the guy and completely remove my hands from the keyboard and make a reverence to the audience, everyone started laughting, from that part the gig was a complete succes! 8)

[Kurzweilfreak]

Actually I have a funny story concerning a sustain pedal.
So I`m in a gig and I`m playing this string pad and suddenly my nose starts to itch so I press the sustain pedal to scratch it and then I hear someone from the audience screaming: Hey the keyoard guy isn`t playing, so I then smile at the guy and completely remove my hands from the keyboard and make a reverence to the audience, everyone started laughting, from that part the gig was a complete succes! 8)

Stupid audience members. :roll: Yet they think that it's awesome when a bunch of guys have keyboards on stage and act like they're playing when it's so obvious their laptop is doing all the work. :roll: :(

[lighthouse]

Yet they think that it's awesome when a bunch of guys have keyboards on stage and act like they're playing when it's so obvious their laptop is doing all the work

Totally agree with you Tog

[Omega Monkey]

Hehe, that sounds like some shit I would do LS!

Me and my best friend jam a lot at my place (ie where all the gear is, even his). Well, 99% of the time it is just us 2, and we get a little over ambitious trying to do as much music as possible with just 4 hands and 4 feet, using various keyboards (including organ and Rhodes and multiple synths), various guitars, and basses. So usually we will have some kind of droney thing going (often on my JX-3P since it has a handy dandy hold SWITCH in addition to the pedal jack, and also has sample and hold which always comes in handy) anyway, so that I can play guitar or he can play bass, at times we have taken to weighing down keys on the other boards (the Hammond especially) with various objects. The one that sticks out in my mind is a medium sized padlock!

So we can get this whole mess of ambient sound with liquidy guitar leads and Rhodes stuff going on all with just the 2 of us and a combination lock on additional keys!

But yeah, seriously I cant believe anyone would ever ask this. Of course, when I started messing around with piano, the internet didnt really exist, at least not in the form it does now (I'm talkin mid 80s here). So I just experimented with it until I got a feel for it. Im still trying to figure out the other 2 pedals though. Haha, no jk. The middle one doesnt seem to have much effect on most pianos though.

[ChrisMcCoy]

I had a piano teacher who used to tell me to use hold the sustain until the chord or notes I was playing lost their distinction (became muddy sounding) from carrying over into the next notes or chord. Then I was told to continue this exercise to sustain and release the hold pedal in varying lenthgs with the same phrases of music, over and over until the sustain carried niceley without bleeding all over the next passage of music (set of notes, chord, etc). This eventually become my method of sustaining... Playing by ear....in my case, that also replaced reading music ! Every piano is different, so it's largely subjective.

In short, use your ear. For your keyboard/synth The patch you are using will also make a big difference based on what effects exist, how much delay or sustain exists in the patch, etc.. :D