I’ll be honest with you, I’ve always felt a little exposed sat playing a keyboard as opposed to a real piano. There’s nothing to hide behind, you’re sat behind a keyboard stand that for all intents and purposes closely resembles an ironing board with it’s unfolded x-frame.
Well this month since I’ve been playing a Sunday afternoon gig at The Imperial Hotel in Blackpool, I’ve decided that enough is enough, I need something to hide my legs behind!

The result is a little carpentry project using a single sheet of 8ft x 4ft hardboard, 6 brass hinges and some black wood stain.

Click on the gallery below for pictures or better still why not pop down to the Imperial one Sunday lunch and have a listen too!

 

The best part is that once the ‘lid’ slides out of the top the frame can then be folded in on itself for easy storage.

 

 

Here’s a little tip for creating a ‘country’ piano sound using what I like to call a ‘crushed 2nd’.
If you are playing a chord of G major (G B D) then you’d use the 2nd degree of the scale (A) to crush into the 3rd (B) as per this youtube clip I’ve uploaded.

You can use this technique to create more movement with your chords and also when combined with other chords in a sequence it creates a very simple, yet effective riff.
In the video example above I used the chorus from “The Way It Is” by Bruce Hornsby – G F C