English

Noun

1. One who keyboards; a typist.

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more general term for a person who plays them. These keyboards include:

• electric pianos such as the Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano
• electronic pianos such as the Roland Digital Piano
• Hammond and other electric organ such as the Farfisa and Vox Continental
• analog synthesizers such as Moog and ARP synthesizers
• digital electronic keyboards such as those produced today by Roland, Yamaha, Kurzweil and Korg
• samplers
• mellotron
• clavinet
• pianet
• piano (but see Pianist for a list of famous pianists)
• harpsichord
• reed organ
• celesta
• clavichord
• pipe organ
• harmonium
• keytar

It became stylish among hard-rock enthusiasts and musicians to adopt an attitude of scorn and derision towards keyboardists and keyboard music. As an example, guitarist Ted Nugent goes hunting and shoots a keyboard in one of his DVDs. However, in general, the keyboardist has seen something of a resurgence in rock music in recent years, with bands like Maroon 5, Athlete and The Killers featuring keyboards prominently.

Notable electronic keyboardists

Note: while the term 'keyboardist' can cover a wide variety of instruments both acoustic and electronic, the following musicians are mostly known as electronic keyboardists, although they may also play piano or other acoustic keyboards.

Rock and pop

Tony Banks (Genesis)

Vince Clarke (Erasure, Depeche Mode, Yazoo)

Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)

Brian Eno

Martin Gore (Depeche Mode)

Ralf Hütter (Kraftwerk, Organisation)

Jean Michel Jarre

Booker T. Jones

Jon Lord (Deep Purple)

Ray Manzarek (The Doors)

Gary Numan

Billy Preston

Alan Price (The Animals)

Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)

Florian Schneider-Esleben (Kraftwerk)

Vangelis

Stevie Wonder

Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)

Rick Wakeman (Yes)

Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)

Jazz

Generally speaking, in jazz music, electronic keyboard players are very often also pianists.

Chick Corea

Jan Hammer

Herbie Hancock

Keith Jarrett

Jimmy Smith

Josef Zawinul (Weather Report)

Classical

Wendy Carlos

See also

• Pianist
• Organist
• List of Hammond organ players
• List of harpsichordists
• Classical pianists (recorded)

External links

• Keyboard Player magazine
• Harmony Central resource for keyboard/synth players