Yamaha CP33 Stage Piano Review

Nice upgrade from my Yamaha P90.

I purchaed this piano for the piano sound and feel.Any additional instruments or features that come with it are a bonus.The acoustic bass, strings and jazz organ sounds are done very well also.

While nothing replaces the feel of a real piano, this keyboard comes very, very close and the lighter touch on the higher keys really takes you there.

I only wish that the power transformer was inside of the piano instead of requiring a wall wart (transformer).

If you want a great piano sound and feel get this keyboard.If you want speakers to go with it as well as some more sounds, look into the CP300, but then you will need to add $1000, 30 more pounds and a deeper frame.

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Product Description:
The CP33 is made for the serious musician on-the-go. Sit down with one, and the instrument becomes an extension of your hands and your musical imagination. The authentic piano voices and rich expressiveness come alive at your touch, and the sound is big enough to blast through a full band onstage - yet nuanced enough to work magic in an intimate club.Yamaha's extensive experience in crafting fine acoustic pianos helps us in creating the ultimate digital pianos. Our advanced Graded Hammer Effect (GHE) action gives all keys an authentic resistance that increases from the top register to the lower - just as on an actual acoustic piano. Which means that you can naturally pound out thunderous low notes with your left hand and let the fingers on your right dance and fly with the high notes.In crafting the authentic sound of the CP series, we used meticulously recorded stereo samples of top-quality instruments, taken at various playing strengths, and included subtle elements such as String Resonance, Stereo Sustain, and even Key-Off Samples that capture the felt dampers muting the piano strings - providing the most authentic sounding and finely nuanced acoustic piano voices possible.The CP stage pianos are also master keyboard controllers that give you full command of your gear. Play and control external tone generators. Assign different voices to different keyboard sections and create multi-textured layers of sound. Two instrument zones on the CP33 with panel sliders, let you easily tweak the level of each instrument as you play. You can also freely reassign the sliders and wheels to control other sonic characteristics of your gear, such as sound attack, decay, brightness and filter cutoff.At just under 40 lbs. the CP33 is a very compact and portable yet full size stage piano.

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Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook) [Paperback] Review

If you are looking for a faithful transcription of Jamie's album, this is not it. If you are looking for a slightly challenging book of fun tunes to play, this might be for you. Jamie's vocals are written in as the primary portion of the right hand part. This is a good start, however, for those that are looking to play his wonderful album. It will take a little work on your part to be able to play exactly what Jamie does, but more work to improve is what I need. That's why this gets 3.5 stars.

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Product Description:
Matching folio to the album from the British piano-playing vocalist sensation who mixes jazz and modern pop into his own unique blend. 14 songs, including: Blame It on My Youth * But for Now * I Could Have Danced All Night * I Get a Kick Out of You * Lover, You Should've Come Over * These Are the Days * Twentysomething * What a Diff'rence a Day Made * The Wind Cries Mary * and more.

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Alfred's Basic Piano Course Patriotic Solo Book, Bk 1A (Alfred's Basic Piano Library) [Paperback] Review

This book is a good selection for the American Patriotic and Folk Song Event, Primary Level, in National Federation of Music Contests.

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Product Description:
Playing patriotic music is enjoyable for young performers, too, either during practice or when performing for family and friends. These Patriotic Books are correlated with Lesson Books of Alfred's Basic Piano Library.Easy-to-master arrangements of popular and classic patriotic melodies are featured in each volume.Words are also included.

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Disney Greats (Beginning Piano Solos) [Paperback] Review

This was just perfect for my son who has been playing piano for a short time.

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Product Description:
Beginning pianists will love this collection of easy solo arrangements of 8 all-time Disney favorites: Be Our Guest * Candle on the Water * Mickey Mouse March * Someday * A Spoonful of Sugar * A Whole New World * Winnie the Pooh * Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.

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Jazz Standards for Piano (Piano Solo Songbook) [Paperback] Review

This book contains 19 standards arranged as jazz piano solos. The solos are not the standard sheet music for these songs. They are arrangements at an early to mid-intermediate level, very clean (no big runs or fills) yet very full sounding.The chord voicings are jazz oriented. So even with no improvisation, the music sounds like real jazz. The chord symbols are there (some nice extensions and substitutions) so you can learn them and improvise if you want, however, the songs do not include a written out improvisation.The nice thing is that if you just want to learn a song as a recital piece with no improv it will still sound great.For the money this is a great book.The notes are all there, just add the swing.
The arrangements are by Thomas Coppola. The following songs are included:
Alice In Wonderland, April In Paris, Autumn Leaves, But Beautiful, Everything Happens To Me, Girl Talk, How High The Moon, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, I'll Remember April, Im All Smiles, Lush Life, The Nearness Of You, People, Stella By Starlight, Sweet And Lovely, There Will Never Be Another You, The Touch Of Your Lips, What's New?, You Are Too Beautiful

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Product Description:
Jazz Standards for Piano Solo is arranged by Tom Coppola, who has toured with the likes of Peggy Lee and Marvin Gaye, recorded with Herbie Mann and Paul Simon, and wrote, arranged and produced music for Saturday Night Live from 1984-1990.

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The Elton John Keyboard Book [Paperback] Review

Here you'll find Elton John's music transcribed down to a tee. This is a welcome change to nonsensical 'interpretations' that conspicuously sound exactly the same as the melody line. You want to play 'Bennie and the Jets' from the starting heavy chords to the verse to the jazzy piano solo, here you go. Blue Eyes, Rocket Man, Someone Saved My Life Tonight (excellent song)... it's all here. In some instances (like Honky Cat for example), there's just no point in bothering to learn the music EXACTLY, because Elton John just improvised within chords in the first place. So it's best for you to do the same unless you want to pore through pages of the same music phrased slightly differently. Next time it would be better to include the more 'precise' songs in Elton's catalogue.
Anyway, this is a great collection. Some of the songs aren't very well known but get the album they're on and you're away. Hours of fun.

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Product Description:
This terrific collection features note-for-note keyboard transcriptions for 18 of Elton John's best songs: Bennie and the Jets * Candle in the Wind * Crocodile Rock * Daniel * Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me * Goodbye Yellow Brick Road * I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues * Little Jeannie * Rocket Man * Your Song * more!

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Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook) [Paperback] Review

This was a great book!It had all the songs on the CD except for her remake of Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me."I was a little disappointed about that but I guess it wasn't included in the book for copyright reasons.However, if you're an avid Alicia Keys fan who can play the piano - you definitely need to buy this book!

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Product Description:
We're proud to present this songbook featuring 15 tunes from the super-hot, chart-topping debut by talented pianist and neo-soul diva Alicia Keys. Includes her hit "Fallin'" and: Butterflyz * Caged Bird * Girlfriend * Goodbye * Jane Doe * The Life * Lovin U * Mr. Man * Never Felt This Way * Piano and I * Rock Wit U * Troubles * Why Do I Feel So Sad * A Woman's Worth.

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