Electric piano
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An electric piano (e-piano) is an electric musical instrument whose popularity was at its greatest during the 1960s and 1970s. Many models were designed to replace a (heavy) piano on stage, while others were originally conceived for use in school or college piano labs for the simultaneous tuition of several students using headphones. Unlike a synthesizer or an electronic piano, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electronic signals by pickups. In other words, an electric piano is to an acoustic piano as an electric guitar is to an acoustic guitar.
The earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s; the 1929 Neo-Bechstein electric grand piano was among the first. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loar's Vivi-Tone Clavier.
The actual method of tone production varies from one model to another; Yamaha and Kawai's electric grands are actual grand pianos with strings and hammers but no soundboard; the Wurlitzer and Rhodes pianos use metal reeds and wire tines respectively, struck by hammers; Hohner's Pianet and Cembalet use adhesive pads and rubber plectra respectively to pluck metal reeds, while the same company's Clavinet is essentially an electric clavichord.
As with electric vs. acoustic guitars, the sound of most electric pianos differs considerably from that of an acoustic instrument, and the electric piano has thus acquired a musical identity of its own, far beyond that of simply being an portable, amplified piano. In particular, the Rhodes piano lends itself to long, sustained "floating" chords in a way which would be impossible on an acoustic instrument, while the Hohner Clavinet has an instantly recognisable vocabulary of percussive riffs and figures which owe less to conventional piano and clavichord styles than to funk rhythm guitar and slap bass.
- Examples:
- Fender Rhodes (Mark I, Mark II, Mark III)
- Hohner Cembalet, Clavinet, Pianet, Electra Piano
- Wurlitzer EP-200A
- Yamaha CP-70 Electric Grand Piano
- Popular songs with electric pianos:
- Fender Rhodes:
- Chick Corea: "Spain"
- Herbie Hancock: "Chameleon"
- Billy Joel: "Just The Way You Are"
- Stevie Wonder: "You Are the Sunshine Of My Life"
- The Doors: "Riders on the Storm"
- Styx: "Babe", "Don't Let It End"
- Pink Floyd: "Sheep"
- Hohner Cembalet:
- The Stranglers: "(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)"
- The Stranglers: "No More Heroes"
- Hohner Clavinet:
- Commodores: "Machine Gun", "Young Girls Are My Weakness"
- Foreigner: "Urgent"
- Stevie Wonder: "Superstition"
- The Band: "Up On Cripple Creek", "The Shape I'm In"
- Hohner Electra Piano:
- Led Zeppelin: "Stairway to Heaven", "Down By the Seaside", "No Quarter", "Misty Mountain Hop"
- Hohner Pianet (N):
- Beatles: "The Night Before", "You Like Me Too Much", "I am the Walrus"
- The Guess Who: "These Eyes"
- Herman's Hermits: "I'm Into Something Good"
- The Zombies: "She's Not There"
- The Kingsmen: "Louie Louie"
- Wurlitzer Electric Piano 200 A
- Cannonball Adderley Quintet: "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy"
- Supertramp: "Bloody Well Right", "Dreamer", "The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stranger", "Lady", "Oh Darling", "You Started Laughing", "Poor Boy"
- Steely Dan: "Do It Again", "Dirty Work", "Your Gold Teeth", "Everyone's Gone To The Movies", "Jack of Speed", "Two Against Nature", "Slang of Ages", "Pretzel Logic"
- Little Feat: "Fat Man in the Bathtub (live)", "Day or Night", "One Love Stand", "Mercenary Territory", "Hoy Hoy"
- Ray Charles: "What'd I Say"
- Beck: "Where It's At"
- Van Halen: "And The Cradle Will Rock"
- Queen: "You're My Best Friend"
- Fender Rhodes:
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See also