Another GR55 Owner

Started by Fergie 812, January 07, 2014, 04:14:14 AM

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Fergie 812

Greetings all, I have recently purchased a GR55 with a view to delving into the hitherto mystery that is guitar synthesis. I am predominately a keyboard player who doubles up as a rhythm player in a covers band, and occasionally keys only in a Deep Purple Tribute, and guitar only in an AC/DC tribute. The GR55 is for the covers band to hopefully save me a lot of set up at gigs as I plan to replace the three keyboard's that I currently haul around with me......here's hoping!!
Yamaha Pacifica 812,Blackstar Ht-20,Fender Telecaster 67 Custom , Roland Gr55, Roland Fantom FA76,Viscount DB3, Korg X5, Roland Super JX10.

supernicd

Greetings Fergie 812. We have some things in common in that I split my time between keys and guitars. So far the GR-55 has never allowed me to leave my keyboard at home for a gig.  It has less to do with its ability to recreate a given sound and more to do with my ability to play some parts designed for keyboard on a guitar.

That said though, it has enabled me to do the following:
- leave my tube amp at home if I choose to, for shorter gigs, smaller stages
- come out from behind the keyboard and be seen on select songs where the keyboard part is playable on guitar
- play a guitar and keyboard part at the same time in some cases

I have never made it a goal to leave the keyboard behind, though, and would love to hear how you  progress. Good luck!
Strat w/ GK-3, Godin LGXT
VG-99, GR-55, GP-10
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Fergie 812

I love this thing, I have not had to speak to my wife for almost 5 days!!!
Yamaha Pacifica 812,Blackstar Ht-20,Fender Telecaster 67 Custom , Roland Gr55, Roland Fantom FA76,Viscount DB3, Korg X5, Roland Super JX10.

Fergie 812

Quote from: SuperNiCd on January 07, 2014, 05:02:02 AM
Greetings Fergie 812. We have some things in common in that I split my time between keys and guitars. So far the GR-55 has never allowed me to leave my keyboard at home for a gig.  It has less to do with its ability to recreate a given sound and more to do with my ability to play some parts designed for keyboard on a guitar.

That said though, it has enabled me to do the following:
- leave my tube amp at home if I choose to, for shorter gigs, smaller stages
- come out from behind the keyboard and be seen on select songs where the keyboard part is playable on guitar
- play a guitar and keyboard part at the same time in some cases

I have never made it a goal to leave the keyboard behind, though, and would love to hear how you  progress. Good luck!

I spent last night tweaking some of the presets to suit our set, Freebird, Copperhead Rd , Mountain Time (Joe Bonamassa), Kashmir, Doctor Doctor (UFO) all saved......what a remarkable tool this thing is.
Yamaha Pacifica 812,Blackstar Ht-20,Fender Telecaster 67 Custom , Roland Gr55, Roland Fantom FA76,Viscount DB3, Korg X5, Roland Super JX10.

Fergie 812

I spent last night tweaking some of the presets to suit our set, Freebird, Copperhead Rd , Mountain Time (Joe Bonamassa), Kashmir, Doctor Doctor (UFO) all saved......what a remarkable tool this thing is.
Yamaha Pacifica 812,Blackstar Ht-20,Fender Telecaster 67 Custom , Roland Gr55, Roland Fantom FA76,Viscount DB3, Korg X5, Roland Super JX10.

MrEd


shawnb

Quote from: Fergie 812 on January 08, 2014, 07:54:16 AM
I love this thing, I have not had to speak to my wife for almost 5 days!!!

Speaking from experience, I advise staying in contact with your wife. 

SAF (spousal approval factor) is critical & must be maintained if you are to entertain any thought of future purchases. 
Address the process rather than the outcome.  Then, the outcome becomes more likely.   - Fripp

gumtown

Quote from: shawnb on January 10, 2014, 09:24:53 AM
Speaking from experience, I advise staying in contact with your wife. 

SAF (spousal approval factor) is critical & must be maintained if you are to entertain any thought of future purchases.
+1
;)
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Toby Krebs

Welcome to the forum! As a keyboard player you are better equipped to get around on the GR55 than a typical guitar player. I have subbed for many keyboard players using only the GR55 as I do not play keys. Of course I cannot do everything a good keyboard player can do with the GR55 but I can do about 75 per cent of it. At cover gigs 75 per cent is more than good enough to get people to stick around after the first set and spend their money. I think you will find it very useful. All the keyboard players here(even the professor/lecturer at the university who holds a doctorate) hate me. That makes me happy!

Have Fun!

Fergie 812

Thanks for the warm welcome , it is still very early days for me with the GR55 but so far I have been nothing short of amazed by it, our real guitar player come over last night to have a listen and a try out on it......I thought I was going to have to shoot him with a Tazer to get him off it!!!!

Have spent the last week or so going through our covers set ........and out of 40 odd songs there were maybe 2 or 3 that I would struggle to use the Roland for....Desperado and Superstition being the most obvious ones. However as I already play 50% of the set on rhythm guitar it is unlikely to be too big a leap to move entirely across to the GR55.

I am particularly impressed with how I can bring in strings and organ patches for e.g. with either the volume or control pedals.....we end the night generally with Freebird and the Hammond sound behind the guitar and piano is sublime, especially with the Leslie sim on the control switch, when you consider that I can also dial in my real guitar and amp(Blackstar HT-20) sound alongside it!!!!....@veryimpressed.com
Yamaha Pacifica 812,Blackstar Ht-20,Fender Telecaster 67 Custom , Roland Gr55, Roland Fantom FA76,Viscount DB3, Korg X5, Roland Super JX10.

Toby Krebs

Write a patch with a good acoustic piano and a B3 organ to be played at the same time and control them with the expression pedal. Assign the guitar to either the volume on the GK or use the magnetic pickups on your guitar. I use such a patch for Freebird/Hello It's Me?Hard To handle etc... a lot.Sometimes when I am feeling adventurous I loop the opening progression of Freebird and play slide over it. I am the only guitarist/synth player in my regular band so I can get away with some stuff when I feel like it! Desperado requires a bit of a chord melody approach on the guitar synth which I am not great at. I just get as close as I can and once we are in to the tune the audience doesn't know or care what I'm doing as long as the singer sings the hell out of it!