Jordan Rudess’s Top 5 Tips for Keyboardists

Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess on performing the band’s entire new double-album live? “It was a lot of work,” says he, “but it really gave me a chance to keep the chops up.” Thus these chops-related tips from the keyboard man himself.

Dream Theater are playing some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues on their current The Astonishing tour, but for keyboardist Jordan Rudess, the band’s recent gig at New York’s Radio City Music Hall was one that loomed large in his mind for weeks beforehand.

“It was hard not to think about it while we were playing other shows,” he says. “For us, it was a hometown gig, and it was at of the most incredible concert halls in the world. It was definitely at the back of my mind; I’d be playing a show somewhere, and I’d think, ‘What will this be like at Radio City?’ It made the reality of the show so much sweeter – we played beautifully, and the audience was brilliant.”

Rudess’s setup on the tour is based around a Korg Kronos 88-note keyboard (“That’s the centerpiece of the whole deal, and it does most of the work”), but he also employs a ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 MIDI Controller/Synthesizer that he couples with a multi-effects plugin called Positive Grid. One of Rudess’s onstage iPads is loaded with his own Wizdom Music GeoShred app, and the other runs a notation app called forScore. “It might sound complicated, but it’s actually a pretty simple setup that gives me everything I need for a big, big show,” he says.

Dream Theater are playing ‘The Astonishing’ in its entirety (34 brand-new songs), which required a solid month of rehearsals – one without production, one with. For Rudess, his own personal practice regime consisted of working out the elaborate orchestrations on the record and which programs he needed to use.

“I had to figure out what real orchestra we were going to play on tracks and what I was going to play live, so there was a lot of balancing,” he says. “There are definitely parts on the record that are challenging to play, so I had to work out how to pull them off live. On the album, I had separate tracks of parts, so for the show I had to decide which part I would play, or I would simply work out a way to do both parts.” He pauses, then adds, “It was a lot of work, but it really gave me a chance to keep the chops up.”

For chops-minded players of any level, check out Jordan Rudess’s Top 5 Tips for Keyboardists below.

Develop a Brain in Your Fingers

By transferring messages from your brain to your fingers, you’re developing a skill that basically allows the fingers to think without you being involved. Begin to learn all the different scales and arpeggios – a keyboardist should know how to play all the chords and inversions, and to be able to do it quickly. For instance, if I said, “Play E and play it in the second inversion,” your hands should be able to go right there without any thought involved.

What this means is, your fingers are doing the thinking for your brain, but they can only do that once you’ve put in the time and preparation. I’ve developed exercises that are really useful for this on my Online Conservatory.

Get Both Hands Working

This might sound like a funny thing to say, but a lot of keyboard players forget that they have two hands. They might just focus on the right hand, and the left hand is dead weight. But I believe in getting both hands working at the same level.

Try things like ostinato patterns with the left hand, where you have to play smoothly while the right hand is improvising. Once you’ve got that down, reverse it and do a six-note ostinato pattern with the right hand. This is a really way of getting your brain and hands working and being able to switch it up.

The goal is to have both hands be equal. If you really want to play the keyboard, it’s physical. It’s almost like a sport.

Be Aware of the Evolving State of the Art of Playing the Keyboard

Things are changing dramatically, and being somebody who’s involved with technology, I can say that it’s only going to get deeper. This year has seen the awakening of the ROLI Seaboard, which allows for every movement of the fingers on the keyboard to have some meaning to the sound. It adds dimensions to what a keyboardist can do on his instrument.

Some people still believe that technology takes away from the physical aspect of playing. There was that old argument from purists who said that synthesizers weren’t expressive or organic. I see technology as a beautiful thing, one that’s going beyond anything an acoustic instrument ever did. Your fingers now have so much control over the expression of the music.

Keyboardists need to be aware and smart about that, because in the future their fingers are going to be asked to control even more aspects of sound. Beyond the Seaboard, manufacturers are starting to look at the sensors that go on the keys, to where they would sense the position of your finger. Once that level of control is commonplace, it’s going to extend the abilities of keyboardists, which is exciting.

Learn About Orchestration

Even if you just play the piano, it’s important to learn about orchestration. Some of the greatest pianists and composers in the world orchestrate when they play. On a piano, not only can you play a single line, but you can play chords, high parts and low parts, and you can do it all at the same time. This is basically like orchestrating, even if it’s just one piano sound.

You have to be aware of the different voices that are happening within your hands, because they need to be expressed differently. If you’re playing a Bach fugue, you have counterpoint and your hands are playing second voices that have to be phrased differently. Even in rock playing, there are notes within chords that have to be thought of in terms of orchestration.

Avoid Tension When You Play

Whether you’re a solo classical pianist or a keyboard player in a heavy metal rock band, it’s important to avoid tension in your hands when you play. You want to balance your energy and not let tension build up in your hands and arms. A lot of people never learn proper technique.

Think about it: When you get nervous, whether you’re a keyboard player, a guitar player or whatever, the body tends to tighten up. It’s a natural thing. But as a musician, you’re trying to be loose and fluid, making beautiful sounds, and you’re not going to be able to play cleanly and smoothly if you’re riddled with tension.

Beyond that, there are also things like tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome – things that can be a real detriment to your musical ability and to your life in general. You want to avoid that kind of thing at all cost. One way you can protect yourself is, when you’re practicing at home, try to play the hardest parts you can think of but really breathe while you’re doing so. The temptation is to tighten up and almost hold your breath when you play something difficult. Let that go and relax. Be aware of what your body is doing. Your hands will thank you, and you’ll play better music.