An electric piano (e-piano) is an electric musical instrument whose popularity started in the late 1960s, was at its greatest during the 1970s and still is big today. Many models were designed for home or school use or to replace a (heavy) and un-amplified 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, 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. A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Synthesizer as used in music, is a term derived from a Greek word syntithetai < synthesis (συντίθεται < σύνθεσις) and is used to describe a device capable of generating and/or manipulating electronic signals for use in music creation, recording and performance. ... Three magnetic pickups on an electric 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 1920s is a decade that is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG (FWB:BEP) (Bechstein) is a German manufacturer of pianos, especially grand pianos. ... An electric grand piano is a particular type of piano manufactured and marketed by Yamaha, Kawai and Helpinstill during the 70s and 80s, although experimental instruments of similar type were made as early as the late 1920s. ... Lloyd Loar was a Gibson sound engineer and master luthier in the early part of the 20th century. ...

The last instruments of this type were made in the mid-1980s. Rhodes has announced a revival for 2008.

Tone Production

The actual method of tone production varies from one model to another;

Struck strings

Yamaha, Baldwin, Helpinstill and Kawai's electric pianos are actual grand or upright pianos with strings and hammers. The Helpinstill models have a traditional soundboard; the others have none, and are therefore more akin to a solid-body electric guitar. On Yamaha, Baldwin and Kawai's pianos, the vibration of the strings is converted to an electrical signal by piezoelectric pickups under the bridge. Helpinstill's instruments use a set of electromagnetic pickups attached to the instrument's frame. All these instruments have a tonal character similar to that of an acoustic piano. Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical stress. ... Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field, encompassing all of space, composed of the electric field and the magnetic field. ...

Struck reeds

Wurlitzer electric pianos use metal reeds which are struck by hammers. The reeds are placed near a set of metal plates, and the reeds and plates together form an electrostatic or capacitative pickup system, using a DC voltage of 170v. This system produces a very distinctive tone - sweet and vibraphone-like when played gently, and developing a hollow resonance as the keys are played harder. The Columbia Elepian, also branded as "Maestro" uses an almost identical system.

Struck tuning-forks

The tuning-fork here refers to the struck element having two vibrating parts - physically it bears little resemblance to a traditional type. In Fender Rhodes instruments, the struck portion of the "fork" is a tine of stiff steel wire. The other part of the fork, parallel and adjacent to the tine, is the tonebar, a sturdy steel bar which acts as a resonator and adds sustain to the sound. The tine is fitted with a spring which can be moved along its length to allow the pitch to be varied for fine-tuning. The tine is struck by the small neoprene (originally felt) tip of a hammer activated by a greatly simplified piano action (each key has only three moving parts including the damper). Each tine has an electromagnetic pickup placed just beyond its tip (see also tonewheel). The Rhodes piano has a distinctive bell-like tone, fuller than the Wurlitzer, with longer sustain and with a "growl" when played hard. Hohner's Electra-Piano uses a similar system, with a metal reed replacing the Rhodes' tine. Its sound is correspondingly somewhere between the Rhodes and Wurlitzer. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A Rhodes piano is a musical instrument. ... Look up tine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Neoprene is the DuPont Chemical trade name for a family of synthetic rubbers based on polychloroprene. ... A tonewheel is a relatively primitive apparatus for generating electronic musical notes. ...

Plucked reeds

Hohner's original Pianet uses adhesive pads made from foam rubber and leather impregnated with a viscous silicone oil to pluck metal reeds. When the key is released, the pad acts as a damper. An electrostatic pickup system similar to Wurlitzer's is used. The tone produced resembles that of the Wurlitzer but brighter and with less sustain. The same firm's Cembalet uses rubber plectra and separate dampers but is otherwise almost identical. Hohner's later Pianet T uses silicone rubber suction pads rather than adhesive pads and replaces the electrostatic system with passive electromagnetic pickups similar to those of the Rhodes, the reeds themselves however being magnetized. The Pianet T has a far mellower sound not unlike that of the Rhodes instruments. None of the above instruments has the facility for a sustain pedal. A series of electric pianos built by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany from the 1950s to the 1970s. ...

A close copy of the Cembalet is the Weltmeister Claviset, also marketed as the Selmer Pianotron. This has electromagnetic pickups with a battery-powered preamplifier, and later models have multiple tone filters and a sustain pedal.

Others

Although not technically pianos, mention should be made of electric harpsichords and clavichords.

Baldwin's Solid-Body Electric Harpsichord or Combo Harpsichord is an aluminum-framed instrument of fairly traditional form, with no soundboard and with two sets of electromagnetic pickups, one near the plectra and the other at the strings' mid-point. The instrument's sound has something of the character of an electric guitar, and has occasionally been used to stand in for one in modern chamber music. Roger Penney of Bermuda Triangle Band worked on the design and development of the original instrument for the Cannon Guild Company, a premier harpsichord maker located in Cambridge Massachusetts. This instrument had an aluminum [ bar frame, a spruce wood soundboard, and a plexiglass (clear plastic) openable lid. The prototypes and design were sold to Baldwin who then manufactured the instrument under their own name. Bermuda Triangle Bands wild psychedelic or delicately nuanced electric autoharp and transcendental vocals[1] grew out of the late 60s Folk Rock scene. ...

Hohner's Clavinet is essentially an electric clavichord. A rubber pad under each key presses the string onto a metal anvil, causing the "fretted" portion of the string to vibrate. When the key is released, the whole string is theoretically free to vibrate but is immediately damped by yarn woven across the far end. Two electromagnetic pickups under the strings detect the vibrations which are then preamplified and filtered.

Playing technique and styles

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 a 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 keyboard styles than to funk rhythm guitar and slap bass. A Rhodes piano A Rhodes piano is a musical instrument, a brand of electric piano. ... A chord is a geometric figure. ... Hohner is a company specialising in the manufacture of musical instruments. ... The Clavinet D6, the most popular model, introduced in 1971. ... Funk is an African American musical style. ... Rhythm guitar is a guitar that is primarily used to provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment for a singer or for other instruments in an ensemble. ... The electric bass guitar (or electric bass) is a bass string instrument played with the fingers by plucking, slapping, or using a pick. ...

• Examples:
  • Fender Rhodes (Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, Mark V, Mark 7 (not "VII") [production pending autumn 2007])
  • Hohner Cembalet, Clavinet, Pianet, Electra Piano
  • Wurlitzer EP-200A
  • Yamaha CP-70 Electric Grand Piano

• Popular songs with electric pianos:
  • Fender Rhodes:
    • The Beatles: "Get Back" (played by Billy Preston)
    • Chick Corea: "Spain", "La Fiesta", "Crystal Silence"
    • 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"
    • Radiohead: "Everything in Its Right Place", "Morning Bell"
  • Hohner Cembalet:
    • The Stranglers: "(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)"
    • The Stranglers: "No More Heroes"
    • Manfred Mann: "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"
    • Elvis Costello: "Veronica"
  • 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"
    • Gorillaz: "Dirty Harry", " Hong Kong ((Song)) "
    • Led Zeppelin: "Trampled Under Foot"
    • Emerson, Lake and Palmer: "Nut Rocker"
    • Abba:
  • Hohner Electra-Piano:
    • Led Zeppelin: "Stairway to Heaven", "Down By the Seaside", "No Quarter", "Misty Mountain Hop","
  • Hohner Pianet:
    • 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," "Tell Her No" and nearly all recordings from 1964-1966.
    • The Kingsmen: "Louie Louie"
  • Wurlitzer Electric Piano 200 A
    • Cannonball Adderley Quintet: "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (Wurlitzer 100 series)
    • 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" (Wurlitzer 100 series)
    • The Remains: (nearly all recordings)
    • Beck: "Where It's At"
    • Van Halen: "And The Cradle Will Rock"
    • Queen: "You're My Best Friend"
  • Baldwin Combo Harpsichord:
    • Beatles: "Because"
    • Paul McCartney: "Fine Line"

It has been suggested that Fender Amplifier History be merged into this article or section. ... A Rhodes piano A Rhodes piano is a musical instrument, a brand of electric piano. ... Hohner is a company specialising in the manufacture of musical instruments. ... The Clavinet D6, the most popular model, introduced in 1971. ... A series of electric pianos built by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany from the 1950s to the 1970s. ... One of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, USA. The Wurlitzer company actually called the instrument (inaccurately in retrospect) the Electronic Piano, but musicians usually describe it correctly as an electric piano. ... Yamaha redirects here. ... An electric grand piano is a particular type of piano manufactured and marketed by Yamaha, Kawai and Helpinstill during the 70s and 80s, although experimental instruments of similar type were made as early as the late 1920s. ... Get Back sessions, see Let It Be (album). ... William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American soul musician from Houston, Texas, raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. ... Riders on the Storm is a popular 1971 song by The Doors from the L.A. Woman album. ... Everything In Its Right Place is a song written by Thom Yorke. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Superstition is a number-one single written, produced, arranged, and recorded by Stevie Wonder for Motown Records in 1972, when Wonder was twenty-two years old. ... Dirty Harry is the third single from Gorillaz second album Demon Days, released November 21, 2005. ... Stairway to Heaven is a popular rock song by the English rock group Led Zeppelin, composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant, and recorded on their fourth studio album, (Led Zeppelin IV). ... I Am the Walrus is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney. ... The Zombies, formed in 1961 in St Albans, were an English pop-rock band. ... The Kingsmen were a rock band from Portland, Oregon who rose suddenly to fame with their recording of Richard Berrys Louie, Louie. ... Louie Louie is an American rock n roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. ... The Remains were a mid-1960s rock group from Boston, Massachusetts, led by Barry Tashian. ... Youre My Best Friend is a song penned by John Deacon and performed by Queen. ...

See also

• Digital piano
• Electronic piano