
Musicians adopted a number of types of domestic electric pianos for rock and pop use.
#Electronic piano tuner portable
Another factor driving their development and acceptance was the progressive electrification of popular music and the need for a portable keyboard instrument capable of high-volume amplification. The popularity of the electric piano began to grow in the late 1950s after Ray Charles's 1959 hit record " What'd I Say", reaching its height during the 1970s, after which they were progressively displaced by more lightweight electronic pianos capable of piano-like sounds without the disadvantages of electric pianos' heavy weight and moving mechanical parts.

A few other noteworthy producers of electric pianos include Baldwin Piano and Organ Company and the Wurlitzer Company.Įarly electric piano recordings include Duke Ellington's in 1955 and Sun Ra's India as well as other tracks from the 1956 sessions included on his second album Super Sonic Jazz (a.k.a. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loar's Vivi-Tone Clavier. The earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s the 1929 Neo- Bechstein electric grand piano was among the first. Smaller electric pianos used short slivers of steel to produce the tone (a lamellophone with a keyboard & pickups). Some early electric pianos used lengths of wire to produce the tone, like a traditional piano. Instead, it is an electro-mechanical instrument. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations which are converted into electrical signals by magnetic pickups, which are then connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to make a sound loud enough for the performer and audience to hear. A Wurlitzer model 112 electric piano plugged into a guitar amplifier.Īn electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard.
