Instrument for finger arthritis guy ? small keyboards ?

Piliger

Hi all,

I have played the guitar and sung, in bands and amateur gigging, for 25 years but was brought to a halt last year by arthritis in my fingers. My index left is stuck straight and others won't bend in fully. So guitar is out of the question.

I am looking for something I could accompany my singing with, where I could press buttons with my left ? or something like that. I have tried but failed to get hands on an autoharp and I have tried a Ukulele ... but hated it Slide guitar is a huge journey to learn.

I was wondering are there small keyboards that could sit on my lap where I could program keys with chords ? maybe even learn a little piano chords... ?

Any suggestions/advice would be great.

KeithTS

How are the other fingers on your left hand?
If you are just looking for chords to sing over and nothing fancy musically could you try messing around with different tunings on guitar?

Some tunings would enable you to play a decent amount of chords without having to do much with your index, if you play guitar already this could be something you could look into without any expense.

Piliger

Tks for that. They are ok except they won't close .. like in a fist. So it is difficult to press back on the strings

Squidgy Black

If you've got a laptop that could run a DAW program like Fruityloops or Ableton you could get a small midi controller like the Korg Nanokey. I have one if you want to give it a whirl if you're in Dublin, contemplating selling it too.

Piliger

stetyrrell wrote: »

If you've got a laptop that could run a DAW program like Fruityloops or Ableton you could get a small midi controller like the Korg Nanokey. I have one if you want to give it a whirl if you're in Dublin, contemplating selling it too.

I appreciate the suggestion but that route doesn't appeal to me and wouldn't be usable in the places in go. Tks though.

The_g-man

It may be worth trying some of the entry level arranger keyboards to see if they suit your needs. Most regular chords can be made with one or two notes and the keyboard looks after most of the backing sounds.

I have a Roland GW8 that does this and can move through four versions of one backing style, for songs that get more lively as they go on or change beats for a bridge or chorus.

There is also the Roland Prelude, almost the same keyboard but with built in speakers, check which one works out cheaper on adverts or ebay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDRVWrwDl5A

I mention this keyboard because if you find arranger keyboards suit you, this one can work with a MIDI pedal to change the backing chords as well. That may be a consideration for further down the line.

Piliger

The_g-man wrote: »

It may be worth trying some of the entry level arranger keyboards

Many thanks for taking the time ......well ... I just happened to be wondering about this too in a way ... maybe a small mini one (?) that could sit on my lap in a narrow space ... where I could program keys to play full chords ... or start to learn a few chords myself ? Are there such things ?

martinedwards

30 years ago I had a bontempi organ that had autochord.

the WILL be keyboards that will do this nowadays in a much more complex way than my POS did.

go into a music store and ask. they WILL have them.

Piliger

I went into a few big places in town today and no one had them or heard of what I want.

I would need:
Small size keyboard (full sized keys) no more than ~60cm wide
Built in speaker
Ability to play full chords with one key or two
Battery powered.

My fingers will play the keyboard and I would be quite happy to start to learn to play it properly over time ... but to start playing now I need the programmable function.

Piliger

No success yet ...... there seems to be no such model available

martinedwards

Piliger wrote: »

I have tried but failed to get hands on an autoharp

you WANT an autoharp?

I have one with two broken strings......

PM me if you're interested.......

M

The_g-man

You could use a 25 key midi controller on your lap, connected to a regular sized keyboard with speakers built in. They would still need a power supply, not sure if that was a major sticking point on your list, that would cover three out of four.

BostonB

Could you play slide on guitar, that has a lot of open chords? No pressing of strings required. you see people with no hands doing this.