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Piano

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Interesting on how much was utilized for piano in "Wall of Sound" posted by Edp on March 05, 2025 at 07:24:15

The WoS was only used for about five months in 1974. The Dead's keybordist at that time was Keith Godchaux, who played a full concert grand, organ, and a Fender Rhodes. Your question would be a good one to ask Mr. Curl.

My understanding is that the design of the WoS gave each of the six instruments in the band its own channel with amplification and speakers. So each amp and speaker in the array was voicing only a single instrument. The live mix was done from the house console, probably by Owsley himself or Dan Healy.

I agree that the Dead was a guitar-driven band, but the keys were critical to the sound. Pigpen was the originator, but Keith was probably the most talented keyboard player the band ever had. They were never known for being tight, but things really went downhill after Keith left.

. . . in theory, practice and theory are the same; in practice, they are different . . .

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