In the previous lessons, when you were trying out some voices, I asked you to play with your "right" hand. Why is that? If you tried playing some with your left hand, you may have been surprised to discover the rhythm kicking in. If you pressed different notes with your left hand, the sound may have changed, but in strange and ways not reflecting the actual notes you were playing, unlike the right hand. Well, the secret is out. It looks like one keyboard, but there is an invisible "split" that separates your keyboard into two parts. The left-hand part is what "controls" all that accompaniment. Let's take a moment to see what is going on here.

Step 5 - The Keyboard Split

Take a look at the keyboard itself.  There are 5 octaves of keys.  Each has a name.  The very lowest key (far left) is called "C1".  You, of course, know that the note is a "C".  You also know the names of the other notes.  The next key is D1, then E1, then F1, etc. Go up one octave to the next C, which is called C2. All the keys in this 2nd octave are labeled with a 2 -- D2, E2, F2, etc. The third C is "C3", and on up to the last C on the far right, which is called "C6".  This numbering helps identify every key on the keyboard.  The piano "middle C" would be "C3" on your keyboard.

You can, of course, play the entire keyboard just like a piano -- a piano with only 66 keys.  However, to take advantage of the auto accompaniment features, you need to SPLIT the keyboard into a left-hand section and a right-hand section.  The left-hand section controls the accompaniment and the right-hand section is for playing the main melody (using the Main and Layer voices).  The default "Split Point" that divides the two sections is at F#2 (see illustration). All the keys to the left of this split point, from C1 up to and including F#2, are in the Auto Accompaniment section. Keys that you press in this section will control the accompaniment. Keys to the right of the split point (from G2 up through C6) are for playing the melody of a song using your Main and Layer voices.

You can change this split point to a different key, but for the moment, we'll just use the default. You can visually check where the current split point is by looking at the upper right-hand corner of the MAIN screen. There you will see the current setting for the SPLIT POINT. Use see a split point for "A" and for "L". The "A" represents the auto Accompaniment section. The "L" represents the split between the Left-hand voice and the Right-hand voice. Usually, this is set to the same note. In the screen shot shown here, both split points are set to A2. The "A" split point can never be to the right of the "L" split point although it can be set lower than the "L" split point. In fact, you could set the "A" split point all the way down to C1, in effect, turning off the accompaniment chords. You can still turn on accompaniment and hear the rhythm section. You could then set the Left Hand voice to a bass voice to make up your own trio -- drums (automatically with style), your left hand playing the voice, and your right hand playing the third instrument. But all of this is for later lessons. For now, just accept the default setting.

Step 6 -- Play a Chord

Once you've hit that OTS button, your keyboard is ready to go.  As soon as you press one of the keys in the left-hand auto accompaniment section, the chosen style starts playing.  Try it now.  With one finger, hit the note "C1".  (You could hit "C2" instead, because that note is also in the Auto Accompaniment section.)  The style you selected starts playing. This will include drums, a bass, and other instruments included in the style you selected.  They will be playing together and, because you pressed the "C" note, they will be playing an accompaniment in the C major chord.  If you press the G1 note, the accompaniment now switches to the G major chord.  Try F1 and the accompaniment switches to the F major chord.  You signal any major chord by simply pressing the root value of that chord.  The sound of the accompaniment switches automatically as soon as you press the new chord

Look at the MAIN screen in the SCORE window, which shows TEMPO and CHORD.  As you play different chords, the selected chord will show in this window.  This can be useful for more complex chords (see below) where you may want a visual check that you are hitting the right keys for the chord you want. (In a just a little bit, we'll also explain how to change the TEMPO if it is not to your liking.)

Fingering Types

There are a several different ways you can signal to the PSR what chord you want. The method of indicating a chord depends on the "Fingering Type." There are 7 different fingering types. Let's look at some of your choices.

Single Finger

The simplest method is to use the single-finger approach. This is the "Single Finger" type. In this mode, you need only press a single key, the "root" value of the chord, as described above to trigger any major chord.  For a minor chord, you press two keys at once, the root key and a black key to the left of that root. For the seventh chord, simultaneously press the root key and a white key to its left.  For a minor seventh chord, simultaneously press the root key and both a white and black key to its left.  Using the single-finger method, you can play a C chord, Cm chord, C7 chord, and a Cm7 chord.  You could not, however, play a Cmaj7 or C+ or C6 or Cdim or C9 chord   The single-finger method would work for very simple songs, but couldn't be used to play more modern tunes.

Fingered

 In this mode, you play the notes of the chord in your left hand. At least three notes are needed to trigger a chord. For a C major chord, you would play C, E, and G.  You can play them in any inversion, that is C-E-G or E-G-C or G-C-E.  To play a Cmaj chord, you would play C-E-G-B.  a C6 would be C-E-G-A.  a Cdim7 would be C-Eb-Gb-A.  In fact, there are 35 different "C" chords that are recognized by your keyboard.  You'll find them all listed on page 63 of your manual.

In this mode, which I personally prefer, you need to press three or more keys to trigger a chord.  This means you can play a chord and then play single or double notes to add variety to the accompaniment voice without triggering a chord change.

Fingered On Bass

A variant of "Fingered" is "Fingered on Bass," which is essentially the same as fingered except that the bass note is whatever the bottom note of your chord is.  So, if you wanted the bass to play, for example, an "E" note while the accompaniment is playing the C major chord, you would press E-G-C for the chord.  In musical notation, you might see this chord entered as C/E, which means to play the C major chord over an E bass note. Of course, in this case, E is also part of the chord. But you will also come across Bb/C -- the chord is Bb, but the bass is a C, which is not normally in the Bb major chord.

Multi Finger

The Multi Finger type automatically detects Single Finger or Fingered chord fingerings, so you can use either type of fingering without having to switch fingering modes.  I find this type, which is the setting from the factory, cumbersome.  If I am trying to finger a complex chord, but don't hit all the keys exactly at the same time, any stray keystroke gets immediately interpreted as a single-finger chord and the accompaniment switches to that chord, which will produce an undesirable accompaniment sound.

Setting Your Fingering Mode

The quickest way to check your current fingering mode, and change it if necessary, it to press the [DIRECT ACCESS] button and then press the [ACMP] button, which is located on the far left side of the keyboard next to the ON/OFF button.  Alternatively, press [FUNCTION], then [C] for StyleSetting/Split Point/Chord Fingering.  If you are not on the Chord Fingering tab, press the [NEXT] button to get there.  The chord fingering options are shown on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.  Use the 1,2,or 3 A/B buttons to move up and down through the list to select the chord fingering you want.  Press EXIT to leave this screen.  The chord fingering you select will remain selected even after you turn you keyboard off.  When you turn you keyboard on again, your preferred fingering method will still be set.