The Rhodes.

Almost ten (10!) years ago, I bought a Fender Rhodes Mark I from a second hand store in Hope, BC. It had a couple keys that weren't working and didn't come with legs, but I felt lucky to have it. I guess I still feel fortunate to own one, especially since I only use it so often.

Moved the #Rhodes upstairs so everybody can enjoy it. #electricpiano

A video posted by Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) on Apr 7, 2015 at 10:14am PDT

I can plug it in and be ready to play, but I sure need some lessons. #rhodes #fenderrhodes #electricpiano

A photo posted by Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) on Feb 25, 2015 at 5:13pm PST

As much as I love the Rhodes, and as much as I intended on getting lessons, I still haven't found any real opportunities to properly learn how to play it. I've used it on multiple recordings, but it's never played a prominent role. Two tines were broken on it when I bought it, so it wasn't fully functional in the first place. I like to play it, and will gladly play it with people, but my skills are limited.

August 2013 | Central Saanich BC

Posted by Jeffrey Nordstrom on Friday, 19 December 2014

I finally repaired the Rhodes' broken tines a couple summers ago and recorded this video (below) to test them out. I hadn't tuned them perfectly, so when I hit the note it sounds a little off, but it was nice to try to play the full range of the thing, even though I'm a terrible pianist if I'm a keyboard player at all. Despite all of that, it is by far my most-watched video on YouTube. Considering the fact that most of the people finding the video would be used to Warren Zevon's piano skills, I still seem to have a sort-of positive effect.