ok, all im doing is, putting the idea out there.. what do you guys think?.. ive never seen him actually play a melody on any synth, well i have, but not something to support the notion that hes some kind of piano prodigy, i see a production wiz, someone with a natural talent for finding sounds that gel well and have an energy about them and constantly challenging himself.. not gonna go into it too much, just the main point, i dont think hes any kind of brilliant keyboard/piano player... and for me thats fine, you dont have to be to write great music, im just not sure where the idea came from, been in loads of biographys..
opinions please..

well theres a difference between taking piano lessons and actually being good at it. i dont think he was ever a piano prodigy, they dont grow on trees. but i guess he was taking lessons, maybe as a kid. enough to make his ears and fingertips sensitive, and to find his way through majors and minors (minors - minor scales )

if i'm not wrong he said he doesn't know these stuff,notes and shit,only plays by the ear

dunno ive seen keys written on setlists sometimes, on this forum

even by ears is good , instead of nothing
poison from phoenix 96 i like at the middle of the track

you can acutally see him play the spitfire sythns in one video! I checked it more than once and it was really him. The angle of the camera was looking from upstairs. I think it was in 2005 or 2006, I cant find the video. It was in the same gig where he played the first version of Warning I think. The one where the cool sythns really kick in. The one with keith is cheaper.

yeah i was watching liam in birmingham to see if i could see him playing stuff and he was, not much, but some parts to songs he was, cant remember anything specifically now though

i dont think liam uses much skill from what he learned from it, maybe to help him map up notes or somthing but he's probably forgot how to play classically by now, i did blues lessons on piano on 07 (if i learned blues i'd be amazing with chords) and i really can't remember much at all. when it comes to live performance he plays by sound (alot of people can hear something and then play it or at least play along with it) its not like he's got some mysterious training he just learns by ear, half the artists here if not all have the same technique, this post will make alot of people agree who actually does learn by ear but i think the people who dont will not have half a scooby doo about what im on bout, take playing the guitar for example, imagine piano is bass guitar and synths are electric rhythm guitars, you will never play them the same because they have a complete different structure and tone, with a piano you have all your bass, rhythm and lead notes, with synthesizers you only have one type of sound per a keyboard, playing them all together wouldn't sound right at all especially considering most of liam live play is mono (one key only).

if u listen to recordings, (especially Voodoo Ones) liam puts alot of live play, and sometimes you'll hear him start the track on a certain note, then remember the right one and brings it up to it, or when he's doing live play he makes a simple vision to ear mistake with the keyboards and makes a wrong note, then fixes it, everyone who's played keyboards, piano's and what not should have the skill hence they stayed with the instrument, i know this because i got my first keyboard when i was 5 and i've never stopped playing and the only lessons i ever got lasted 2 weeks max, all i know today is what i learned myself, the war track i done last year was live play and sequences on the arturia arp 2500, it had no beats because it was to see how good i could actually play, each sound was layered up on audia city the main lead from that song was from the arturia jupiter 8V which was the 8th preset on the thing.

These are the only statements I believe we can make about Liam without exaggerating.

Liam had Piano lessons for years when he was a kid.

So he obviously knows how to play.

He can't read music but he knows how to play be ear. (As mentioned by Pinhead)

His skill is unknown (to us) as a "piano" player. Who the fuck here knows just how good he is? None of us.

Obviously he is more of an all round musican with an understanding of Melody, Percussion, etc,etc all that shit. He can play the drums, I'm not talking about the Poison video either, I remember a Neko interview where she mentioned before a gig Liam hoped onto the drumkit there and messed around. She said he knew what he was doing obviously.

And.. who the fuck cares. The dude makes bangin tunes.

Theres plenty of people who are wicked at playing instruments. But suck at making music.

He plays bass guitar too.

from what i gather he plays keyboards, bass, drums, guitar and he knows his way around turntables. how good is he, dunno and dont care. good enough to be the leader of a superb band anyway

In my opinion Liam is a strange guy. Despite he isn't that 'ruffboy' like Keith or Maxim, he is the leader, he is the only one who has got musical talent ( I think FLINT and MAXIM are craps), and without him The Prodigy would be a big zero.

Liam without keith and maxim would also be a big zero

he would just be as boring as aphex twin/fat boy slim and moby (even though i love their songs)

But the prodigy wouldnt have a cool image as they do now, live shows would be shit, and he wont find anyone as good as keith and maxim

4:17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O88DntuFAAo

yeh seen it actually, i get it, just wonderin bout the legitimacy of the whole "classically trained from a young age" fing, n whether or not theres anythin to actually back it up.. IMO he doesnt enjoy it, didnt like havin to learn things that way when he was younger n preferd messin about with diff styles, so just doesnt, can do it- but doesnt want to, a bit of a chore..

but jus imagine, middle of track, cameras centred on liam, bomb drops, busts out this sick as fuck synth solo... always imagined it wd happen, but never eventuated. guess im jus dreamin...