Rhodes piano

Inside a Rhodes, each key throws a hammer at a tine, a thin metal rod attached to a heavier tone bar, and the pair rings like a tuning fork. The tine vibrates in front of a magnetic pickup, the same idea as an electric guitar pickup, and the signal goes out to an amplifier. There are no strings.

Played softly, a Rhodes sounds round and mellow, with a bell-like ping at the start of each note and a long sustain. Dig in and the tone gets a gritty edge that players call bark. For the sweet side, play a soft Cmaj7 around middle C: C3, G3, B3 and E4.

Harold Rhodes began working with Leo Fender in the late 1950s, and the first full-size Fender Rhodes piano came out after CBS bought Fender in 1965. The 73-key Stage piano of 1970 needed a separate amp and still weighed 130 pounds (59 kg). The Suitcase model had its own amp and speakers, plus a tremolo that bounces the sound from side to side. Rhodes pianos came with 54, 73 or 88 keys. The Mark V of 1984 was the last model from the original company. The Mark 7 revived the name in 2007, and Rhodes Music Group, formed in 2021, introduced the MK8.

Synths have imitated the Rhodes for decades. The Yamaha DX7’s electric piano preset, built with FM synthesis, was so popular in the 1980s that some players swapped their Rhodes for a DX7. A little chorus is still a common way to widen any electric piano sound. The Rhodes’s best-known rival is the Wurlitzer, which uses metal reeds and sounds sharper.

Gelato Chord’s sounds include a recording of a 1977 Rhodes, and Rhodes is one of the three sounds in the free version. Classic electric piano sounds compares the Rhodes with its rivals, and maj7 vs 7 chords explains what that Cmaj7 is doing.