Electric pianos are everywhere, from soul, jazz and rock to hip hop and house and everywhere in between. The Rhodes electric piano is the most famous example, with the Wurlitzer coming in a close second.

The sound of an electric piano is generated by a piano-style hammer hitting a metal tone generator such as a tine or reed, which produces a warm, round, almost bell-like tone. The sound of an electric piano sits beautifully in almost any mix; as a bassline, a warm bed of chords or a twinkly melody over the top.

If you want to dive deeper into the sound and history of electric pianos I can highly recommend taking a look at these articles:

• A New Means of Expression: The Fender Rhodes from RedBull Music Academy
• FenderRhodes.com has everything you ever need to know about the Fender Rhodes
• There is less information available about the Wurlitzer electric piano, but the Wikipedia article has some useful info.

The sound of an electric piano can be heard on countless records from artists as diverse as Ray Charles, The Doors and Floating Points. Below are some examples of the use of electric pianos.

• Ray Charles – What’d I Say – the opening keyboard part of Ray Charles’s classic ‘What’d I Say’ is performed on a Wurlitzer.
• Shigeto – Huron River Drive – the opening chords of Shigeto’s ‘Huron River Drive’ are played on a Rhodes.
• The Doors – Break On Through – the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass can be heard as the opening bassline of The Doors’ ‘Break On Through
• Led Zeppelin – No Quarter – a heavily effected Rhodes can be heard at the beginning of Led Zeppelin’s epic ‘No Quarter’.
• The Beatles – Don’t Let Me Down – the Fender Rhodes can be heard as the main keyboard part on The Beatles’s ‘Don’t Let Me Down’. The Rhodes keyboard can be seen at the far left of the screen in the opening shot of the video at the link, as well as very clearly at 1:02.
• Floating Points – For Marmish – the Rhodes can be heard as the main keyboard part in Floating Point’s ‘For Marmish’, as well as featuring highly across the entire Elania album.
• Flying Lotus – Getting There – Flying Lotus said that his Fender Rhodes piano was one of the 2 pieces of gear he couldn’t live without (the other being Ableton Live 😉). His Rhodes can be heard in the opening of the track ‘Getting There’.