Psychedelic organ style/arps

[Amon]

Hello!

I'm new to the orgain (played piano for a couple of years) but I'm wanting to try playing/improvising in that 60s, psychedlic style that sounds sort of like a calliope (like the intro to The Doors Light My Fire).

Here's a couple of other examples:

Is there a sort of method to this playing? Like if I just wanted to do a simple IV-V-I progression, is there a sort of pattern to the arp I play with the right hand, or specific scale?

Thanks!

A

 

[delaware dave]

the first 2 1/2 minutes of this video tells it all .....

 

[Amon]

Hey, Dave! That's an interesting clip with a blues-style organ in it, however I'm inquiring about the 60s psychedelic/baroque pop sound, are they the same thing as far as scales go?

Perhaps I should be more clear, I'm wondering if anyone knows of a reading reference or can tell me more about the method of the playing style I gave examples of, which seems to be a sort of arp-based fingering style.

Thanks!

Tom

 

[delaware dave]

Here’s one of Billy playing psychedelic 60’s music:

Hmm, very similar to the first video. The point I was trying to make is that it’s about feel and rhythm, not about something you read about. My advice, watch, listen and learn.

 

[Amon]

Thanks, Dave. However, that's blues scales again, not what I'm talking about. You might want to give reading a shot, as musical notation can show you the difference between blues scales and pentatonic scales. Also terms like "Baroque pop" can be found on wikipedia. Whereas blues rock is more something you can find at a sports bar. I think that's where the disconnect is. I appreciate the attempt to help though, Take care.

 

[delaware dave]

I had 7 years of classical piano training and have a music minor from a pretty reputable university. I am well versed in the pentatonic scale as well so I don't appreciate your sarcastic, condescending comment. After 45 years of playing piano, hammond and church organ I can confidently tell you that if you need to read a book to figure it out then your case is rather hopeless. As I said before, watch, listen and learn. Do you think that professional musicians like Billy Preston learned to play that way by reading a book? You even said in your opening post that you wanted to improvise. See wikipedia for the definition of improvise and then maybe you'll understand why you won't learn to improvise by reading a book...

 

[Wes]

Hey, thanks for posting those clips, Dave. I could watch Billy Preston all day. His choice of registration is often surprising, as is the way he likes to use reverb.

Any idea what his reverb setup is? By listening, I'm guessing a 122RV with a remote switch...I don't see an A100-style reverb knob grafted into his B3, so I'll assume he hasn't bolted in an AO-35. I suppose a Trek-II preamp isn't out of the question, but the reverb sounds "unspun" to me. What do you think?

First video, 1:35, what the heck is THAT? A palm-smear with his feet?

 

[delaware dave]

From reading some background material on Billy he had indicted at one time that his favorite leslie was indeed the 122RV! If you check out the Eric Clapton video "One More Car, One More Driver" you'll see he is using a 122RV cabinet in the video.
As I was trying to indicate to the OP, check Billy around the 1:00 mark and how he manipulates the busbars. He depresses the keys very lightly which doesn't trigger all of the drawbars, so he gets a higher pitched and thinner sound, then around 1:05 he fully depresses the same keys and gets a full sound of all the open drawbars. It's drawbar manipulation without actually touching the drawbars! That can't be taught by reading a book, only by watching and learning. I saw him do this about 15 years ago and have been throwing that technique into my playing. Unfortunately it only works on a real Hammond (and the new B3) as the clones don't yet employ busbar emulation technology. I think the Crumar Mojo does do something with bus bar keyclick emulation. It also is the closest thing I've heard to a real B3.

 

[Wes]

Thanks for pointing that out, Dave! That's pretty awesome. I am, of course, familiar with the construction of a Hammond manual but have never seen anyone exploit that before...well, I use it for certain types of glissandi (WOW WOW), mostly by accident. Do you find it any easier to do on the waterfall keys, or can you do it accurately on the L100P too?

Billy was an amazing player, and must also have had a very fine touch!

Wes

 

[delaware dave]

Glissandos are easier on the waterfalls as the lip isn't there to get in the way but still do-able on the L100p. Because of the missing foldback drawbars on the L series though the Billy P light playing trick isn't as dramatic unless done more in the middle of the keyboard.

 

[Wes]

Good point about the missing foldback, that would certainly make a huge difference.

I have considered adding upper foldback to one of my spinets, any opinion on this? My thought is to tackle it on the L122 -- my "spare" -- and if it goes well, transferring the manual over to my L111 "working organ". I wish I could gig the M3, it's just too heavy to move around solo!

 

[delaware dave]

Wes, You sound like a guy that would tackle that project yourself. I'm assuming you have seen this:

http://hammondb3andleslietips.com/spinet/M100_L100_Foldback.pdf

http://www.dairiki.org/HammondWiki/PoorMansFoldback

The biggest issue is time: it doesn't sound that expensive to do from a 'parts' perspective; it's the time involved. The other issue with the L series are the 44 keys (can't really walk the bass), only 7 drawbars for the bottom manual (no impact on the foldback) and the vibrato line box vs. the scanner. With the M3 you still only have the 44 keys but you do have the 16' drawbar that is missing on bottom manual of the L series, waterfall keys and V/C scanner. Adding foldback to your M3 would get you pretty close to a B3. Since I see you have the split L111 (which I assume you could gig with) adding the foldback is still probably worthwhile. I wish my L100P had foldback.

 

[Wes]

Hi, Dave!

I'd seen both those pages but had lost track of the PDF -- thanks for finding it again. I definitely need to find myself a source of key contacts, now I want to try upper foldback more than ever.

I normally have a bass player, and also given the lack of the lower brown drawbars, I won't be doing lower foldback at all. If I want to play bass I'm more likely to reach for the stage piano and pick either a string bass or Rhodes patch.

You're right that I gig with the Split L111, it works well for that purpose and looks good from the stage, too. I modelled the inside arrangement to large extent after the L100P. I keep thinking I should recase the M3, but I haven't gotten there yet...quite happy with the L111, anyhow, it is very good for the music I play IMHO. I might change my mind, though...the M3 is about 90% of the way through its restoration, I can't wait to hear what the rebuilt AO-29 sounds like.

Wes