What chords to play?

[abrogard]

totally new beginner.. at everything...
have a technics U50
have a learner book here which shows all the left hand chords being up around middle C.
whereas what few chords I know I learned on a normal keyboard and they are in the octave below that.
and often in different inversions.
is it important with an organ to play those left hand chords up as high as you can?
or would that be done because the pedals are putting a bass line under it?
because my pedals don't work.. so I don't have that bass line...
no big deal.
just wondering...

 

[CowboyNQ]

You can play your chords wherever you like.

However you will find with playing triads and such the further down the left hand side of the keyboard you go the more “muddy” they will sound - and yes this is often exacerbated when using organ tones.

 

[abrogard]

'muddy'. ahh. new to organs I'm just kinda thinking they're all deep resonant lovely bass sounds - that being their strength and beauty. now you make it sound like their beauty is found in avoiding that end of the keyboard...
i know very, very little and even rarely listen to organ. I have these embedded memories of church pipe organs appearing to vibrate the very stones of the church when I was a kid...
All imagination perhaps, or wrong interpretation of the memory..
I'll see what I find with my gear. i.e. this old technic U50.

 

[CowboyNQ]

That’s not strictly what I meant.

Organs can indeed produce lovely bass sounds.

What I am saying is if you play triads in the lower registers the individual notes tend to blend in such a way that makes the harmony indistinct and less pleasant to hear. The same is true of pianos.

But as I said at the outset - do what you like. Your ear will tell you more than my words ever could.

 

[Biggles]

The learner book you have sounds like it is intended for an arranger keyboard where the keybed is essentially split into upper and lower sections. Left hand plays chords to the left of the split and right hand plays the melody line. Often to the left of the split the keybed has an octave shift applied which usually results in you having a Middle C in both halves of the keybed hence perfect for left had chords.

Now if my quick online search shows that I am right about your model it should have two keybeds. If this is the case you may be able to play your chords on the lower keybed and you may be able to octave shift it if needed.

The U50 makes a fantastic sound, the guy in the vid is playing left hand chords on the lower keybed.

If I had one of these organs I would certainly look at getting the bass pedals functioning.