Hammond Organ type voicings

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

I'm messing with a Leslie simulator on E9 steel. Can anyone suggest some chord voicings and/or tips to make steel really sound organ-like?

Thanks,
Brad

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Check out the EH Pog. The big one. Use it along with your fake leslie and be amazed. Maybe a bit of overdrive also.

Open voicings with no bends, slides or vibrato help. Instead of strings 8,6,5 for a chord try 10, 6 and 4.
_________________
Bob

Drew Howard · From: 48854

Pedal tones?

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Well, the E9th isn't the ideal choice (C6th works far better, IMHO). But with a high-range tuning, I think it's more in the right hand (attack) and the volume pedal manipulation than it is in the strings or chords used.

David Doggett · Posted 9 Oct 2008 8:02 am

Ditto on what Bob H. said about open chords: strings 10, 6, 4 and 8, 5, 3. Also, Donny is right that it really helps to have the extra low strings of extended E9, uni, or C6.

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Cool,

thanks guys. Great tips. I only have an E9 S-10, so I'm limited in that regard. And Bob, a friend has the Boss leslie simlator and that POG you mentioned. The POG really seems to bring out that drawbar factor and his emulation is uncanny. It's forumite and electronics genius Scott Swartz who I saw doing this. But I figured I better start with picking the right notes and techniques to begin with.

Brad

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Don't overlook the way Hammond guys use their "expression" pedal. "Gutting."

Mitch Adelman · From: Pennsylvania, USA

I know that the late great Danny Gatton somehow made a tele sound just like a B3 Hammond. A steel has much more sustain and should be even closer. I'm not sure how he did it but it was some device he made on his tele.An electronics wizard like Brad could probably reproduce it. I think Gatton's website describes this organ device. As far as chords,many of the great B3 solos were just single notes.Its all in that sound!

Rich Gibson · From: Pittsburgh Pa.

Brad, I recently ran across an article in Guitar Player OCT 2001 called "Organisms". it was written of course for guitar but translates well for E9.
Lots of good ideas/concepts.
I think you can probably access the article in the GP online archives.If not let me know.
I've been fooling around with this concept on and off for a while know and I think it can be quite effective.One change that helps allot is to have a half step lower on #6 G#.

Rich Gibson

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

I've got the Gatton DVDs. He did the Leslie sound with just the amp trem on those. He did have a Leslie he used, which I believe was powered by a Fender amp. But on the DVDs, he just used his amp. The Magic Dingus Box contained remote controls for different stuff.

Wally Davis · From: Belleville, Illinois, USA

Don't forget to try the Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere. I've been using it for 5 or 6 years. Think bluesy in your approach. Then go out and buy a Jimmy Smith cd such a "Dot Com Blues" and listen to the master at work that invented the style. If your not doing anything Saturday night, I'll be playing with the Smashband at the Ravissant Winery in Belleville, IL and you can check out my rig, which is anything but typical. It's very little country if any. We start at 7.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Go on the web and look up the EH POG.
There are some sound samples, really amazing.

Follow that up with a Leslie sim and you'll be able to knock their socks off!!!

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Thanks Wally, but I gotta gig that night. Thanks for the invite. I'd love to catch you playing sometime.

And thanks Erv. I'll go check that out.

Brad

Larry Bressington · From: Nebraska

Key of C
C, D,Eb,F,F#,G A,Bb. Blues scale 7 notes.

C,Eb,f,G, Bb. Minor pentatonic 5 notes

You'll have to flavour them up to your own discretion, but this will give you some idea's to get started, if you are going for that Bluesy, jazzy B3 sound. Dont forget to weave in and out of some of the Major tones too, mix em up, #9's, b5's etc, put all the sauce on it! Smile

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Gutting. It's an important part of the B3 chording sound.

Len Amaral · From: Rehoboth,MA 02769

Hi Brad:

I have a POG and it produces a chimed organ effect. Not the tradional leslie rotating sound but very usable.

Also, try some vamps using the 9th string with the A pedal pressed. Think strings 9-6-5 then 9-5-4 stabbing the chords as an organ player would.

Steve Morley · From: Connecticut, USA

[quote="Wally Davis"]Don't forget to try the Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere. I've been using it for 5 or 6 years. Think bluesy in your approach. Then go out and buy a Jimmy Smith cd such a "Dot Com Blues" and listen to the master at work that invented the style. [snip]

One of JS' signature sounds was the trilled minor thirds, which he uses sparingly on Dot Com Blues. Check out the Hammond Organ list, since they have tabs and samples from time to time - you need to subscribe http://hamtech.org/

Also listen to Joey DeFrancesco, who was a prodigy, and played with Miles Davis (JD's other axe is the trumpet!) as a child.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Check out the new book/with 60-minute cd.
"Classic Hammond Organ" by Steve Lodder, from Backbeat Books.
Don't forget pedal points and gutting the volume(expression) pedal.

Jim Hoke · From: Tennessee, USA

Two suggestions: Try playing two-note chords, especially on short, choppy stabs. Use the 3rd and 7th tones of a chord (E and Bb for a C7 chord). This is for comping behind a singer or soloist. The other idea is to play melodies in forths. This gives a cool, open jazzy sound. if your melody note is C, for instance, play a chor with the Con top, and a G a forth below that and a D a forth below that. There's a few ways to get this chord on E9. One is 5 with the A pedal, 6 and 8 lowered a half step. Also, 4, 5 and 7, and for lower ranges, 5, 7 and 9 lowered a half step. Just keep the melody note on top and move the shape around and you'll sound too hip for the room!

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

"Try playing two-note chords, especially on short, choppy stabs."
This is why I suggest "gutting" with the volume pedal. Remember, a Hammond has no sustain. Well, not eggs-ackley. When you take your finger off a key, the sound stops abruptly. On pedal steel, this sound can be achieved by hitting the notes with the volume pedal down, and backing off the pedal very quickly. The "expression/volume" pedal is a very important part of the "Hammond" sound.
A typical pedalpoint sound is gotten by playing the root note non-stop on top of your riffing. Think playing in A at the 3 fret, sorta pentatonic position, with the A & B pedals. Play the pedal-point high A over and over on the 1st string, whilst riffing around on strings 3 thru 6. Rumor has it that Hammond guys sometimes stuck a matchbook between the keys to hold that note playing!

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Something else I just remembered: An old Hammond jazz guy told me when I asked how to get the Jimmy Smith sound with my organ and Leslie, "Oh! You need to use the "cabinet vibrato" too." Cabinet vibrato is just a vibrato that's built into Hammond's. So, you might wanna try dialing in some of your amp's vibrato/trem, dial back on the high-end, and don't play with a clean sound. The Smith sound is fairly distorted.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

There's key click involved too.

Jeff Hyman · From: West Virginia, USA

The 12 string effects on a 6 string guitar are impressive. I have a dumb question. Where in the loop would this go? The wet out and dry out to be specific. I assume the input would be directly from the PSG. With a rack setup, at what point would the signal be split. Keep in mind I'm using two amps.

http://www.americanmusical.com/ImagePopUp.aspx?i=SOV%20MICROPOG

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

fwiw, an Envelope Filter set to the DOWN setting sounds pretty B3'ish when comping 7th chords behind a walking bass line.

Tom Gray · From: Decatur, GA

A classic Hammond rhythm voicing is the 13th: from the bottom up 7, 3, 6 and a root on the top if you've got it.

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