Mr. P. C. (John Coltrane) - Nord C1 Hammond B-3 Clonewheel Organ Clavia

[G8tr1522]

I love the grace-notes!

[rounder2u]

Hi G8tr1522

Good to hear you like them!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[DX7Alex]

Hey Rounder,

I know I've commented on this video before, but I just have to say that lick around 1:20 is tasty!

[rounder2u]

Hi Alex

Thanks!

I think I only have played that lick once and just in this song. Maybe it's about time to reuse that lick :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[DX7Alex]

@rounder2u I think it's time! :-)

[knotty75]

Very swinging. Who'd you study with?

[rounder2u]

Hi knotty

Thanks!

I'm on a journey trying to learn a bit of jazz organ, by myself. No book, video or teacher. What I do though is that I listen to The Masters (e.g. Jimmy Smith, Richard 'Groove' Holmes, Jimmy McGriff) and try to pick something up.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[valvetrom]

I like it a lot. The Tempo is not breakneck,and its playful with the riff, and quoting Bags Groove

[rounder2u]

Thanks valvetrom!

You are right about Bag's Groove. I just listened to this take, and sure, there it was, albeit with a bit of another dialect :-) But I didn't knew I did lift parts of it! Funny how we can get impulses and inspiration without being conscious of the source.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[trogular]

hey that's pretty cool how the bass is just like the melody in parts. the right hand is also nice. including the slides.

[rounder2u]

Thanks trogular!

I hadn't thought about the bassline following the right hand melody, but you are right. It does a few times.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[Jyazz21]

Should consider learning some modes. You dont need so much pentatonic work there

Drop some of the upper drawbars for your bass lines too

[Jyazz21]

@Jyazz21 Sorry, didnt realise you were only using bottem 3 drawbars. What's with the sound of the bass? Nord's dont usually give that much of a treble sound out of the bottom 3

[rounder2u]

Hi Jyazz

I'm using the split function for the lower manual. The lower manual, from the key C3 and down to C1, is controlled by two bass drawbars (like the two bass pedal drawbars you'll find on a real B-3 for controlling the foot pedals).

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[rounder2u]

Hi Jyazz

Oh, yes, this is a modal song for sure, and here am I playing it mostly pentatonic. But now and then I believe I throw in a 6 or 9 :-)

So, what do we got here then? No modal approach, no Coltrane 'sheets of sound' style, no breakneck speed...

What's left in my take is a slower tempo pentatonic approach with a bit, hopefully :-) emphasis of the bass line.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[hagarus]

Hi Rounder(2u)

This sounds a bit like something Barbara Dennerlein would do.

Considering her skill level, take this as a very high complement.

I'm still just past playing "Mary had a little lamb, and Happy Birthday" compared to you but I am learning from watching your playing and really enjoy listening to you. Thanks for your inspiration !

[rounder2u]

Thanks hagarus!

You are good and way past Mary and her lamb. Time for some new uploads from you? Drop me a line when you've done that :-)

Dennerlein is one of the very best, and I would be happy just by sitting in the audience listening to her beautiful mastery of the organ. One of my favourite YouTube clips is her song 'Jimmys Walk'. It's a duo just with her and her drummer Messina. Really great playing from both of them.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[Drumcorpse1993]

awesome dude! like your nice lefthand-walking bass. also very nice b-3 sound. respect

[rounder2u]

Thanks Drumcorpse!

Good to hear that you like the left hand walking bass. I did try to put extra effort regarding the left hand bass line for this song. It is also a piece dedicated to a bassist, Mr Paul Chambers.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[MrXasdfghjklx]

nice blues scale licks, use of 9 and flat 9, and imposing dorian over natural minor. try to be more rhythmic, stay off the root, and get on that G7b9 (C harmonic minor). overall it was pretty good dude... keep at it.

[rounder2u]

Thanks MrX!

And thanks for the analysis!

Here's my thinking behind my take.

First and foremost it's about the bass. I wanted to play non-repeating lines of length. Not a bass line that repeats itself every bar.

On top I played what I felt sounded OK. I didn't thought much about theory, except for a few places, e.g. when I play 5/4 against 4/4.

And as I'm a mere human being, playing Coltrane sheets of sounds-style and breakneck speed was totally out of question! :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[1979Ort]

great sound! it´s always a pleasure to hear de hammond b3..

[rounder2u]

Thanks Ort!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[ZeMovinPixxle]

I'll learn that one for sure...

I'll ask my band-mates tomorrow if we yould try this one...

or I'll just ask my guitar-guy^^

[rounder2u]

Hi Pixxle

You will have great fun as a bass player with this song. It's a minor blues that gives you a lot of freedom when improvising, and the bass part is really crucial to get the drive going in the song when you're backing your band mates.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[DX7Alex]

Wow! What a great performance! I am going to play this song at my school talent show on my Hammond chop, and your video really helps, especially to learn the bass line.

[rounder2u]

Hi Alex

Thanks!

Good to hear that this video will be of help for you :-)

And good luck at the talent show!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[rounder2u]

Good to hear heru. Thanks!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[HarshadBass]

Outstanding job. It must require some serious coordination skills... well, this being said by a non-keyboard player :)

[rounder2u]

Hi HarshadBass

Thanks!

What took extra time for this song was that I wanted to play walking bass line patterns of length.

The left/right hand independence/coordination you're mentioning is an ever ongoing analyzing and practicing issue. At least for me :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[gilus55]

great

[rounder2u]

Thanks gilus!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[55vida]

You sound great and you do a fantastic job of promoting yourself. I hope that you are playing at a restaurant or bar as often as possible. Never play for free! You've worked hard at this.

I have one suggestion for you and you can take it or leave it. Use your finger tips rather than your knuckles when you do the lower manual "thumps". You'll be in a better position to return to the upper manual especially during fast tunes. Try to avoid any kind of wasted motion.

[rounder2u]

Hi 55vida

Thanks!

About the 'thumps'. I know that the normal way is with the fingertips, e.g. like the master himself J.O.S.

I have felt though that I don't get them as, what should I call it, 'rhythmically distinctive' with the fingertips, like when I do them on the upper manual in 'High Heel Sneakers'.

But, I will follow your advice and start doing them with the fingertips again :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[55vida]

Thanks for the reply Rounder. You sound great. I'm looking forward to your next video.

[bigsaxman5000]

Rounder you are very talented. You do very interesting bass lines. Do you have a book/instructional CD or charts for the tunes that you have on You Tube?

Thanks for all your work.

[rounder2u]

Hi bigsaxman

Thanks!

I have no other instructional material, sorry, for my uploaded songs here on YouTube.

Except for the guide I wrote for learning how to play Green Onions.

I hope, though, that my overhead camcorder perspective will make it easier to see my fingerings. I have also all details about settings under the 'more info' field.

If you get stuck you can write me the exact timestamp (e.g. 1m29s) and I will try to explain what I'm playing at that moment.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[ScreechOwlStudioscom]

Mr Paul Chambers would be proud. Excellent performance Rounder. Album worthy.

[rounder2u]

Hi ScreechOwl

Thanks!

Maybe Paul Chambers would smile if he knew that people still, 50 years later, are playing the song Coltrane named after him.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[cky12qxz]

This is swinging tune!

I've been waiting forever for a new vid. :D 5stars

[rounder2u]

Hi cky12qxz

Thanks!

I don't think it will take thaaaat long before I wipe the dust off my camcorder the next time.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[rounder2u]

Thanks gnasher!

I start that first solo chorus with the D note and then the A against the Cmin chord. I like to cling on to ninths and sixths for some unknown reason :-) I do that a number of times (e.g. 1.33, 1.47, 2.14 and a long A note at 2.55). So the A at 1.08 was deliberate. I flub (as always) at another timestamp though, but the blunder is not too big so it's nothing to write home about, if you don't press me about it :-)

Keep swinging sheets of sound at breakneck speed :-)

Rounder

[lmm85]

The bass line is pretty cool, and the way you grooved along it was quite a treat. Thank you for sharing.

[rounder2u]

Thanks lmm85!

It took me some time to figure out how I wanted to play this song.

First I wanted to have long walking bass lines that did not repeat themselves every other bar, and then I needed to find out what I could do with the melody and solos choruses. All this took a while to settle.

The Coltrane breakneck speed, sheets of sound approach was of course out of question as I am a mere human being.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[rounder2u]

Hi Diego

Thanks!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[08Replis08]

very great!

[rounder2u]

Thank you Replis!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[knowthetruth2]

YES! been waiting ages for new vid XD

awesome man =)

[rounder2u]

Hi knowthetruth

Thanks!

By the way, that was a fast comment! I didn't even knew that the video already was processed and ready to be watched. Usually it takes longer I believe.

Keep swinging,

Rounder