Double Driving Blues - Nord C1 Hammond B-3 Clonewheel Organ Clavia

[DukeChiTown]

Wow! Outstanding. Wish I had back in the 60's/70s when I was giggin'. Hmmm ... Maybe I'll get one anyway. :) Thanks for posting.

[rounder2u]

Hi DukeChiTown

Thanks!

Go for it! It's never to late jumping into the soul jazz blues organ bag of the 60's, no matter what year it is now. And it's great fun :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[sebbythecrabby]

Swwweeet bluesy tune :) also I like the way the Nord looks at night!

[rounder2u]

Thanks sebby!

Yes, she is a good-looking redhead at night :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[al17co05fa92]

This is so, so, so great! I love your music and your playing! I'm looking for a C1 or C2, too, but as a student, I've got the problem that I don't have enough money for this wonderful instrument. :-D

[rounder2u]

Hi al17co05fa92

Thanks!

As the Nord C1 is out of production since some time, you can expect them to drop in price. This also means that the second hand price will be going down.

I hope that you will be able get yourself a C1 or C2 as they are, as you say, wonderful instruments.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[al17co05fa92]

Thank you, rounder2u! :-)

Do I need any amplifier to play on the C1 (or C2) or does the instrument have speakers by itself so that an external amplifier is not necessary? In your description, I read that you did not use any external speakers, but as I often misunderstand things like that, I want to be really sure and ask you. :-D

I really enjoy your compositions,

Alex

[rounder2u]

Thanks Alex!

The C1/C2 has no speakers.

You can either use an external amp, external Leslie, PA, hi-fi or studio monitors connected to a PC to get the sound out,

or play the C1/C2 with head-phones.

I do my recordings C1 line out to computer line in.

The C1/C2 has a bulit-in Leslie simulator.

I would suggest you to go to the Clavia website and download the user manual (PDF format). Then you can read all about specifications and functions of the organ.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[thrashdevour]

some rhythmic imprecisions, but you're a great player and composer.

[rounder2u]

Thanks thrashdevour!

My takes always comes warts & all :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[bluesify100]

You like playing in F a lot huh, thats alright, I've started playing in F and G more often instead of C, some D too.

[rounder2u]

Hi bluesify

I understand that you have watched a few videos of mine. You brave man. Thanks!

Are there other keys than F? :-)

The key of F sounds great at the organ (se earlier comment of mine below).

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[tubbysailor]

rounder, thanks for the reply. I look forward to seeing more of you here.

[rounder2u]

Hi tubbysailor

Welcome! And don't hesitate to send me a message or comment if you have any questions. I will try my best to answer.

By the way, in my composition 'Sadden Bridge' you can see another standard way of walking the left hand. If you are interested, please, check out the 'A' section of that song. I think you will recognize that left hand pattern.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[tubbysailor]

Is this a standard left hand? If not what is it? Thx

[rounder2u]

Hi tubbysailor

I don't know if there exist such a thing as a standard jazz organ left hand, but I think I understand your question.

This is a standard left hand with regard to two common jazz organ walking bass line aspects:

1) I walk to the root or fifth of each chord at beat one in every bar.

2) Then I keep walking to the next root or fifth.

It is quite common to do that.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[dejanstajic]

Hello rouner, thank you for the vids, so great to have insight on hammond playing. I am actually trying to learn left hand bass, and I'm dying. Could you give me some tips, advice, references on how to learn ? Seprately ? of course no ? Is there a special course, book for hammond bass ? is it just bass playing like with any bass instrument. What do you think of grace notes and how do you cope with them (which finger) etc ... Thank you for your unvaluable help

[rounder2u]

Thanks dejanstajic!

I have sent you a message with information about how to get that independent left hand walking bass line coming alive :-) So, please, check out your YouTube message inbox.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[RattlingMurdock]

F seems to be your favorite key, am I right?

[rounder2u]

Hi RattlingMurdock

Yes, you're right.

Sometimes though, when I feel foolhardy and rash I might venture out to G or even C :-)

Joking aside, F sounds great at the organ. I'm thinking especially of the bass. You have the nice deep C for the dominant but also as a fifth for the tonic. And it's also a good key for left hand walking bass.

It also seems that quite a number of songs that I like happens to be in the key of F: 'The Cat', 'Green Onions', etc.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[rounder2u]

Hi RattlingMurdock

Yes, you're right.

Sometimes though, when I feel foolhardy and rash I might venture out to G or even C :-)

Joking aside, F sounds great at the organ. I'm thinking especially of the bass. You have the nice deep C for the dominant but also as a fifth for the tonic. And it's also a good key for left hand walking bass.

It also seems that quite a number of songs that I like happens to be in the key of F: 'The Cat', 'Green Onions', etc.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[ChuckVanDamme]

soooo good

[rounder2u]

Thanks ChuckVanDamme!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[mrthomaspeterson]

Jesus you are amazing, I am learning myself to play like this on organ, I used to play full on boogie woogie rock n roll, but I think to know how to play the organ blues is just pretty awesome,

[rounder2u]

Hi Thomas Peterson

Thanks!

It's great fun to play jazz organ blues :-)

If you are interested in my view on how to develop left hand walking bass lines and left/right hand independency, just write me a comment or a message and I will reply with the text to your YouTube message inbox.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[Iceman400BK]

Could listen to that all night long. Sounds really great!

[rounder2u]

Hi Iceman

That's good to hear :-) Thanks!

About 'all night long'. This is a 'late at night tune' and I came up with it during night-time.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[PeterVred]

What a bass sound!

Thanks for posting this and all your videos.

Great lessons in organ playing.

That B3 sound has been disappearing for a long while.

Good to see folks carrying on the tradition.

[rounder2u]

Hi Peter

Thanks!

I have always liked J. Smith, Groove Holmes, McGriff and all other cats walking the mighty deep down bass lines themselves, while soloing on top :-)

Then I read about the 33Lbs/15Kg Nord C1 and bought one and gave in to the jazz organ :-) And started to practice. I will of course never even come close to those wizards, but I'm having great fun!

A predigital B-3 with a tubed Leslie 122 would be nice to have if they were not so prohibitively heavy!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[npoulis]

I like your bassline. C1 Rocks. Got a Motif XS8. Has got nice organs, but not that good.

[rounder2u]

Hi npoulis

Thanks!

I wanted to do a walking bass line that was deep down, and ended up with this one that is in the lowest octave at all time. Good to hear you like it :-)

I'm trying to vary the bass lines for my Nord C1 videos. Not all of them, always, but most of them differ in some way or another.

Your Motif XS8 is a good and advanced keyboard.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[Organiston26th]

Congrats and thanx to you, Rounder, for another brilliant clip. After 6 years of playing a Korg v.2 CX3 (plus 22 years w/a Hammond M-102/Leslie 760), I upgraded to a Nord C-1; it arrived on 11/11 and it's the most satisfying B-3 experience I've had... I mean, it's PERFECT!! A true joy. Question: you mention recording "line out" from your C-1; I'm looking for an easy, low-costish means of camcording or web-cam-ing or something, and your videos are the clearest I've seen. Any advice? Thanks again!

[rounder2u]

Thanks Organiston!

Good to hear that you like your C1, and I agree, it's a true joy trying to tame that little beast :-)

This is how I do my recordings:

I record the video with an inexpensive MiniDV camcorder.

The sound is recorded line out from the C1 to the computer line in.

I sync the video and the sound with a video editing software, and add the title of the song.

I convert the video, a big AVI file, to DivX, to have it smaller.

I upload to YouTube.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[ctsctsctsctscts]

hip piece man i am digging your grove on this man its deep.

chris

[rounder2u]

Hi Cris

Thanks!

Keep swinging your C1 :-)

Rounder

[vagnmoore]

love it!

[rounder2u]

Good to hear vagn. Thanks!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[marcodu33]

Bonne musique ! Les basses avec la main gauche sont bien. 5*

[rounder2u]

Merci beaucoup, Marcodu!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[olooj]

OMG u speak french! there is no end to ur talent...

[rounder2u]

Hi olooj

You can't guess how non-existent my french really is. But I can give you a hint: Thanks goes to on line dictionaries :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[169B3]

This is sounding good my friend! You are really improving in your playing and one can tell you are working on that left hand also!!

I need more discipline in so many areas of my playing! Still not going to give up, it is too much fun and a priviledge to have keyboards to play on.

[rounder2u]

Thanks 169B3!

Good to hear that you're tickling those ivories at your mighty organ!

By the way, I'm listening to Jimmy Smith right now. He's playing 'Sonnymoon For Two' (the version from 'Crazy! Baby' recorded in 1960). A wonderful performance!

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[kw231263]

Great piece Rounder and excellent left hand bass work.5 stars.

[rounder2u]

Thanks Kim!

Regarding the left hand. I had this idea of keeping the bass line in the very low register and within a small frequency range all the time, and play it rather chromatic. When I had figured out what I wanted to play I had to figure out the fingering :-)

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[bubbaboud]

thats cool i like it

played on my xp last night but i really like the sound of the nord

how much are those boards

[rounder2u]

Hi bubbaboud

Thanks!

'hammondrebuilder' here at YouTube picked his C1 up on eBay for $2000. Normal price, if there is such a thing, would be closer to 2800$.

You might also be interested in checking out the clip by hammondrebuilder were he compares the C1 with a stock 1965 B-3. He goes through keyboard action, the key click, drawbars, percussion, build quality, etc.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[gnasher1993]

Great tune. I love the percussive slaps on the lower manual, they work really well.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to hearing more originals.

[rounder2u]

Thanks gnasher!

I'm happy to hear that you like those percussive slaps/'thumps' as they were an important part when I put together the framework for this song. I'm using them in five choruses.

Keep swinging,

Rounder

[mitchell866]

You got that left hand smokin on this one.

Nice to see some originality, a whole lot of

folks can do covers but few can compose songs

that sound like something. This is excellent!

[rounder2u]

Hi Mitchell

It's good to hear that you like the song, and many thanks for your encouraging words!

Keep swinging,

Rounder