Hammond Organs : How to Play Old Gospel Songs on the Keyboard

When playing a gospel song on a Hammond organ, play the bass on the pedal board to add a tuba-like sound. Learn about adding a bass line with the left hand to the bass pedal with help from a professional musician and Hammond organist in this free video on playing old gospel songs on the keyboard.

Expert: Louis Pain
Bio: Louis Pain is a musician who has much experience with the Hammond B-3 organ.
Filmmaker: Lisa Fenderson

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• musical
• instruments
• piano
• keyboard
• organ
• hammond
• pipe
• b3
• lessons

[chazsinger]

Thank you so much for the explanation and hearing the left hand with the pedals sounds great! I've wondered why I'd seen people using the left hand for comping and other times for bass lines when they have pedals. My Hammond CV has the pedals, but I'm not crazy about the sound at all. The left hand alone doesn't do it for me either, but watching and hearing you use both really brings it together! Now I can't wait to try this with the left side of the body and ignoring the right side for a bit.

[xbabygirltx]

@kameirafan the song is "down by the riverside" :-)

[Kimeirafan]

Nice video!

 2:16 what's the song title??

[Mooser42001]

@serfuencos Here in the good ol' USA, we play bass with our left hand on the bottom of the manual. Columbus discovered the Native Americans doing this, and I presume he told Queen Isabella about it. In any case, "pedal sustain" makes it easier to play a bass line with the left foot, without taking the right foot (or hoof) away from the volume pedal.

[serfuencos]

@Mooser42001 aw... sorry, there is a problem with the traduction. I'm from spain, and I fortgot the order of the words!

[Mooser42001]

@serfuencos : not sustain like the sustain pedal on a piano, but "pedal sustain". If you don't know what "pedal sustain" is, you can't be much of an organist. Well then again, you are using a MIDI keyboard to play organ sounds, so I guess real organs would be strange to you.

And almost every console organ except the vintage tonewheel console Hammond has "pedal sustain" (The Hammond spinets had it) And the "new B-3" and all other new (sample based) Hammond organs have "pedal sustain"

[serfuencos]

@Mooser42001 I play hammond organ on a my satage keyboard (KAWAI MP5) and I never use the sustain pedal. Isn't instinctive in me play organs with pedals. You better practice and not complain... sorry, welcome to reality, organs dont have sustain!

[memiedoditanisa]

:p i can do beteer

[memiedoditanisa]

:p

[Mooser42001]

Why on earth didn't Hammond include "pedal sustain" on their console models? That's all they need to be perfect. A little pedal sustain goes a long way. and leaves the right foot free for the expression pedal.