Understanding the Role of the Organ in Music

So sometimes the organ isn't always a lead instrument or even an instrument which is throughout the track. It might be just a supporting instrument, or it might have a kind of impact moment that's very recognizable and then completely vanish out of the track until the next time that part happens.

Some of the tracks you think of when you think of Hammond organ are probably some of those tracks.

Key Focus Areas

We're going to look at some of those specific moments, tones, and phrasing, and try to nail them down because they'll be parts of records you know very well.

Spencer Davies Group

Firstly, I'm a big fan of the Spencer Davies Group. They were a sort of R&B British outfit in the 60s. The main guy in that was Steve Winwood, who's a big hero of mine:

• Great organ player
• Great piano player
• Great singer
• Great guitar player

We're going to look at a couple of their tracks.

"I'm A Man"

"I'm A Man" was a big hit in '66, I think '67. You might recognize that as part of that hit.

• There's a very cool approach in that track.
• A lot of percussion going on.
• A lot of wild things happening.

The theme that comes back is that kind of chord some people call the Hendrix chord (usually guitar players, but with good reason). Whether you call it a sharp minor or a flat 10 is up to you, it depends on what instrument you play and how you think about it.

Playing Techniques

• I'm playing it like that; you could choose your drawbar setting.
• You could do it more like that, but you might have noticed we're on stop there.

The Walk Down

What happens when you get to the walk down?

• You're walking down from G, F sharp, F back to the one.
• That's basically all that's happening.

Getting the tone and the walk down with the Leslie changing from stop to fast are the main characteristics of it.

Voicing and Inversions

Looking at the voicing of the walk down:

• Very simple:
  • G major, got a 3 at the bottom (3, 5, 1).
  • Exactly the same, just moving it down a semitone, same inversion, down to F.

This is the moment where you flip the Leslie when you go to the G there.

• You can also swell a bit into that to really accentuate the moment where the Leslie goes, and you're into the walk down.

Bassline Considerations

Baseline-wise, you can put a little skip in there, like I just did.

• It just helps move it along a little bit in the track.
• It's not going to be the organ playing the bass; it's going to be the bass player.

So he would have done whatever he might have done, but that's kind of how I would play it.