Deep Purple (John Lord) - Smoke On The Water (analyse)

John Lord's Classic Performance with Deep Purple

Today, we're going to have a little look at a classic John Lord performance with Deep Purple. Obviously, that was his band back in the late 60s and through the 70s.

The Iconic Hammond Organ

In terms of the Hammond organ, he's one of the icons I'm sure you've heard of. He is well-known for playing incredibly loud organ parts through various amps all at once, using amps that aren't Leslie's, as he does on this.

Amp Setup

I don't know what amp it was, but it was probably something like a Marshall stack, the kind of amp you would have seen Hendrix or one of the rock gods back then playing very loudly through. And he put the organ through those amps, which creates a very different effect compared to the rotary effect that you get with the Leslie.

• The sound is static, very direct, and overdriven.
• He really turned it up, and that's what he used on this.

Setting the Scene

Replicating the Sound

What I've got here is a Leslie speaker to replicate that sound. I've put it on brake (or stop), so both motors are not moving, utilizing my trusty brake switch that plugs into the amp. This footswitch breaks the motors.

I've got the C3 chorus vibrato on. I don't think he actually uses it on the record, but I quite like it when you're on stop through the Leslie.

Key Parts

• Bottom Manual: Used for the famous riff we all know.
• Drawbars: B flat selected, which corresponds to that set. This will be used for the riff and during the chorus for the little reply in between the lines.
• Top Manual: I'm not going to use those; instead, we will use this set because there's some third harmonic percussion during the verse.

So, both manuals will have vibrato on, with these two sets of drawbars.

The Famous Riff

The famous riff that you've all heard is very simple, based around the pentatonic line.

• Right Hand: You replicate that pentatonic line but add a fifth below it.

Playing the Riff

Here's how the riff sounds in real time.

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The Verse

For the verse, we've got this percussion sound on with a full tone (all four drawbars out). We'll use this hand for playing:

• There isn't really any left hand here; it's just a kind of rhythm part.

Variations

He does variations on that; it's never really the same throughout. The first one's quite sparse. You can move it up to the next inversion, just adding a little bounce in between by catching the D lightly.

This is just a G minor chord to put the bass in.

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The Chorus

For the chorus, there's a kind of arpeggio that also doesn't really follow a uniform pattern. The rest of the band is mostly based around guitar power chords, often without the third, so no one's really defining whether it's major or minor, except for the organ.

Organ's Role

The organ is actually playing a minor third, creating a C chord:

• Just to give it a bit of context, add octaves down there.

Chord Progression

He plays something along these lines:

• C minor: Holding the G to start, followed by the top G, then an A flat chord (A flat major).

This creates a simple arpeggio-type pattern, but he varies that; again, it's not uniform.

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Bringing It All Together

So, that part serves as the little reply to the main chorus part. Similar to the riff, you have:

• A little roll up to the B flat in the right hand.
• Combined Sound: All three together would sound something like this.

Using the Leslie Simulator

If you have a Leslie simulator, you could maybe flip that to fast during the chorus to lift it; that might be a nice effect.

Conclusion

From the end of the verse, come back to stop there for the riff to get that direct sound.

These are the main parts that hold it together:

• Your percussion sound
• Your riff sound
• Adjusted bass levels

As you can see, not all the way out, with third percussion harmonic on, fast decay, and C3 vibrato on both manuals.

And there you have Smoke on the Water. Give it a go!