I did a search and found this for example ...
http://www.keyboardservice.com/Drawbars.asp
For Greg Allman ...
http://www.keyboardservice.com/ShowDraw ... reg+Allman
Mac ... you out there buddy?
Tone Wheel Drawbar Settings
Tone Wheel Drawbar Settings
Not being a hammond organ player (I'm a guitarist) what settings can someone suggest for the tonewheel for blues, jazz and rock.
I did a search and found this for example ...
http://www.keyboardservice.com/Drawbars.asp
For Greg Allman ...
http://www.keyboardservice.com/ShowDraw ... reg+Allman
Mac ... you out there buddy?
I did a search and found this for example ...
http://www.keyboardservice.com/Drawbars.asp
For Greg Allman ...
http://www.keyboardservice.com/ShowDraw ... reg+Allman
Mac ... you out there buddy?
That Keyboard Service list is spot on, I know, I contributed to it also at one time.
More important than drawbar settings is how you play what you play. Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you have Jimmy Smith's registrations that it should sound like Jimmy Smith, there's a helluva lot more to it than that. For instance, someone who hasn't been playing guitar for very long could have SRV's Number One, SRV's amps, pedals, the whole nine yards, but that don't mean they'll sound like SRV, right?
In Jazz work, it is customary to use a one speed Leslie, too. OFF and FAST only, no Chorale, which was a latecomer to the Leslie scene, being introduced around the mid 60s. Jazz players don't like the slow chorale because we play fast notes with the perc. on and if the horn is turned away from dead on, the note gets lost. So we stop the horn entirely for the vast majority of work, relying on the wonderful Chorus (C1, C2, C3) in the Hammond organ. Only do spinups at the end of a song then, only sometimes. Joey D. disconnects the slow motor plugs on newer leslies, as do I when playing jazz work. For Rock or Blues, the opposite applies lean on that Chorale mostly, emulating the 147 Leslie cabinet rather than the 122 and older single speed Leslies. There is also a difference in the spinup and braking times. The 147 Leslie is the preferred for Rock and Blues, touting a rather immediate spinup and braking time while the 122 and older units, the spinup didn't happen until aprox. 1.2 secs after you throw the switch. This was preferred for Gospel work a lot, because the spinup actually surprises you and can be much more effective when that happens. But in rock work, we don't want those surprises, we use the rotor speed as PART of the effects at our disposal. A lot of rock tunes, if you listen, are one or two notes and a lot of spinups and spindowns. Take advantage of the fact that the Hammond can give you infinite sustain.
Players who try to play a LOT of Hammond usually work themselves to death and don't sound good. Players who take a laid back approach, playing simply and letting the lush sound of the Hammond do the work, sound great.
For a lot of organ pad work, say in accompanying your guitar and vocal tracks, simple often works best. Try pulling just the first white 8' drawbar out about halfway and playing the pads.
Also, Hammond Organ without an Expression Pedal will never sound real. Pays to get a Midi Expression Pedal hooked up to your keyboard then. And learn how to use it. Don't pump it in time to the music, that's the kiss of death, takes a bit of practice to make it work like the organ was a wind instrument, getting louder a little bit when going upscale, decrescendo when going downscale, matter of fact, many of the same things that work with a guitar vol pedal and even a wah pedal can translate to how to use the Expression pedal.
The other mistake that noobs make is in the choice of notes. Those who just learn the triads and then play simple close harmony triads will sound like, well, poo. The Hammond is so rich in harmonic content that often two note "chords" will sound better than triads. A 4th apart or a tritone, stuff like that. Two notes can have more power to them on the Hammond than five notes because of this. In blues, say, try playing just the 3 and the b7, the tritone. With the standard Jimmy Smith settings of 888000000 or 888800000, this is powerful stuff. Try adding the top drawbar lightly into those two for just a tad of whistle, ala Joey D, too. 888800003 or the like.
This is not a simple thing, actually, one can spend their lifetime learning how to use Hammond tonewheel registrations. Requires building quite the ear.
One other tip I can give you is not to set it and forget it. Good Hammond is never static. That's why Midi Hammond patches suck.
Instead, constantly change things throughout the song to get that animation that makes a Hammond track come to life. Move drawbars at different sections of the tune, use Leslie spinups and spindowns to good, but not overdoing it, use the C settings in the Chorus and also the OFF for the Chorus to impart tension. Knowing WHEN is the part that takes lots of practice.
Avoid hitting the keys hard like it was a piano. The Hammond keys are merely connecting wires to bussbars, in effect a switch. No matter how hard or soft you hit them, the note attack will be identical. If you use a Midi Controller keyboard that has Velocity send, be sure to turn that OFF when emulating a Hammond. See the part about the Expression pedal up there again.
One of the old old teaching methods for black gospel Hammond is to put a coin on the back of each hand and practice playing without dropping or dislodging the coin. This will get "that" smooth sound you are looking for when transitioning between notes and chords. A good organist's hands will "crawl" over the keys rather than what a good pianist's hands do, which is more of vertical motion than horizontal. Because all you have to do is lightly press a key to get a sound, the power comes from the amps, not the keys. This is the hardest part for the beginner to grasp, I think.
--Mac
More important than drawbar settings is how you play what you play. Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you have Jimmy Smith's registrations that it should sound like Jimmy Smith, there's a helluva lot more to it than that. For instance, someone who hasn't been playing guitar for very long could have SRV's Number One, SRV's amps, pedals, the whole nine yards, but that don't mean they'll sound like SRV, right?
In Jazz work, it is customary to use a one speed Leslie, too. OFF and FAST only, no Chorale, which was a latecomer to the Leslie scene, being introduced around the mid 60s. Jazz players don't like the slow chorale because we play fast notes with the perc. on and if the horn is turned away from dead on, the note gets lost. So we stop the horn entirely for the vast majority of work, relying on the wonderful Chorus (C1, C2, C3) in the Hammond organ. Only do spinups at the end of a song then, only sometimes. Joey D. disconnects the slow motor plugs on newer leslies, as do I when playing jazz work. For Rock or Blues, the opposite applies lean on that Chorale mostly, emulating the 147 Leslie cabinet rather than the 122 and older single speed Leslies. There is also a difference in the spinup and braking times. The 147 Leslie is the preferred for Rock and Blues, touting a rather immediate spinup and braking time while the 122 and older units, the spinup didn't happen until aprox. 1.2 secs after you throw the switch. This was preferred for Gospel work a lot, because the spinup actually surprises you and can be much more effective when that happens. But in rock work, we don't want those surprises, we use the rotor speed as PART of the effects at our disposal. A lot of rock tunes, if you listen, are one or two notes and a lot of spinups and spindowns. Take advantage of the fact that the Hammond can give you infinite sustain.
Players who try to play a LOT of Hammond usually work themselves to death and don't sound good. Players who take a laid back approach, playing simply and letting the lush sound of the Hammond do the work, sound great.
For a lot of organ pad work, say in accompanying your guitar and vocal tracks, simple often works best. Try pulling just the first white 8' drawbar out about halfway and playing the pads.
Also, Hammond Organ without an Expression Pedal will never sound real. Pays to get a Midi Expression Pedal hooked up to your keyboard then. And learn how to use it. Don't pump it in time to the music, that's the kiss of death, takes a bit of practice to make it work like the organ was a wind instrument, getting louder a little bit when going upscale, decrescendo when going downscale, matter of fact, many of the same things that work with a guitar vol pedal and even a wah pedal can translate to how to use the Expression pedal.
The other mistake that noobs make is in the choice of notes. Those who just learn the triads and then play simple close harmony triads will sound like, well, poo. The Hammond is so rich in harmonic content that often two note "chords" will sound better than triads. A 4th apart or a tritone, stuff like that. Two notes can have more power to them on the Hammond than five notes because of this. In blues, say, try playing just the 3 and the b7, the tritone. With the standard Jimmy Smith settings of 888000000 or 888800000, this is powerful stuff. Try adding the top drawbar lightly into those two for just a tad of whistle, ala Joey D, too. 888800003 or the like.
This is not a simple thing, actually, one can spend their lifetime learning how to use Hammond tonewheel registrations. Requires building quite the ear.
One other tip I can give you is not to set it and forget it. Good Hammond is never static. That's why Midi Hammond patches suck.
Instead, constantly change things throughout the song to get that animation that makes a Hammond track come to life. Move drawbars at different sections of the tune, use Leslie spinups and spindowns to good, but not overdoing it, use the C settings in the Chorus and also the OFF for the Chorus to impart tension. Knowing WHEN is the part that takes lots of practice.
Avoid hitting the keys hard like it was a piano. The Hammond keys are merely connecting wires to bussbars, in effect a switch. No matter how hard or soft you hit them, the note attack will be identical. If you use a Midi Controller keyboard that has Velocity send, be sure to turn that OFF when emulating a Hammond. See the part about the Expression pedal up there again.
One of the old old teaching methods for black gospel Hammond is to put a coin on the back of each hand and practice playing without dropping or dislodging the coin. This will get "that" smooth sound you are looking for when transitioning between notes and chords. A good organist's hands will "crawl" over the keys rather than what a good pianist's hands do, which is more of vertical motion than horizontal. Because all you have to do is lightly press a key to get a sound, the power comes from the amps, not the keys. This is the hardest part for the beginner to grasp, I think.
--Mac
