Canadian Musician - November/December 2018 | Page 26

KEYBOARDS
Jeff Heisholt is a Thunder Bay-born, Toronto-based keyboardist. He’s spent the last few years playing with The Trews,
Skydiggers, Terra Lightfoot, and Peter Elkas.
By Jeff Heisholt
Rock ‘n’ Roll Organ
I
got my first organ when I was 17. After hearing the Hammond riff
on “The Only One I Know” by The Charlatans UK, I headed straight
down to Morrow’s Music and snatched up a hefty Hammond L-121
with a Leslie 225 speaker. As soon as I got it home and heard the
sound literally being spun around the room, I knew I was hooked.
The organ is still my favourite keyboard instrument to play on stage
or in the studio. Rock ‘n’ roll has hosted many different kinds of organs, all
with their own unique tones and qualities – Farfisa, Actetone, Vox, and
even Lowrey made strong impressions within the genre – but it was the
Hammond that emerged at the top.
Billy Preston’s solo in The Rolling Stones’ “I Got the Blues”; Jon Lord's
Marshall-driven Hammond assault with Deep Purple; Greg Rollie’s blis-
tering solo on Santana’s “Soul Sacrafice” in the Woodstock movie; and
knowing that Al Kooper’s whole career was kickstarted by sneaking into
a Bob Dylan session and playing the organ lick on “Like a Rolling Stone"
all help validate its legacy.
Sometimes the organ is the glue in the background as well; you might
not notice it, but you’d definitely miss it if it was gone.
What makes the Hammond so great? It's easy to just select a sound
and play the same setting through the whole song, but the Hammond
lets you do so much more with that sound.
Drawbars
For me, the drawbars on the organ are the secret weapon. I was always
jealous of guitar players having the ability to change their tone so
drastically with only their fingers. Drawbar organs offer the keyboardist
this kind of control. Drawbars are derived from the stop system in pipe
organs, where the physical length of the pipe corresponded to the
pitch produced. By pulling different combinations out, you can create
octaves and chords within one note! Spread that into more notes and
the sound can be massive.
26 • C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
EX.1
Helpful Settings
I’ve never been much of
a left-hand player. I’ve
always played in bands
with a bass player around
to cover those frequen-
cies. My left hand is
always on the draw-
bars, constantly
working them
up and down as
I play.
While most or-
ganists use the volume pedal to control their swells and levels, I’ve always
used the drawbars. I can push them all in and then pull out on just a few
to get a totally unique sound coming back in.
I remember asking one of my favourite organists back in the ‘90s what his
best drawbar settings were. He said he didn’t really know...that he just moved
them around until it sounded right. I was admittedly a bit disappointed, as
I was hoping for some kind of insider secret as to how to make my organ
sound like the greats, but there are a few classic settings you can start with.
Here are a few of my go-to positions:
EX.2
This is my power chord
setting. When the song
is getting heavy, I’ll use
this. It doesn’t have too
much whistle, and with
some drive, it can chunk
EX.2
up any groove. This is
what I use on “Rise in
the Wake” by The Trews.
EX.3
EX.4
EX.3
This is my whistle set-
ting. I found this sound
after digging the organ
on The Wallflowers’ track
“One Headlight.” The
organ always stuck out
as such a cool part of
that song. When using
this setting, I’ll alternate
between having the 8
and the 4 all the way out.
I used this setting on
“Wall of Fire” by Peter
Elkas.
EX.4
I use this setting for shots as it’ll cut through the whole band. It works
especially well in soul music with the Leslie on fast.
The Clones
It’s not easy to carry around a real Hammond and Leslie to your gigs.
The old Hammonds used tonewheels to produce their sound. Modern
organs are cleverly referred to as “clonewheels.” The first serious clone-
wheel organs appeared in the early 1980s, and they’ve been steadily
improving since then. They all featured drawbars and some kind of
onboard Leslie effect. Leslie pedals have been around just as long. You
can get a great sound from basically any clonewheel organ by bypass-
ing the onboard Leslie and combining it with a decent Leslie pedal.
There are lots of options out there, but I highly suggest choosing one
with actual drawbars on it. They’re so much more fun.
While I don’t bring it out to shows anymore, I still have my first Ham-
mond, and if I were to turn it on today, I’m sure it would still sound as good
as it did when I bought it in 1992 – or when it was made back in 1964.