Wanting to improve my organ skills...need some tips

[RMS2003]

Hello. I'm new here and I must say, there are some really good resources here on this site. Keep up the good work!

On to my question. I've been playing piano completely by ear for over 4 years. Right now I am a part-time musician at my church. A while back I became interested in playing organ and actually had several opportunities to do so, but the majority of those times I was playing solo (no bass or piano to back me up.) I played for a while and then decided as long as I'm playing solo it just won't work for me so I lost interest and went back to just playing the piano. My problem was, when playing solo I had to make sure I had a good bass for full sound. However, when you are constantly switching the tremolo speed you have to take your hand off the bass for a few seconds thus losing that fullness in the sound.

However, recently I've regained interest in playing organ again because I think if I could learn to use the foot pedals as well, I could keep the bass going so I could switch the tremolo speed and still have a full sound. My problem with using foot pedals is, well, you're not looking at your feet plus with shoes on you can't feel the pedals therefore its hard to know what your hitting.

Could I possibly get some tips or something on how I could improve my skills? Thanks.

Edit: I'm sorry. I may have posted this in the wrong forum, I didn't even see the Organ room forum farther down on the forums list.

[ee_guy]

Just like your fingers develop "muscle memory" and know where to go, your foot and leg will develop this too.  Practice!  That's the only tip I know on this.

For playing pedals, you want leather soles with a high heel.  For male players:  one option is (expensive) cowboy boots.  Classical organists and pro jazz players have their shoes custom made.  If you are going to play "fast" these are necessary.

(I practice quite a bit with my eyes closed.  Does anyone else do this?)

The jazz players, who play left-hand bass, don't switch the Leslie much.

(My humble opinion - your's may vary and I may be wrong:  The Hammond organ is a sythesizer.  Synths are bascially played with the right hand while the left hand controls the instrument.  So, in  this case, it's left foot and right hand, where the left hand and right foot are controlling the machine.)

Years ago (sorry about the geezerama), when I was playing pedals, organ and electric piano (in a rock and roll trio), I didn't have a free hand to swtich the Leslie.  So I built a switch that attached to the side of the expression pedal.  (Tony Monaco uses one of these on his Hammond.)  One of the top Hammond techs in the country builds and markets this type of switch as the "Sidekick".  If anyone is interested, private message me and I will describe the device and send you the link where you can order one.

[B3Wannabe]

I hate those foot-switch thingies! I prefer to use my hand.
My church, back in Detroit, has a Hammond XC3--I think that's what it is. (The eletronic one.) Anyway, it has all of that stuff. The only thing that I like about it, is its smoothness when the leslie is stopped, and being able to play piano and organ together or on separate manuals. I tried that foot switch for a while, but I didn't like it. Mostly because 99% of the churches that we visited had older organs, and I kept finding myself trying to switch the leslie with the expression pedal!

That's my little rant. How much merit it has, I don't know.

[2tight]

My church also has a hammond XC-3.When I play I normally use the leslie switch.We also put a midi on the organ.It is a Roland JV 1010.You should get one because it has a lot of nice sounds.

[RMS2003]

Thanks for the responses. I'm kinda bumping up this old thread   I figured the only way to get used to the idea is just to practice...This may be a bad habbit but I may have to try playing the pedals (with my left foot) by taking my left shoe off. I've been listening to someone who used to play the organ at our church years ago (she got married and moved to VA) and it sounds like she uses her foot for very basic notes and uses her left hand to play single notes, as well as switch the leslie speed, and right hand to play the chords. She is an awesome organ player too, so I think with some practice I could sound like that too.

This is also a prayer request. Our pastor's wife plays the organ and almost 2 months ago developed something called "tennis elbow". I'm not sure what exactly it is but in order for her to play we had to remove the organ bench and pedals and just put a regular leveled chair in place so she could keep her arm leveled (as the doctor instructed) while she played. It'll be another month or 2 before she's completely recovered from this and there are times when her arm starts to hurt while she's playing. First of all I'd like to say, God bless her heart, she's continuing to play for the Lord even when she really shouldn't be playing right now. Secondly, I ask that everyone pray that God would touch her arm and make it whole in Jesus name. Thank you all.

Honestly, I don't think it matters what kind of shoes you have when you use the pedals.  I have played the organ in tennis shoes, regular dress shoes and even socks.  John Peters plays in Timberlands.  A good way to get good at the pedals is keep trying to use them.  I use to look at the pedals but have developed that leg memory now.  Once you develop leg memory practice using the pedals with ankleweights on, this will dramatically improve you pedaling speed.