How to play the Organ part to Highway Star

/ @nickfoleyuk By popular demand I am back this week and will continue my thread of ‪@DeepPurpleOfficial‬ and Jon Lord covers, showing you how I play these classic tracks section by section. This week we are looking at the opener, Highway Star!
Tricky little fella is this one, and as it’s the first song of the set you need to make sure you are warmed up to attempt it. For a long time my hand would cramp up half way through the organ solo - it’s not easy. These days I don’t cramp up but I can definitely feel the release of that solo a couple of songs later in my right hand!
That said, let’s take a look. Shall we do the tuning up intro from Made in Japan as well? Yeah why not.
Apologies for last week, I was in the studio for a fair chunk of it recording the new ‪@atackband‬ album, its coming on nicely and the Hammond is front and if not centre, then joint-centre with ‪@keithatack‬ 's beautiful geetar playing. More on that another time.
For the moment then, and for everyone that asked me about it, here is High Way star
For Atack news see www.atackband.com.
A great version of Highway Star here: • Jakob Samuel & Jon Lor...
Nice cover version by ‪@TheClassicRockShow‬ here to • Deep Purple "Highway S... More from me exclusively at / nickfoleyuk

[@Tomandrea]

You play with impressive fluidity, and then the photo behind you with MASTER JON LORD in action is fantastic!!!

[@heikedelux1970]

Thanks very much for your time and effort. Love it! Wish I had this video 25 years ago 😅

[@nickfoleyuk]

That’s why I do it!

[@charlesufpa]

Very very cool. You are a master.

[@nickfoleyuk]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@LjubisaTerzicMD]

Hey Nick, thanks for this video. It really breaks down one of the iconic Deep Purple songs. I play it slightly differently but learned quite a bit from your video. Keep doing it, great job my friend !

[@nickfoleyuk]

Cheers

[@scottdunn9087]

Great stuff Nick!

[@ScooterTV]

Thanks Nick, love it ! 👍🏼😀

[@nickfoleyuk]

My pleasure!

[@BryanPatterson1]

Wow thanks for this one Nick. Very good. When I was in high school I wanted to play the organ like Jon Lord I didn’t know what kind he played but I liked his sound. The local organ store at the mall did not have any Hammond organs and I would not see one up close for manny years later. I have a L102 right now and B3 is on midi software. I’m going to practice this song now thanks to you.

[@dalebeaver5073]

Amazing! Beyond my capabilities as well, but a fascinating lesson!

[@nickfoleyuk]

Keep at it

[@MrSouriyanh]

Love it, thanks

[@louiscornale5667]

Really good Job would be proud

[@Herschli]

Just found your channel, and highly appreciate your work and approach, thanks very much, Nick!

[@nickfoleyuk]

Awesome, thank you!

[@unclemick-synths]

Beyond my capabilities to play full speed but no harm me having fun.

[@nickfoleyuk]

Exactly, it won't be beyond your capabilities for long

[@aldymulder5823]

Love your video's 👌👍

[@nickfoleyuk]

Thank you

[@richardcabrejo532]

I got some really nice chords out of that Nick,Thanks!

[@marcanglin7127]

Nick, you are absolutely correct: Every C3 (B3, A100, etc.) sounds slightly different. My late 1960 C3 has a ton of midrange as it has a Leslie Combo Pre-Amp wired in between the organ's pre-amp and amp. Simple push-pull rotary pots control the "drive" on the Combo as well as enhanced percussion due to some simple circuit modification (I'd have to reach out to the fine lad who performed the mods, my longtime good friend Dennis Toerpe, to recall the specifics). When the percussion is at 10, you can feel it in your chest, courtesy of my 147 RV, with a Pyle woofer and EV horn. The overdrive can be at full distortion even while the main output is turned down to a whisper. Rita, as she is lovingly called, has the nastiest, chunkiest sound that I've heard and was made to perform Purple, Heep, etc. Love your tutorials, as "Highway Star" is a staple !!!

[@nickfoleyuk]

Thank you Marc that’s very kind. We’ve done a lot to my C and then very slowly undone it again lol. It was all around overdrive and reverb really. The 122 is self powered now with different inputs and low voltage relay but basically stock. Put KT88s in it and it made a huge difference!

[@chayesfss]

Loving my cs-225, still can't believe it was $60! Sounds amazing, thanks so much for the content, helping me immensely during my 'ramp'

[@nickfoleyuk]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@richardcabrejo532]

Good job,Nick! I enjoyed it very much. Had my Kronos 88 on.

[@richardcabrejo532]

That Ricky from New Orleans.

[@nickfoleyuk]

Chers ricky

[@galinatazmania]

Thank you so much for this amazing video

[@88TMV88]

Thanks master

[@tallencross]

Thanks!

[@nickfoleyuk]

Thank you so much mate!

[@richardkeeler2347]

Makes a nice change for a keyboard part being show great stuff.

[@jordansinger8543]

GREAT TUTORIAL

[@geoffemett]

Superb 👍🎶🎶🎶

[@nickfoleyuk]

Thank you , hope it helps

[@geoffemett]

@@nickfoleyuk Nick, I am a Jon Lord disciple and play keyboards because of him….I’ve often been complemented on being a “ poor mans Mr Lord”, which I’ve always took as a compliment, but if I could have plagiarised your videos years ago it may well have been a different story 😉 Love the videos, keep them coming 👏👏😎🎶🎶

[@fabiocolognese6641]

Grazie.

[@davidsummerville351]

I like the camera angle. Important to be able to visualize! Thanks

[@nickfoleyuk]

Thanks mate, I have a limited setup but I'm trying my best to get the content across

[@paulrhodesquinn]

You might want to clarify that the second chord in the solo is an E Major, not an augmented triad.

[@bobowman470]

I remember the 70's, I had a porta B and 2 147 leisle's.

[@nickfoleyuk]

Heavy!

[@mctowerbridge]

Hi Nick! Thank you for sharing this knowledge with us, deep purples have always been my favourite. I started piano lessons about 3 years ago. And it will take at least another 50 years for me to reach a level like you! Can I have access to all the deep purple shots you made? Hello John

[@nickfoleyuk]

Hi mate, everything I have done is up on my nickfoleyuk channel.

[@crimsonking70]

I have to go back and listen to the album track. During the arpeggiations in the organ solo, there is the Am, E, Gm, D sequence. When you were playing it slowed down, you were going from Am to E aug (you keeping the C note up top), then Gm D. At full speed at 24:07, you were playing Am E Gm D (that sounds right to me). Is there the E aug bit in the solo?

[@nickfoleyuk]

No mate, you are correct - the tired fingers I was telling you about 👍🏼

[@B3burner]

I’m curious why you highlighted the guitar solo before the organ solo; thus reversing their order? Also, why the Made In Japan intro, but the Machine Head organ solo? I would have liked to have heard the Made In Japan organ solo. But either way cool video. I wish I had access to this back in 2005, when I started my Deep Purple trib band. Thank you for your time making this video.

[@nickfoleyuk]

In my head I was running through all the backing first and with that complete then the organ solo. Made sense to me lol I played the MIJ intro as it’s a cool intro to a live purple tribute gig and what I play in my band. I could maybe do the live version one day too - most people remember the studio version was my thinking. I’m doing these exactly because we both wished we had them available to us when we were younger :-)

[@scottdunn9087]

Do you ever listen to The Charlatans Nick? Their 90's B-sides are very prog, Rob Collins had a great drive tone.

[@nickfoleyuk]

I’ll have a listen, thanks

[@louiscornale5667]

Outstanding but slow down and speak louder but thank you

[@Blues.Fusion]

How about Kansas? Maybe Portrait.

[@nickfoleyuk]

I can have a look

[@marioparadiso7296]

Hi Nick, have you ever met the one and only Jon?

[@nickfoleyuk]

Sadly know. And I never will. This makes me quite sad

[@olegmakarov7877]

Nasty sound.

[@louiscornale5667]

Great but how about wooly bully watch it y😮

[@louiscornale5667]

Great but how about wooly bully watch it now 😮

[@andriealinsangao613]

Might have to use a Farfisa organ for that one!

[@lionelalias4561]

PAL intro.

[@nickfoleyuk]

Absolutely. Re-recorded by me and a couple of mates

[@ianfantomx7]

messy playing ….and the 2nd part of the solo coming back down is completely wrong. i understand that people put there own take on it , in fact jon never played it the same anyway ….but ! the real reason that you keep saying you play it your own way is clearly an excuse for not having the ability to play it any better or closer to the original….ive been doing the same for 50 years ! you cant bullshit a bullshitter. the moral is if you cant play it right dont do a tutorial on how to play it wrong !

[@paulrhodesquinn]

Very sloppy and also inaccurate. It’s sad to see people giving tutorials like this. The problem is, some people don’t know that they don’t know and most people viewing this aren’t experienced players and think it’s great. If I played like this, I’d be out of work. He seems like a nice guy, but he really needs to work on his chops and teaching skills.

[@Rigbysalad]

Any chance you could do a video on the M-100? I bought one a few months ago for $600 and absolutely love it. I know Booker T recorded Green Onions on an M-100 and Keith Emerson used it a lot on tour due to it being smaller and lighter.

[@nickfoleyuk]

As soon as I put it back together I will yes! 👍🏼

[@Rigbysalad]

@@nickfoleyuk Awesome! Any chance you could do a play through on Fireball? I’ve got the beginning down but can’t find a solid video on the whole song. Thanks for all you do for the Organ community, there’s not another channel like Hammond for Hire.

[@nickfoleyuk]

@@Rigbysalad yeah I could do that. It’s a mammoth song mind!