Roger Smith - Hammond Organ Tips and Tricks

[@mikehood1838]

The most educational Hammond organ instruction on KZbin. Thank You.

[@stukatz5720]

He did more in 2 minutes than most other B3 players would do in a month

[@nitram1491]

Roger is a phenominal orgainst, keyboard player and musician. He is a perfect fit for TOP and THAT IS NOT EASY TO DO but he has surpassed it and has brought his own unique and soulful sound to this great band and made the rythm section the best in the world. Tower is lucky to have such a soulful and very VERY nice man and talented keyboard player such as Roger, he has taken this band to a new height rhythmically like CT did originally, best compliment I could give Mr Smith. Thank you to RS for sharing his talent with us. Martin

[@TheMisterGriswold]

Man I love CT but Roger is phenomenal. Just gets better and better with TOP. Fantastic Hammond lesson from the master. Love it!

[@JonPreizler]

Great job Roger. I love seeing you teach your students how to listen and blend in. Thanks for the video.

[@Tipstercal13]

It is always great watching him play with the band but the best part is getting to know him and calling him a friend. Truly one of the nicest people you will meet and he does a great job with his Bump City Winery too. Thank you Roger for making my Tower of Power experiences even better...

[@stukatz5720]

Brilliant keyboardist.....what a monster player. His use of the draw bars, volume pedal and Leslie is unparalleled. As an aside, I had the privilege of loaning my Yamaha S90 keyboard to Roger when TOP performed in Ottawa a number of years ago at the Blues Fest. Every time I sit behind the keys, I smile knowing that one of my favorite players played my piano.

[@mister088]

Very nicely done! Thank you for that. After decades of playing I’ve realized that competing against drums and electric gtrs, organ is way more “present” than piano was always intimidated by the whole drawbar thing, but am slowly getting comfortable with it. This helped. Thx.

[@downpatmusic]

That's so great. Thanks for sharing Sounds like strings, then builds and sounds like backup singers with vibrato, then suddenly into soft hollow B3 fall to start over. I see how you melt this instrument into a key part of the arrangement musically.

[@lukedrysdale]

This is the way to accompany a band and singer....the glove is a perfect fit for the hand

[@jamessaunders8246]

Thank you Mr. Smith. I'm a big fan of your playing. Looking forward to more on your page. Thanks.

[@joeromeo2382]

Watching you play the B3 Rodger bring tears to my eyes remind me of the great funky Dave Fonts RIP

[@stukatz5720]

He absolutely makes the B3 talk.....what a monster player.

[@garys8990]

Excellent playing and video , Roger! Reminds me of Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & the MG's, since I have used some of his stylings.

[@Furriee]

Outstanding lesson! Thank you for sharing Roger. All the best!

[@justus1199]

Outstanding mate

[@alexknip]

Something you can't play with computer. At least without proper midi controller and setup. Way sophisticated than regular band playing.

[@tjmuzix]

This was BEAUTIFUL!

[@briancharette]

Great Roger!!

[@freebeerecords]

A lot of nice insights here, many thanks!

[@RudyRisingWt]

Oh my... This is high class!

[@JeffDaytonMusic]

Very cool, many thanks Roger~ I'm a Nashville guitarist trying to add my old M3/147 combo onto some tracks and you were wonderful, relaxed and informative. Peace.

[@sherifnour2073]

Wonderful

[@charlesnorth649]

I don't own a Hammond but really like this video a lot, great explanation and playing.

[@mdconvert]

Thank you Roger. I'm a hack horn player but would love to see more stuff like this. Please keep it up. Love your work.

[@nicoguyot]

Wow amazing ! I wish you were my teacher

[@saintbees]

Thanks Roger for showing us how to orchestrate and get emotion on the b-3!

[@Erudotic]

Mind blown !

[@sean-fw7zi]

i just realized ive been doing this a lot when i play along with crosby stills nash and young records

[@7doors847]

Roger is great, very musical and groovy

[@kfirtsairi3986]

Total inspiration brother.

[@ricktafied]

A good lesson there - and for free. Thank you!

[@Eduardomd54]

Roger, you are a master playing the B-3. How does TOP, took so long time finding a real good keyboardist, like you after Chester Thompson quit TOP and going to be with my countrymate Santana.

[@lpsfantastic405]

Right On Brother Thanks ✌🏾

[@cyorkgo]

WOW!

[@000AllLitUp000]

Badass!!!!

[@rogerpercival5486]

Nice

[@AudiobookLibrary24-7]

Very hallow playing. Well done!

[@fernandolumbreras8009]

this is godly

[@danjtomlinson]

NICE💜💜💜💜

[@MrDFlat]

You should give the Leslie time to slow down and speed up. You're hitting the switch so fast that it's really not even doing anything. Otherwise it's a great video very informative keep up the great work.

[@devinberry5784]

bout to tear it up leslie not even switching

[@Eduardomd54]

I realized that rapid change in the Leslie speed, never seen and hear that ! But sounds fantastic!

[@Lazarett]

0:54 Nobody think to neutralized the clic clic on that button at your left hand ? I have just 2 ears and I seriously heard that clic clic button . Thank you !

[@nlong8618]

love it

[@fabiomontagnolahammond78]

execcellent

[@bobthomas9323]

nice.

[@brickmastur]

Smooth as fuck

[@dfinedigital]

I like that

[@kalio3865]

I wanna know ,what song in this VDO

[@peppermintpasta]

Saw T.O.P. recently and the Kick drum drowned out most of the other instruments except for the horns and vocals.

[@zzzut]

Why is it that some organists change the Leslie switch every two notes? What’s the point? It’s an annoying bad habit.

[@RogerWoodsotisback]

Well let me add some insight for your question. The great B3 players came from the church, mostly the black gospel church. There is a lot of spirit-filled emotion in those environments. The job of the organist was to accompany the singer(s), choir, and later in the service, the preacher at the end. This required the organist to follow the flow of the said above, you almost are chasing that emotional flow because you are accompanying it, not leading it. So you would find yourself switching the tremolo/chorale switch a lot to follow the emotion. You’d have to wait to hear the emotion, then you would have to react with what you thought was the best accompaniment to it in the moment, on the fly. This is why you end up flicking the tremolo switch so much. You have to also allow time for the setup, meaning let the rotor slow down to have a place to build from. The color and their respective volumes of the bars also had to be adjusted during this flow. It ain’t easy at first, later it became second nature. But when these church organist began playing pop music they would have this habit. Pop B3 players don’t have to switch the speed so fast because there is more designed setup time in songs that have been produced in the studio, because there no real guessing, just memorizing when thing rise and when they fall through the production of the song(s). Yes it is a hard habit to break, but the good players know when they’ve prematurely switched so they switch right back. Doing this correction doubles the amount of switching, the amount doubles up… But in many respects this creates a medium speed that players ears like during parts of the certain songs. Sometimes the extreme slow and extreme fast is wrong for the certain places in certain songs, so switching back & forth keeps the rotor spinning in a medium speed. I could go on… :) Roger can switch all he wants because he has already reached badass status in my book.

[@zzzut]

@@RogerWoodsotisback Thank you for this thorough explanation. I truly appreciate it. I do agree with you about the talent of this organist. Yet, I still find it annoying to watch the constant speed switching no matter who does it. That being said, I mind it far less when I listen without watching! 😉

[@michaelkeller2604]

I so love your style, but that Leslie switch has GOT to be smokin' !! It's not doing much good over there if you don't give it time to respond before you change its mind again. 😁😁

[@chrisstoddern4462]

I really don't get the point of this demo.

[@pauldiaz4273]

He is incorporating a B3 into the song, hopefully your not tone deaf!

[@chrisstoddern4462]

@@pauldiaz4273 Maybe your the one that's tone deaf, and no need for arrogant rudeness.

[@pauldiaz4273]

@@chrisstoddern4462 I’m not rude, i just appreciate a fine instrument and fine music.