How to Play Gospel Hammond Organ

Introduction:Laurens Hammond created the Hammond Organ. What is most interesting about the inventor of this widely utilized musical instrument is that the inventor was not a musician himself. Yet, Laurens Hammond realized the great importance of music; particularly the benefits of home-music. Laurens Hammond removed much of the piano until he discovered the most perfect sound, which was that tone wheel generator. During 1934 there was a loss of jobs, and because of this the patent office was eager to grant Hammond’s application for the Hammond organ—hoping to create new jobs. What ensued was a great variety of musicians adopting the Hammond Organ for their own style of music. This included church music, gospel, and jazz. The first to use this organ for jazz was Fats Waller. The Hammond Organ was later restyled and implemented conventional designs. The Hammond Organ’s design has had new implementations since its original design, including the “Leslie Speaker”, created by Donald James Leslie. In 2001 the XE2 was released. It included side panels and cables which later were made as a pre-built system. One year later, the model B3 was introduced, and was accepted by the world’s great Hammond musicians. The B3 produced 96 analogue frequencies that were controlled by traditional analogue key contacts, as well as drawbars. The Hammond Organ was finally crafted as a portable instrument when the Hammond B3 was released again in 2003. This later version featured an optional 25 note pedal board. By 2004, the single manual drawbar organ, known as the XK3, lead the new generation of digital tone wheel Hammond Organs. Playing the Gospel Hammond Organ is as simple as using the lowest drawbar and the highest drawbar.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hammond Organ

Play the Gospel on the Hammond Organ

1. Pull the lowest drawbar and the highest drawbar. This is assuming that you are using a traditional Hammond Organ. The portable electronic Hammond Organ requires that you only use one drawbar, as the newest models are electronic.

2. Add in the second to lowest draw bar, and play the keyboard.

3. You can add high-end from the drawbar to change the song.

Tips & Warnings

• Purchase books on playing the Hammond Organ, as well as books on gospel music.