Clavinet in rock/blues covers

[mythias]

I play keys and harmonica in a pretty standard classic rock and blues cover band along with a lead guitar player.  I have had luck playing organ, electric piano, and acoustic piano as well as play harmonica and finding something that sounds nice and fits in the song, particularly the organ.  Something I would like to do is add some more instruments to my toolbox like a clavinet VST.  What I don't want to do is try to shoehorn it in somewhere it doesn't belong.  I can play rhythm guitar parts pretty well using an organ or a lightly distorted electric piano but seeing someone like Lachy Doley burn it up with his whammy clav it inspires me to want to learn how to fit that instrument in somewhere.

 

The main question I would like to ask is: does anyone have a cover song they play where they have played a clavinet instead of a rhythm guitar (or other instrument) and it really fits well, or a style of song or particular instrument it emulates well?  This is a weird question but maybe it will spark some conversation.  I don't want to use it just to make myself happy but because it is the best tool for the job for a particular song, rather than always fall back on my organ.  So many of the songs I love to play don't have keyboard parts so we have to make up our own as we all know.

[mate stubb]

Clav replaces rhythm guitar parts even better than a Hammond does. It should - it has guitar strings and pickups under the hood.

[cphollis]

I have found clav-based sounds very versatile in 60s-70s genre music.  Because the waveform is so rich and the attack so sharp, it sounds good through all sorts of effects: compression, wah, chorus, phaser, reverb, distortion, leslie, etc.  As above, it can replace hammond for rhythm guitar, can make harpsichord sounds, cover bass nicely, even produce a nice lead sound with a little work.  In a 30-song setlist, maybe I'll use it 3-5 times for great effect.

[KuruPrionz]

I use a Fishman Triple Play MIDI converter for guitar. I have the Clavitube plugin from IK Multimedia. 

Not saying it's the best, I haven't compared it to anything else. 

 

I will say that I can strum chords on my guitar using the Clav plugin and they sound like they will fit right in to me. 

I don't play plugins at gigs, just guitar plugged into a small amp. I think you'll find Clavinet fits in well in many tunes, old, new and in-between. 

[Baldwin Funster]

Clav is good for fast or funky tunes. Like use me, jeopardy, any stevie w.

Clav is not good at replacing guitars that have long sustain like ballads. Even organ is not a good replacement for that. Clav= not enough sustain. Organ = too much sustain.

[stoken6]

Five words: Life In The Fast Lane

 

Cheers, Mike.

[niacin]

42 minutes ago, Jr. Deluxe said:

Clav is good for fast or funky tunes. Like use me, jeopardy, any stevie w.

Clav is not good at replacing guitars that have long sustain like ballads. Even organ is not a good replacement for that. Clav= not enough sustain. Organ = too much sustain.

use a Wurli.  There's a great clav thread here: Clavinet Songs - forums.musicplayer.com/topic/178471-clavinet-songs/#comment-2840886

[JamPro]

Well.....what songs are you doing?  Tell us your set list, and folks here can make more specific recommendations to you.  

 

In general, I would play clav on mid-tempo tunes where I what a percussive groove, and wurli or organ on everything else.

[synthizen2]

Just as I was reading through this thread, a song came on the radio that is a perfect candidate:

Evil Woman (by ELO). 

 

A few songs in my classic rock cover band where I use the Clav:  

 

Get Down Tonight (KC & Sunshine Band)

  - plus any similar mid 70s funk tune

Trampled Underfoot (Led Zeppelin)

Down on Cripple Creek (The Band) - only the little bit after the choruses

 

You get the idea. Not "blues" tunes listed above, but just use your musicianship sensibilities, and you should find tunes that work well with the Clav sound.

[Stokely]

Agreed, clav can make a good "rhythm guitar" sound.  I may try it on Tush (though we haven't been playing this much) and similar songs that have an easy rhythm part happening, especially under solos.   On my Kurzweil I find the gritty wurli patches do this better than the rhodes patches I've tried.  I also, very rarely, play a guitar sample if the part is plucked (like the 2nd guitar in Long Train Running, though I mainly play organ on that song).

The Lachey Doley whammy clav stuff was inspiring, it actually made me hook up my expression pedal and start trying some wah parts   Biggest problem is that it brings the patch volume down too far if I engage the wah "variation" on the Kurzweil so I'll need to boost things.

[Threadslayer]

5 hours ago, stoken6 said:

Five words: Life In The Fast Lane

 

Cheers, Mike.

Good one. Another one I used to clav away on (even though I hated the song) was Money For Nothing.

[The Real MC]

I use to own a Clavinet, the best Clav emulation in my arsenal is from my Hammond XK3 and XK3c.  Really hard sound to get right, especially that weird attack transient.

 

(On the XK3 you have to hold three buttons BRAKE-CONTROL-TONE TYPE while powering up to access the Clav sound)

Two points for authenticity on the Hammond 1) the key action happens to feel like a clav 2) I can use the tone controls and tube preamp to dial in that funky dry staccato bite that the Clav does so well.  Going through the Leslie ain't bad either.

Three bonuses on the Hammond: 1) sustain pedal 2) pitch bend & mod wheels 3) extended key range (esp bass notes).

You can layer Clav and organ on the XK3c, and if you have the optional lower manual XLK3 you can split one manual to organ the other to clav.  But you can't do that on the XK3, clav and organ are exclusive.

[Al Coda]

3 hours ago, Stokely said:

The Lachey Doley whammy clav stuff was inspiring, it actually made me hook up my expression pedal and start trying some wah parts   Biggest problem is that it brings the patch volume down too far if I engage the wah "variation" on the Kurzweil so I'll need to boost things.

 

Edit the program´s FX chain gain staging,- especially what the "Switch" (MIDI 29),- engaging "distortion", "resonant bandpass" and (sometimes) "compressor",- does to the output levels of these FX.

It might do nothing, so you go and experiment w/ modulating FX output levels by "Switch" (MIDI29) on/off settings as also "compressor make-up gain".

There´s no "Wah" in Kurzweil,- it´s a combination of some distortion- and resonant bandpass filter FX always, while a compressor helps taming the effect.

In fact, you want a (slight) level boost when engaging (auto-, touch- or pedal) - "wah" and not a drop.

 

I can confirm it worked well on my PC361 when the edits were done.

 

☺️

 

A.C.

[Stokely]

Wow, thanks.  They definitely did a decent job of making it *sound* like a Wah   But yeah the few times I've used it so far on the patches that had the "wah" programmed when you hit "variation" I have to bump up the master volume a LOT, which is certainly a call for some programming.

[David R]

Distorted Clavinet to fake rhythm guitar was my move on any rock song that wouldn’t make sense with organ or Wurlitzer - stuff like any AC/DC or the chugging rhythmic figure of The Proclaimers “500 Miles.”

[mythias]

Thanks for all the replies.  I am not going to give specific songs to get recommendations for I was mainly looking for general non-specific advice of which there has been plenty and I really appreciate it.  I have had luck using organ for the rhythm parts on some ZZ Top songs like Waiting For The Bus and I Thank You.  Organ does a great job on Hendrix's Fire.  We play Jesus Just Left Chicago and Fool For Your Stockings by ZZ Top also and I use a clean Rhodes sound for the rhythm parts but I think the clavinet could do a good job on those songs.  Strings sound like strings and not reeds or tines.

[synthizen2]

How to fit keyboard parts into songs that didn't originally have them (or don't need them)... It's really down to your style and taste as a musician. For songs like these, I usually find that doubling up on Wurly with the rhythm guitar player usually does the trick (i.e., in my case, songs like: Jet Airliner, Sweet Emotion, Ain't Too Proud To Beg, etc.). Sometimes Clav or B3 will do the trick, depending. As Joni Mitchell would say, "it's all down to you".

[SamuelBLupowitz]

On 3/22/2022 at 4:00 AM, Jr. Deluxe said:

Clav is good for fast or funky tunes. Like use me, jeopardy, any stevie w.

Clav is not good at replacing guitars that have long sustain like ballads. Even organ is not a good replacement for that. Clav= not enough sustain. Organ = too much sustain.

I've heard Kofi Burbridge use the clav to great effect on some gentler Derek Trucks Band material, he uses it with a slow wah sweep for a sort of diggeridoo (sp?) effect on "Already Free." You can get really creative with that instrument outside of the usual Stevie Wonder funk stuff, especially when you bring effects into play (phaser, reverb, delay). That can give a little more life if you're doing something like "picked" arpeggios or "strummed" held chords. You can wind up with kind of a Beatley clean, trebly electric guitar sound.

 

So yeah, I love clav as a secret "where's that guitar coming from;" it really shines when driven hard through a tube amp. I know you'd be using a virtual instrument rather than the real thing and that tone can be harder to nail, but I often use it to trade or harmonize lead lines with the guitarist I play with (including a cover of Steely Dan's "My Old School") as well as more typical heavy guitar stuff like power chords and blues shuffle patterns.

[KuruPrionz]

Haven't read all the posts but Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground.

 

https://youtu.be/zGSxvH5i6XQ

[mythias]

I was listening to versions of a new song we are adding to our set list, Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton.  Most of the versions I heard had rhythm guitar as well as either an EP or a piano.  One version I found on Just One Night has a clavinet playing the rhythm keys part I am pretty sure  Sounds pretty good too.  I wonder why Clapton made that choice on that certain album.

[harmonizer]

Sometimes a clav sound fits in a certain song more by playing a bass-like line as opposed to something based off of the rhythm guitar part.

The previously mentioned Life in the Fast Lane is one example.

Others I can think of are Fleetwood Mac's "You Making Loving Fun" and Steely Dan's "Black Cow".

[ewall08530]

I’ve always used a Clav sound variation on Psycho Killer and Life During Wartime. 
Also works well on the signature riff in Play That Funky Music. 

[Shamanzarek]

I've been learning Monkees songs for an upcoming show. In "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" there is a sustained low note in the intro that I've always presumed was brass. Scrutinizing it closer I thought it sounded like a Clavinet. Checking Wikipedia it is Clavinet played by Stan Free. This was from 1967 before the Clav became known as a funk machine but it is effective here for that one bit part.

 

[Mididude]

‘You Can’t Do It Right’ by Deep Purple off the ‘Stormbringer’ album has some nice Clavinet playing.  I think he doubles the recurring (Blackmore) guitar riff but he also plays some other grooving things that augment the bass line.  I think it’s panned hard right, IIRC (I usually listen in the car).

[Iconoclast]

I've frequently replaced guitar with clav. Also with a wurli. Depending on the song they both can work.

I know that in one of the current sets i do Behind Blue Eyes and the middle part I replace the rhythm guitar with a driven clav. Careful not to get to bright on the tone. You want some grind but not any sizzle.

[Morrissey]

1 hour ago, Iconoclast said:

 You want some grind but not any sizzle.

 

I'm gonna borrow this phrase

[Baldwin Funster]

I don't think I've ever heard clav in a blues song. Cover or original. 

[HammondDave]

One of my bands plays "Life in the Fast Lane" which has a great clavinet part throughout! I use the Korg Module's stock clavinet sound.