An alternative to the matchbook trick for organ…

[Piktor]

Most folks know of the trick of jamming a book of matches between keys to get a note on the organ to sustain hands free. I just saw a better alternative on this Tom Bukovac rehearsal video. At 3:15 he shows us Belmont Tench’s rig and his clever alt tool.
 

I just thought that some of you might be interested. 

 

[Mr -G-]

Is that the 'lock and key' method?

[Dockeys]

Didn’t Keith Emerson use a large knife? Supplied by Lemmy of Motörhead when he used to be their roadie?! Probably some safer suggestions out there. 

[JMcS]

These work well:

Mighty Wedge soft shim

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Somehow it never registered to me that you can do this with *more than one* note. Holding the E minor triad down while he plays piano during Runnin' Down a Dream is SO crafty.

[Docbop]

Like a Freeze pedal for guitar to hold whatever sound at the moment you click the pedal so you can play over it. 

[EricBarker]

8 hours ago, Dockeys said:

Didn’t Keith Emerson use a large knife? Supplied by Lemmy of Motörhead when he used to be their roadie?! Probably some safer suggestions out there. 

 

Keith's were prop knives (not sharp). Honestly, not a bad option, IMO. A butter knife would work too. Matches are harder because they're squared off. Something tapered like a prop/butter knife seems like a better option.

[Mr -G-]

2 hours ago, SamuelBLupowitz said:

Somehow it never registered to me that you can do this with *more than one* note. Holding the E minor triad down while he plays piano during Runnin' Down a Dream is SO crafty.

I added a latch switch button to a simple sustain pedal and wired it in parallel to the original switch, so I can play a chord and leave is sustained without keeping the foot on the pedal. I placed the latch switch close to the pedal hinge,  so it can be used in either way.

Here is a photo:

https://www.norduserforum.com/nord-stage-forum-f3/latch-pedal-t6520.html#p41375

 

[brenner13]

I’ve done the Keith Emerson technique, but alas only with my pocket comb…got the desired chuckles from the audience.

[Baldwin Funster]

A heavy chrome guitar slide works good. Unless you drop it on the floor and it rolls out of reach in a dark spot.

[Piktor]

5 hours ago, brenner13 said:

I’ve done the Keith Emerson technique, but alas only with my pocket comb…got the desired chuckles from the audience.

The most playful use of the matchbook that I ever saw was Dr. Lonnie Smith locking something down and then getting down on his knees to play a solo on the bass pedals with his fists. 

[Steve Nathan]

It's a great feature whatever you use 😉 Rekindled a memory.

Years ago I did a session for R&B singer Joe Simon with Roger Hawkins, David Hood and either Wayne Perkins or Will McFarlane (honestly don't remember).  The song had 32 bars of changes up front, and then went to 30 minutes of just one chord sustaining the entire time, with Joe talking low and slow over it.  They put the biggest reel of tape on the machine and cut at the slowest speed.  It was intended to be something you put on the turntable while getting it on with your lover.  David Hood was told to play whole notes (low C) every bar for the entire time, and his hand fell sleep  and he had to punch in!

Roger watched Joe's "direction" on the floor so he'd have dynamics, fills and crashes where needed.

I was on B3, so I played  the 32 bar front on the upper manual, got my sound ready and put matchbooks in to hold Joe's chord on the lower. I got a cocktail, my cigarettes and lighter on a table next to me, played the opening on top, then hit the lower manual B preset when the C minor chord started, and for the next 30 minutes, I drank, smoked, and "played" the volume pedal and the  Half-moon. One (long) take, then Joe came over, handed me 3 hundred dollar bills and I went home 😎

.  

[Tom Williams]

This is a good example of why clonewheels aren't necessarily inferior to the original.  

 

I press the sostenuto pedal.

[Shamanzarek]

Keith Emerson originally used a screwdriver for holding keys down. Here is a quote regarding his switch to daggers:

 

Emerson's style of playing on the L-100 changed dramatically after he saw the virtually unknown organ player and entertainer, Don Shinn at the Marquee Club in August of 1966 (Emerson 2003:54). Shin would dress like a schoolboy and drink whisky from a teaspoon. During a performance, the back of his Hammond fell off and caused Shin to break out a screwdriver in an attempt to fix it. While the crowd was busy laughing, Emerson thought, “There’s something there” (Prasad 2015). Emerson notes:

 

"I realized from watching Don that you could sustain notes on the Hammond by sticking things in the keyboard. At first, I started doing it with a screwdriver when I was with The Nice. Then I thought, rather than stick a screwdriver in it, I’ll get a knife. We had a roadie, who was none other than Lemmy from Motorhead. He said “If you’re going to use a knife, use a proper one.” He then gave me two Hitler Youth daggers. That was the start of that" (Prasad 2015).

 

The knives were first used around November of 1967 while the Nice were opening up for Jimi Hendrix (Emerson 2003:79-80). The next task Emerson was faced with, was what to do with the knives after he finished using them. At first he would just drop them on the floor, but “that was a bit dangerous for the keyboardist” (Prasad 2015), so the inevitable thing to do was to learn knife throwing. Emerson wasn’t very good at first, as he ended up hitting the drummer, but eventually worked out the kinks. Both Emerson and Hendrix learned a lot from each other, and even considered working together when the Nice disbanded in 1970 (Milano 1977:24).

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Me watching you all talk about ways to hold down a key so as to play one note forever is kind of like a lifelong drunk watching teenagers learning to mix gin and tonic. I am an ambient musician, and I have all you amateurs totally beat.

 

We, the professional dealers in boredom, tend to favor heavy weights rather than clamps or friction dependent devices. They can be placed or removed very quickly, rely only on gravity to do their job, and if properly set up, can even be used on keyboards that are set up at a tilt.

 

The old guard, like Robert Rich, go with fishing sinkers. They can be used even on mini keys, are available in a hexagonal cross-section so they don’t roll, and are so cheap you would think they were made out of LEAD or something. 
 

Being somewhat of an epicure when it comes to artisanal heavy things, I purchased a hand-machined chunk of steel with a contact surface of corkboard so it doesn’t slip. I could’ve bought 15 fishing sinkers for what it cost me, but think of the snob factor!

 

mike

 

 

[Josh Paxton]

I discovered some years ago that an iPhone turned on its side did the trick.

[MAJUSCULE]

Dang it Mike, I was trying to ignore this show and save some money but now seeing who’s in the house band… 

[stoken6]

8 hours ago, Tom Williams said:

This is a good example of why clonewheels aren't necessarily inferior to the original.  

 

I press the sostenuto pedal.

Plug a latching switch in there and you're golden.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Moonglow]

I used a rubber piano tuning wedge.

 

 

[Mr -G-]

21 minutes ago, Moonglow said:

I used a rubber piano tuning wedge.

 

 

Don't try that in the Osmose synth!

[TommyRude]

hahaha... oh man this is great stuff!  What have I been missing out on all these decades.. dang!  And @Dr Mike Metlay, I'm a fisherman, I should have known this 😂

[Piktor]

7 hours ago, MAJUSCULE said:

Dang it Mike, I was trying to ignore this show and save some money but now seeing who’s in the house band… 

😁

[MAJUSCULE]

Well, I went to night 2. I initially thought you could only buy tickets for both nights, but I guess that was only if you were buying through the Hollywood Bowl website. I also initially winced at the price, but as I said in my previous post, I was swayed by the band and guest list… and boy am I happy I went for it.

 

Here’s a review of the show from Billboard.

 

My personal highlights included hearing Willie sing Stardust with Booker T on B3 and Benmont on piano, Lukas Nelson singing Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground solo, Jayme Johnson, Warren Haynes, and Booker doing Georgia, Norah Jones and Allison Russell doing Seven Spanish Angels, Norah and Kris Kristofferson doing Help Me Make It Through The Night, and many more. Plenty of funny and touching stories about Willie as well, of course. And my first time at the Bowl, an incredible venue. A fantastic evening, despite a lady in the row behind me vomiting for most of the second half of the show! 😄

[elif]

Chin? (Jimmy Smith in 1962, @ 6:35)

 

 

[D. Gauss]

gaffers tape.

[Tom Williams]

Mr. Smith also used his thumb. 

https://youtu.be/885cqjqQU4A?t=656   

https://youtu.be/gobKu4UlxSA?t=555

 

[The_Star_Guy]

Actually, "back in the Day"   I regularly gigged with a Fender Rhodes Mk1, so I used to save & use the heads of broken tines.   Perfect weight as a "hands free"   note holder and also exactly fit the width of the key as well!    Brings back some memories......

[DaveMcM]

Years ago I opened for England Dan & John Ford Coley. The keyboardist in their band had an ARP String Ensemble placed on top of a Rhodes. The String Ensemble had a home made attachment consisting of a short stick about 6 inches long with a piece of tape at each end facing up and another piece in the middle facing down. At one point in a song, he pulled the center tape down and stuck it to the wood under the keyboard crating a open 5th interval drone throughout the song.