Tom Scholz on his Hammond

[HammondDave]

Please excuse me if someone posted this previously, but what an amazing musician!

 

 

[Stokely]

Whenever I see and hear someone effortlessly play Foreplay it kinda lets me know where I am in the scheme of things.  I struggled with a (lame version I figured out from cassette) back in the 80s, I struggle with it now.  There's one turnaround on the arpeggio that gets me every time (C# to inverted G# I believe).   Granted my band doesn't play it so I haven't practiced it much.

[HammondDave]

To be honest, when my band leader asked me a few months ago if I wanted to play it, I said “You should have asked me that 20 years ago”. 
 

After several hand surgeries… I think not. 

[HammondDave]

And then you have this…

 

 

[AWkeys]

Check out this oddity - Tom Scholz' Franken-Hammond. Two full-sized, staggered keybeds, the wheel on the upper-left cheek block I'm assuming affects the tone generator speed as it's his pitch-bend wheel. No doubt there are a bunch of you who can tell me if that's the case. I know he did the pitch-bends on the the first album by slowing the tape machine while he was tracking. Anyway, this thing looks like a giant headache!

[Old No7]

That was cool -- thanks for sharing.

 

2 hours ago, HammondDave said:

To be honest, when my band leader asked me a few months ago if I wanted to play it, I said “You should have asked me that 20 years ago”. 

 

A recent posting asked "it would be great to hear everyone's tips on playing Foreplay", and my response was (and still is):

 

My best advice is to don't stop playing it -- play it each and every time you sit at the keyboard.  Make it part of your practice or warm-up, but play it often.

 

Old No7

[HammondDave]

1 hour ago, AWkeys said:

Check out this oddity - Tom Scholz' Franken-Hammond. Two full-sized, staggered keybeds, the wheel on the upper-left cheek block I'm assuming affects the tone generator speed as it's his pitch-bend wheel. No doubt there are a bunch of you who can tell me if that's the case. I know he did the pitch-bends on the the first album by slowing the tape machine while he was tracking. Anyway, this thing looks like a giant headache!

this is obviously the same organ that Tom plays in this clip of “Smokin’”. He hits the pitch wheel at the end of the solo. I would bet that he designed and probably built it. 

 

 

[Ivan May]

Tom Scholz is actually known for his Hammond organ and guitar playing in Boston. After all, he was the brains behind Boston. Delp just assisted him.

 

One other thing about Boston is that their first few albums were all special effects, organ and clavinet. No synthesizers!

 

 

[o0Ampy0o]

16 hours ago, Stokely said:

Whenever I see and hear someone effortlessly play Foreplay it kinda lets me know where I am in the scheme of things.  I struggled with a (lame version I figured out from cassette) back in the 80s, I struggle with it now.  There's one turnaround on the arpeggio that gets me every time (C# to inverted G# I believe).   Granted my band doesn't play it so I haven't practiced it much.

 

It is such a virtuoso piece but people don't appreciate Foreplay as much because to more people than keyboardists it is the lead up to another song, Long Time. Eddie Van Halen's Eruption is appreciated on its own. People are not waiting for it to end so Running With The Devil can begin.  Foreplay deserves to be appreciated on its own. IMO Foreplay is probably one of the three top Boston songs. People can debate the other two. I would name them as Smokin' and Peace of Mind.

[jazzpiano88]

I always thought it was cool how a pattern of triplets on an organ could have the effect of accenting the first and third note of the triplet to create the galloping effect where you almost don’t hear the middle note.  I think it’s because the middle note is almost always lower. 
 

Never played it, never tried.   My favorite Scholz organ is the first 8 bars of the solo on Smokin.  So musical!  It’d be a tough one to play.  You can hear how even Tom rushes it in the above video.  
 

Third for me is Hitch a Ride (also includes a smokin organ solo in a ballad no less!).  

[Old No7]

"Get-Organized" (from Walk On) deserves some mention too!

 

Love this one!!!  Especially the Bach influence early on...

 

Old No7

 

 

[HammondDave]

I love this....

 

 

 

[HammondDave]

6 years ago.... not too shabby.

 

 

[Outkaster]

The story behind the new singer is pretty cool.   Brad's range was insane. 

[o0Ampy0o]

Brad also had ideas on how to arrange harmonies. Replacements may sound like him covering his songs. You really see what is lacking when they attempt to approach new material in which Brad has not worked out the harmonies. No one can think like Brad. Maybe somewhere there is a vocal coach who truly gets Brad Delp but Tom Scholz has not consulted them. I think he would have been better off finding an equally detailed singer who did not sound at all like Delp. Have the Home Depot dude cover the Delp songs. With this new singer, compose for his style and range, not Brad's.

[hookie]

Finally, a mix where the keys are equal to or greater than guitar!  Love it!!!!

[Joe Muscara]

This thread made me play Boston and Don’t Look Back on my run yesterday. I don’t know why I often forget about this band. I loved the first three albums when they came out and I still do. Listening to them, I thought, “if I could be somebody else, Tom Scholz might be who I’d be.” I mean, musically, he did such amazing work like all the instrumental tracks, but he’s also a tech genius building stuff like the Rockman (was that the first tube amp emulator?) and all his studio gear and set up. And it all comes out as great rock and roll. 

[Outkaster]

Rick Beato has analyzed a lot of the Boston stuff and was saying that he'd like to get an interview with Tom someday.

[jazzpiano88]

59 minutes ago, Outkaster said:

Rick Beato has analyzed a lot of the Boston stuff and was saying that he'd like to get an interview with Tom someday.

 

Yeah, he's got a great analysis of Hitch a Ride.

 

The interesting thing is that Tom wasn't a guitarist but learned enough to pretty much blow any real guitarist away, such that they can't hardly play his parts.   Same with the Organ.