Is there a list of common organ drawbar settings for common songs?

[kpl1228]

Got a used Mojo 61, love it.

However, I'm a real rookie when it comes to drawbars.....been playing organ presets on synths till now.

Is there a source or list, online or otherwise, of common drawbar settings for songs, esp. R&B and classic rock?

I'd love to know the settings for Allmans, Geils, Booker T, etc etc etc. Playing around and discovering it is fun, but I'd love a list!

Anyone know of a source for this? It's gotta be out there somewhere.

Thanks all

[mate stubb]

Of course. Just Svengle "hammond drawbar settings."

 

This is the paragraph where I encourage you to experiment with the drawbars yourself. I can give a 5 minute drawbar talk to a newbie if we have an organ in person to demonstrate with. It's not that hard!

[Baldwin Funster]

888000000 is the starting place for Seger, Springsteen, Tom Petty ect.

6776000000 is good for Allman bros.

I start at 787650000 in B3X cause I have alot of room to pull out the highs if needed.

[jerrythek]

Have you even tried to search the web? There’s so much out there, just look. 

[kpl1228]

8 minutes ago, jerrythek said:

Have you even tried to search the web? There’s so much out there, just look. 

Yep, but I figured you guys would have a leg up on all that. I mean there's some, but I was wondering if there was a golden list that you all swear by.

[analogika]

Think of it like a graphic equaliser for each key. 
 

if the sound needs a little more bottom end, pull out the lower drawbars. If you need a little more bite, pull out the 5th or sixth, for sheen, the top drawbar…

[jejefunkyman]

But the Hammond sound is not only depending on the drawbar settings. It’s also depending on the Perc, chorus, vibrato and leslie settings 🤷‍♂️ Plus any other possible elements in the amplification chain. 
There are actually many parameters to consider which makes it sometimes not easy to reproduce a particular tone.

But I guess that’s part of the fun and of the learning process to work this out on one’s own 😂

For sure, there is also many information available on the internet. I think there are even books on this topic. 
Good luck with this !

[Dockeys]

There are as many lists as there are drawbar combinations:
 

https://keyboardservice.com/Drawbars.asp

https://thegospeluniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GU-Drawbars-EBOOK.pdf
https://archive.org/details/CreatingBeautifulToneColorsWithTheHarmonicDrawbarsOfTheHammondOrgan

http://hammondentusiasterne.dk/?page_id=809

 

ive attached an excel sheet of some classic settings as well. 

This is only the tip of the iceberg I’m afraid. Presets are great for getting started and studying the sounds, but like Moe said one you look past that and delve into the operating of the drawbars it becomes more interesting. Best of luck. 

Drawbar Settings.xlsx

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

By the way kudos to the O.P. for the cool forum avatar picture.....   I don't know who had it first; probably him, because I had something else there for a long time.  Like they say, great minds think alike!

[Threadslayer]

Somone should really give the poor guy the golden analogy.

The lower 3 drawbars are the power drawbars

the upper 3 are the sizzle

the middle 3 are the spice

 

If I knew who to credit for this I would.

 

[CEB]

32 minutes ago, Threadslayer said:

Somone should really give the poor guy the golden analogy.

The lower 3 drawbars are the power drawbars

the upper 3 are the sizzle

the middle 3 are the spice

 

If I knew who to credit for this I would.

 

That teaching comes from the Master himself. Moe. (mate stubb)

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Some favorites I've used/learned over the years that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet:

 

888800000 - A more "rock" version of the classic 888000000. That second white drawbar gives it a little more brightness and power, and you'll hear this (or variations with a liiiittle bit of sparkle from some of the upper drawbars to taste) on a lot of rock and roll recordings from the late 60s and 70s. Think Faces, Heartbreakers, etc.

 

880000880 - learned this from an Andy Burton article -- it's the Al Green setting! Listen to "Love and Happiness" and see what I mean. C3 chorus brings this to life, as does (if available) a healthy dose of swimmy reverb.

 

448808333 - I swiped this from watching a live video of Marcus King Band (it was the keyboard player from the self-titled record, whose name escapes me; they've gone through several). A great pad sound with a lot of character that stays out of the way of the thicker frequencies of the guitars. I'll pull out the first two drawbars all the way to beef things up going into a chorus or if I'm taking a solo. The positions of the "lesser" drawbars on this one are not exact; as always, season to taste. More or less of the lower ones for fatness, more or less of the upper ones for sparkle and brightness.

 

800000008 - reggae, baby! A nice hollow sound for pads, stabs, bubbles, wherever you see fit -- kinda spooky, and another one that's good for being audible while carving out a lot of space for guitars or horns. I'll sometimes give this a little more presence by pulling out some adjacent drawbars to create a sort of "frowny face" shape. It's not as "pure" sounding, but it cuts a little bit better while still giving you that scooped-out quality.

 

008000000 - this is the classic One Headlight sound, which Rami Jaffee used on the Wallflowers hit. It's soft and simple, but sometimes exactly what a tune needs, especially if you're playing fills overtop of a gentler guitar-driven song.

 

And when things get really big and shouty, don't be afraid to go for the big, screaming 888888888 with C3 chorus and Leslie on fast! Billy Preston will thank you for it.

 

Other little tricks I've learned: pulling some drawbars in and out (while changing the Leslie speed, if applicable) is a great way to get things simmering under a long pad or a build, or just to create tension. I *love* manipulating drawbars in real time to create a sense of motion or change, especially if the arrangement is calling for more sustained chords or notes. A lot of the time, if you're not covering bass parts, your left hand is better spent adjusting settings or playing percussive smacks and smears, rather than playing notes lower down on the keyboard. Organ notes take up a *lot* more space than piano, especially in the low register.

 

Some of this may be old news to you, but since you mentioned you're relatively new to having an organ-centric board, I thought I'd share some things I stumbled upon over the years that really helped me transition from "piano player who can cover other sounds" to "Hammond guy."

[SteveNathan]

🤦‍♂️ 

[SMcD]

088000000 or 088800000 are nice variations on the "usual" rock/jazz settings. Having that fundamental gone creates a cool, hollow sound. Almost ghostly.

[ABECK]

Samuel posted some good starting points.  

888 000 000 - gets the job done no matter what

008 000 000 - I want to sound pretty and ride up top

888 000 008 - I want to add high end grease

888 888 888 - I want to be heard over the guitars

 

I usually start with one of the above, but ALWAYS end up tweaking, depending on how I sound in the room.

 

[kpl1228]

1 hour ago, Lou Gehrig Charles said:

By the way kudos to the O.P. for the cool forum avatar picture.....   I don't know who had it first; probably him, because I had something else there for a long time.  Like they say, great minds think alike!

Hey you too. Nope, never saw yours before. I knew I needed an avatar for a while and then saw the Gary Numan "Cars" with Numan "driving" down the keyboard of his Polymoog and I thought yep that's it. Screen saved it and voila.

[kpl1228]

OP here...

Old No7, after selling me his Mojo61, turned me on to 668800000 for Whiter Shade of Pale and it's been kind of my default for most things. This forum is great because in addition to the sale, he (like any of us would have) provided documentation and mucho info.

Also, like I said, I'm drawbar rookie and, being a high school teacher, I know people learn best by discovering. And I am, and I will, but like any student, background info is good too. So thanks for the community:.. much appreciated to all of you..

 

[Old No7]

Glad to hear you're loving it Karl, and getting good feedback from our forum mates.

 

Get your Mojo on!!!

 

There are other drawbar settings for "White Shade", but that one works well for me.  And if you really want to hear a different version (and setting) for that tune -- Google the Deep Purple version of it on youtube.  (DP should have stayed in their lane and not covered that one, but they did...)

 

Old No7

[MathOfInsects]

1 hour ago, kpl1228 said:

OP here...

Old No7, after selling me his Mojo61, turned me on to 668800000 for Whiter Shade of Pale and it's been kind of my default for most things. This forum is great because in addition to the sale, he (like any of us would have) provided documentation and mucho info.

Also, like I said, I'm drawbar rookie and, being a high school teacher, I know people learn best by discovering. And I am, and I will, but like any student, background info is good too. So thanks for the community:.. much appreciated to all of you..

 

Everyone’s way “in” to a new skill or area of knowledge is different. Some learn by getting their hands dirty, some learn by being given a guided example or lesson. We tend to glorify the hands-dirty method, but for me, if not knowing even where to start is going to be a drop-off point for someone, I’d rather make sure they are on the sidewalk at least and then they can get the rest of the way onto the bus over time.

 

I’m being abstract, but attacking learning from multiple modalities until one is someone’s “lightbulb” moment is a minor obsession of mine. I hate to gatekeep.

 

I think we can forget just how many assumptions are built into organ playing. People can play music for decades and never give the first thought to the harmonic series or even know that it’s a thing, let alone how to make an instrument out of it, let alone how to make music with that instrument. I think that’s the genius of Moe’s description: don’t overthink it, just try these general families of sounds until you develop more sophisticated skill and understanding.

I think on top of that, “here’s one or two you can try and know will at least sound like an organ,” is a completely valid “way in.” I know I certainly needed as much at first.

 

Kudos to you for reaching out and good luck as you expand your skills. It’s an awesome instrument. You’re going to have fun.

[HSS]

When gigging with one of my low-brow blues or soul bands with one of my clones, regardless of the song, I always start with the old standby 888000000, with C3 on, 3rd perc / fast on, and Leslie sim off / brake.  I then start pulling/pushing draws and toggling things on/off dependent upon the song's vibe, the band mix, and my mood.  During solos I tend to pull /push draws and toggle things on/off more, often pulling upper draws to add some screaming sizzle during the solos' climaxes.  

 

I would add that I'm a mediocre payer at best and in my old fart dotage, I'm lazy and don't want to and often can't remember specific settings for different tunes, so I go with my gut feeling in the moment.

 

I suspect if I wasn't so lazy and more professional, I would probably memorize settings for specific songs and/or take copious notes on stage with me. 

[ProfD]

 

 

1 minute ago, HSS said:

...I go with my gut feeling in the moment.

IMO, that's the best to play an organ or piano or any other sound.  Be yourself.

 

The late great Jimmy Smith started out as a pianist.  He decided to shed on a B3 because of its relative portability and tuning stability compared to piano.   There was no preset roadmap.  The rest is organ history.  😎

[Atlantic Rich]

Thank you, guys.  I also don't have much experience with common drawbar settings beyond a couple of well-known ones.  There is a lot of good advice here!

[Legatoboy]

I like Joey D's old setting , used with or without persussion I would say... 686000000  , there may have been a 4th DB also but the main idea he said was to lession the heavy bass effects of the 1st and 3rd drawbar,,, where they clobber the 2nd DB sound sonically and the second is a strong even harmonic.... this he said will give a more transparent sounding setting in an ensemble or lighter  solong but strong none the less.......   I started using 686000000 as an alternate to my standard 888000000 as base setting starting point. Even adding higher DB.   Really worked in louder contexts against guitars or other solo instruments, freed up the midrange for the other instruments to solo.. o glarring looks back you were coming in comping with to thick a sauce ... goos also for my RH to solo even up a few octaves using the idea on my LH .....Bless Joey D... 

[mate stubb]

 

Besides this:

The lower 3 drawbars are the power drawbars

the upper 3 are the sizzle

the middle 3 are the spice

 

Spend some time holding a single note and pulling drawbars one at a time to train your ear to the various pitch relationships.

 

Drawbars are color coded and assigned numbers relating to pipe organ terminology relating to length of the largest pipe in the group. 8' stops sound at concert pitch, 16' an octave below, 4' an octave above, etc. Later Hammond models had these numbers engraved on the drawbars, earlier ones did not.

 

White drawbars sound the concert pitch note and its octaves.

Black drawbars sound the fifth and its octaves (except for one which sounds the third.)

Farthest left drawbar is the sub octave. Playing chords  with this pulled can get muddy if you are playing them around middle C (which is the 3rd C from the left on a 5 octave organ with the first white drawbar (8') pulled out.) So when playing chord pads you may find it more pleasing to play in the next octave than you would on a piano.

 

2nd brown drawbar sounds a fifth above the 8' which is not a natural harmonic but is considered the rock and roll drawbar. 2nd black drawbar from the right is the Sporty Spice of drawbars, sounding the 3rd 2 octaves above.  

[kpl1228]

1 hour ago, Steve Nathan said:

This approach just continues to blow my mind.  Is it really so difficult to spend a little time with your instrument, pull some drawbars in and out and learn what sounds good to your ears?

None of the players you wish to emulate did what you're doing to become the iconic players you so admire.  Besides,  drawbar settings are only a SMALL part of the overall sounds on the records you like.  Leslie models, tubes, microphones, room acoustics, differences from Hammond to Hammond.........   The components of the great, "Classic" organ tones are vast.  Once again I will yell into the empty canyon.......... Use your ears, not your eyes!  

Never said I wasn't. and am not currently, doing all of what you are implying I am not doing, as we speak. I am, and it's been fun. I've spent a lot of time doing experimenting, but if someone threw a Porsche Flat-Six engine in my living room and said here, spend some time with this, learn what works well, with little to know background, I'd either lose enthusiasm, or go with my gut and at best shortchange the possibilities, or at worst, blow up the engine. Ok, maybe nothing that bad. I know those engines pretty well. but I also had reference tools at my disposal to learn it, WHILE I tinkered and discovered.

However, nothing wrong with having a good road map to refer to as I learn. I don't think, and I never, ever said "the list" is "the gospel," but as I get more questions, some reference is a good thing.

Don't assume anything with this, or with me. I think you're way wrong. I would like to play and experiment, and have been a lot since i got the Mojo 61, but resources of any kind are a good thing especially on this flexible, cooperative, helpful, allegedly positive forum. So I'm using my ears, and my eyes, and my resources, and my mind to any and all approaches and options.

As an earlier reply to my post said, and I wholeheartedly agree, we all learn differently.

It's what this forum is here for, no? And that's why I appreciate the input.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

57 minutes ago, Steve Nathan said:

This approach just continues to blow my mind.  Is it really so difficult to spend a little time with your instrument, pull some drawbars in and out and learn what sounds good to your ears?

None of the players you wish to emulate did what you're doing to become the iconic players you so admire.  Besides,  drawbar settings are only a SMALL part of the overall sounds on the records you like.  Leslie models, tubes, microphones, room acoustics, differences from Hammond to Hammond.........   The components of the great, "Classic" organ tones are vast.  Once again I will yell into the empty canyon.......... Use your ears, not your eyes!  

Steve, the way I see it is players want to come here and talk to people who have more experience than them, who may have gone through some of the same searches for sounds they love, and compare notes, or even be invited into a community of people on an ongoing path of growth. We're not all professional gigging or recording musicians here. Some people want to spend more time connecting with their instrument, but are frustrated by the lack of a clear path from what they love and what they know how to achieve. "A little time with your instrument" means different things to different people, when that time has to be balanced against day jobs, family commitments, and the general exhaustion that comes from living in this world.

 

We all learn differently. For some of us, having a visual/technical reference to a sound we recognize can be a huge "a ha" moment for connecting the ear to the fingers or the eyes. That can help us more efficiently use our practice time in the future, so that we have some guidelines for how to achieve certain types of sounds, rather than just fumbling at random with the connections we've made in isolation.

 

I don't think there should be any shame in asking for guidance or resources from more experienced players, rather than forcing oneself to live or die by trial and error. If there were, none of us would be lucky enough to talk to players like you on this forum.

[Outkaster]

16 hours ago, Baldwin Funster said:

888000000 is the starting place for Seger, Springsteen, Tom Petty ect.

6776000000 is good for Allman bros.

I start at 787650000 in B3X cause I have alot of room to pull out the highs if needed.

Actually that isn't what Dan Federici used. 

[davinwv]

I've been playing Hammonds (real ones and clones) for 35 years, but I never learned the technique where you use a certain drawbar setting, then play in a different key than the song is actually in to get a certain sound. I've looked online, and I have never found a great explanation of that (maybe because it isn't the easiest thing to Google?). Does anyone have experience using this technique?

[HammondDave]

2 hours ago, Legatoboy said:

I like Joey D's old setting , used with or without persussion I would say... 686000000  , there may have been a 4th DB also but the main idea he said was to lession the heavy bass effects of the 1st and 3rd drawbar,,, where they clobber the 2nd DB sound sonically and the second is a strong even harmonic.... this he said will give a more transparent sounding setting in an ensemble or lighter  solong but strong none the less.......   I started using 686000000 as an alternate to my standard 888000000 as base setting starting point. Even adding higher DB.   Really worked in louder contexts against guitars or other solo instruments, freed up the midrange for the other instruments to solo.. o glarring looks back you were coming in comping with to thick a sauce ... goos also for my RH to solo even up a few octaves using the idea on my LH .....Bless Joey D... 

Exactly what I do... But I learned this setting not from Joey D, but from Jon Lord... (make sure you listen to the solo)

 

[allan_evett]

1 hour ago, Steve Nathan said:

This approach just continues to blow my mind.  Is it really so difficult to spend a little time with your instrument, pull some drawbars in and out and learn what sounds good to your ears?

None of the players you wish to emulate did what you're doing to become the iconic players you so admire.  Besides,  drawbar settings are only a SMALL part of the overall sounds on the records you like.  Leslie models, tubes, microphones, room acoustics, differences from Hammond to Hammond.........   The components of the great, "Classic" organ tones are vast.  Once again I will yell into the empty canyon.......... Use your ears, not your eyes!  

 

Good advice! I spent too much energy and time looking for deeper, drawbar 'secrets';  a few notes on simple settings did help at first, though.

  Finally started using my ears when the singer/songwriter on an album date started 'digging in' with me on a few drawbar organ parts. I hadn't yet done a session on a drawbar organ, but there was a BC/Leslie 147 in the studio and the guy thought it would be fun to add a few organ parts around the piano tracks I'd done.  The experiment stretched my ears in a very good way, and got me another date at that studio.  Learned a lot about the Hammond BC variant from the owner/engineer as well. From what I understood, the metal push/pull bar makes use of a second set of de-tuned tonewheels that would match the drawbar, C/V and percussion choices, but create chorusing. 

 From that session, 677612123 has become one of my starting points for clonewheel use. I normally tweak the top three, plus varying uses of percussion and C/V. Though pulling back the top five or six is a useful diversion from going with 888000000 or 888800000.

 

Here's an mp3 of a brief solo on the BC from that session, using 677612123. Can't recall the other settings I used, as it was done in 1996.  First 10 or so seconds, then the rest is a rough home-studio

 

original idea from the same era.