Ultimate Blues Organ Riffs - Andrew D. Gordon

Ultimate Blues Organ Riffs by Andrew D. Gordon

 Front cover photo courtesy Hammmond-Suzuki USA

Cover design: Jim Stubbington Published by A.D.G. Productions © 2004 All Rights Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the copyright holder. Printed in Canada A.D.G. Productions 15517 Cordary Ave., Lawndale CA 90260 Phone/Fax (310) 379 1568 Web Site http://www.adgproductions.com

Ultimate Blues Organ Riffs by Andrew D. Gordon

 Front cover photo courtesy Hammmond-Suzuki USA

Cover design: Jim Stubbington Published by A.D.G. Productions © 2004 All Rights Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the copyright holder. Printed in Canada A.D.G. Productions 15517 Cordary Ave., Lawndale CA 90260 Phone/Fax (310) 379 1568 Web Site http://www.adgproductions.com

About This Product

Thank you for buying this book and I hope you are able to gain a significant amount of musical enjoyment and knowledge from it. Due to the high demand of two of my blues piano/keyboard books, 100 Ultimate Blues Riffs and the 12 Bar Blues Bible, I thought that I would adapt examples from the two  books along with new examples into a blues organ book and here is the result. There is an increased interest in playing the organ these days as many keyboard players are adding organ modules, organs, software etc., to their array of instruments. This book consists of 96 riffs, in many different keys, and covers a wide range of blues organ styles including Blues, Funk, Gospel, Jazz & Rock . The music notation consists of the right and left hand parts as well as a bass line. The artists that these styles have been influenced by have a range of popularity from the 1960’s to the present day and at the back of the book is a discography that will be of help in selecting CD’s to listen to. Jazz, Acid-Jazz Organists  include: Jimmy Smith, Richard “Groove” Holmes, “Brother” Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, “Big” John Patton, Larry Young, Charles Earland, Don Patterson, Freddie Roach, Shirley Scott, Lonnie Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Barbara Dennerlein, Larry Goldings, John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood), Ronnie Foster, Reuben Wilson, James Taylor (James Taylor Quartet), Les McCann. Funk, Rock and R&B Organists include: Bobby Byrd (James Brown), Booker T. Jones (Booker T & The MG’s), Lonnie Jordan (War), Art Neville (The Meters and the Neville Brothers), Billy Preston, Sly Stone (Sly & The Family Stone), Chester Thompson (Tower Of Power (Santana), Greg Rolie (Santana), Gregg Allman (Allman Brothers), Keith Emerson (The Nice, Emerson Lake & Palmer), John Lord (Deep Purple), John Novello, Felix Cavaliere (The Young Rascals), Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis, Traffic), Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones), Michael McDonald, Adam Scone (Sugarman Three). Blues & Gospel Organists include: Dr. John, Lucky Peterson, Reese Wynans, Otis Spann, Mike Finnegan, Richard Tee (Stuff, Paul Simon), Al Kooper, John Mayall. Most of the above mentioned organists have had a major influence on my keyboard  playing in one way or another and I would strongly suggest listening and learning from these great musicians.

Computer and Sequencer Users This product comes with an optional MIDI file disk for General MIDI and loads into your sequencing program by selecting “load MIDI file”, please refer to your sequencer manual for further instructions. Load the example you would like to work with into the sequencer and you will hear the right hand on track 1, left hand on track 2, bass line on track 3 and drums on track 4.

Applications For This MIDI program Mute one of the organ tracks and play the muted track live while the sequencer is playing the other organ part, bass and drums. Control the tempo to your skill level. As your skill level advances, then increase the tempo. Transpose the key. Practice the riffs in keys other than what they were written in. There is a transposition function on the sequencer that will allow you to change keys.

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Ear training exercises. Listen to one track at a time at a time at a slow tempo and try to  pick out the notes by ear. Only refer to the book when in doubt. The looping function of the sequencer will allow you to practice a certain section, whether it is one measure or a number of measures, over and over again. The optional MIDI file disk can be obtained from ADG Productions for $10.00 per disk. ADG Productions 15517 Cordary Ave., Lawndale CA 90260 (800) 748 5934 http://www.adgproductions.com .

CD Recording Technique All the 96 examples on the CD have been recorded twice. The first time with the organ right hand part (right stereo channel) and left hand part (left stereo channel), bass, rhythm guitar and drums. The second time, has bass, rhythm guitar and drums recorded so that the keyboard player can practice along with the rhythm tracks. The following keyboards & sound modules were used for the recording:  Native Instruments B-4 for the organ, Spectrasonics Trilogy for the bass, Groove Agent for the drums and the Virtual Guitarist for the guitar. Riff Blues 1 Blues 2

Key C D

Comments Slow to medium tempo typical blues riff Slow blues with the right hand playing a typical blues rhythmic pattern

Blues 3 Blues 4

C

Blues 5 Blues 6

Eb G

Blues 7

Bb

Blues 8 Blues 9

Am E

Blues 10 Blues 11 Blues 12

Eb C

Blues 13 Blues 14

C F

Blues 15

Bb

Blues 16

Bb

Mid tempo blues. The right hand part is based around the notes of the C blues scale. Slow blues used typically for a blues ending. Mid tempo blues. The right hand part is based around the notes of the G blues scale. Slow tempo blues. The right hand part is based around the notes of the Bb blues scale. Notice that the chord moves up a half step at the end of each measure. Minor blues with melody based on the A blues scale. Mid tempo swing blues. Right hand plays numerous grace notes and a glissando with the melody based on the E blues scale. Left hand plays on the upbeats. Mid tempo blues, with a simple melody using chromatics. Mid tempo blues, again melody using chromatics as well as the 9th. of the chord. Descending chromatic melody often used as an ending. Slow rock blues feel. Notice the D diminished melodic run in the second measure played over the Bb7 chord. Slow blues using I-VI-II-V chord progression with the passing chord of Dbm9 going to the Cm9 between the first and second measure. Slow blues with a triplets outlining the 3rd. & the 7th. of the chord chord in the first two measures.

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