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Tom Scholz/Boston organ sound


Pawnz

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Hey, does anyone know if that was a Hammond organ Tom Scholz used for songs like "Smokin" and "Foreplay?" I know there was a brief pitch-bend thing during "Smokin" after one of the stops. Leads me to believe it wasn't a Hammond....still sounds great, however!

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Didnt he go out of his way to point out that no keyboards of any kind have ever been used in a Boston song?

 

I remember reading something in the liners notes on an album about how everything was done with guitar and his homebrew guitar fx crap.

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Originally posted by tuf

Didnt he go out of his way to point out that no keyboards of any kind have ever been used in a Boston song?


I remember reading something in the liners notes on an album about how everything was done with guitar and his homebrew guitar fx crap.

 

 

It was 'no synthesizers'. The organ is his M-3.

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Originally posted by The Real MC

Hammond M-3 through Leslie 147. There's been speculation how that pitch bend was done, but Tom is mum about that trick.

 

 

It's an old Keith Emerson trick. You momentarily turn the organ off , then back on again while you're playing. I used to play in a band with a guy who got really good at that technique.

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I just saw Joey DeFrancesco do that same technique LIVE a few months ago, and it simply blew the audiance away. He got a huge reaction out everyone when he did it. I happen to be sitting less than 4 feet from him when he did it, and it was truly one of the best concerts I had ever seen. He was in Mpls playing with McDuffs old band as a tribute. Simply awesome.

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Originally posted by tuf

Didnt he go out of his way to point out that no keyboards of any kind have ever been used in a Boston song?


I remember reading something in the liners notes on an album about how everything was done with guitar and his homebrew guitar fx crap.

 

He said that about the album "Third Stage."

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Originally posted by multitrack mind

It's an old Keith Emerson trick. You momentarily turn the organ off , then back on again while you're playing.

 

Keith only did that on the L-100 and then only as a psychedelic freakout kinda thing.

 

he never did it on the console, because after you shut the console off it's hard to get the motors back up to speed.

 

Groove Holmes would engage the start motor with his right hand while holding down a note in the treble range often during fast swing tunes. that may be what you're thinking of. it doesn't bend down, it bends up.

 

btw, when tom got a B3 he modified it to be more like his M3:

 

hammond.gif

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  • 13 years later...
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On 3/21/2006 at 7:26 AM, Lancaster said:

 

Originally posted by The Real MC
 
Hammond M-3 through Leslie 147. There's been speculation how that pitch bend was done, but Tom is mum about that trick.

 

 

It's an old Keith Emerson trick. You momentarily turn the organ off , then back on again while you're playing. I used to play in a band with a guy who got really good at that technique.

Or he stuck his thumb on the tape reel while recording, so when it was played back it would sound like it was speeding up 🙂

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