What is The Difference Between Piano and Organ?

Editor’s comments/ Playing the piano and playing the organ is quite different. You can find out all the main differences by reading this very well written article.

Since the release of our latest GospelKeys Organ 350 & 450
courses, my students have been thrilled that I’ve finally
branched out to teach the organ (…actually on my editing
machines as we speak are Hear & Play Drums, Vocal, and Guitar
courses that you’ll hear about *very* soon).

…But back to the organ…

Some people have also been a little confused because they
thought that there wasn’t much of a difference between playing
the piano and organ. Questions have looked like this:

“I thought if I learned patterns and how music works, that it
should work on the piano and organ since music doesn’t
change…”

(or)

“Can’t I simply take what I know on the piano and transfer it
to the organ?”

(or)

“My friend told me that playing the piano and organ are pretty
much the same thing as long as you master the foot pedal.”

All of these assumption are partly true.

Music is music and chord progressions are chord progressions.
If a song ends on a 2-5-1 progression on the piano, of course
it would end the same way on the organ.

However, *how* you play the chords and operate the organ is
TOTALLY different than the piano. In other words, if you
compare a great keyboardist to a master organist, you’ll notice
differences in how they play chords (even though they are
playing similar progressions).

The synergy between the left hand, right hand, and bass pedal
on the organ allows you to approach the organ in a whole
different way.

Here are some of the things that change on the organ:

– How you voice chords (now you’re playing two-handed voicings
and using your foot to walk the bass).

– How you connect various chords together (i.e. – “chord
progressions”). Using inversions and “common note” transitions
is very important.

– The third element… there is no foot pedal on the piano so
this is a new addition, alone.

– Functions, volume control, switches: You can’t just turn on
the organ and play (like the keyboard / piano)… you are
constantly changing switches and pulling out drawbars to create
the sounds you want.

… and this is just a handful of differences. There are lots
more.

*  How to play uptempo praise songs using my award-winning
5-step process and tons of bass lines, right-hand chordal
movements, “runs,” “licks,” and more!

* How to incorporate the “third element” into your
playing to produce the sound of a full band, especially if
you’re the only musician!

* Discover the secrets to playing hundreds of
“call-and-response” hand-clapping praise songs in all 12 keys
just by knowing a few well-known organ patterns!

* Learn how to play common progressions and
turnarounds like the “1-4,” “7-3-6,” “6-2-5-1,” and how to
apply them to your favorite congregational songs like “Bless
that Wonderful Name of Jesus,” “God is a Good God,” and more!

* An “over-the-shoulder” and “behind-the-foot” look
at how to combine the power of the foot pedal, left hand, and
right hand and what it takes to play all three of these
components in sync.

* Over 40 bass runs, chords, progressions, and
fill-ins to apply to your organ playing right away! After
learning these things in all 12 keys, you’ll instantly have
over 480 chords to add to your gospel playing toolbox.

*  Discover the secrets to playing worship music by
learning chords and voicings for every tone of the diatonic
scale. Once mastered, you’ll be able to seamlessly connect
multiple advanced worship chords together to play full-sounding
songs.

* How to play monster chords and how to voice and
invert them in non-conventional ways!

* Explore major, minor, dominant, diminished,
sevenths, ninths, elevenths, thirteenths, and altered voicings
from every scale degree, even tones that are not a part of the
scale (transitional chords).

* How to pick the best inversion of a chord based
on your melody and how to use your left hand and bass pedal to
support what your right hand is playing.

* The power of polychords: How two separate smaller
chords can creatively come together to form larger “fancy”
chords.

* Tons of “opening” and “closing” chords to pull
out of your treasure chest at the right time! With your
increased chordal vocabulary, you’ll never begin and end a song
on the organ the same way twice because you’ll have dozens of
options to choose from.

* And much more…

Author Bio Box

Jermaine Griggs is a pianist extraordinaire, business
entrepreneur, and minister. Jermaine has taught thousands of people
to play piano by ear. He owns a host of companies, including
The Hear and Play Music Group, GospelKeys Productions, and tonnes
of other websites. Check out his main site here:
www.hearandplay.com

 

Please note: This article is copyright and protected. You may publish this article on your website providing you leave the article “as is” and retain the author’s biography box. All contents Copyright © 2008-2023. All rights reserved. Graham Howard, author of The Digital Piano Bible (a buyer’s guide) and The Howard Score (piano rating system).