Gimme Some Lovin Organ Riff

[BrendanG]

https://youtu.be/rRAc0wyE4pQ
After watching many videos on YouTube I found everyone saying you can’t play the main riff with one hand. Everyone brings the left hand up to help the right hand. I gave it a whirl and found it can be done to an extent just using the right hand alone.
What do you think?

[Xenophile]

Of course the signature riff can be played with one hand. It's not difficult.
The person in the video is awfully sloppy.

[Scott]

It requires two hands to play it properly, but you can do a decent 1-handed variation. He doesn't really pull it off here. His first and last chords are correct (properly four notes in each, as opposed to the three that many would use when playing it with only one hand), and adding that fourth note to the first chord is a good idea, adding it to the last is questionable if you can't maintain the smoothness, and for the middle two chords, since he can't do the 4-note chords, he's choosing merely a different 3-note variation from the 3 notes most people would presumably choose, trying hard to keep that bottom note, but if you must lose one note, you're better off keeping the notes that allow you to still play it smoothly, as opposed to losing the smoothness and the "melody" of the chord transitions. At least IMO...

[Xenophile]

You're right. Winwood played those first couple of chords with two hands so he could play a nice legato.

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I played this in cover bands years ago, and I always used one hand. On the first chord I'd hit the bottom F and G both with my thumb to make it crunchy, but then I just played 3-note chords for the rest, and kind of... more percussive and aggressive... Probably thinking Jon Lord more than Steve Winwood.

[wocongming]

It requires two hands to play it properly, but you can do a decent 1-handed variation. He doesn't really pull it off here. His first and last chords are correct (properly four notes in each, as opposed to the three that many would use when playing it with only one hand), and adding that fourth note to the first chord is a good idea, adding it to the last is questionable if you can't maintain the smoothness, and for the middle two chords, since he can't do the 4-note chords, he's choosing merely a different 3-note variation from the 3 notes most people would presumably choose, trying hard to keep that bottom note, but if you must lose one note, you're better off keeping the notes that allow you to still play it smoothly, as opposed to losing the smoothness and the "melody" of the chord transitions. At least IMO...

yes and because hes playing the octaves, hes missing the last E before the last chord and it doesnt sound smooth. just leave out the bottom octave and it will sound find. dont forget the E note before the last G chord though.

[Johnf_tx]

Many years ago, I played this over and over in a cover band on my B3.

I found that if I were practicing at home that I needed two hands, But when I listened to a recording of our practice, I decided that the solo would stick out more If I left out the lower note and let the bass player define the bottom end and play the top parts on the organ.

This was always a challenge for me, because I didn't have the band when I was practicing some of the time and adding in the band changes everything.

I'm sure there are multiple ways to do this correctly, just my brief thoughts.

[Xenophile]

Whatever works. I've spent hours tweaking a patch at home to get it just right, then when I rehearse it with the band it doesn't cut through the mix when the other instruments are taking up the same sonic space. Sometimes I'll even have to play it up or down an octave from the "right" one that I did when learning the part at home.