Returning!!!

[kenlacam]

Hello All-
After over 2 years of being away, I am returning to playing organ. i met with a nice pastor and am starting this Sunday. Since meeting with him, and he liked what he heard from my audition, I have been practicing in ALL keys (cause you never know what off-key someone is going to start singing in) on my korg triton. Here is my question (and please keep in mind I am also a bass player): My foot pedaling is reaaaaaalllly rusty (it was never hot to begin with), as when I was playing, I always had a bass player behind me who got made if I ran ANY bass, whether it be on pedal or upper register, so I never had to really perfect using the pedal. This church that I am going to be playing at only has a drummer, so I have to work the bass. After being rusty, how do I play it off (I can do some slow songs on foot pedal, but if they start shouting I have to use my left hand on the upper register, as my feet don't move that fast yet) during service? Can I get away with using mostly left handed fingering on the upper register? Please help!!!!

[under13]

I'm finally able to play bass on slow songs, but I haven't even attempted to play fast songs on the pedals. It just takes a lot of practice. Heel and toe works for most people, but some people do all toe on fast songs.

[lorenz_j]

To get your footwork up, study classical organ players.  Those folk are beasts on the pedals because they use pedals in all their songs.

Do a youtube and google search on 'organ pedals' and 'classical organ pedals' 'classical organ pedalboard' 'pipe organ pedals' and youll find many videos, articles and books.

Find a classical organ teacher in your area and they can teach you some  serious fundamentals/techniques/exercises.

But the bottom line is you just gotta practice.  Unfortunatley there are no shortcuts lol

[kenlacam]

Thanks for the great advice! I think that what I will need to do is simply practice at church, as my keyboard at home does not have foot pedals. I am pretty confident using the pedals for mid-tempo to slower songs, but forget about it on the shouts! I'm using Left hand all the way! I will just need to force myself to use the pedals more to get familiar with it.