I love Prog Rock. From distorted B3 Organ pads, to Jazz-influenced organ solos, to swirly Leslie crescendos. But how to mimic that sound on guitar?
How to make your guitar sound like an organ?
Fit into the soundscape
How does the organ fit into the soundscape in a band setting? If it is playing a heavy pad at the intro of a song, it can be brooding and dark, like the organ intro to Kansas “Closet Chronicles”. It can be distorted and heavy, like Deep Purple. Or for solos it may be light, jazzy, and bouncy.
My favorite example of organ is the prog band Transatlantic (with Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy). Neal Morse plays the organ with a higher register than the guitar. He also masterfully uses the swirling Leslie to build a crescendo at the end of transition parts by kicking the Leslie speed from slow to high. (Bonus points for a 5 minute intro to the epic prog song “All of the Above”).
The organ effect that you want will depend on what style of music you are playing, what you want to do with it, and where you need to fit in the mix with your band, or even your own soundscape (if you are using a looper, for example).
Note that the organ’s range often sits right on top of guitar and bass. It can get lost in the mix and can make the band sound muddy, especially with distorted guitar. The organ can avoid this by playing an offset part in a higher register. The effect can fill out the tonal range, sort of like using a 12 string guitar or Nashville tuning.
To play like this on guitar, you don’t play full chords with a root (so no barre chords). You would play chord fragments, much like a jazz player. This “Green Onions” cover is what I’m talking about:
Much like piano, organ is a keyed instrument. To mimic it on guitar, you would have to play it like a keyboard – avoid obvious strumming, and change it up with plucking or playing with your fingers.
Create your own organ sound on guitar
What are the components to create an organ sound on your guitar? To do this from scratch you usually need:
- Octave pedal – either an octave up or down (or both). The EHX POG or EHX Micro POG do this well.
- Modulation – chorus and something to mimic the swirl of a Leslie. Bonus points if your modulation has a way to speed up/slow down the modulation – like using the JHS Emperor v2 with an expression pedal or the Speed button on the EHX Lester-K Stereo Rotary Speaker pedal.
- Distortion or fuzz to mimic the tube distortion of a B3 organ (see the Derek Sherinian video below).
- Use a looper like the Ditto Looper, lay in your organ part, and then solo over the top of it!
Best 5 pedals to make your guitar sound like an organ
What do I look for in a pedal to make my guitar sound like an organ?
It needs to have a fairly realistic sound, and be able to do both leads and pads. I mostly play an organ pad, lock it into my looper, and then play something over the top of it.
The pedal must track well with my guitar playing, even on the low strings (which is hard to do). It must have very little to no artifacts, unlike using a guitar synth. I used to use a guitar synth for organ pads and it would not track very well on the low E to D strings, even with the superior built-in MIDI pickup in a 3 voice Godin xTSA guitar. When the EHX pedals came out I dumped the guitar synth for these pedals in my pedalboard, and I have owned both the B9 and the C9 since.
EHX B9 Organ Machine
The Electro-Harmonix (EHX) B9 Organ Machine pedal has 9 presets that include a fat B3, gospel and jazz presets which are good for higher register leads (see the “Green Onions” video above), and the cathedral organ. The B9 also has a nice octave patch which is similar to using a POG.
You can mix your guitar and the organ effect together to be full organ, only some organ, or anywhere in between. This is good for solo coffee shop gigs. You can mix modulation and add a click percussive attack for leads. The B3 organ has a percussive attack on some settings and this does a good job of achieving that feature, although I don’t use the Click very much.
Pros: This pedal has tons of style, and is the best pedal for playing organ-like leads (like “Green Onions”) or octaves. To play leads you need to change your playing style to play in the higher register and chord fragments (see the “Green Onions” video above).
Cons: The only con is that it does not have an expression pedal to control the speed of the modulation (ramp up or down the swirly Leslie modulation speed). But the Modulation knob on the B9 and C9 sometimes does more than one thing, so this is understandable. You could add a EHX Lester-K Stereo Rotary Speaker pedal or another modulation pedal.
EHX C9 Organ Machine
The Electro-Harmonix (EHX) C9 Organ Machine pedal is my favorite pedal of all the organ pedals.
What I use it for: I like prog rock. I usually use the organ pedal for pads. I play a part of a chord into a looper and then play guitar over it. Or I have the organ lightly in the background to fill out my sound, even on acoustic (very handy for solo acoustic coffee shop gigs).
This pedal is more geared toward a prog rock sound. The Tone Wheel setting is better for pads than the B9’s Fat and Full setting.
The Prog Rock and Lord Purple settings mimic the huge distorted B3 organ sound of Deep Purple. Especially if you put a distortion pedal in after the C9. Check out the Lord Purple setting in this demo video.
It can also make your distorted metal guitar sound huge, similar to mid-90’s Dream Theater. See the Derek Sherinian videos below as he demonstrates the Deep Purple-like rock organ sounds on the B3. You have to adjust your playing style somewhat so it sits in the mix and doesn’t just turn into a wall of mud with the distorted guitar.
PLUS – the C9 has Mello Flutes, which is a Mellotron flute sound that we know and love from “Strawberry Fields”. I have used this when playing “Strawberry Fields” in a coffee shop.
Setting 7 – Blimp is supposed to be like Led Zeppelin, but I don’t use it or settings 8 or 9.
Excellent demo of the B9 and C9 on the JHS Show. The jams they play with these pedals is worth a watch.
Pros:
- Works better with chord pads than the B9.
- Gives a huge guitar sound for rock and prog rock.
- The Mello Flutes is a nice addition.
- This pedal replaced my guitar synth.
Cons: None. I love this pedal! I have had it since it came out. See how much use I have put on this pedal:
Boss SY-1 Synthesizer
The Boss SY-1 Synthesizer pedal is a polyphonic synth pedal that tracks to your guitar signal without needing a MIDI pickup. It has Pads, Leads and Synth Bass (like Taurus or MiniMoog), Strings, Special FX, and Organ, with 9 variations for each. It allows you to dial in the modulation with Boss Chorus-like controls that will be familiar to anyone with a Boss chorus pedal.
Pros:
- Does so many more synth sounds than just organ (pads, leads, bass, strings).
- Has 11 organ settings. You can also dial in the modulation Tone/Depth. The controls are easy to use like a Boss Chorus pedal or other Boss pedals.
- Boss pedals are built like a tank. As Josh Scott says, “Boss pedals will survive the Apocalypse.”
- My friend Gary uses this pedal and prefers it to the EHX C9. He also thinks it is easier to use than the EHX Synth9 pedal.
Cons:
- I think some of the Organ sounds are better suited for playing in a higher register, much like the B9 settings.
EarthQuaker Devices Organizer
The EarthQuaker Devices Organizer Polyphonic Organ Emulator effects pedal is designed to mimic a church organ. It is similar to the cathedral organ sound on the EHX B9. The Lag and Choir knobs can mimic a Leslie swirl – maybe better than any of the other pedals.
Pros:
- Has Choir and Lag knobs which can vary the sound and add more of a Leslie effect.
Cons:
- Mostly has the high cathedral organ sound, which would benefit playing in a higher register. But it sounds too tinny to me and doesn’t fit my style of using an organ pedal for a pad.
EHX POG
The EHX POG is the granddaddy of all of the organ sounds and is likely the foundation of the EHX 9 series pedals. It used to be the only way to get an organ-type sound without using a guitar synth. Pair it up with distortion and a modulation and you can do just about any organ sound, plus lots of other octave sounds.
Pros:
- Lots of custom settings.
- Can save presets of your fave settings.
- Can do much more than an organ-type sound.
Cons:
- So customizable that it is harder to dial in. I had one for some time and I never really felt comfortable with the POG.
- No out-of-the-box organ sound.
- To really dial in an organ-type sound it needs to be paired with a modulation and/or distortion pedal.
- More expensive than the other pedals.
Rock Organ Techniques
To use an organ pedal with your guitar, you need to play like an organ keyboard player.
Instead of using a higher register, you could also be like Derek Sherinian and play rock organ in the same or similar range as the guitar. This can make a massive guitar-like sound that you hear on 1990-era Dream Theater albums.
Derek demonstrates rock organ techniques in these videos. Listen to the registers (where they would be in the mix) and the tones. What pedals would you use to duplicate these sounds (distortion, fuzz, volume pedal for swells)?
Wrapping it Up
The Electro-Harmonix (EHX) B9 and C9 Organ Machine pedals are the best pedal options to make your guitar sound like an organ. The Boss SY-1 is a close second, and may be a good choice because it has other synth settings. Which you choose depends on your playing style (leads vs. pads) and what you will use it for (solo, recording, or in a band). Let me know which is your favorite.