Learn the Organ with Kevin Nickelson

Image by Kevin Yezbick via Flickr

Awhile back I purchased The Gospel Organ Series, Gospel Keys 350 for Praise and Devotional Songs, then Gospel Keys 450 for Advanced Chords & Voicings. For those interested in learning everything you need to successfully play the organ for a church service, click here:

Gospel Keys Organ Series is the Key to taking your organ playing to the next level!



Learning the organ requires the ability to master the "third element." If you can seamlessly add this third element and shift your thinking slightly, then you can become a powerhouse on the organ in no time.

Learning the organ is not as simple as transferring the same chords and concepts that you know on the piano. While the concepts of chords and progressions remain the same, how to play and connect between chords and progressions is totally different on the organ.



From the Gospel Keys 500 you will learn:

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!

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.

The use of tritones and how they are the heart & soul of organ praise song mastery! I've never met a professional organist who could play a full song without utilizing tritones --- they're that important and you'll get several examples of how to use them.

How to include 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, and several altered chords to spice up the sound of your praise songs!



* From Gospel Keys 450 you will learn:

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.

How to provide instant "phatness" to common chords by using basic triads on the right hand. What most musicians don't understand is that "triads" (3-fingered chords) aren't basic unless you use them by themselves! But if you know the secrets to embellishing your chords, you'll never sound dull again!

Learn to use quartal chords in key areas to enhance the sound of your voicings!


The key to building up your left hand independence! Hint: One major hindrance to getting to the next level is the underdevelopment of the left hand! Once you can successfully mimic exactly what your right hand is doing (...but all on your left hand), you've arrived!

How to mix "churchy" dominant chords into your worship chord progressions to instantly change up the mood!


How to apply my famous "couples" principle to the organ, using dozens of chords from all seven unique tones of the major scale.


Enjoy studying over 50 worship chords (which translates into hundreds of voicings and inversions) , and how to apply them in real-life situations!


Put it all together by spicing up old favorites like "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," "Jesus Loves Me," "As the Deer," and more!


An up-close look at how to approach chord progressions differently and how to think creatively when it comes to combining different chords from various scale tones. Songs are built on recurring patterns within the scale tones --- so if you can master this concept, you can learn any worship song out there!


Learn how to apply my "3-4" principle to the organ and how to predict what chords will come next by using my simple mathematical model to count up and down the scale.

I do have these two music resources in my music library and view them often to apply music principles. I highly recommend these music resources. Kevin Nickelson is an organist-extraordinaire on the west coast. He has been a Minister of Music for over 25 years and has played for the "Who's Who" in gospel music. From Kurt Carr, Judith McAllister, and Beverly Crawford to Douglas Miller, Juanita Bynum, and others, he's had the privilege to travel around the world accompanying various gospel artists and groups.

Gospel Keys Organ Series is the Key to taking your organ playing to the next level!

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