[HAM] So, you thought you needed fingers to play the Hammond B3?

[Charles Buckingham]

William Mark Bristow wrote:
> Guys,
>
> Billy Alexander (on the video) is a longtime friend.  He was born with
> rudimentary fingers which were useless.  He was abandoned to an orphanage in
> the care of a wonderful woman who saw to the medical expenses and surgeries.
> The useless fingers were removed creating a thumb out of his big toe (for
> each hand).  Billy's dream was to play the Hammond.  Everyone said he
> couldn't possibly play.  He can play anything he hears. He uses the joints
> "protusions" of his former little finger, his former index finger and his
> rebuilt "thumb" with both hands to play six notes in the chord - or
> combinations.
>   
<Snipped>

Wow.

What I find most interesting (besides the way he's spectacularly adapted
to this world with the cards he's been dealt) is that his playing style
proves that less is often more when it comes to chord voicings.  With 10
fingers I'm constantly cluttering things up on the keyboard.

A refreshing lesson in simplification.

Charles