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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 30, 2021 9:16:24 GMT
Never seen this footage until this morning....
Shine On Michael
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Post by slide496 on Jul 30, 2021 15:04:57 GMT
Never seen this footage until this morning.... Shine On Michael Wow. FatPossum must be putting up footage in advance of whatever they are putting up for the whole Memphis 69 movie on August 6th. Off to a brilliant start! Harriet
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Post by blueshome on Jul 30, 2021 15:14:31 GMT
The most dynamic performances. Note the unwound 3rd string!
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Post by bonzo on Jul 30, 2021 16:15:33 GMT
What a guy! ππππππΈπΈπΈπΈπΈπΈπΈπππππππ
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Jul 30, 2021 16:22:27 GMT
Who said blues was miserable music?
This is pure fun entertainment from a very intelligent man!
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 30, 2021 16:32:09 GMT
The most dynamic performances. Note the unwound 3rd string! ....and you can clearly see him deadening the minor third string so it doesn't sound. I have put this in its own thread, so it can be discussed without derailing the other thread. Shine On Michael
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Jul 30, 2021 16:51:52 GMT
It was the youngest brother of the three at the school I went to.
I'll get my coat...
Musically? I haven't a clue.
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 30, 2021 17:05:52 GMT
Bukka tuned his guitar to a minor chord, but did not play in minor keys, although he did play in blues scales.
So his vastapol tuning, if in the key of D would be - D A D F A D, whereas most of us would tune in vastapol to D A D F# A D. The third string also happens to be the third in the scale in this tuning. So the F is a minor third. Bukka never played in minor, but he liked what it did to his playing because he always had to fret the third string, or deaden it so it had no sound. When he is playing that song all the chords, including the root are major, so he's having to fret all the time to create that. Now when he goes up the fretboard with the slide, he plays the F, but then the rest is pretty much major. You can see his first finger constantly deadening the third string.
I hope that makes sense. It would be really easy to explain it with a guitar in my hands.
Shine On Michael
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Jul 30, 2021 17:34:28 GMT
Thanks Michael, and Harriet for asking the question, - I've learned something new.
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Post by slide496 on Jul 30, 2021 17:44:42 GMT
Bukka tuned his guitar to a minor chord, but did not play in minor keys, although he did play in blues scales. So his vastapol tuning, if in the key of D would be - D A D F A D, whereas most of us would tune in vastapol to D A D F# A D. The third string also happens to be the third in the scale in this tuning. So the F is a minor third. Bukka never played in minor, but he liked what it did to his playing because he always had to fret the third string, or deaden it so it had no sound. When he is playing that song all the chords, including the root are major, so he's having to fret all the time to create that. Now when he goes up the fretboard with the slide, he plays the F, but then the rest is pretty much major. You can see his first finger constantly deadening the third string. I hope that makes sense. It would be really easy to explain it with a guitar in my hands. Shine On Michael Thanks, I'm familiar with Dminor tuning and have seen demos of the technique, though not as used here - so like Pickers Ditch I learned something new. Harriet
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 30, 2021 18:03:02 GMT
Hi Harriet
The D minor tuning when used by Skip James is making a minor chord and the song is very minor in its character. Not so with the Bukka White song we just listened to, which is in the same tuning.
Bukka's approach to this, was as far as I know, totally unique to him.
Shine On Michael
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Post by lonelyjelly on Jul 30, 2021 19:55:53 GMT
This is an assumption but I'm thinking he tuned the third string to F (minor 3rd in D then) so that he had the option to hammer-on to the 1st fret 3rd string if he wanted so to create a 'bluesy slur' from minor 3rd to maj 3rd. Much like a lot of players do in standard tuning out of E position when they / we hammer-on from open to 1st fret on the G (3rd) string. I'm not familiar enough with Bukka's playing, though I do love the roots n'blues cd I have of him, to comment on whether he did this or not, but it seems like the only logical reason to me, given all his tunes and riffs were in major scales.
π€
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 30, 2021 21:18:47 GMT
This is an assumption but I'm thinking he tuned the third string to F (minor 3rd in D then) so that he had the option to hammer-on to the 1st fret 3rd string if he wanted so to create a 'bluesy slur' from minor 3rd to maj 3rd. Much like a lot of players do in standard tuning out of E position when they / we hammer-on from open to 1st fret on the G (3rd) string. I'm not familiar enough with Bukka's playing, though I do love the roots n'blues cd I have of him, to comment on whether he did this or not, but it seems like the only logical reason to me, given all his tunes and riffs were in major scales. π€ Lewis, the hammer on was not a technique that he used. Bukka did do hammer-ons, but not with that finger on the third string. It was used as a way to maintain a permanent grip on the fretboard and when playing a piece in his style, it makes perfect sense. Whether it was calculated, or whether Bukka White learned from someone that that tuned in a minor chord is not known. Shine On Michael
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Post by blueshome on Jul 30, 2021 22:11:06 GMT
Allegedly Bocker claimed he liked that tuning to hammer on like Lightnin Hopkins. Re the unwound 3rd, most of the old players rediscovered in the 60βs preferred this.
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Post by lonelyjelly on Jul 30, 2021 22:19:15 GMT
This is an assumption but I'm thinking he tuned the third string to F (minor 3rd in D then) so that he had the option to hammer-on to the 1st fret 3rd string if he wanted so to create a 'bluesy slur' from minor 3rd to maj 3rd. Much like a lot of players do in standard tuning out of E position when they / we hammer-on from open to 1st fret on the G (3rd) string. I'm not familiar enough with Bukka's playing, though I do love the roots n'blues cd I have of him, to comment on whether he did this or not, but it seems like the only logical reason to me, given all his tunes and riffs were in major scales. π€ Lewis, the hammer on was not a technique that he used. Bukka did do hammer-ons, but not with that finger on the third string. It was used as a way to maintain a permanent grip on the fretboard and when playing a piece in his style, it makes perfect sense. Whether it was calculated, or whether Bukka White learned from someone that that tuned in a minor chord is not known. Shine On Michael I'll have to try to learn a piece in his style to see if it makes sense to me! π€£ What with all the percussion stuff he did sort of makes fretting that 3rd seem logical, but the idea he learned in open Dm / Dm crossnote seems more likely and as you say just a chance thing. Maybe he just thought by tuning that way he would always have the option to play both maj and min chords in that index finger bar chord kinda way π€ I suppose it's nice to speculate and never actually know.
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