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Post by snakehips on Jul 30, 2021 23:34:44 GMT
Hi there !
I totally agree with Lewis here - I don’t believe he is dampening the 3rd string. Why would he need to dampen the string ? If he frets the first fret, that gives the major 3rd note, which is part of the root chord ! Makes no sense !!
I believe he is using the 3rd string, 1st fret a lot,sometimes to hammer on, sometimes to already fret the 1st fret.
He also needs the F note, open string on the 3rd string, as the open 2nd & 3rd string together gives part of the minor 3rd chord - the in-between chord, when going down from the 4th chord to the Root chord. Same thing Arthur Big Boy Crudup does (they both played in Open D minor, I think).
At the end of Aberdeen, Mississippi, (and often other Open D Minor tuned songs), he does a decending riff back down to the root chord, D, which he strums all/most of the strings open, and hammers on the 3rd string, 1st fret. Then in an ascending riff, he bends the 6th string, 2nd fret (almost two semi-tones), then 5th string open, the 5th string 2nd fret, then 4th string open, then strums all/most open strings and hammers on the 3rd string, 1st fret gain, for the very last strum.
Give Me An Ole Lady (can’t remember if that is the song title, or something else) and a few other songs with similar riff - he uses the hammer-on, a LOT on the 3rd string, 1st fret, when he percussively jumps between a partial D chord and a partial G chord, back & forth, as a sort of boogie riff.
Bukka also holds down the F# (3rd fret, 1st string) the whole time, while playing the “spank the baby” thing, along with other hammer-on notes on the bass strings- but he isn’t deadening the 3rd string. Why would he need to do that ?
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 31, 2021 9:07:46 GMT
Maybe I didn't write it clearly. I have spent time on Bukka White's playing and he is doing what you say, holding down the third string when playing chords and spank the baby etc, but when playing slide up the neck he is dampening the third string to stop it from sounding.
Please show me the song you are talking about because I don't think that it is a hammer-on, I think it appears that way because the move from holding down the major root and then going to the fourth and back again at speed is a deceptive and strange move.
Shine On Michael
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Post by blueshome on Jul 31, 2021 10:44:03 GMT
Richie, I believe Old Lady (at least the Newport film version) is in standard, key of E. Certainly in Aberdeen, the pre-war version, he is hammering on the 3rd string.
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Post by slide496 on Jul 31, 2021 11:09:15 GMT
Maybe I didn't write it clearly. I have spent time on Bukka White's playing and he is doing what you say, holding down the third string when playing chords and spank the baby etc, but when playing slide up the neck he is dampening the third string to stop it from sounding. Please show me the song you are talking about because I don't think that it is a hammer-on, I think it appears that way because the move from holding down the major root and then going to the fourth and back again at speed is a deceptive and strange move. Shine On Michael This description is much clearer IMHO. I looked at the video - slowed down to 25% and enlarged on a computer monitor - and I can see him holding down the 3rd string first fret to make an F# starting at 1:14 and the finger remains on that string, doesn't look as if it's pressed, when he descends the fretboard at about 1:19, as you described. He goes to the 2nd fret and back to the first right before the descent. I did not check whether he also hammered on, he isn't om the part I checked. In case you haven't used them, for members who want to double check on a computer the controls for the video are that wheel on the bottom between the "CC" and "Youtube" Harriet
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Post by Michael Messer on Jul 31, 2021 11:32:31 GMT
He has to deaden the 3rd string when he is playing slide or the guitar would ring out in a minor chord which would be out of tune with what is being played. It does in fact ring out as neither major or minor and that is due to the 3rd string being deadened. It is an almost impossible technique to demonstrate because it would take a lot of practice to do. The other part of what I said is happening is not complicated, and apart from it being quite tiring on your first finger it is a great technique for three chords and a blues turnaround, so I completely get why he played that way.
Shine On Michael
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Post by lonelyjelly on Jul 31, 2021 14:59:46 GMT
How does one mute the third string if he's barring up the neck across multiple strings? Is it in the right hand? I thought he generally just slid on the top two strings...🤔 It's an interesting technique and topic for discussion. The idea of fretting the 1st fret 3rd string just to help hold the neck seems a bit bonkers to me 🤣 If anyone can do a video to demonstrate then I don't think I'd be alone in being interested to see how it's done.
Cheers all
Lew
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Post by slide496 on Jul 31, 2021 16:03:17 GMT
I thought the observation of a plain 3rd string was interesting. Never been able to understand why that would be preferable - I've read that it's useful for bends - but it looks like in this video that might be better, both for the pressed notes and the fretboard descent, and am considering setting up one of my guitars with one. Some of the McDowell that I am studying in vestapol he uses pressed notes, hammer ons, pull offs and bends on the F#, first and second frets and I haven't found that easy to do.
Harriet
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Post by snakehips on Jul 31, 2021 16:35:49 GMT
Hi again !
Yes, MM is right about dampening/muting the 3rd string when going up the next to play slide riffs on the 1st (& possibly 2nd) string. You wouldn’t want the 3rd string sounding out during those slide parts.
I do think, as stated earlier, he is doing some hammer-ons though, on the 1st fret
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Post by gaucho on Jul 31, 2021 22:49:46 GMT
I love an unwound 3rd! But not as thinck as most recommend. I use and unwound 18g 3rd and it really has that old bluesy feel IMO. Any larger Gauge feels and sounds dead to me!
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