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Post by thebluesbear( al) on Feb 28, 2009 23:45:26 GMT
Hi
been listening loads to muddy lately was there a tuning he played in more than others???
does anyone know?
al
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2009 0:18:00 GMT
On his early stuff he used G tuning and a capo a lot, he also played standard tuning slide out of the key of E (Robert Nighthawk influence). He kind of stopped using G tuning at some point in the 50s. On his Lomax recordings he also uses a D tuning for the religious material.
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Post by blueshome on Mar 1, 2009 10:58:37 GMT
Early slide stuff in Spanish tuning.Post about 50-51 (after Louisiana Blues etc) almost exclusively in standard tuning a la Nighthawk who I think showed this to him. All the videos I can recall show him in standard.
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Post by snakehips on Mar 1, 2009 14:35:21 GMT
Hi there !
Correct above but I think he used standard tuning for his 1946 recordings (I think for Columbia). I think it was essentially a Sunnyland Slim session he recorded as leader for 6 or so songs - "Hard Days" being my favourite track.
Oh, isn't "Louisiana Blues" an absolute masterpiece though ?
Muddy and Jimmy Rogers AND Litlle Walter ducking and diving past each others riffs without ever getting in the way of each other, complementing each other hugely. Big Crawford on double bass pounding a rhythm as much as a bass-line, like Willie Dixon NEVER could on this material/style. And wow, how deep is that stuff ? That is as deep as blues gets. Forget "gut-bucket", guitar-hero guitar solos, this stuff is solid blues sound from the whole band, as one. No wonder they called themselves "The Headhunters" !
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Post by thebluesbear( al) on Mar 1, 2009 16:18:06 GMT
I total agree those sessions were just ....im stuck for words really am
the headhunters hmmm such a brilliant name
al
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Post by blueshome on Mar 2, 2009 10:28:25 GMT
Richie, On some of those songs with Sunnyland he just plays his standard parts in Spanish as per some of the Aristocrats, don't listen to them that often so can't say which.
BTW has anyone else tried playing the lead line on Louisiana blues with the 1st & 4th strings together - sounds great when you don't have Big Crawford to fill the sound out.(I don't think J.Rogers played on that one.)
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 2, 2009 12:50:43 GMT
Part of the fun and the learning experience of all this, is to try different tunings and eventually find what you are looking for. Muddy did play in the tunings mentioned, he also occasionally played in E tuning on some of the Chess recordings.
As to which tuning on what song; that information is easy to obtain, but in my opinion it is better to find them for yourself. Learning in that way will push you to listen more carefully and to explore the possibilities of different tunings. Luckily with Muddy Waters, in most of his 'classic' slide guitar songs that everyone wants to learn, it is relatively easy to hear what tuning is being used.
Shine On
Michael.
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Post by thebluesbear( al) on Mar 2, 2009 15:08:13 GMT
Michael and all Thanks for this,this is where this came about i have loved muddy for years but had never listened critically ie what tuning etc i had it in my head that on chess he played in E or A tuning i dont know if the A tuning is accurate at all ..... So recently i noticed muddy playing in standard and suddenly i light when on in my head ....have i been mis hearing variuos tracks need to check now ....... i guess its a case of how do we hear music or how i do hear it  ? i dont know ... al |
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Post by blueshome on Mar 5, 2009 22:42:37 GMT
When you talk about A or E tuning you may be right, but it's much easier to refer to these tuninigs by their generic names of Spanish and Vasterpol, as it's the intervals that are important not the absolute pitch when you try to unravel a song.
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Post by thebluesbear( al) on Mar 5, 2009 23:15:28 GMT
Phil
point taken......and noted
al
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? i dont know ...