Topic: Miller's Breakdown

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I have a new puzzler for those of you who are interested, William Stewart's "County Farm Blues" (titled in the youtube video "Country Farm Blues" despite the fact that William Stewart sings "county").  Here is the track, which was evidently recorded for Sun Records early on:



INTRO

Lord, but I'm goin', won't be gone so long
And don't count the days I'm gone
Well, my gal done left me, gone out on the County Farm

Thirty days in the workhouse, babe
Sixty days in the workhouse, babe
Well, my gal had nothin' to come and pay my bond

Write me a letter, baby
But it's, please, don't write it wrong
When you back your letter, back it back it in the County Farm

The questions on "County Farm Blues" are:
   * What playing position/tuning did William Stewart use to play the song?
   * Where did William Stewart fret the moving lines in his bass from :07--:15?
   * In the course of the song, William Stewart only frets his first string at the ___ and ___ frets.

Please use only your ears and your guitars to arrive at your answers, and please don't post any answers before 8:00 AM your time on Thursday, October 26.  Thanks to all who participate and I hope you enjoy the song.

All best,
Johnm

[alyoung]

Do I wanna do this again? Be wrong again? Well? OK

Tuning: Spanish. Key G
The early-on bass line: 4th string 3rd fret, 4th string open, then up and down down the 5th string fret 5, 3 open, 3, 5 3 open, alternating each fifth-string note with the open 4th
Top-string fretting: 3rd and 5th frets.

PS: Thanks, John, I had that damn riff on my mind all night.

[Prof Scratchy]

I?m far away from guitars for the next week and a bit, so I?ll agree with Al - sounds like that young man could be onto something!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[frailer24]

I'm gonna chime in on tuning and go with Spanish as well. Haven't got much time to study the tune this week.

[blueshome]

I'm out on a limb then, I don't hear anything below a G on the bottom string. I'm going for E standard capped up to G. The phrase is then played out of an E shape with a final up bend on the bottom E string.The little intro phrase also falls out in E.

[blueshome]

Just an aside, I posted before that William "Talking Boy" Stewart was a great Blind Lemon follower - hear his Talking Boy blues.

[Old Man Ned]

Great tune and William Stewart is new to me.  I'm hearing this in open G and am in agreement with alyoung for the bass line and frets of the top string.  That's what I'm hearing too.

[harvey]

I am really struggling but love the song so looking forward to hearing how it is played

Like blueshome I am struggling with the base in Spanish it doesn?t seem to go low enough of on the e string although Spanish was my first instinct without a guitar.

So going to try something different and say A

[islandgal]

Open tuning in G.
My guess on the bass riff is:
4th string, fret at 5, open, fret at 3, open,
5th string, fret at 3, open.

Early on he plays the first string at the 3rd and then 5th fret.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
It looks as though all of the responses are in to the puzzler on William Stewart's "Country [sic] Farm Blues", so I'll post the answers.

For William Stewart's "County Farm Blues":
   * His playing position/tuning was Spanish tuning
   * William Stewart fretted the moving bass line from :07--:15 as follows:  3rd fret fourth string, open fourth string, bent fifth fret of the fifth string, open fourth string, bent third fret of fifth string, open fourth string, open fifth string, open fourth string, bent third fret fifth string, open fourth string, bent fifth fret of the fifth string, open fourth string, bent third fret of the fifth string , open fourth string, open fifth string, open fourth string, etc.  He strikes all of this notes with the thumb of his picking hand and interjects occasional little brush strokes of the open first and second strings in between them.  So the only places he's fretting in this passage are the third fret of the fourth string and the third and fifth frets of the fifth string.  One thing that really goes a long way in making the distinctive sound of this passage is that bent fifth fret of the fifth string--unbent, that note would be a IV note, but bent it is a #IV, which is a sound that will really make your scalp hurt--funky!
   * William Stewart only frets his first string at the third and fifth frets.

Thanks to all who participated in this puzzler.  It's great to see more people involved, and this seems an affirmation that posting only one puzzler at a time is the way to go.  I hope folks enjoyed the song, and I'll look for another puzzler to post soon.

All best,
Johnm

[alyoung]

Hot damn! That's the closest I've come to getting it right. Wheee!

[blueshome]

Twigged after I'd posted that the bend on the low string was sitting there in Spanish and everything else worked.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've got a new puzzler for those of you who are interested.  It's from Jesse Fuller and it's his performance of "99 Years And One Dark Day".  Here it is:



Spoken:  Here's "Ninety-Nine Years And One Dark Day".  The ninety-nine years is when you got lifetime, the dark day's when you're dead, that's too bad for you.

INTRO SOLO (humming, Got ninety-nine years, one dark day)

I committed a crime, many years ago
Shot my woman, with a .44
She had another man, rolling in my hay
Got ninety-nine year and one dark day

Well, they put me in prison, with a ball and chain
Worked me every day, in the drizzle and the rain
The warden told me, "You're here to stay,
For ninety-nine years, one dark day."

SOLO

Well, I got in a fight, believe to my soul
They're gonna put me in the dungeon, where it's dark and cold
I laid in the dungeon, all the month of May
Got ninety-nine years, one dark day

Well, the food is bad, and the bed is hard
Don't tell me, go and tell it to the guard
Said to me, "Be happy and gay,
Got ninety-nine years, here and one dark day."

SOLO (oh ah, mmmm)

Lifetime in prison, they begin to sing
Lifetime in prison, here in the rain
They said to me, "Be happy and gay,
Got ninety-nine year, one dark day."

SOLO

The questions on "99 Years And One Dark Day" are:
   * What playing position/tuning did Jesse Fuller use to play the song?
   * Using Roman numerals to describe the chords, map out the progression to "99 Years and One Dark Day".
   * Where did Jesse Fuller fret the second chord he played in his opening solo and most of his verses?

Please use only your ears and your guitar to arrive at your answers, and please don't post any answers before noon, your time, on Sunday, November 5.  Thanks for participating and I hope you enjoy the song.
All best,
Johnm 

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Any takers for the Jesse Fuller puzzler, "Ninety-Nine Years And One Dark Day"?  Come one, come all!
All best,
Johnm 

[harvey]

I don't know on the key position so will take a guess...

I have the chords :

I  V  I  IV  I  V  I

I think it might be A standard tuned low, if so I will have a go at the third question when I have a guitar in hand.