Charley Patton Guitar Keys and Positions
compiled by Andrew Mullins
In compiling this list, I used the remastered Yazoo CDs The Best of Charlie Patton (Yazoo 2069)
and Charlie Patton - Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs (Yazoo 2074) for all songs available on
those discs. The first disc features speed corrections to "High Sheriff" and "Jersey Bull Blues," and
I think "Down the Dirt Road" is more true as well, at least compared to JSP.
The second Yazoo CD features another 8 tracks at corrected speeds: "Revenue Man Blues,"
"Hang It On the Wall," "Stone Pony Blues," "34 Blues," "Love My Stuff," "Troubled Bout My Mother,"
"Oh Death" and "Poor Me". I'm going to take Rich Nevins' word for it that these are now
the correct speeds, but what it does mean is that in Patton's later recordings,
where most of these songs come from, he was tuned a bit flat or a bit sharp on
several tunes. I've noted places where he is a bit sharp or flat in parentheses.
Patton was actually pretty meticulous about tuning, I find, so this is a minor
point worth making. For songs not on the recent Yazoo releases, I used the JSP set, Charley Patton -
Complete Recordings 1929-34.
NOTE: It's generally held that Patton wasn't using a capo but tuned up one, two or several steps. With some of these songs, one can see how he might have gone through several guitars doing this. You might want to use a capo instead. For standard tuning songs, I tuned to standard pitch then used a capo. For "Spoonful," I tuned the guitar to Vestapol at E. For the tunes in Spanish, I tuned to open G and capoed to A, Bb, B, as needed, though you could easily get away with open A, depending on your guitar. I'd recommend tuning it back down when you're done though. For the slide tunes, it's also worth noting he's likely playing lap-style for most of them. I have not included the Henry Sims songs, but they were all played out of E position, pitched at F#.
In the table below, the song title is followed by playing position, then actual pitch, then
the 2nd guitar position (played by Willie Brown), if applicable. A "+" symbol means that the pitch is sharp
of this key, but less than a fret. A "-" symbol means that the pitch is flat of this key but less than a fret.
Order | Title | Position/Tuning | Pitch | 2nd Gtr Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pony Blues | E | F | |
2 | Spoonful Blues | Vestapol | E | |
3 | Down the Dirt Road Blues | C | C# | |
4 | Prayer of Death Part 1 | Spanish | A | |
5 | Prayer of Death Part 2 | Spanish | A | |
6 | Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues | Spanish | A | |
7 | Banty Rooster Blues | Spanish | Bb | |
8 | Tom Rushen Blues | Spanish | A | |
9 | It Won't Be Long | Spanish | A | |
10 | Shake It and Break It | F | F | |
11 | Pea Vine Blues | Spanish | A | |
12 | Mississippi Boll Weevil Blues | Spanish | B - | |
13 | Lord, I'm Discouraged | Spanish | A | |
14 | I'm Goin' Home | Spanish | A | |
15 | Hammer Blues Take 1 | Spanish | B | |
16 | I Shall Not Be Moved | Spanish | B | |
17 | High Water Everywhere Part 1 | Spanish | B | |
18 | High Water Everywhere Part 2 | Spanish | B | |
19 | I Shall Not Be Moved | Spanish | B | |
20 | Rattlesnake Blues | E | F# | |
21 | Going to Move to Alabama | E | F | |
22 | Hammer Blues Take 2 | Spanish | B | |
23 | Joe Kirby | E | G | |
24 | Frankie and Albert | E | F# | |
25 | Devil Sent the Rain Blues | A | A# | |
26 | Magnolia Blues | Spanish | B | |
27 | Runnin' Wild Blues | E | F# | |
28 | Some Happy Day | Spanish | B | |
29 | Mean Black Moan | E | F# | |
30 | Green River Blues | E | F# | |
31 | Some of These Days I'll Be Gone | E | F# | |
32 | Elder Green Blues Take 2 | E | F | |
33 | Jim Lee Part 1 | E | F# | |
34 | Jim Lee Part 2 | E | F# | |
35 | Mean Black Cat Blues | E | F# | |
36 | Jesus Is a Dying-Bed Maker | Spanish | B | |
37 | Elder Green Blues Take 2 | E | F | |
38 | When Your Way Gets Dark | Spanish | B - | |
39 | Some of These Days I'll Be Gone Take 2 | E | F# + | |
40 | Heart Like Railroad Steel | Spanish | C | |
41 | Circle Round the Moon | E | F | |
42 | You're Gonna Need Somebody When You Die | Spanish | B | |
43 | Some Summer Day | Spanish | Bb | A |
44 | Bird Nest Bound | Spanish | Bb | A |
45 | Dry Well Blues | E | F | E |
46 | Moon Going Down | Spanish | Bb | A |
47 | High Sheriff Blues | Spanish | Bb | |
48 | Stone Pony Blues | E | F | |
49 | Jersey Bull Blues | Spanish | Bb | |
50 | Hang It on the Wall | F | G | |
51 | 34 Blues | C | D - | |
52 | Love My Stuff | Spanish | A | |
53 | Poor Me | C | D - | |
54 | Revenue Man Blues | Spanish | B - | |
55 | Troubled 'Bout My Mother | Spanish | Bb + | |
56 | Oh Death | Spanish | Bb + | |
57 | Yellow Bee | E | F | |
58 | Mind Reader Blues | E | F |