Topic: Country Blues Guitar--Favorite Bends

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I was listening to the Robert Pete Williams performance of "I'm So Glad My Mother Teached Me How To Pray" that Frank posted today, over at http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=2101.msg85977#msg85977 , and I was struck by how differently I hear bends being played in Country Blues guitar than in modern Chicago Blues or Rock.  The Country Blues bends sound to be primarily about pitch, quite often very specifically considered and executed to match the singing of notes that fall in between the fretted notes available on the guitar.  The bends I hear are not of the vibrato-laden, "slow hand" variety, but they are so accurately made and often "die" on the pitch they're going for, rather than sustain.  Apart from the Robert Pete Williams track mentioned earlier, a few of my favorite bends can be found in the following tracks:
   * Charlie Patton's "Green River Blues", especially that bend on the third string up to an almost- unison with the second string;
   * Charlie Jordan's "Two Street Blues".  If you haven't heard this one or listened to it recently, seek it out, because it is a mind-blower.
   * Robert Wilkins' "Rolling Stone", so beautifully matching his singing.  Also his "Jailhouse Blues", in the intro especially.
   * Ishmon Bracey's "Woman, Woman Blues"--a killer!

Two exceptions to the no-vibrato category would be Lonnie Johnson, who was a trail-blazer in that regard, and Josh White, whom I believe was Lonnie Johnson-influenced, both instrumentally and vocally.  Does anybody else have favorite bends they can think of in Country Blues guitar?  It would be fun to see some more favorites.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

Thanks for the reminder about Two Street Blues, John. It is a great one I'd really forgotten about, despite playing several Jordan tunes myself.

I would nominate all of Rosa Lee Hill's recordings. Bullying Well, Roll and Tumble, Pork and Beans, Count the Days I'm Gone, take your pick. Tuned low too. Crazy bends, the definition of lowdown.

George Mitchell deserves some kinda medal.

[harriet]

The bend in Joe Callicott's signature lick in Roll and Tumble is a favorite of mine also Rev. Wilkins' Streamline 'Frisco Limited from Remember Me at about 1.08 .

[Mr.OMuck]

Big Bill's late work often has spectacular supernatural bends, as in Backwater Blues. There are others even more amazing on some slower songs but I can't recall which ones at the moment.

[banjochris]

[harvey]

Blind Lemon Jefferson blues in E such as 'lectric chair blues and Yo Yo blues. I always liked the those bends I think on the IV chord.

 

[Prof Scratchy]

Here are a couple of my all time favourite bends in C:

[eric]

The bend that Blake does in Diddy Wah Diddy when he says: "Here's something gonna make you feel good" does just that. 

Correction: That should be West Coast Blues 

[Pan]

A few Blind Boy Fuller tunes also come to mind:





Cheers

Pan

[GhostRider]

The bend that Blake does in Diddy Wah Diddy when he says: "Here's something gonna make you feel good" does just that. 

That's West Coast Blues, and the bend is also one of my favorites.

Alex

[Johnm]

Hi all,
In the course of thinking more about bends in Country Blues guitar, I realized there is a sort of sub-category of bends that I would call the "sick bend".  These bends involve stretching notes that either are not normally stretched in the blues, or possibly bending notes farther or less far than you're accustomed to hearing them stretched.  These sick bends have a sort of musically bilious quality, really sour and acidic, like some funky reflux in your digestive system. 
Two examples may help to serve to illustrate what I'm talking about:
   * Robert Johnson's second set of bends behind the opening line of each verse in "Hellhound On My Trail", especially in verse two; and
   * Ishmon Bracey's single note bend at the fourth fret of his second string in his "Four Day Blues".  He's consistent with it, but man, that pitch is funky!
Any other favorite sick bends out there?
All best,
Johnm

[frailer24]

Bracey's "Woman Woman" gets my vote!

[P D Grant]

William Moore's One Way Gal springs to mind. And RJ on Kind Hearted Woman where he bends the 9 up then goes back to the 8, followed by a bend from the minor to major 3rd and back to the 8 again.

[uncle bud]

Lots of great bends in Tommy Johnson's Lonesome Home Blues. It's almost all bends. 

[papa john pio]

I like the bends in the B7 and E resolving chords of willie Reed's "Texas Blues". Not to mention those out of A position in "Dreaming Blues".

[MTJ3]

Scrapper's bends in the intro to "Springtime Blues" are typical for him, but those bends in conjunction with the bass are really something.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I ran into some more "sick" bends yesterday, in Tommy Johnson's "Canned Heat Blues".  They're in the coda, where he's walking a little two-note shape down the first and second strings and bending the second string.  They have a real "acid reflux" quality to them.
All best,
Johnm

[btasoundsradio]

george torey
BAM

[Johnm]

Hi all,
A favorite sick bend:  Bob Campbell's bend of the third fret of the third string in "Starvation Farm Blues"--and he keeps coming back to it!
All best,
Johnm

[lindy]

I don't know if this example is sick or fit, but I've been spending a lot of time lately working on Garfield Aker's take on Rollin' and Tumblin' -- "Dough Roller Blues."

The bends are short but ... but ... what's a good word to use here ... forceful? noticeable? Words fail me, but the bends make the song.

Lindy

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I thought of another practitioner of "sick" bends yesterday--Rev. Gary Davis. Especially on his F tunes, like "I Decided To Go Down", he loved to bend the fourth fret of the second string. Unbent, that fret sounds the bVII of F, and bent it tends toward, but does not quite reach the major VII. As such, it has a notably queasy sound. He bends at the same fret in some of his C tunes, too, like "Great Change Since I Been Born", to a sort of digestive discomfort effect.
All best,
Johnm

[waxwing]

I don't know about "sick"? I never met a bend I didn't like.

But in the I chord response (bars 3-4) of every verse of James Alley Blues, Richard Rabbit Brown uses a repeating bend to  help create a 3 eighth note phrasing, which, repeated without a rest, 'seems' to change the time signature in a somewhat disorienting way. But then he is right back on the down beat of the IV chord

Wax

[Johnm]

I've met many a bend I don't like-not necessarily the sick ones, but the ones that don't go far enough or go too far--including the ones I've done over the years where the execution didn't match the intent.

[Forgetful Jones]

I love the bends in Santa Fe Blues by Smith Casey- the notes be bends as he sings the verses as well as the big booming bend he works into his solos.

[Thomas8]

Henry Townsend always had some great bends when playing with Big Joe Williams.

[Forgetful Jones]

Josh White’s “Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed” has some stellar bends. A few bend into sick territory.