Country Blues > Country Blues Licks and Lessons

Miller's Breakdown

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blueshome:
Trashy Gang sounds like C at once.
Ain't no lovin hearing the low D but thinking cross note

frailer24:
Trashy Gang is in C, haven't worked on it much yet.
Ain't No Lovin', A out of drop D, bass notes are 2nd and 4th of the low D string. You can hear that low D pretty clearly halfway through the first verse.

Johnm:
Hi all,
Any other takers for the Mott Willis and Jack Owens puzzlers? Come one, come all!

Johnm:
Hi all,
It seems as though everyone who wanted to respond to the Mott Willis and Jack Owens puzzlers has done so by now, so I'll post the answers.

For Mott Willis' "Trashy Gang Blues":
   * His playing position was C in standard tuning
   * In the first line of each verse, he is hitting thumb-popped notes on the sixth string, first sliding from the third fret up to the eighth fret, then returning down to the third fret, via the fifth fret in the first verse, and in all other verses going directly from the eighth to the third fret. What makes the phrasing against the opening line of the verse so distinctive is that he is playing the same pitches on the first string at the same frets, but he off-sets the timing between the bass and the treble with wonderful syncopation.

For Jack Owens' "Ain't No Lovin', Ain't No Gettin' Along":
   * His playing position was A position in dropped-D tuning
   * In the bass in the first line of each verse, he rocks between the second and fourth frets of the sixth string, E to F# (relative to the pitch at which he is tuned), and therefore rocking between a V and  VI note of the A chord in which he's playing. Musically speaking, Jack Owens' house had many rooms--he was anything but a one-trick pony who always played in cross-note. He had other tunes like this one that he used dropped-D tuning to play in A, and on his song, "I Love My Baby", even played in Spanish tuning with the sixth string tuned down to C, something I have never heard any other musician of his generation do.

Thanks to those who responded to the puzzlers, and I hope that you enjoyed the songs.

All best,
Johnm

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