Topic: Washington Blues - Elizabeth Cotten

[outfidel]

Folks,

Attached is my first attempt at recording myself -- I'd love to get your feedback.

My take on Libba's "Washington Blues" is roughly based on the transcription by Duck Baker, printed in the April 2005 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.

IMHO,  my version is a little herky-jerky, less smooth than Libba's version. Then again, she was 72 years old when she recorded it -- so I have 30+ years to catch up! 

All the best,
Michael

[PiedmontBlues]

Hi outfidel! Good seeing you on the back porch. I've never heard Washington Blues before (yes... I live in an isolated closet!). Your picking is very clean, clear and precise. I enjoyed listening and I'm glad that you shared this song. I hope that you will share others in the future. (I also like the partial photo of your guitar!)

[outfidel]

Hi Val -

Thanks for the kind words! Libba's version of the song is on her album Shake Sugaree, which was recently re-released & is highly recommended!

Washington Blues is one of her "parlor ragtime" pieces, along with other songs of hers like Gaslight Blues, Ontario Blues, and Honey Baby Your Papa Cares for You. To my ears, these songs show off her composing & fingerpicking brilliance at their utmost.

[waxwing]

Good first effort, Michael. That Libba signature does sound nice. 'Course that has somethin' to do with the player, too. Good tone on your part. Working with a metronome would help with the herky-jerkyness, as you call it. Force yourself to play it slow and don't allow yourself to speed thru the easier licks. Even tho' the old masters tended to speed up thru the course of a song (I do, too), the metronome will help you develop a steadiness with the beat, which is a learned skill. When you get that you can let go of the metronome and rush a bit like the rest of us.-G-

The only other thing I would mention is the string squeal. Lightening your fret hand so that you are playing with as little pressure as neccesary for that good tone should help clear that up. I have to work on this aspect from time to time, sorta at a certain point with every song, really. When you know all the moves are in your fingers it's time to just relax and play it slow and light for a while, then you can increase the power in your picking hand without squeezing the neck. Of course, an unwound 3rd string helps a lot, too. Any info on what Libba used?-G-

This is a great tune, nice and complex, and your doing a good job with it, getting to a new level, I'd imagine. Hope we hear more from you.

All for now.
John C.

[a2tom]

It sure is great to see (and hear) tunes posted from the various forum regulars.  I really enjoyed this, although I don't actually know the original either (wow, copyright enhancement...).  But I digress.  One question I have in your playing is about string ringing/note duration.  I don't know how to pick this, but I sometimes felt like the notes weren't ringing as long as I might have expected - perhaps the fretting finger was not staying there as long as could be?  Maybe more force on the picking?  I'm really not sure, just wondering what you thought of it.

But, this was a lot of fun!  More to come, I hope, now that you're over the hump...

tom

[onewent]

...nice work ... very Libba-esque ... not familiar w/ that particular song but hear her style coming through you picking ... keep on playing/posting!
Curious about your recording set-up..?

[poozmeister]

Hey Outfidel!  Nice going.  I'm glad Val posted the link from the 'shed.  I've visited Weenie before, but I didn't really look at what the backporch was.  It's a great idea, and thanks for posting the Libba song to get me initiated into it.  Looking forward to hearing more.

Tom - the Libba's versions have a lot of staccato in them as well - if we're allowed to use words like that in a blues forum.   

Pat D.

[outfidel]

John C. - You're the second person this week who recommended that I practice with a metronome, so I guess it's time I give it a try. I've been listening to Libba's "Washington Blues" on iTunes while using this online metronome at the same time, and I can't figure out her tempo. She seems to change it all the time as the song goes along, or else I'm just clueless when it comes to rhythm. Any ideas? Should I set the metronome to click on every beat (approx 150 bpm for Washington Blues) or every other beat (75 bpm)?

As far as string squeak & grip -- yeah, I notice myself gripping the frets harder when 1) I'm learning a song, 2) performing in front of others (as I did last week in church), or 3) recording myself (as I'm just discovering now). I guess it's a stress/relaxation thing.

Tom - As Pat says, there are parts of Libba's performance where she plays staccato. But there are other parts that she lets it ring more than I do -- probably 'cause of the stress/relaxation thing. Libba's playing sounds so relaxed -- like a lot of great players, she makes it sound easy when it isn't.

onewent - I record directly onto my laptop PC using a really simple set up. I have a CA microphone (I'm not sure of the brand name -- bought it for $25 last year at CompUSA) that I plug directly into the soundcard (Sigma Tel - I think that's the sound card that came with the laptop). Then I use the free software from Audacity.

Pat D. - Thanks. It's funny, Val's SoundClick page is what finally got me to plug in the mic & record myself. Fun stuff, & I figure I can only get better this way.

[waxwing]

Hey Michael.
I'm not saying you should use the metronome to maintain a steady speed throughout, but to force yourself to have a smoothness and steadyness to the beat. One of the beauties of solo playing is that you can alter the speed to have an emotional effect, as Libba did. But I think you should start much slower with the metronome so that you move smoothly thru the easy and difficult parts at the same speed. Then slowly increase speed 'til you feel you are comfortable and can turn off the metronome and let the song find it's own speed. Have fun.
All for now.
John C.

[norman]

I really enjoyed that. It sounded fairly complex and yet you managed to make it sound right. I'm not familiar with Elizabeth Cotten but I think it's now time I dig in a bit.

Thanx for that

Vincent

(if you can manage it, I think it's better you keep the metronome beat at half speed. The quick ticking can get pretty annoying...)

[uncle bud]

Nice tune, outfidel. Some tricky rhythmic bits in there, so the metronome suggestion seems to like good one to me. Another way to practice those trickier rhythms is to sing them, either counting or not, to the metronome beat or perhaps even better to the recording. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a song where you could set a metronome to match a recording exactly throughout, but you can find her general tempo.

[Prof Scratchy]

I don't know how I missed this posting when it first appeared...but I'm glad I 've found it now - really enjoyable listening, with lots of things going on in both hands. I hope this will be the first of many outings on the Back Porch. By the way, nice sounding guitar there - what is it?
Prof S

[Slack]

I believe that is Michael's  00-18CTN Elizabeth Cotten limited edition guitar (Martin)

Nice job Michael, I believe that herky-jerky will decrease the longer you play it.

Cheers,

[Norfolk Slim]

I think everyone has said pretty much everythign I wanted to when I heard it...

I think that, just moving on to the next tune and noodling away at this one in the background will smooth out the rhythmic stuff pretty nicely.  I always find that once I've learned something and think I know it well, the greater familiarity that comes with just messing about with it for a while makes a lot of difference.

Nice tune.

[outfidel]

Thanks again for the kind words. Yes, I recorded that with my Martin 00-18CTN.