Hi all,
Wow, it's great to see all the responses and some first-time participants in the thread. Here are the answers to the puzzler:
* Playing position was A, in standard tuning. It's important to remember that the question is not how we would choose to play the song, or where we would place our own rendition, but where the musician in question played it. In differentiating between standard tuning and open tuning alternatives that place the same voices on the respective strings, like Spanish tuning and A position in standard tuning, both of which are voiced 5-R-5-R-3-5 at the base of the neck, it quite often is the IV and V chord voicings that clinch which tuning/position is being used. In this instance, Frankie Lee's voicings of his IV and V chords clearly point to A position in standard tuning. In the very first verse, he starts out voicing his IV7 chord just like a standard C7 fingering in standard tuning, moved up two frets. To get the same sound for a IV7 in Spanish would require the following very difficult fingering on the interior four strings: 5-2-3-1. Not that it couldn't be done, but why do it, as opposed to something easier?
* The bar structure for Frankie Lee's first verse was exactly as andrescountryblues had it--Four bars of I in the first line, followed by one six-beat measure of IV7 and two measures of I in the second line, and a six-beat measure with four beats of V7 and two beats of IV7 followed by two measure of I in the third line. Well done, Andres! Just as a point of interest, in Frankie Lee's second verse, the first line has three bars of I, the second has two bars of IV7 and two of I, and the third line is phrased the same as in the first verse.
* For the passage from :10-:12, Frankie Lee hits a pick-up note at the third fret of the fourth string, resolving up to the fourth fret of the fourth string on the downbeat of the measure. On the + of beat one, he hits the third fret of the second string. On beat two, he plays a triplet, going from the fifth fret of the third string to the third fret of the second string, then brushing the fifth fret of the first two strings, thus switching from a D7 to a D9, getting a more modern or uptown sound. The last two beats of the measure, he brushes triplets hitting the first two strings at the fifth fret, keeping the D9 going.
* For the passage from :57-59, Frankie Lee hits the second fret of the second string on the + of beat one. On beat two, he plays a triplet, going from the third fret of the second string to a bent fourth fret of the second string on the last two notes of the triplet. For the third beat, he brushes a triplet on the first two strings, fretting the first string at the fifth fret, and continuing to bend the second string at the fourth fret--very grungy! On beat four, he plays a triplet going from the open first string to a slide into the second fret of the second string and ending on the second fret of the third string.
* For the passage from 1:32-1:35, he does three brushed double pull-offs on the first two strings, going from the fifth fret to the third fret on both of those strings and then brushing those two strings open. That is one wild lick! I would guess he fretted both strings at the fifth fret with his third or ring finger, both at the third fret with his index finger and just did it. Those three licks take two beats to elapse and are followed by a triplet in which he hits the third fret of the second string followed by a brush of the first two strings at the first fret, with a slight bend of the second string at the first fret predominating in the sound. He concludes the lick with one more brush of the first fret of the first two strings on beat four, followed by the second fret of the third string on the + of beat four.
This is such a great performance--Frankie Lee Sims really slays me. On the one hand, it is kind of rough-sounding playing, but he is doing very inventive and difficult stuff throughout his rendition. I suppose you could say, "Oh, well that's just an updated Texas A blues.", but the whole package, including his singing, makes for some superlative blues.
Thanks to all who participated and I'll try to post another puzzler soon.
All best,
Johnm
Wow, it's great to see all the responses and some first-time participants in the thread. Here are the answers to the puzzler:
* Playing position was A, in standard tuning. It's important to remember that the question is not how we would choose to play the song, or where we would place our own rendition, but where the musician in question played it. In differentiating between standard tuning and open tuning alternatives that place the same voices on the respective strings, like Spanish tuning and A position in standard tuning, both of which are voiced 5-R-5-R-3-5 at the base of the neck, it quite often is the IV and V chord voicings that clinch which tuning/position is being used. In this instance, Frankie Lee's voicings of his IV and V chords clearly point to A position in standard tuning. In the very first verse, he starts out voicing his IV7 chord just like a standard C7 fingering in standard tuning, moved up two frets. To get the same sound for a IV7 in Spanish would require the following very difficult fingering on the interior four strings: 5-2-3-1. Not that it couldn't be done, but why do it, as opposed to something easier?
* The bar structure for Frankie Lee's first verse was exactly as andrescountryblues had it--Four bars of I in the first line, followed by one six-beat measure of IV7 and two measures of I in the second line, and a six-beat measure with four beats of V7 and two beats of IV7 followed by two measure of I in the third line. Well done, Andres! Just as a point of interest, in Frankie Lee's second verse, the first line has three bars of I, the second has two bars of IV7 and two of I, and the third line is phrased the same as in the first verse.
* For the passage from :10-:12, Frankie Lee hits a pick-up note at the third fret of the fourth string, resolving up to the fourth fret of the fourth string on the downbeat of the measure. On the + of beat one, he hits the third fret of the second string. On beat two, he plays a triplet, going from the fifth fret of the third string to the third fret of the second string, then brushing the fifth fret of the first two strings, thus switching from a D7 to a D9, getting a more modern or uptown sound. The last two beats of the measure, he brushes triplets hitting the first two strings at the fifth fret, keeping the D9 going.
* For the passage from :57-59, Frankie Lee hits the second fret of the second string on the + of beat one. On beat two, he plays a triplet, going from the third fret of the second string to a bent fourth fret of the second string on the last two notes of the triplet. For the third beat, he brushes a triplet on the first two strings, fretting the first string at the fifth fret, and continuing to bend the second string at the fourth fret--very grungy! On beat four, he plays a triplet going from the open first string to a slide into the second fret of the second string and ending on the second fret of the third string.
* For the passage from 1:32-1:35, he does three brushed double pull-offs on the first two strings, going from the fifth fret to the third fret on both of those strings and then brushing those two strings open. That is one wild lick! I would guess he fretted both strings at the fifth fret with his third or ring finger, both at the third fret with his index finger and just did it. Those three licks take two beats to elapse and are followed by a triplet in which he hits the third fret of the second string followed by a brush of the first two strings at the first fret, with a slight bend of the second string at the first fret predominating in the sound. He concludes the lick with one more brush of the first fret of the first two strings on beat four, followed by the second fret of the third string on the + of beat four.
This is such a great performance--Frankie Lee Sims really slays me. On the one hand, it is kind of rough-sounding playing, but he is doing very inventive and difficult stuff throughout his rendition. I suppose you could say, "Oh, well that's just an updated Texas A blues.", but the whole package, including his singing, makes for some superlative blues.
Thanks to all who participated and I'll try to post another puzzler soon.
All best,
Johnm