Country Blues > Country Blues Licks and Lessons

Tommy Johnson's Guitar Style--Queries and Tips

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GerryC:
Hi everyone! This is my first post on Weenie Campbell, though I recognise some of the names from The Woodshed...Thanks to JohnM for putting me through to this forum.
I've been a great admirer of Tommy Johnson for years and have tried out some of his songs on an unsuspecting public, notably Big Road Blues and Maggie Campbell, the former being the title track of my current CD. However, the TJ song that really presses all my buttons is Cool Drink of Water - great lyrics, fab singing and the guitar part...!! There's the rub. I can play it after a fashion but not well enough to inflict it on an unsuspecting public. I've tried many times to find tab on the web with no luck. The nearest I've come is watching Houston Stackhouse perform it on video; Steve Phillips [who performs it very well] showed me part of it a while back but I need the detail. Anybody out there able to help - I'd be grateful for pretty much anything.

Cheerily

Gerry C

uncle bud:
Hi Gerry - Welcome to Weenie Campbell. I don't have any tab on this or anything, but I guess the first tricky part is separating out Charlie McCoy's (very cool) 2nd guitar part. Are you trying to do a solo arrangement that incorporates bits of each?

uncle bud

GerryC:
Hi Uncle Bud! Yes, I'm trying to work up a version that I can play solo and bringing in some of the second guitar part if possible; what I'm trying to get is the spirit of the original and the guitar part is so fundamental to that. At present I start with a slide on the A string 2--7 with ring finger, top E open, bend the G on Bstring at 8, then slide back to A 4 and pinch open B and hammer on B2 with index,play both Es open and then pinch a partial G chord (A2, top E3) and end with two open Es. The other parts around the A and B7 chords are pretty OK but I still have the feeling I'm missing something! Good to hear from you.

Cheerily,

GerryC

crawley:
Kinda curious,
I've been playing Canned Heat Blues in D, but capo'd at the 5th fret in the A position. I know this is pretty well known song, so I was wondering if any one has a different way of playing it.
Thanks,
Aaron

Yves:
I began playing this song in E STD tuning after decryting a video of Houston Stackhouse... and it works
But the original Tommy Johnson is played in D STD tuning. You can even play in Drop D but TJ didn't play the 6th D string.... so at the end of the day it's up to you.

Hope that would help

Yves

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