Topic: Skip James' Guitar Style--Queries and Tips

[uncle bud]

Actually, Skip James plays it out of E position. In the film footage available on YouTube, he's pitched around D, still playing out of E position. On "She Lyin'" it's more around E-flat, on Today! around E.

As for the tempo, Felix, as with any of this stuff, I'd say start slow, get the groove going, then bring it up to speed when you can play it smoothly. Skip plays it pretty fast in the film clip, slower on Today!

For the most part, he plays his first position E chord as an E partial, meaning he doesn't bother fretting or playing the 5th string when in that position (but does when moving to the V chord, i.e. the B7). Sometimes these partial chords can help as you're switching chords positions at a quicker tempo. They also help make embellishments simpler, like the hammer-ons he does on the 3rd string, 1st fret.

I've always liked his version a lot.

The footage:

[Rivers]

Ah, sanity! See my last update, E pos, tuned down half a step. On the Genes recording anyway.

[Johnm]

One of the things that's great about having the video version, pfunk75, is that it makes it so much easier to track the ways that Skip varied his right hand thumbwork in different passes through the form.  In the first verse, every time he resolves from B7 back to E, he hits the sixth string three times in a row before alternating up to the fourth string.  In the second verse at the same place in the form, he does a conventional alternation from the sixth string up to the fourth string twice.  It would be worth your while to watch the video several times through just for the thumbwork in the right hand.  The left hand is close to the same every time through, at least on his verse accompaniments.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

Speaking of the right hand thumbwork, he does a nifty little bass move in the 2nd verse where he sings "Shoot Crow Jane just to see her fall." At the "just", he plays a stumble bass from the 5th string A to an E-flat on the 4th string, then 5th string A to 4th string E. It works so nice as a lead-in to the V chord.

[pfunk75]

hi all

thanks for your advice. It helps to catch all the little details and trick.
I was reffering to the Skip james video on youtube as mentioned by uncle bud. It is a fast version and you can clearly hear the alternating bass. Lot's of feeling too (for the tempo). For me it is realy the more complex part in fact be able to sing it while playing.
I worked on the Stefan grossman version and some other player on youtube.
(Each version is quiet different ;-) blues it is !

F

[Blues Vintage]

Pfunk, the song is transcribed in the book below. unfortunately it's out of print. amazon sells it used for bizarre prices right now;

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0793570433/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

try your local library.

[westside ryan]

I am just curious (because I was thinking about purchasing them)... are the John Cephas lessons not very good? 

[westside ryan]

I've always loved Skip James and am hoping to learn some of his tunes.  I know that Tom Feldmann will be coming out with a Skip James lesson DVD sometime in the future, but I was hoping someone could recommend a DVD or book with Skip James tunes I could look into now.  I know that John Cephas filmed some lessons, but I only ever read one opinion on them which wasn't very favorable.

[Rivers]

I think you may have identified a gap in the market there, Westside. Said DVD would do well to cover other artists in that tuning as well though, see http://weeniecampbell.com/wiki/index.php?title=Adventures_in_Cross-Note

In respect of John Cephas, I learned a ton of stuff from actually sitting down with him in a classroom setting. In fact he and Phil got me interested in the whole minor tuning topic just by playing Illinois Blues one time and blowing the doors off a very big room.

See also the tags index item for cross note, http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?option=com_smf&action=tags;tagid=1158

[lindy]

Hi Ryan--

Here's a second opinion for you: the John Cephas DVDs may not be as slickly produced as some of the others out there on the market, but they give you the essentials for several Skip James tunes, and between what you get on those DVDs, the accompanying tab, and your ears, you'll have more than enough material to work with. I encourage you to purchase one and see if it fits your needs.

http://www.thegtw.com/artists/john_cephas/J_Cephas_skv1.htm

Have fun with it! As Rivers says, Illinois Blues is a great song, I was in the same classroom when John taught it. You can do a search for John's version on youtube.

Lindy

[westside ryan]

John was a great guy and one of my favorite players (I have all of his albums).  I also had the honor of hanging out with him in Chicago a while back and had a blast.  As far as the lessons go, I don't really care about the production or slickness.  My friend had downloaded a couple from the site you mentioned and I guess they didn't come with any (printable) tabs.  He said that tabs were present during playback of the video, but were very hard to see and inaccurate.  I see now that you can buy the book with all of the DVDs, but that woul be quite an investment for me at this time!

[matt milton]

The John Cephas Skip James songs I've watched on youTube are really useful.
I've been tempted by the Hal Leonard book of Skip James songs. Has anyone used it?

[westside ryan]

Are you speaking of the out of print "The Skip James Blues Collection" book?

[Bald Melon Jefferson]

Elderly also carries the Cephas series including a compellation DVD. I picked up two and they work for me. One of em is only 8 bucks! I was fortunate to have had a series of group lessons with John his last year at Port Townsend. I had never played in front of other people before, am a sloooowww learner... yet found him to be a very helpful, together, clear and concise, kind but no-nonsense teacher. Had that falsetto down too.
 

http://elderly.com/search/elderly?terms=cephas

Gary

[uncle bud]

There's a detailed article by Orville Johnson with stuff to get you started here: http://skipjames.com/?page_id=94