Topic: Bo Weavil Jackson's Guitar Playing: Queries and Tips

[a2tom]

(aside to moderators - I never am sure where to post these things, so move it if you want!)

Last year Frankie posted about Can't Keep No Brown, by Bo Weavil Jackson, aka Sam Butler, in this post:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?Itemid=47&?topic=761.0

I have been entirely captivated by this tune and have spent way too many hours listening to it in Transcribe! trying to glean every little lick and trick - it is a real tour de force of playing.  In my dreams I will someday post a performance on the Back Porch, but in the meantime maybe someone will be interested in a little documentation of what I've learned from it.  It may take a while, but I hope to post clips of pretty much every part of the tune (there is a lot there - he almost never plays it the same way twice!).   

First off, to be clear I am talking about the version of this tune in C standard, not the slide version (in open D I think it is). 

Also, I would be just thrilled to have any clarifications or corrections, or most especially tips on exactly how to fret or pick this!  He achieves some pretty amazing sounds that I am not yet able to fully replicate, and some of that is no doubt technique.  Also, the recording is not the greatest, so it is sometimes tough to hear exactly what he was doing.

So... let's start with the Intro and Ending.  These are some really nifty little licks there, especially the ending, and will set up a lot of themes he used throughout.  Since these are short, I've put several takes in each MP3.

INTRO
Has two parts, a run mostly on the first string, and then some chords.  Each of these general motifs/feels comes back several times over the tune.

The run is:
2nd string: 3rd fret
1st string: open, 3rd fret, 5th , 8th , 5th, 3rd, open, 1st, 2nd, 3rd
2nd string: bend on 4th, 1st
3rd string: 2nd fret
2nd string: 1st fret

In notes, that's:
D E E G A C A G E F F# G (Eb/E) C A C
(Eb/E) indicates bend of Eb towards E

Issues in run:
1)  As he hits the 1st string notes, he gets this somewhat sporadic strike through to the open 2nd string, i.e. B.  When I play it the B tends to drone through a bit more consistently than Jackson, but either way that note adds a great tension to the otherwise simple run.
2)  I have no idea how Jackson fingered the 1st string run, but in this intro I find it easiest to end the run up to the 1st string G on the middle finger.  This leaves the ring finger right there to catch the bend on the 2nd string 4th fret, index on the 1st fret. (I didn't catch the bent note for a long time, and thought he was playing the open 1st string -- it is actually easier to fall into the C chord from the bend I think).
3)  At the last C, fall into the fully fingered C chord.

The chords are:
C7  F  F  C  G  C  C 

That might seem really easy, but he isn't just hitting full strums on the chords.  As in many places in this tune, he is strongly favoring toward the higher strings, and doesn't seem to be catching much root bass at all.  So, in the first 5 chords I am pretty sure he is thumbing the bass at the 4th fret, while pinching the 1st string with the index.  The result is that he strongly catches the Bb in the C7 and so on.  It isn't until he arrives at the resolving C chord that he really strikes that root C of the C chord hard, i.e. 5th string 3rd fret.  The result is a neat little descending bass feel that happens underneath the high "melody".

I'll put the ending in the next post.

tom

[a2tom]

ENDING

This has quickly become one of my favorite ending licks in C!? In the clips I pick it up from the 2nd beat of the 11th measure of the last verse.? Here he is back to the same basic chord change as the Intro:
C7? F? F? C
But now instead of the G chord he finishes with a little turn I associate with John Hurt
3rd string:? open, hammer on 2nd fret, open
(keeping the hand in the C chord, just move the middle finger up to the hammer on the 3rd string 2nd fret and then back down to the 4th string to resolve back to the C chord).? Jackson is great at this point scat singing over that riff.?

Now comes the fun.? One the 1st beat of the ending measure he rolls into the chord:
1st string, 5th fret
2nd string, 4th fret
3rd string, 5th fret
4th string, 4th fret
5th string, open

I play that chord all the time but don't really know its name.? I think it may be A dim, but I hope John M or someone can help me out here.? The key to Jackson's playing here (and other places) is that he really rolls into the chord.? The effect he gets sounds amazingly like a piano to me.? It is a real issue of touch - kind of drawing out the strum so that the beat seems to take longer, if you get what I mean.? I come close in a couple of takes in the recording, but don't really get it quite right.?

Then, immediately following on the "and" of 1, slide with the pinky up to the 8th fret of the 1st string and finish the run:
1st string:? 8th fret, 5th, 3rd, open
2nd string:? 3rd, 4th
1st string: open
2nd string: 1st fret
3rd string: 2nd fret, open
In notes:
C? A? G? E? D? Eb? E C? A? G

Finally, fall into the fully fingered C7 chord with two staccato strums.? I play the first up with the index, the second down with the thumb.

Jackson has sped up a good bit as the song has progressed and he is really ripping at this point!? Good luck keeping up with him!

tom

[a2tom]

oops, about the Intro I wrote:

"thumbing the bass at the 4th fret"

I meant "thumbing the bass at the 4th STRING", not fret, meaning picking with the thumb on the 4th string. I didn't mean using the thumb to fret a note.

tom

[waxwing]

Very Cool, Tom. I think Bob Brozman tells a story that when he was a lad he called up some producer or whatever and stated that he could play like Robert Johnson. The guy told him to call back when he could play like Bo Weavil Jackson. Might have been Nick Perls? Anyway, what you're doin' sounds great. Couple little corrections in your text:

In the Intro string/fret discription you only have the first E note once, but twice in the note description and obviously, twice in the recording. Do you play it twice on the open first string or, for speed, do you play it first on the 2nd string, 5th fret and then 1st str. open? (which would be my choice, but I'm not listening to the original)

In the Outro it sounds like after you stroke the Diminished chord you are striking the 1st str. at the 5th fret (on the "and") and sliding up toward the 8th fret, and then you are striking at the 8th on the beat. Is that right? It doesn't exactly jibe with your description.

You can make these corrections, and the one in your third post, by selecting the "Modify" button in the original posts and editing them. That will be far less confusing to someone coming along later to interpret, eh? Then I'll edit out these comments. And you can delete that aside to moderators. this is the perfect place for it.

Good work, man.
All for now.
John C

[a2tom]

Great comments, thanks John.  I will indeed edit my original posts to be more accurate, but I'm going to hold off until I can get it closer to correct.  Your comments made me catch something I had missed in the runs regarding the doubled up notes, and I think some insight into how he fingered it.

Stay tuned...

tom

[waxwing]

Cool. Don't you just love Transcribe! It just amazes me that folks like John M and others who were figuring these songs out in the '60s and'70s were able to make do with half speed tape decks, slowed down turntables and unremastered recordings. What ears those folks had to develop in a hurry just to get started.
All for now.
John C.

[Johnm]

Hi John C.,
Actually I have never slowed down anything to transcribe it, maybe I should try it!? There are passages I have listened to m-a-n-y times, however.
All best,
Johnm
P.S. Good work, Tom!? It's really exciting to be figuring out a challenging tune like that, isn't it?

[waxwing]

I really didn't need to hear that, JohnM. Now I'm really humbled. I guess the deeper you get into the music with your ears it's almost like time slows down for you. You are truely the blues buddha. A real inspiration for all of us. I hope in the time I have, my ears develop to be a quarter of what yours must be. Sure lookin' forward to classes with you this summer.

And I'm looking forward to where you go with this, Tom.

All for now.
John C.

[banjochris]

Just listening to some Bo Weavil Jackson on the way home from work today and something occurred to me. It's always seemed like the weirdest part of his style to try to emulate, at least for me, is his right hand.

Here's my thought -- is it possible that he's flatpicking on at least some of his pieces? "Devil and My Brown" and the Vocalion "You Can't Keep No Brown" (the one in C) seem like they could be, and I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility on a couple of the slide pieces as well. "Pistol Blues" definitely sounds fingerpicked to me, and I haven't re-listened to all of his tunes.

At the very least, I think one key to his style may be that, if he is fingerpicking all the time, he's not really using the thumb and forefinger together; it's either one or the other. I'm interested to hear people's opinions, and anyway we hardly ever talk about Bo Weavil Jackson, seems like, and he's awesome.
Chris

[frankie]

I was just listening to Bo Weavil Jackson yesterday - kind of following up on a mental note to listen to him from a couple of months ago.  I think he's probably using his fingers, but he's not particularly careful to create a layered sound - it's more like a call & response sound...  it's probably accessible with a flatpick, though (add a healthy dose of inspiration and a dash of chutzpah).

In general, I think a "call and response" approach to guitar accompaniment is more common than not in the older guys (especially those with a little "flash" in their playing), and many times W.E. (copyright oddenda) tend to interpret the sound as being more layered than it really is, when in fact it seems there's a lot of space in the playing of the older guys, not always two distinct lines being played at once (maybe W.E. place more value on the obviously fingerpicked stuff?).  The multiple voices are there in the music, but they're often played less contrapuntally and more in response to one another.  Not to say that there aren't multitudes of examples of players who maintain a constant bass pattern and play licks in the upper register, but I think the call and response pattern was a big part of the sound of the more idiosyncratic players, in particular.  Bo Weavil Jackson definitely falls into that category, as well as being awesome.  He has the hands down best run for getting from  a G to a C chord - ever!  Plus, he's a great singer.  Whoa.

[uncle bud]

Sounds to me like he probably wore a thumbpick. The tone and attack of some of those full strums certainly sound like some pick is involved, so perhaps a thumbpick behaving as a flatpick occasionally?

Frankie, I'm curious what you mean exactly by call and response picking style (I mean, I understand call and response, just not sure what you mean in applying it to picking).

[frankie]

Frankie, I'm curious what you mean exactly by call and response picking style (I mean, I understand call and response, just not sure what you mean in applying it to picking).

It's probably a poor choice for a description, but what I mean is that rather than setting a tune to some kind of regular bass accompaniment, some players appear to have more of a linear approach to accompaniment - they'll play a line or riff, and then answer with another - this is typically done between the bass and treble register of the guitar.  The lines may briefly overlap to provide a kind of counterpoint...  some of Lemon's guitar accompaniments could be described this way, many of Gary Davis's ("Tired, My Soul Needs Resting" is a good example, going from memory), and some of Bo Weavil Jackson's accompaniments could be described this way as well.  It's kind of a restless sound, and is basically linear...  so, in that way, I think it'd be accessible with a flatpick, but you'd really need to work at it to get it to sound right.  (as if that ain't true of any other way of playing the guitar!)

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've been thinking about the question of Bo Weevil Jackson's right hand approach ever since banjochris brought it up last month.  After re-listening to all of his cuts tonight, I believe that he played everything with the fingers of his right hand, not flat-picking or hybrid picking with a pick, for a couple of reasons. 
  * As Chris pointed out, Jackson seems pretty definitely to be fingerpicking on "Pistol Blues", most especially because of the popping of the sixth string in the second half of the song.  There is no way to do this with a flatpick at the tempo that Jackson was playing without having the flow impeded, and his flow was certainly not impeded.  I also don't think you can pop bass like that with anything other than the thumb.
   * "Why Do You Moan" concludes with a kind of tremolo in which the bass is working in opposition to the treble.  Once again, this effect would be very tough to achieve with a pick, but is not too tough to get with the finger(s) in the treble working in opposition to the thumb in the bass.
   * The consistency of Jackson's articulation, tone production, and the variety of attacks he employed make it seem implausible that he employed a drastically different approach like flat vs. fingerpicking on some songs and not others.  His sound is consistent enough that it would seem to stand to reason that his right hand technique was consistent as well.

This having been said, I suppose that if someone came up with an utterly faithful cop of Bo Weavil Jackson's playing, done with a flatpick, all of the reasons given above wouldn't count for very much.  I'm not looking for that to happen, though.

All best,
Johnm   

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've been listening a lot to Bo Weavil Jackson/Sam Butler lately, and have noticed a very unusual approach he took to playing slide on three of his songs, "When The Saints Come Marching Home", "Christians Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long" and "Heaven Is My View".  Perhaps it is not a coincidence that all three of these tunes are religious, and that he chose to play them all lap-style with a slide, whereas all of his blues slide numbers, "You Can't Keep No Brown", "Poor Boy Blues", "Jefferson County Blues" and the alternate take of "Jefferson County Blues" were played with the guitar in the conventional fretting position.

Each of the three religious numbers that he chose to play lap-style is played out of Vestapol, but what is striking and unusual about his sound on those songs is that he phrased his melody on each of them on the second string, rather than the first string.  It is impossible to say at this juncture why Jackson chose this approach, but I suppose the easiest answer is also the correct one:  because he liked the sound of it.  What you end up with, though, is an odd situation in which the song melodically is in one key while being in a different key chordally, at least part of the time.

Vestapol is tuned so that the open chord it is based on is voiced root-5-root-3-5-root.  When you use the second string to play melody, and you resolve the melody at the end of each verse to the I note, you are resolving to the chord that has as its fifth the I note of the scale, because Vestapol voices the 5th on the second string.  All three of the songs are played in Vestapol, tuned at D, and sound melodically in the key of G.  When you resolve the melody to a G note on the second string, what chord will have that G note as its fifth?  A C chord, barred up at the tenth fret.  So it is that every time Bo Weavil Jackson comes to the end of a verse it sounds as though he's resolving to his IV chord.  It is not an auditory illusion--he is resolving to a IV chord in the chordal sense, but melodically he is at the same time resolving to the I note, which is the fifth of that IV chord he's playing.  The sound of this approach is altogether distinctive, and I don't recall hearing another player treat Vestapol or any other open tuning this way when playing slide: Using a string in which a note other than the root of the chord is voiced for his melodic reference.  I suppose when you get right down to it, it's another instance in which the primacy of melody in this music trumps harmony or chords.  And since the music derives from the voice in the first place, that makes sense.  It sure is a striking sound, though.
All best,
Johnm