Topic: Crazy 'Bout Her Loving--Mississippi Sheiks

[Pan]

I've been listening the new Blues Images Calendar CD lately, and some chords in this Mississippi Sheiks' great arrangement caught my ear as somewhat unusual.

I think I'm hearing a IV6 and a I69 chord being played.

If I'm not mistaken, the guitar part is played from the D-position, guitar tuned low, roughly a whole step.

The chord forms take advantage of using the open 1st string on top, if I'm not mistaken.

D69

x-5-4-4-3-0

and

G6/B

x-2-0-0-3-0.

This creates a nice jazzy feel to the chords.

This song was apparently recorded in 1932. Would that mean that the guitar (and vocal?) parts are by Walter Vinson?

Thanks

Pan

Edited to add: as Frankie says below, the correct chord position for both the I and IV chords seems to be x-x-0-4-3-0

[frankie]

Hi Pan - it's Walter singing and playing guitar, Lonnie fiddling.  He gets a lot of mileage out of this fingering:

x-x-0-4-3-0

nicely ambiguous, since it can function as a I chord (D6 add 9) or a IV chord (rootless G6/D).  Slick.

For whatever reason, it's difficult to hear anything clearly that might be happening on the sixth string...  there are places where you can clearly hear the open 5th string:  during the chorus and during the break, but the open 6th string is kind of elusive in this particular tune...  every other recording he made in the key of D was made in drop-D tuning, which makes it kinda reasonable to assume he used it here, too...  I play it thataway, anyhow.

[Pan]

Thanks Frankie, relistening I think you're right about the chord.

I agree that Dropped D would make perfect sense, although I can't hear much of the 6th string either.

That's some very cool guitar playing!

Cheers

Pan

[uncle bud]

The version on the Blues Images calendar CD is the clearest of the versions I have, and to me it really sounds like Vinson assiduously avoids that 6th string, particularly the way he uses the open 5th string so often.

[waxwing]

Be interesting to see what the key/tuning of the song recorded just before this one was, if there was one. Maybe he just forgot to tune to Drop D and once they start cuttin' the wax there's no restarting, eh?

Wax

[uncle bud]

The exact recording date is unknown according to B&GR and there are 2 missing matrix numbers between It's a Pain to Me, which is a Bb tune, and this song. Perhaps these are missing Sheiks songs (you hear that, record-hunters?).