Topic: Miller's Breakdown

[One-Eyed Ross]

I was off by a fourth on this one (or a fifth, depending on which way you go)....man, I need to get my ear calibrated or something.

I was hearing 9ths, not 6ths....

Back to the drawing board.

But please, keep these coming.  I enjoy them, even if I'm really wrong.

[Pan]

What Ross said!

Cheers

Pan

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've got a new poser for you.  It is "Gas Station Blues", performed by Skoodle Dum Doo and Sheffield, who also did "Tampa Blues", a couple of pages back in the thread.  The duo only recorded four titles, and I just like their music.



SOLO

I've got the gas ration blues, keeps me worried all the time
I've got the gas ration blues, keeps me worried all the time
I can't get in the country to see that lovin' gal of mine

I would go to the country but I can't get no gasoline
I would go to the country but I can't get no gasoline
I want somebody to tell me, when has they seen Josephine

Josephine, Josephina, where you been so long?
Tell me, Josephina, where you been so long?
I would have been to see you, baby, but all my gas is gone

SOLO


The questions are:
   * What playing position/tuning is used to play the piece?
   * Where, relative to capo position if there is a capo, is the walk-down from :16-:19 fretted?
   * Where is the tremolo passage at the beginning of the solo, 2:01-2:03 fretted?
Please use only your ears and your instruments to come up with your answers.  Please don't post any answers before Sunday, August 24.  Thanks for your participation.
All best,
Johnm

[mr mando]

Hey guys, I don't want to be the first one with an answer every time, so please step forward!

[Prof Scratchy]

And I don't always want to be second. With the wrong answer!

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[harvey]

I will have a go however I am in deepest darkest Cornwall with no guitar or decent internet connection.

Will say A position capo second fret

[mr mando]

My guesses would be the following:

Q: What playing position/tuning is used to play the piece?
A: Standard Tuning G Position (capo at 4th fret). for the IV chord (C), I hear a thumb roll from the root to the third (C to E), which doesn't exclude open G or std./A Position, but makes them very improbable. Additionally, there's a II7-V7 progression in the form where you usually have a V7-IV Progression, and here I think I hear the low root of the II chord ring like an open string, which would make it an A7.

Q: Where, relative to capo position if there is a capo, is the walk-down from :16-:19 fretted?
A: Instead of explaining it, is it OK if I post this little tab (position realtive to capo placement)?

-|-----------------|-----
-|-----3---2---1---|-0---
-|-----0---0---0---|-0---
-|-0-3---2---1---0-|-----
-|-----------------|-----
-|-----------------|-----
   1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +   1

Q: Where is the tremolo passage at the beginning of the solo, 2:01-2:03 fretted?
A: realtive to capo placement,  1st string 3rd fret and 2nd string 4th fret bent up a half note, as the lower voice seems to be a bit "wavy".

[Prof Scratchy]

I originally thought half Spanish capoed at 4th fret with the turnaround as man do has it. I then settled for A with capo at 2 as suggested by Harvey. The turnaround would then be frets 5? 4?3?on the second string. Without a guitar to hand I'll need to pass in the tremolo passage!

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[Pan]

Hi all.

I think I'll agree with Harvey and Professor Scratchy on A-position standard tuning, pitched at around B. The treble licks could mostly be played in more than one position, I believe, which makes figuring this one out a little tough.

I believe I'm hearing a low V note on the 6th string at times, which would put G-position out, although I too considered it first, as the treble licks would fall quite naturally in it.

The chord shapes are a little unusual for A-position, so I considered Spanish as well. After some experimenting though, I think the treble licks are little too difficult in Spanish, so I'll settle with A in standard after all. 

* Where, relative to capo position if there is a capo, is the walk-down from :16-:19 fretted?

I believe he plays the walk-down on strings 4 and 2, chromatically on frets 5-4-3-2, same frets on both strings, and interjects the open 1st string at times.

* Where is the tremolo passage at the beginning of the solo, 2:01-2:03 fretted?

In A-position it would be fretted on the 1st string 5th fret, and 2nd string 7th fret, if I'm not mistaken.

Cheers

Pan

[Gumbo]

I couldn't ignore the previous replies today so I'm going with G position capo'd at 4. I can't get  A position to sound right so it may be an alt tuning but standard out of G sounds pretty  good.

The :16-:19 turnround is fretted on the 4th and 3rd strings. 3rd open and 4th fretted 5,3,2,0 which sounds nothing like what everyone else has so I wonder if I'm listening to the same thing?
EDIT the tremeloe bit sounds like a Dm shape at the 3rd fret playing mainly the 1st and second strings

AND this morning i hear the 4,3,2 on the 3rd string quite clearly. weird. ah well i have two walkdowns for G now

[One-Eyed Ross]

G position, capoed at 4 (key of B).

Turn around...and now, for something completely different...I hear 4th string 5th fret, 3rd string 4, 3, 2

The tremolo sounds to me to be a B chord played as a D shape on the 7th fret.

Although, putting this in Spanish with capo at 4 plays so well, I might just do that...

[mr mando]

I just realized that I have the tab partially upside down. Here's what I wanted to type:

-|-----------------|-----
-|---3---2---1---0-|-----
-|---0---0---0---0-|-----
-|-0---3---2---1---|-0---
-|-----------------|-----
-|-----------------|-----
   1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +   1

[Lastfirstface]

I was trying out some of the positions that have been suggested and found something on the recording that threw me for a loop. I feel like I keep hearing a very low B root on the sixth string being thumped away at. Could he be playing in vestapol tuned down to B and fingering the lead licks up near the 12th on the first string?

 At 1:22 it sounds like he fingers up a whole step and hits a low Db (C# if we're in the key of B) twice on the sixth string followed by two notes on the open 5th string (F#) at about 1:25. He repeats this turn-around at 1:52.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Thanks for your participation, it's great to have so many people posting answers.  Whichever of Skoodle Dum Doo and Sheffield that was the guitarist was doing the following on "Gas Ration Blues".

The song was played out of G position in standard tuning, as mr mando, Gumbo and One-Eyed Ross had it.  There are a number of things that give away the G position.  I'm just wondering, did any of you re-listen to "Tampa Blues", which the same guitarist played out of A position in standard tuning?  The reason I ask is because the two pieces are pitched identically, and I'm sure the harp player used the same harp, but they sound so different in the guitar parts.  In "Tampa Blues", the guitarist used the thumb-wrapped D7 for his IV chord.  In "Gas Ration Blues", he's pretty clearly working out of a C position for his IV chord, because he most often does a thumb roll, a la Blake from the fifth to the fourth string in the C shape for his IV chord.  Also, in "Gas Ration Blues", when he goes to his II7 chord in the ninth bar, it very much has an A7 sound in the treble, with the root of the chord in the bass on the fifth string.  To get that sound out of a II7 chord working out of the A position, you'd have to finger a B7 chord X-2-4-4-4-5, not an impossible stretch but an awkward one, and one not encountered in the vast majority of Country Blues guitar playing I've heard.  "Tampa Blues" abounds in low roots for its V7 chord, E7 working out of the A position, but "Gas Ration Blues" has no low roots for its V chord, D, which is very de-emphasized.
The turn-around at :16-:19 is pretty much exactly as mr mando had it in his most recent version, a chromatic walk-down on the fourth and second strings from the third fret on each string down to the open string, with the I note sounding on the third string through-out the course of the walk-down.  The walk-down is an unusual one, because normally walk-downs involve taking the third of the chord on one string down to the root of the chord and the fifth of the chord down to the third of the chord, as in the E walk-down between the first and third strings, coming down from the fourth fret.  It walks as follows, with the voices on each string indicated as it descends:

1st string fret  4    3    2    0
 chord voice    III bIII  II    R
3rd string fret  4    3    2    1
 chord voice    V    bV   IV  III

In "Gas Station Blues", the walk-down is considerably more exotic and eccentric-sounding because of the voices of the chord the walk-down starts at on the second and fourth strings:

2nd string fret   3    2    1    0
 chord voice      V    bV   IV   III
4th string fret   3    2     1    0
chord voice     bVII  VI   bVI  V

Truthfully, the walk-down ends up being really gnarly to harmonize, but in general, if you can hear where in a chord a walk-down starts from and ends up on the strings involved, it can really help you figure it out.

The tremolo passage that starts the solo at 2:01-2:03 is fingered at the third fret of the first string and the fifth fret of the second string, with the third fret of the first string being ever so slightly bent.  It's kind of a surprising double stop to play over a G chord, because the notes, E on the second string and G on the first string are a sixth and a root, relative to G.  It is a much more common double stop to play against a C chord, where the same notes are the third and the fifth of the C chord.

I think I may have caused some confusion by saying "Where did the guitarist play the phrases, relative to capo position?".  A clearer way to express the meaning I was going for would be to say, "Where would the phrase have been fretted if the piece was played without a capo?"  I'm sorry for any confusion I may have caused with that.  I hope you'll go back and compare "Tampa Blues" and "Gas Ration Blues" if you haven't done that yet, because I think it will clarify the difference in the playing positions a lot.  Thanks for your participation.
All best,
Johnm   

[One-Eyed Ross]

Thanks for the update. 

Although, I think I'm going to do this in Spanish.  I like the sound of it....