Topic: Frustration!!!! AHHHHH

[simonjandrews]

   Can any one help me I've Played out all the country blues songs I know and thats not a lot? could any one recommend a good but fairly easy song or send me a tab because I don't know where to turn next.what do you guys play. I play Lightnin hopkins but much of he's stuff is samey and once I can play it it doesn't have the same appeal anymore. so your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[a2tom]

Whew - for a minute I thought you said you'd played out all the country blues songs!  I was going to be very impressed.

Mississippi John Hurt.  Pick a song.

tom

[Peghead Howell]

My suggestion is to come to Port townsend, and you will have a year's worth of great stuff to work with,,,, I am assuming you are playing acoustic??? You are right, Lightning is great, but samey as is Fred Mcdowell, but when you are in the mood,,, there's nothing better,, lots of feeling !!!!!  Hope to see you this year.. Mike

[Don Miller]

The thing about "samey" sounding stuff is that very often they are "samey" on the surface but contain subtile but important..and sometimes really neat..differences...a roll played in a slightly different sequence..a different sequence of inversions..a variation in the bass line, changes in the turnaround etc...sometimes its even a shift of the accent or a slightly different feel...and its good training to try and find those variations..and  learn them...sometimes there a goldmine in there

[uncle bud]

Don makes an excellent point. Lemon in C can sound similar at first, for instance, but there is indeed a goldmine in all those songs.

I'd second the MJ Hurt recommendation.  Casey Jones, Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor, Louis Collins...  Although Hurt is ultimately trickier than he sounds.

Or Frank Stokes. Or postwar Joe Callicott, which is pretty easy but great. Or if you want things more Delta, maybe some Willie Brown.

[GhostRider]

Simon:

I'll second Unkie Bud's Suggestion of Frank Stokes. Notes are not that tough, but great tunes, great singing and great tempos

Try Nehi Mama, How Long or I Got Mine for starters.

Alex

[dj]

Try John Miller's free lesson of Ed Bell's Hambone Blues and Mean Conductor Blues at the top of this forum.  If you like that stye of learning, next try John's Hard Time Blues lesson.  All of the above are in E position, standard tuning, but they're 3 very different takes on a song in E.  And they're not that hard to learn.

[uncle bud]

Excellent recommendation, dj.

[simonjandrews]

Cheers for the suggestions I will give them a go,I just get into a rut of listening to the same old tunes.