Topic: Rev. Gary Davis' Guitar Style--Queries and Tips

[banjochris]

I agree with you on that John, in terms of tone and wearing picks, not wearing picks -- I tend to do what's comfortable and try to get a tone I like -- but in terms of two-finger picking vs. three-finger picking I believe there's more of a difference (maybe that's because of my banjo-playing  ).

With some of Davis' tunes I might sneak in a middle finger every once in a while but a lot of his tunes are easier with just two.
Candyman, for instance, is a tune that suffers some when you add a third finger to it, IMO. And there are quite a few country blues players' tunes that sound natural to me played with two fingers only, for instance the type of stuff Fred McDowell and Booker White play.

Plus I think you get a little more power out of your index finger (and for me that applies to pretty much everything, so I try to use thumb and index mostly, but not exclusively).


edited to remove duplicated passage

[Mr.OMuck]

It does strike me, though, that copying to this extent is a very modern phenomenon in this music.

Well if we look at the original instrument movement which started mostly after the war and began having a major impact in the sixties and became somewhat mainstream by the eighties, we see that trying to determine original tunings, type of instrument, fingerings, tempi etc. have all been taken very seriously in the classical world.
With our music I don't suppose I'm the only person to have had the experience that imitating the right hand position of the player whose song we're doing gets us closer to the sound of the original.
 In light of our recent exchange regarding my version of River Line Blues where I opted for half remembered rendition derived from the original, it may seem strange that my position regarding playing Davis' music appears different, and in fact IS different.
Why? I don't know exactly. Perhaps it has to do with the level of frustration one can encounter in playing his work. Maybe you start looking for anything that would give you an advantage. All I know is every time I play a Davis song that I usually play on my D-18 on a J-200 it just sounds more right to me. A Double standard in effect here I guess.

[ScottN]

If your intent is to duplicate his tone exactly and that floats your boat, great go for it, nothing wrong with that...personally I think there are so many great version of his songs by others that his individual tone isn't necessarily key to my enjoying his music, which is incredible.

Stlistically I think Banjochris makes an excellent example of the difference between 2 and 3 finger picking.  Another major difference is between pick and flesh.  It seems like slavish devotion can get a bit carried away though...do we need to break our left wrist and have it set incorrectly like his to be able to play like him...what if we have short fingers or lack his strength or flexibility...seems like there are a lot of factors out there we would need to control...but hey, if that turns you on, more power to you, enjoying what we do should be number one.

Thanks,
              Scottn

[Mr.OMuck]

.do we need to break our left wrist and have it set incorrectly like his to be able to play like him

I did!

[ScottN]

Mr O'Muck, maybe that's one (of the many) reasons you play his music so well...gotta say I'm glad you weren't a devotee of Evel Knievel's guitar style ;-)

[Stumblin]

When I decided to try to learn a couple of the Reverend's songs, I merely wanted to play and sing the songs as well as I could. This didn't start out as a purely imitative project, I was looking for some new repertoire and, for me at least, that always means songs I think are interesting and cool.
However, I do see certain advantages in trying to get as close as possible to an artist's technique; for one thing, it enhances my appreciation of their musicianship and dedication to their craft.
Now, I don't have Rev. Davis's fingers and I certainly don't have his voice, but the advice and tips I've got from this forum and the Ernie Hawkins DVD have helped me tremendously.
One finger playing isn't natural to me and I'm finding it difficult to achieve on "Twelve Gates," but I see the rhythmic difference, so I'll persevere.
Thanks again.

[Stumblin]

[Stumblin]

Sorry to keep banging on about the Reverend like this, but...
Cincinnati Flow Rag is endlessly fascinating and addictive - I play it for (literally, or if I was, as I often wish I was, by the seaside, littorally) hours at a time. However, I'm missing a fair number of the single string variations - the Stumblin' ear & fingers combo are just letting me down a bit when it comes to some of those syncopated and unexpectable (sic) rhythmic and melodic quirks.
Anyhoo, as they say in the movie (you'll know which movie if you get the ref)' "Never give up, never surrender."

[Chezztone]

Which wrist did Gary Davis break?
In Stefan Grossman's book Rev. Gary Davis/Blues Guitar, there is a transcript of an interview of Davis by Grossman (page 16), in which Davis says, "There was a time also when I broke my right hand wrist." Seems to answer my question clearly -- except that in a footnote to that section of the interview, Grossman writes, "This was an interesting fact to discover. Rev. Davis' left hand seemed to have been set out of position...This enabled him to play many unusual chord positions." Huh? Grossman repeats the left-hand-break idea in his "Final Discussion" on page 125.
I am asking not to nitpick but because the break may have affected Davis' guitar playing, although if he broke his right hand it didn't affect it the way Grossman seems to think it did. Hard to believe Davis would have named the incorrect hand in the interview, or Grossman would have misquoted him on that, although it's also hard to understand how Grossman would have misinterpreted his own interview transcript. Anyone know? Thanks. 

[Mr.OMuck]

My understanding is that it was his  left wrist and I do remember looking at it intently to find confirmation and thinking that while the bend seemed quite pronounced, that it was not so much so as to seem abnormal. To be more clear we're talking about the downward angle along the thumb, top of hand , to where it meets the wrist being able to address chord making more easily.
If one imagines the thumb and the wrist as essentially parallel in most people in Rev. Davis' case it assumed an angle similar to that of a hockey stick, though not quite that pronounced.

[uncle bud]

I suspect that Grossman made the error, or didn't notice an error, and then didn't catch it before it went to print. Has happened before.

edited to add: On a somewhat related note, I was having a look at the Guitar Workshop DVD where Ernie Hawkins teaches Buck Rag/Fast Fox Trot. There is a section in the song that is played but not taught -- the bit where it goes C/B-flat6/F/A-flat etc. I thought, "well, that's odd, not to go over what is really a key variation," but I sort of had this RGD turnaround in my head, if not quite in my hands, already from somewhere else in my shady past, so just put it in as best I could. Only a couple days later did it occur to me to look at the tab (sorry to bring that up), where it is indeed transcribed. In case any of you Rev. fans are watching and end up "but...but...Ernie..." It's probably in Buck Dance as well, but I can't check at the moment.

[joebanjo]

Folks, does anyone know if Alan Lomax's wife's interview with RGD has been made available anywhere online. I have searched for it to no avail, the most I've found is an excerpt at the end of this piece:

http://arbiterrecords.org/music-resource-center/rev-gary-davis/

If anyone knows where one can read the whole thing, please let me know!

Many thanks,

joe

[uncle bud]

Woody Mann has started posting recordings from his lessons with the Reverend on YouTube on the Harlem Street Singer channel. Pretty cool to "sit in" on these. Hadn't heard RGD do this one before.



The recording titled Sally Where'd You Get Your Liquor is actually Buck Rag (after a bit of Devil's Dream).

[Mr.OMuck]

Well I'm glad Woody broke the ice in using his lesson tapes to promote his film. I'll eventually be posting mine on my sometime in the future CD.

[uncle bud]

I definitely look forward to both of your offerings, M. O'Muck!