Topic: Miller's Breakdown

[Prof Scratchy]

Of course you?re right Wax. Still learning! And yes, very cool indeed.


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[Johnm]

Hi all,
Any other takers for the Charles Caldwell puzzlers?  Come one, come all!
All best,
Johnm
 

[Johnm]

Hi all,
It appears that everyone who wanted to respond to the Charles Caldwell puzzlers has done so, so I will post the answers.  Here they are:

For Charles Caldwell's "I Know I Done You Wrong":
   * His playing position was D position in dropped D tuning
   * As he opens the song, he is alternating between his open fifth and fourth strings in the bass (he lightly brushes a little bit of the open sixth string a couple of times), and in the treble is going back and forth between the sixth fret of the second string and the fifth fret of the first string.  He may be doing a full D shape at the fifth fret in the treble, but he is not sounding the third string, in any event.
   * He fretted the line he plays twice under his singing of the refrain, from :52--1:00, as follows:  He goes quickly from the third fret of the fifth string to the open fourth string, under the lyric, "Says I".  Under the lyric, "know, I know", he goes from the third fret of the fourth string to the second fret of the third string and then to the first fret of the second string.  Under the word "I've", he does a quick pull-off from the second fret of the third string to the open third string.  Under the lyric, "done you wrong", he goes from the third fret of the fourth string, then moving quickly from the third fret of the fifth string to the open fourth string, hitting that note twice.  He then repeats the whole line.

I really like Charles Caldwell's spare sound.  Interestingly, he never hits a D major chord at the base of the neck.  After his open phrase, he goes to a IV7 chord, fingered 0-0-3-1 on the top four strings, going from fourth to first string.  In that chord, he goes back and fourth on the first two strings while brushing the third and fourth strings with his thumb.  He avoids the V chord altogether, like a lot of Mississippi blues players of his generation.

Thanks to all who participated, and I hope people enjoyed the song.  I should say that it doesn't help in determining playing position/tuning to set much store on the key in which a rendition sounds.  I just think of that as the key in which the song is sung.  Instead, listen to the internal relationships of the notes being played, and use them to inform your choice of playing position/tuning, which with the possible use of a capo or tuning high or low of standard pitch, really operates independent of the key at which the rendition sounds.  I'll look for another puzzler to post soon.

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I have a new puzzler for folks who are interested.  It is "Loping Blues", by Lincoln Jackson, about whom I know absolutely nothing--where he was from, when the track was recorded--not a thing.  Here is Lincoln Jackson's "Loping Blues":



SOLOING

Lord, you ain't been pushin' on, take no effect on me
Lord, you ain't been pushin' on, take no effect on me
Lord, there's a Elgin movement on, ain't nary guarantee

Lord, I'm goin' away, sweet mama, wear you off my mind
Lord, I'm goin' away, sweet mama, wear you off my mind
Lord, I'm goin' away, sweet mama, now, wear you off my mind

I have only one question on "Loping Blues":
   * What playing position/tuning did Lincoln Jackson use to play "Loping Blues"?

Please use only your ears and your guitars to arrive at your answers, and please don't post any responses until  8:00 AM your time on Thursday, February 24.  Thanks for participating, and I hope you enjoy "Loping Blues".
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Any takers for the Lincoln Jackson puzzler, "Loping Blues"?  Come one, come all--there's not but the one question.
All best,
Johnm

[Prof Scratchy]

It's a difficult one. I've been thinking cross note or EAEGBE. I'll say the latter, but really not sure....

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[blueshome]

Likewise struggling. I?ve a little more time tomorrow to spend on it.

[Old Man Ned]

I'd got this to either E standard or Cross note last night but couldn't decide.  I need to do some more listening.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Any other takers for the Lincoln Jackson "Loping Blues" puzzler?
All best,
Johnm

[Gumbo]

I'm in E standard (although capo'd at one) playing D and D7 shapes in various places, but it feels like I'm I'm missing something. Reminds me a bit of JB Lenoir, and am resisting the urge to look at what he played in!

[blueshome]

I?ve tried it with guitar and still can?t tell, I?m with the Old Man E standard or cross-note.

[Rivers]

Closest I got was in standard tuning with the bottom E string tuned up to F, with the song played out of closed F position with the bass string left open on the root to anchor the up the neck triads and double stop bends.

I likewise think I'm missing something, not least because that seems pretty unlikely! Has a Akers-Callicott Cottonfield Blues feel to my ears.

[Prof Scratchy]

I heard Bukka White and/or Lane Hardin in the playing! It?s a tough one for sure!


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[Johnm]

Hi all,
It appears that everyone who intended to respond to the Lincoln Jackson "Loping Blues" puzzler has done so by now, so I'll post the answer.  This puzzler was difficult, as a number of you remarked and there was only the one question, Lincoln Jackson's playing position/tuning, so I will attempt to answer that question in some detail, since it involves a sort of decision tree that can be used over and over again when trying to determine whether a particular piece was played out of E position, standard tuning, Vestapol, cross-note, or EAEGBE tuning.

Lincoln Jackson's playing position/tuning for "Loping Blues" was cross-note tuning, which a number of you had as a possibility and Prof Scratchy had as his first suggestion in the first response.  Here are the points at which the aural evidence contained in "Loping Blues" tells the listener that Lincoln Jackson played it out of cross-note tuning:
   * At :11, and many times after that, Lincoln Johnson brushes the second and third strings and does a hammer from a minor to a major third on the third string.  That first fret hammer to the major third from the open third string eliminates Vestapol tuning as a possibility, since in Vestapol, the open third string is the major third, making a hammer into the major third there an impossibility.  That leaves E position in standard tuning, cross-note and EAEGBE tunings still in the running as possibilities, since all of those positions/tunings have a minor third open third string when playing in the key of the open sixth string.
   * At :22--:23 and at :23--:24, Lincoln Jackson does two hammers on the fifth string from a V note of the key that he's playing in up to the VI note of that same key.  Since cross-note tuning puts its V note on the open fifth string,  and E position standard tuning and EAEGBE each put a IV note on the open fifth string, the repeated hammer from the V to the VI note on the fifth string establishes cross-note as Lincoln Jackson's playing position.
   * At :33, Lincoln Jackson slides a D shape on the first three strings to the fourth fret, playing a I chord there.  Gumbo noted Lincoln Jackson's use of a D shape on the first three strings and he was right on about that.  At :37--:38, Lincoln Jackson takes that shape up three frets, intact, utilizing the "three frets up" concept, giving himself an Em7 up there.  This whole section of the piece reminded me so much of Henry Townsend's first solo recordings in cross-note, in which he employed this sound and approach in the left hand quite a lot.  Lincoln Jackson's sound on "Loping Blues" is the closest I've ever heard someone come to Henry Townsend's sound on those early recordings, short of actually copying Henry's playing.

Here are ways to differentiate between the sound of Vestapol, E position in standard tuning, EAEGBE and cross-note tunings.
   * If the lowest-pitched note struck on the third string is the major third of the I chord, and the I note is the open sixth string, all four positions are possible.  If there is a hammer from the minor to the major third on the third string, Vestapol is eliminated as a possibility.
   * If a IV chord is played with the root on the open fifth string, cross-note is eliminated as a possibility, as is Vestapol, since in cross-note and Vestapol, the fifth string is tuned to the V note of the key.
   * If there is a hammer from the minor to the major third on the third string, and the lowest-pitched note on the fifth string is the V note of the key, the song is played in cross-note, particularly if the IV chord is either altogether avoided, as in Skip James' playing in cross-note, or the IV chord is voiced with its third, the VI note of the scale, in the bass, at the second fret of the fifth string, a la Booker White or Lincoln Jackson on this track.
   * It is impossible to differentiate between E position in standard tuning, EAEGBE and cross-note based on what happens on the first three strings, since they are tuned to the same voices, minor III, third string, V, second string and I, first string, in all three of those tunings/playing positions.  So you have to differentiate between those three on the basis of what happens on the fifth and fourth strings.
   * If you have the root of the key on the open sixth string, a hammer being done from the minor third to the major third at the first fret of the third string, and the IV chord voiced with its root on the open fifth string, the piece is being played in either E position, standard tuning, or EAEGBE tuning.  The sole basis for differentiating between those two positions is what happens and sounds on the fourth string, since it is the only string tuned differently in the two positions.  If you hear a V7 chord played with its major third voiced at the first fret of the fourth string, as in a B7 chord at the base of the neck in standard tuning, the song is played in E position, standard tuning.  This sound and defining characteristic is what makes it possible to say with absolute certainty that all of Charley Jordan's E-sounding pieces from his first session were, in fact, played out of E position in standard tuning rather than EAEGBE tuning.  He always voiced the V7 chord with the major third on the fourth string first fret.  EAEGBE tuning does not offer the option of voicing the third of the V7 chord on the fourth string, because the open fourth string is tuned one-half step higher than that note (E as compared to D#).  Thus, for people playing in EAEGBE tuning, a la Clifford Gibson's E-sounding pieces and Furry Lewis' pieces like "Jelly Roll", "Mistreating Mama" and "Creeper's Blues", the fourth string is avoided altogether in the playing of the V7 chord.  Guitar Shorty, who played everything in EAEGBE tuning, got around the problem by voicing the second fret of the fourth string in his V7 chord, thus voicing the fifth of the V chord there. 

Thanks to all who participated in the Lincoln Jackson puzzler, and I hope you enjoyed the song.  It's always interesting to hear something recorded live, and played and sung so well, that was obviously going unnoticed by many of the people who were there at the time.  Sometimes that's a musician's life.  I'll look for another puzzler to post soon.

All best,
Johnm 

 

[Prof Scratchy]

Thanks, as always, for the detailed explanation, Johnm!


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