Topic: mississippi shieks help

[crustypicker]

can anyone help me out with some o the mississippi shieks tunes, im working on sales tax and honey babe let your deal go down.

sales tax sounds from what i can hear in the key of G, kinda hard to hear, seems like the intro after the talking is  in D and then goes to  0-0-5-7-6-7 in between 0-0-4-6-5-6 which i guess is a F#7th then to a C but i cant seem to find what shape for the C hes doing. back to the G in between the F#7th and to D major to D 7TH. anything helps alot of there tunes have wierd bass walks tryin to learn anything helps im no pro but i love the shieks and would like to learn more

[Johnm]

Hi crustypicker,
Welcome to Weenie Campbell!  The foremost expert on Mississippi Sheiks guitar-playing, Frank Basile, frequents this site on occasion, and I hope he sees your post, for he certainly has the answers to your queries.
All best,
Johnm

[crustypicker]

i hope he see it too thanx for the friendly greeting, just found this site and i think its very cool

[pkeane]

Here's one of the great exegetical works on a country blues:

http://www.donegone.net/?p=138

It's from Frankie Basile's web site.  I suspect a deep-dive on any particular Mississippi Shieks song will be helpful in unlocking secrets of other MS songs as well.  I learned a ton from this blog post.

-Peter Keane

[crustypicker]

ya that is helpful those guys sure can play great stuff theyr bass walks are confusing

[frankie]

hi - there are two guitars on Sales Tax. One guitar is playing 1st position G, C and D chords, essentially, and the other is playing what you can think of a D position at the 5th position (the I, IV and V chords are D, G and A in this position).

One interesting thing about the backup guitar in Sales Tax is that the guy playing the lower position alternates between the the root of the chord on the 3rd fret, 6th string, and the 6th (E) - 2nd fret, 4th string. A very similar pattern is used by the back guitarist on Good Old Turnip Greens, and some of the later Sheiks recordings where Sam Chatmon is clearly the singer/guitarist.

[crustypicker]

hmm i dont see what you mean by the alternation tryin to figure it out

[Johnm]

Hi,
If you finger a G chord and fret the second fret of the D string instead of the second fret of the A string and then play boom-chang back-up alternating the bass between the third fret of the low E string and that second fret of the D string on beats one and three and strumming in the treble on beats two and four you'll have it.
All best,
Johnm

[crustypicker]

  nice thanx man thats awsome. its little things like that that really help bring those tunes togetheer.

love those country blues,any tips on honey babe let the deal go down, i got it in B flat, when it goes to the G C And F are they first position chords??

[frankie]

love those country blues,any tips on honey babe let the deal go down, i got it in B flat, when it goes to the G C And F are they first position chords??

peter mentioned it above, but check this link:

http://www.donegone.net/?p=138

the only bit of difference for honey babe is that it's a blues, so there's a IV chord (e-flat - discussed in the comments to the post), and the second measure goes to the V (F), and then back to the I for the 3rd measure with a bass run (also described in the post above) through B-flat 7 into the e-flat on the 5th measure. The F chord used in the 2nd measure is played in the middle of the neck:

Code: [Select]

e -8-
B -6-
G -x-
D -7-
A -8-
E -x-
seriously, that post will hip you to just about 80% of what's happening in most MS Sheiks backup, as long as you keep your ears on while listening.

[crustypicker]

nice thanx, ya i notice that its not so much a G CHORD as it is just a bass walk from the G NOTE, then C and F and it resolves on b flat. i love the ending and the intro i figured em out ill have to make a video and show you see if it sounds right . i kinda suck at explaining it. but that is a pretty cool way to play a an F and thats also a moveable shape correct? i love these guys their bass walks are classic really makes an old sound.