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The words was the hardest thing to get and make 'em stick. Sometimes you'd sit down at night and write two or three songs, but they had the same tune to mostly all. All the blues pretty near sound alike unless you got a rare voice and put turns and trills in it - Thomas A. "Georgia Tom" Dorsey interviewed by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Singel, The Voice Of The Blues

Author Topic: Leadbelly - Ella Speed  (Read 802 times)

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Offline ThatGuyWithThe12Stringer

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Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« on: June 20, 2022, 10:53:17 PM »
Hey everybody, sorry if this seems a bit awkward. This is my first real post.

Recently, I've come across one of the King of The 12-String's murder ballads that I hadn't heard before - odd considering that I lived in his part of the country, but it has been a century or so. Anyway, I first came across the recording where he's accompanied by a man playing the Zither, with threw me off at first before I realized that is, in fact, not Leadbelly playing his 12'er WAAAAY up the neck. I found some earlier recordings of him accompanying himself on the guitar, but they're a bit scratchy for me and it's harder for me to figure them out than usual since I only have a 6 string at the moment.

I think it sounds like the same chord progression as his pardon song - Pat Neff - with a different melody. Is this right? Am I dead wrong? Either way, can somebody give me some pointers?

There's also a line about the judge giving Bill a pardon that I can't quite make out - the laptop speakers only hinder, no doubt. Might ask about it on Lyrics later if I can't get an answer here.

Anyway, thanks!
Whatever you're doing, go on and do it right!

Offline Prof Scratchy

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2022, 05:10:29 AM »
Here's a nice article about Paul Mason Howard and his dolceola: https://www.harpguitars.net/2018/03/15/lead-bellys-dolceolist/

Offline Blues Vintage

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2022, 05:42:46 AM »
I learned the song myself recently because of a excellent rendition here at Weenie Campbell by Richardw.
I play the Mance Lipscomb version which I prefer to the Leadbelly version. The song is being taught at the YouTube channel "Old School Blues Guitar".
You can find the TAB at the Udemy course "Traditional Acoustic Blues Guitar".

Ella Speed - Behind The Song
https://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=3584.0

Welcome to Weenie Campbell!

Offline ThatGuyWithThe12Stringer

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2022, 08:32:44 PM »
Hey Y'all,
I figured it out! After playing around with some funky chord shapes and whatnot, I've determined that the progression is A; D; G; and C.

A                                                                         D
Ella Speed was down-town an' havin' her lovin' fun
      G                                             C
Up come Bill Martin with his Colt .41

Something kinda like this, played tuned down to B (I think) so that A sounds as E.

He uses the normal finger-picker's style A chord, what seems to be normal D, G and C chords as well; with his usual generous sprinkling of wonderful bass runs.
While it didn't give me the answers I needed, I much appreciated the talk here. In particular, the article concerning the piano-zither (as I've called it, one of the few strange instruments I had a name for yet very little information about) and the interesting idea that one of Leadbelly's old guitars might be - or at least, sixty or seventy years ago might have been - out in the wild! I was not aware he ever did that, though I knew his friend Woody did that very often.
Thanks again everybody! I hope y'all get some use out of this discovery - if it can be called that.

P.S. sorry if the format is wrong. Please correct me if so.

P.P.S. - The recording that I worked off of :



And the "Zither" recording:

Whatever you're doing, go on and do it right!

Offline CF

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2022, 10:13:20 AM »
I've been playing ELLA SPEED since the late 1990s, great tune.
I use the progression G-E7-A-D-G
Stand By If You Wanna Hear It Again . . .

Offline ThatGuyWithThe12Stringer

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2022, 06:57:05 PM »
Sure is! I've figured out the chords, now I just have to figure out how he plays them!
He seems to use the normal fingerpicking style A, but I can't figure out if his D chord is the normal D shape, or the C7 or B7 shape up at the 5th fret.  :(
And I still need to figure out those bass runs.
If anyone else has figured it out, I'd absolutely love to hear about it!
Thanks,
T.G. (ThatGuy)
Whatever you're doing, go on and do it right!

Offline frailer24

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2022, 03:06:57 AM »
It's been many a year since I've had a 12 string to use, but I remember using the B7 up the neck for the D.
That's all she wrote Mabel!

Offline ThatGuyWithThe12Stringer

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2023, 03:48:03 PM »
It's been many a year since I've had a 12 string to use, but I remember using the B7 up the neck for the D.

Interesting, did you play the G as an F shape as I do with the c7 shape for the D?

I've found that most of the time it's easier to play it when I actually manage to figure out the right shapes...

I wish there was more footage/recordings of him earlier in his career. It's intetestimg how bis style transformed from the 30s to the late 40s; being more ragtime like, almost like BwMcT early on, and eventually becoming a bit more (though not too much) like the white folksingers he hung around later on.
Whatever you're doing, go on and do it right!

Offline frailer24

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Re: Leadbelly - Ella Speed
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2023, 02:26:35 PM »
It's been many a year since I've had a 12 string to use, but I remember using the B7 up the neck for the D.

Interesting, did you play the G as an F shape as I do with the c7 shape for the D?

I've found that most of the time it's easier to play it when I actually manage to figure out the right shapes...

I wish there was more footage/recordings of him earlier in his career. It's intetestimg how bis style transformed from the 30s to the late 40s; being more ragtime like, almost like BwMcT early on, and eventually becoming a bit more (though not too much) like the white folksingers he hung around later on.

I used a G shape every time. Tried an F, and it didn't quite fit right to my ear. I too, wish there had been more footage shot of him, at any point in his career!
That's all she wrote Mabel!

 


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