Country Blues > Country Blues Licks and Lessons

Blind Lemon Jefferson's Guitar Style--Queries and Tips

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wildcotton:
I may  be hijacking my own post here, but it's related.  I've learned how to play BLJ's "Black Horse Blues" from BLJ's version, sparked by  Paul Rishell's,.  But I'm having lots of trouble playing it and singing it at the same time.  Most songs I can put the two together, but this one is really tough.  Anybody got any tips for playing in one direction and singing in the other?

If Blind Lemon Jefferson can do it, why can't I do it?  (Ha!)

Jeff

uncle bud:
Hi Jeff. I split this post off into it's own topic since I thought it might get a better response. Plus any excuse for another thread on Blind Lemon.  :P
I know a number of people here have worked on the guitar part for Black Horse. Whether they've got so far as to include the vocals is another story. I have to some degree, half successfully. I know Frankie's got it down. I played the guitar part until I could do it without thinking, before even attempting to get the vocal in. One thing Paul Rishell pointed out when teaching this was to land on the G bass in the bass run when you are singing the word "me" in "Tell me what time..." and to associate various words in the lyrics with the strong downbeats:
"Tell ME what TIME do the TRAIN... etc" Lemon's actually a little looser than that I think, but it can get you going then you can play around with it a bit.

Edited to add: Also, sing it so freaking loud you can barely hear the guitar notes to screw you up.

wildcotton:
Uncle Bud

That's a great tip--the one about hitting the G simultaneously with the word "me".  So is the one about singing louder than the guitar.  If I'm gonna take on BLJ, I might just get Ari's DVD.  He may even have some singing tips, too. 

Jeff

Chun:
Funny ...I was just working on BHB this morning. I have been playing this thing for about two years...I have the guitar part nailed...whenever I try to sing this with playing though everything just falls apart. Thanks for the suggestion about hitting the G note with ME...Ill have to try that. Now that I think about it...pretty much most every Blind Lemon song is tough to try and sing and play at the same time...I guess it has something to do with how unconventional his playing is as hes not hardly ever doing the boom-chuck thing and he's very crooked. Ironically I think this is what makes his playing so great, its just incredibally hard to do if you werent raised on it so to speak. I believe that banjochris does a pretty nice version of this as does Frank apparently. Any suggestions guys?

uncle bud:
Hi Chun - You're right, singing Blind Lemon can be a real high wire act. Some stuff is easier in terms of fitting singing over the playing, like Wartime Blues, Beggin' Back or Easy Rider. I'm usually working on some Blind Lemon piece or another at any given point, still haven't got any of it completely down, but when I do get the singing going over one of those crooked guitar parts it's a particularly good feeling. Chock House Blues is my current, long-time Lemon project and includes a Black Horse-like verse that's even harder to sing over than Black Horse, I find. As I mentioned above for Black Horse, I find something that helps in singing over these trickier Lemon parts is to use certain notes or beats as cues and landing places. It's partly about the independence of the parts but also partly weaving the vocal into the odd rhythms of the guitar parts. The trick is that these cues and landing spots are passing by so quickly. Like I said, I haven't mastered it, but I'm progressing slowly but surely. I'll try and point out some of these spots for me in Black Horse over the weekend.

When Rishell taught this at PT, I believe it was the song the launched him into his great speech about country blues being primarily vocal music, not guitar music, and he compared singing to going off a ski jump. Black Horse, like a lot of Lemon, is definitely a ski jump.

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