HANK GARLAND-- "SUGARFOOT RAG"

Here's a great clip of Hank playing Sugarfoot Rag. This clip is unusual because there are some nice closeups of both left and right hand; if you look fast you can get some great insight into the approach of one of the best country guitarists ever. Another bonus-- this version has more of a clean Les Paul/Chet Atkins kind of tone than Hank's earlier Nashville session work. Not to say it's better, just that it's an interesting middle ground between his fifties country and sixties jazz styles.

Note-- the slapback Hank uses here is the main reason for the tone having less bite and twang than some of his other recordings. I've noticed that when I turn on the slapback, it cleans up my tone a lot. Even if I am using overdrive pedals, a lot of the raunch and grit are minimized. No doubt there are technical reasons for this--

but I don't know them. I just know that your tone is squashed a bit by slapback. Hank provides some good ideas here for what to do with slapback-- he works with the slapback, leaving space in his lines so the effect can come through. When he goes to an extreme muted sound, the slapback jumps out even more. Presumably he learned these methods from Les Paul records, as most everyone did.

I'll be using this clip as a frame of reference for my own work-- it's a nice blend of fiddle tune type playing with Les Paul ideas. It's not surprising that the different styles work well together, since along with jazz Les had a lot of country guitar in his sound.

My last point-- the studio version I've heard of this has Hank playing less, and other players trading with him. I would guess that he used the different styles here to keep it from getting stale, since the arrangement is all him. This is another thing I'll keep in mind for my own playing-- I already try to do this when I play long solos, although I have to say I don't do it this well. Check in with me in a few years-- maybe Hank will rub off on me some more by then!