UNKNOWN EPIPHONE PICKER SHOWS US HOW TO TWANG WITHOUT A FENDER

I love Tammy, but most of her music doesn't have this much guitar. This mystery guitarist plays a lot of cool stuff around the vocal-- I suspect if he had ever been on a Billy Sherrill session, he would have been advised to scale it back. Anyway, what difference does it make? We'll always have the immortal studio version-- but now you can enjoy this different kind of take on the song-- with even a little taste of "Chicken Reel" in there!

What I like about 60's country guitar is that a lot of pickers from that time retained elements from the earlier era (western swing, fiddle-tune idioms, etc.) while adding the new Bakersfield/Burton thing into the mix. I like to think of my style as growing out of this transitional approach that mixes swing and twang. (When I'm not adding Beck's Yardbirds fuzz licks into the equation, that is.)
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THUMBS CARLILLE WITH AUNT FANNY, "CRAWDAD HOLE"

Thumbs Carlille plays a great solo here on "Crawdad Hole." (I poached this one from Deke Dickerson's youtube site, www.youtube.com/user/KoolKlipsFromDeke)
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GRADY MARTIN WITH RED FOLEY, "CRAWDAD HOLE"

Here's another great clip, unearthed by Deke Dickerson for his site, www.youtube.com/user/KoolKlipsFromDeke

Grady Martin takes a solo here with his Bigsby doubleneck.
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DON RICH WITH BUCK OWENS, "MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT," "FOOLIN' AROUND," AND "LOVE'S GONNA LIVE HERE AGAIN"

This clip from the Jimmy Dean show has three songs, not including a short dollop of "Bud's Bounce." Don has solos on "Heart" and "Love's Gonna Live Here." (Don's solo on the last tune is pretty different from the version I've transcribed. My transcription is from the Buck TV show, where Don plays a hotter solo. I'll put up this clip in another post.)

Check out the moment where, referring to the Buckaroos' Nudie suits, Dean says to Buck, "Not only do you sing good, but you just might glisten 'em to death."

Thanks to Stephen Worth for posting this, and Henry Kaiser for sending me the link.

Original link to boingboing site here--

boingboing.net/2010/01/23/adventure-02-bakersf.html
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TED GREENE, "AUTUMN LEAVES"

Watching Ted play this tune, I'm realizing "Autumn Leaves" has a chord progression that moves an awful lot like Bach's progressions. Here you've got jazz and Bach, together with French pop (which is where the song originated), all at the same time, and all played on a Telecaster.

It's interesting to compare this version with Barney Kessel's trio version, over here on the city slicker cousin of this blog.

karlstraubguitar.blogspot.com/2009/11/barney-kessel-autumn-leaves.html
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CATALOG OF AVAILABLE TRANSCRIPTIONS

AVAILABLE TRANSCRIPTIONS
(All my transcriptions include standard notation as well as guitar tablature.)
NOW ACCEPTING PAYPAL! INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME.
I sell most of these for $5.00. If no price is given, it's $5.00.
A few are more expensive, due to length or complexity. Prices for these are listed with item. (I can email the files for you to print out. If I mail it using traditional mail, postage and handling fee is $5.00.)
INFO ABOUT PURCHASING TRANSCRIPTIONS IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK HERE--

karlstraubguitar.blogspot.com/2010/06/ordering-info-for-transcriptions.html


Oscar Moore with Nat "King" Cole.
These are solos from Nat Cole records.
"Straighten Up and Fly Right"
"Route 66"
"Paper Moon" (this includes solo and a "composite" of some riffing he did with Cole. This riffing composite is not an exact transcription; it's an attempt to take elements from Cole's and Moore's twin lines and turn it into a single line for guitar.)

Grant Green.
"The Honeydripper." This is only 12 bars with Jack McDuff, but 12 bars of Grant Green playing bluesy jazz could keep you busy for a while.

Charlie Christian, with Benny Goodman.
"Honeysuckle Rose" (this is from a rare aircheck, I believe.)

Peter Green, with early Fleetwood Mac. Burning blues guitar.
"Jumpin' at Shadows"

Freddie King
"Nickel-plated," instrumental. complete track, key of G. Lots of great licks in several positions and registers. $10.00

"Freddie King sampler"
This is a bunch of excerpts from different solos, "Lonesome Whistle Blues," "I'm Tore Down"

"Manhole" this is not the whole track, but some hot excerpts. Tom Heyman showed me these licks many years ago.

B.B. King
"Let's Do the Boogie" (early B.B. recording)

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
"Gate's Salty Blues" intro

Mick Ronson w/David Bowie.
"Eight Line Poem." Not one of the more famous Bowie tracks, but nice twangy string-bending intro from Ronson. It's interesting to see Ronson's string-bending technique with the Marshall stack sound removed. Recommended!

Zal Yanovsky, with the Lovin' Spoonful.
underrated, overlooked guitarist. Yanovsky was one of the few "country-rock" guitarists who used time like a real country picker.

"Nashville Cats" fills. If your country playing sounds too much like a rock guy, these fills could really help. They helped me years ago!

George Barnes.
"Hot Guitar Rag," from the super-rare "Country Jazz" lp.
www.karlstraubmusic.com/07 HOT GUITAR RAG.mp3
FINALLY ADDED! another transcription from Country Jazz album, "Chicken in the Rough," based on traditional fiddle tune "Chicken Reel," which is heard in tons of cartoons, esp. Foghorn Leghorn. ANY TRAN
D.C. picker Jim Stephanson told me that Danny Gatton learned every lick from this album. I sell this for $15.00, because it's 3 minutes of all guitar. A guitar lesson in every bar. (for the uninitiated-- Barnes is one of the most prodigiously gifted electric guitarists of the 20th century. He's virtually unheard-of, even in the guitar world, but rarely did a guitarist have more technique and command of the fingerboard. On top of that, he was a beautiful lyrical player. I appreciate his technique, but his invention and creativity are the real reasons to listen to him.)
This track is a fascinating blend of country and jazz guitar, and Barnes was pretty comfortable with all of it.

Phil Spector, with the Drifters.
"On Broadway." Spector was just hanging out at the session when they asked him to play the guitar solo. Classic!

George Benson, with Jack McDuff.
"Rock Candy," excerpt from solo.

Lou Reed, with the Velvet Underground.
"Sunday Morning"
excellent melodic early Reed solo, from the "banana" album.


Ike Turner
"Tore Up" intro. Very crazy playing--
Because of the notorious vagaries of his personal life, people tend to forget that Ike Turner was a great guitarist. Before Hendrix, this was as wild as anyone ever got with a Stratocaster.


Don Rich, with Buck Owens

"Love's Gonna Live Here" on the Buck Owens Ranch TV show.
"Love's Gonna Live Here" from Carnegie Hall album. (very different solo-- classic!)
I've heard rumors that there is a lot of demand for Don Rich instructional material. If you're a big Don Rich fan, let me know-- if I get a lot of feedback about it, I'd love to do more Don transcriptions and maybe even a video lesson.

Jimmy Bryant
"Bryant's Shuffle"
(head only, but great! A medium difficulty intro to Bryant's style.)
"Cotton Picking"
(this one's in progress at this point. If anyone's interested, let me know and I'll get back to work on it.)

Bob Wills guitarists Eldon Shamblin and Junior Barnard.

(These are solos from Bob Wills's legendary Tiffany Transcription recordings. The best western swing I've ever heard.)

Eldon Shamblin
"C-Jam Blues"
"Tea for Two"

I also have a transcription of a three-part arrangement by Eldon from "Brain Cloudy Blues." This includes an essay about Eldon's arranging method. For anyone wanting to learn how to arrange in the Bob Wills style, this is a bargain at $30.00.
(PLEASE NOTE-- this transcription/lesson about Eldon's arranging is not ready to sell at this time-- I need to do a fair amount of editing on it. I'm putting it in here and encouraging any interested parties to email me or leave a comment. If I get a lot of inquiries about it, I'll put other work aside and bang it out. It's gonna be pretty great when it's done-- but right now a lot of it is in my head!)

Junior Barnard
"Blues for Dixie"
"Bring it on Down"
"Ding Dong Daddy"
"Faded Love"
"Girl I Left Behind Me"
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"
"What's the Matter with the Mill"
"Sweet Georgia Brown"
"Keep A'Knockin'"
"Nancy Jane"
"Sentimental Journey"
"My Window Faces the South"
"San Antonio Rose"
"Steel Guitar Rag"
"South"
"Sweet Kind of Love"
"Texarkana Baby"
"Take Me Back to Tulsa"
"Texas Playboy Rag"
"Worried Mind"


Zoot Horn Rollo/Antennae Jimmy Semens (Bill Harkleroad and Jeff Cotton)
This is an electric guitar duet from Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" lp.

"Dali's Car"
$15.00.
A nice window into the Beefheart world of sound, a unique blend of Bo Diddley, rhythm and blues, "avant-garde" jazz and chamber music, etc. etc. Not for the squeamish, but highly recommended to fans of weirdness. It's important to clarify that, in an era where a lot of people in different genres (psychedelia, free jazz, etc) were improvising some pretty strange music, Don Van Vliet and his cohorts were actually writing this stuff down! Tom Waits pilfered a lot from this music, and he wasn't the only one.

CUSTOMER REQUEST LIST
(these are recordings people have requested. please feel free to add your own requests in a comment below, and I'll put them on the list.)
"Roly Poly" and "Barnard Blues," solos by Junior Barnard with Bob Wills.
"Nickel-Plated" by Freddie King.
(A NOTE ABOUT THE REQUEST LIST-- at this point, I am taking on fewer transcription request jobs. There are two reasons for this.
The first is that I can't afford to do a transcribing job for peanuts, and people often balk at my rates. I keep the catalog prices low, but sometimes a transcribing job done to order can take me as many as ten hours, or even more. This is because I try to get every articulation nuance in there, and I try to pin down where on the neck the parts were played. With players like Peter Green or Freddie King, the timing and articulation details take a lot of work to pin down.
The second issue is that people sometimes misunderstand my occasional use of "composite" transcribing. This method comes into play when I'm transcribing instrumentals, where certain licks are played multiple times. It's pretty common for a player like Freddie King to play a repeated line with variations each time, and these variations are often incredibly subtle. To save time, I sometimes just transcribe one variation, or write a composite that uses ideas from different variations. In these cases, I'll usually provide some suggestions about how to use the transcription along with the recording so that you can play the music as close to accurate as you desire. Sometimes when I explain this to customers, they think I'm doing a half-assed job. My goal is to provide a transcription that will be as accurate as possible with important subtle details, but slightly less accurate with regard to repeated lines. The finished product should be satisfactory to virtually everyone. I'd describe my transcriptions as 95% accurate, and much better than the bulk of available material.

Please contact me with requests only if the above sounds reasonable to you. I don't mind giving a customer a price quote, even if they decide they can't afford it, as long as they agree not to respond with rudeness. I'm happy to add songs and solos to my request list, and wait until I get a lot of interest in a specific request to do the work. Then I can sell it for my usual catalog rates. I no longer have time available for haggling over my rates and work with people who have special requests, but who don't understand that transcription is serious work. In my view, these transcriptions are like taking a long guitar lesson from a serious teacher. I welcome requests from people who also see it that way.)

A NOTE ABOUT ACCURACY OF TRANSCRIPTION
Aside from human error, and the difficulty of hearing a recording 100% correctly, there is another issue to consider. Our notation system is limited in many ways, but esp. regarding bends. The timing of a bend is difficult to notate correctly, and the "between-the-cracks" notes are indicated by the mismomer "quarter step bend." This term implies a note lying exactly halfway between two adjacent notes like B and C. In reality, there are several notes in there for those that can hear them. I'll confess that I have trouble hearing them precisely-- although I've been studying them for many years. Players like Freddie King (and his white American and British disciples Clapton, Green, Bloomfield, etc.) can mix and match timing and bend subtleties that are essentially unnotatable. I do my best, but there are limits. I basically believe that any notation will be limited by the ear of the reader, anyway, but in the interest of honesty I like to point this out. I suggest that you use your ear along with the transcriptions, and the more your ear develops, the closer you'll get to the sound of masters like Freddie.

To order, please send an email to Karl Straub, address karlstraub@hotmail.com. List the items you're interested in, or request anything not on list. After I get your email, I'll give you a total so you can PAY WITH PAYPAL or mail in payment. (please note-- I can no longer do transcription work for people without receiving payment up front. After I receive your payment, I will send transcription, if it's one I already have done, or I will begin the work and send on completion.
Please send checks to
Karl Straub
406 Cloverway Drive
Alexandria, Va 22314
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RICHARD THOMPSON, "SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS"

This excellent performance is from Elvis Costello's Spectacle TV show. I've never heard Thompson on a Tele before, but not surprisingly, he sounds great. (Interestingly, he gets a pretty similar sound to his usual Strat tone. More evidence that it's the way you play rather than your guitar that determines your sound?)
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CURLY CHALKER AND JIMMY CAPPS ON THE WILBURN BROS. SHOW

Here are five different performances crammed onto one youtube clip; it's Curly Chalker on steel, with his blend of country and jazz, and Jimmy Capps on guitar. Howard Parker forwarded me this because he knows I'm a Curly fan, but as a bonus veteran session picker Capps is now on my radar. These performances are really Curly's show, but Capps gets some hot playing in too.
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EDDIE BIEBEL WITH WAYNE HANCOCK, "JOHNNY LAW"

Eddie Biebel is one of many guitarists keeping the older styles alive and fresh. You'll hear some rockabilly, some country, some western swing, and some jump blues in his two long solos here.
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"BROTHER" PAUL BUSKIRK AND HIS HARVEY DOUBLENECK

from the KoolKlipsFromDeke youtube channel. Charlie McCardell sent me this. You can get to Deke's youtube channel here--
www.youtube.com/user/KoolKlipsFromDeke

Here's Deke's description from youtube.

""Brother" Paul Buskirk was one of the greatest musicians to ever come from the state of Texas. Originally from West Virginia, Paul Buskirk lived most of his life in the Houston, Texas area, where he was revered and loved. Buskirk was instrumental in getting Willie Nelson's career off the ground, and in fact Willie's first recording of "Night Life" was released on a 45 as "Night Life--by Paul Buskirk and his Little Men, featuring Hugh Nelson, vocals." This is a series of clips showing Paul Buskirk playing his incredible 1956 custom-made Jim Harvey doubleneck. The first two clips are vintage film clips from a low-budget film shot in Texas in the late 1950's. The last clip is from the 1990's where Paul demonstrates his incredible ability on the mandola neck. Thanks to Huey Wilkinson--"Brother" Paul Buskirk's legacy lives on. The Harvey doubleneck has recently been restored and there will be an article in one of the major guitar magazines soon. RIP Brother Paul!"
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