KARL STRAUB, TELECASTER PICKER

GLEN CAMPBELL, "MY WINDOW FACES THE SOUTH"

2012-01-18T10:27:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it seems I spend half my life listening to this song. (I've done some woodshedding recently with versions of "Window" by Willie Nelson with the Texas Troubadours and Leon Rhodes, Bob Wills with Junior Barnard, Red Foley with Grady Martin, and Grady Martin's Slewfoot Five.)

This version is a humdinger, with a young Glen Campbell doing an intro and a solo, plus some intriguing dance moves. It's more evidence of my theory that Glen did some of his hottest picking before he was famous.

THANKS TO CHARLIE MCCARDELL FOR SENDING ME THIS CLIP. Charlie seems to spend hours a day searching for hip stuff online, and we're all the better for it.

HANK GARLAND AND CHET ATKINS, "THE HOT GUITAR" WITH EDDIE HILL

2012-01-06T10:40:00.000-05:00

I think this is the hot cut I heard a dj play once almost thirty years ago, and have been searching for ever since. It's one of those songs where the singer acts as an announcer, and guitarists ape a bunch of other great pickers. But this one features the stellar lineup of Hank Garland, Chet Atkins, and steel guitarist Jerry Byrd trading breaks-- killer.

You have to guess who plays which break, but I'm assuming Chet plays the Chet and Merle stuff, plus some Chet-like hot licks. (We hear so much melodic Chet-style playing that it's easy to forget that Chet played hot licks too!)

Then I think Hank Garland probably handled the other imitations. He has a slippery way of picking that you don't hear in Chet's playing. Although it often seems that Chet can do anything, even virtuoso and versatile players usually run to form, and where Chet's playing usually has a prim consistency, Hank's looser phrasing and articulation can help you tell the two apart. (Unless I'm wrong!) At any rate, Chet was the guy who told the young Hank Garland about Django Reinhardt, probably the source of that bubbly and hell-bent quality in his sound.

GUITAR WORKSHOP WITH KARL STRAUB--TEN IDEAS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER GUITAR PLAYER

2012-01-01T10:24:00.000-05:00

TEN IDEAS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER GUITAR PLAYER
OPEN TO PLAYERS OF ALL LEVELS
Karl Straub's Guitar Workshop is Thursday, Jan. 19, 7 pm at NOVA Music, 12704 CHAPEL ROAD, CLIFTON, VA 20124

http://www.novamusiccenter.com/categories/Workshops/

"BROKE DOWN GUITAR," A SHORT ROCKABILLY PIECE.

KARL STRAUB'S HIGHLIGHT REEL, A FEW DIFFERENT STYLES OF GUITAR PLAYING

The purpose of the workshop is to show you how to be a better guitar player. Most guitar instructional books and DVD's show you how to play specific licks and songs, but without knowledge of certain fundamentals, many guitarists stay at the same level regardless of how many licks and songs they learn.

This workshop will give you a pile of practicing and playing techniques that will improve your playing right away, and keep you improving from now on. Straub will pass along tips about technique and practicing he has learned in 27 years of professional experience playing rock and roll, country, jazz, classical, blues, and folk guitar.

among the topics discussed--

HOW TO PRACTICE FOR MAXIMUM BENEFIT

BUILDING SPEED WITHOUT BUILDING SLOPPINESS

PLAYING IN DIFFERENT KEYS

PLAYING ALL OVER THE GUITAR, NOT JUST THE FIRST THREE FRETS

EAR TRAINING-- IF YOU CAN'T HEAR IT, YOU CAN'T PLAY IT
CLEANING UP YOUR LEFT AND RIGHT HANDS

HOW TO TURN SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS INTO ACTUAL MUSIC

HOW EVEN A LITTLE MUSIC THEORY CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER PLAYER

Karl Straub has a Music Education degree, and almost 30 years professionally performing, recording, and writing. His songs have been recorded by numerous local artists, and he has played guitar with Last Train Home, Eric Brace, the Grandsons, the Graverobbers, the Kennedys, Little Pink, and Exit 10.

GRADY MARTIN WITH ARLIE DUFF, "ALLIGATOR, COME ACROSS"

2011-12-31T22:59:00.004-05:00

Once again I find myself apologizing about not posting for a good long spell-- but ladies and gentlemen, I've been recording, writing, and practicing! These things take time.

Every time I feel like taking a break from practicing, I listen to Grady Martin, and it's back to the woodshed again. I saw something about this cut in a post from Deke Dickerson on the Grady Martin tribute site-- Deke was right, as usual. It's a killer, and interesting because it has a couple short breaks in Grady's fiddle-influenced "oblique counterpoint" style (heard sometimes on cuts with Red Foley) and then a more boppin' and manic solo later on the record, after it kicks into high gear.
If there's a recording that more handily illustrates how country guitar mutated from hillbilly to rockabilly, I haven't come across it. And I suppose this is as good a place as any to say it-- as great as Carl Perkins, James Burton, Cliff Gallup, and Scotty Moore are, Grady may be the hottest rockabilly lead guitarist of all.

GLEN CAMPBELL, "GALVESTON" SOLO

2011-10-03T01:11:00.000-04:00

Glen tears it up on "Galveston."

Nice changes on this tune, one of Campbell's most lyrical numbers, and an interesting solo. We only have Glen around for a little while longer, sadly, but let's not forget how great his picking is. Even if you ignore his many hits, I say he's for the ages just on the basis of his playing. (I'd even be willing to put him in the pantheon for his twelve-string playing alone.)

DANNY GATTON, "HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER"

2011-09-22T22:20:00.000-04:00

There's tons of bootleg Gatton floating around, but this clip got my attention because I particularly love hearing Danny on classic country shuffles-- in this kind of vein, he's less likely to drift into the face-melting "warp factor ten" mode that everyone seemed to want from him all the time.

Good lord, has it really been almost a year since I've posted here? Sorry about that, but unfortunately life got in the way of my continued blogging. Just wanted to remind everyone I'm still here.

(At least some of my excuse is many months of woodshedding and various recording projects-- one of these days I'll have news about the recordings I've been doing.)

TOMMY TEDESCO, "TEA FOR TWO"

2010-10-10T23:19:00.003-04:00

I've been listening all week to Tommy Tedesco's gut-string playing on the old "50 Guitars" albums, then I found this gem (in a totally different vein) from Tommy's "Twangin' 12 Great Hits" album. Back when I was trying to figure out how the guitar should be played, I'd be listening to Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery, and other jazz cats, but I also never got tired of the twang--

Twang could mean surf, or country, or rockabilly, or Les Paul, or any number of interrelated guitar styles. After a while, I realized that a lot of the playing on TV shows, movies, and albums from that era was these anonymous session guys, and a lot of the twangy playing that had a little more jazz sophistication was by Tommy.
There were others, too, of course, and probably many excelent pickers I haven't heard of, but Tommy shows up a lot once you start looking for him. I would guess this album was another one Tedesco didn't think too much of, but I'm happy to hear Tommy in a twangy vein any day. I'm sure that Tedesco was a major influence on my attempts at mixing twang with sophistication. Maybe it can't be done, and if it can be done, maybe I'm not the best guy to do it, but it still feels like a noble experiment to me. I'll keep working at it!

WALTER HAYNES, "PICK ME UP ON YOUR WAY DOWN," WITH CHARLIE WALKER

2010-09-21T23:16:00.005-04:00

Please excuse my ignorance, but can anyone identify this steel player?
(thanks to Dave Van Allen for determining that the mystery man was
Walter Haynes. Now I need to find more Walter
Haynes.)

(thanks to Bob Adamcik for turning me on to both this song and Charlie Walker.)

BILLY BYRD W/ ERNEST TUBB, "THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING IN TEXAS"

2010-09-10T10:07:00.002-04:00

I couldn't find a clip of Leon playing this song, but here's an older one with Billy Byrd. Unfortunately, Byrd doesn't play a lot on this tune, and you don't get tons of shots of him as in some of the best clips, but what little you get is characteristically fine.

I just did a transcription of Leon's live 1965 version, and thought I'd put this Byrd version up for comparison.

memo to Alex-- do you know of a video clip of Leon playing this song with Tubb?

STEVE CROPPER W/ BOOKER T. AND THE MG'S, "GREEN ONIONS"

2010-08-12T19:34:00.002-04:00

Here's Steve Cropper with the immortal "Green Onions." Not enough Cropper, of course, but can you ever really have enough Steve Cropper? Cropper remains the standard example of how to burn on guitar and still be understated.

MICK GREEN WITH BILLY J. KRAMER, "I CALL YOUR NAME"

2010-07-12T13:43:00.005-04:00

Here's a textbook example of how guitar players can benefit from listening to also-ran recordings. Briefly, I'm talking about the phenomenon of lesser recordings containing stellar guitar playing. Many would probably dismiss or ignore this Billy J. Kramer clip, since it's a weaker version of the Beatles song "I Call Your Name." Okay, Billy J. is no John Lennon, but I'll let others engage in that debate elsewhere. We Tele pickers are concerned with Mick Green's A+ playing. I love George Harrison, but whereas George was a little-engine-that-could type of instrumentalist, working harder than many contemporaries to develop technique that didn't come naturally to him, Mick Green is one of the technical greats of British rock. Ignored in this country, like Hank Marvin, Peter Green, etc., Mick Green kills on cut after cut. I'm slowly working my way through these youtube clips, looking for classic Mick Green playing. There are tons of clips of Green with the Pirates, a solid and in fact pretty intense hard rock band, but these Dakotas clips are a different animal. In a less rocking setting, Green does what James Burton, Nokie Edwards, Jimmy Page, George Barnes et al do so well-- he brings some raunch to a pop session. This kind of approach gives me an almost religious feeling when I hear it.

I'm in the process of putting together some videos where I demonstrate some playing inspired by Green, Burton, and others in that elite group. Look for these to show up soon, knock on wood. (I suppose that wood should ideally be alder, or swamp ash.)

GUITAR INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

2010-07-11T10:27:00.001-04:00

I'm in the process of learning how to make guitar instructional videos. Most likely I'll begin with some short ones, and eventually move on to longer ones with more detail. Please feel free to comment here with any suggestions about what you'd like to see. I'll have a fair amount of free ones up here and elsewhere, and I'll be trying to figure out how to make money from them. My current plan is to post the shorter "teaser" videos for free, and make more in-depth lessons available for sale.

I've found that few people want to pay for tablature and transcription, and those who are willing to pay don't want to pay very much. Given that putting notation and tab together takes a huge amount of time, I'm refocusing my efforts on videos rather than notation. I'm gambling that instructional videos will be more enticing-- we'll see!

Now is a good time to send me suggestions, because in the short term there's a good chance I'll be available to make a video available for free that incorporates whatever you're looking for. Here's an incomplete list of things I'm considering.

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON SPECIFIC PLAYERS
DON RICH
FREDDIE KING
JAMES BURTON
ROY NICHOLS
CLARENCE WHITE
BILLY BYRD/LEON RHODES

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON SPECIFIC SONGS OR PROGRESSIONS
UNDER THE DOUBLE EAGLE
I IV V
my song "TONIGHT"
MY BABE (open E swampy/bluesy a la Burton, Fogerty, Mick Green, Little Walter, etc.)

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON MY APPROACH to PUTTING LINES TOGETHER
my style is a blend of country, rock, blues, and jazz

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON LEARNING THE WHOLE NECK

ORDERING INFO FOR TRANSCRIPTIONS

2010-06-30T10:19:00.001-04:00

ORDERING INFO FOR TRANSCRIPTIONS

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 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

STEVE MORSE W/ THE DREGS, WABASH CANNONBALL ETC.

2010-06-22T22:44:00.004-04:00

Okay, I'll admit, lickety-split fusion-type playing isn't my favorite thing. It's nice to hear it done very well, though, and who does it better than Steve Morse? Mixing in some country doesn't hurt, either. Great execution here; a lot of stuff worth stealing for those who have plenty of time to kill.

They play a medley of Wabash Cannonball and another polka-esque fiddle tune whose name escapes me. Hey, do I have to do all the work around here?

MICK GREEN WITH BILLY J. KRAMER, "MY BABE"

2010-06-12T11:23:00.004-04:00

Here's Mick Green with Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. Billy J. and his group are one of the many also-ran British groups that popped up in the wake of the Beatles-- pretty limp, but any Mick Green sighting is important. Green is better known for his intense work with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, but even in this more subdued setting he plays some good stuff. The second solo is a little more raw, the first a little less exciting, but there's good playing throughout. Little Walter's "My Babe," much like Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning," and Dale Hawkins/James Burton's "Susie Q," is ground zero for open E bluesy/swampy licks. You don't have to play this stuff on a Tele, but it helps.

Thanks to Bob Craver for posting this on facebook.

LEON RHODES AND BUDDY EMMONS, "JAMMIN' WITH JIMMY"

2010-06-09T13:48:00.002-04:00

Here are Leon and Buddy (version one) doing Speedy and Jimmy.

Thanks to Howard Parker for sending this along.

DANNY GATTON, "REMINGTON RIDE"

2010-05-19T16:20:00.005-04:00

More vintage Gatton, this time with Herb Remington's steel guitar classic "Remington Ride," which turns into one of Gatton's crazy medleys.

JAMES BURTON w/RICKY NELSON, "STRING ALONG"

2010-05-13T10:01:00.001-04:00

My colleague Alex McCullough says this is his favorite Burton solo.

MARC RIBOT

2010-05-10T22:04:00.004-04:00

It seems to me that most of what Ribot does here is pretty basic or standard rock vocabulary, but with unusual approach to time, staccato phrasing, etc. I think this shows that just thinking about time and phrasing in a slightly different way, you can immediately get away from rock territory. (With some exceptions, rock is mostly pretty conservative about use of rhythm and time.) Ribot seems to be drifting into some odder territory at the end, but sadly the clip is cut off.

I hope I'm not giving anyone the impression I didn't like his playing here! It's got some Beefheart, some Ennio Morricone, some "Ghost Riders in the Sky"-- what's not to like? I like it a lot, actually-- but it's certainly a lesson in how to avoid cliche without working too hard. Or, another take on it-- he shows how you can use cliched material, but in a slightly different way, and it changes it for the listener.

NEW FREDDY KING TRANSCRIPTION NOW AVAILABLE, "NICKEL-PLATED"

2010-04-27T11:24:00.000-04:00

I just finished a new transcription-- one of Freddie King's great blues instrumentals. Excerpt at right, the whole thing is six pages. See the catalog for ordering info--

straubcountryguitar.blogspot.com/2010/01/catalog-of-available-transcriptions.html

EVAN JOHNS, "MADHOUSE"

2010-04-26T10:04:00.005-04:00

This vintage clip of Evan provided "another piece of the puzzle" for me, to use Jim Stephanson's phrase. Years ago, around the time of this video, I used to go watch Evan play. An Evan show at the old 9:30 club in D.C. was a real experience-- dark atmosphere, plus a whole lot of trash and twang for a couple hours.

Evan used to do a lot of this kind of playing, especially in the key of E, where he'd get a raunchy howling effect by holding notes. At the time, I had no idea how he did this-- but it crawled into my DNA somehow. Now I can see that he focuses this kind of solo around certain bends that can give you an intensity in your playing. I believe this is what Robbie Robertson referred to as "that stinger thing" he got from Roy Buchanan. (Whether Evan was influenced by Roy, I don't know for sure, but it certainly seems likely. These three players, Evan, Roy, and Robbie, are all related to my ear because they rely more on intensity of expression than flash.) Sometimes Evan attacks a note with an extreme right-hand pick-dragging technique-- this technique enables him to get a similar "stinger" effect without bending.

It's hard to see a lot of either hand in this clip, unfortunately, but look for Evan
using positions where he can bend 4 to 5, and b7 to tonic. The G string gets a lot of bending, and E positions both low and high are used. This jumping between low E open position and the high one 12 frets up is a crude but effective gimmick. Easy to do, it perfectly illustrates the different emotional and coloristic effects of the two registers. Low, you can get snarling and guttural-- up high it's more of a screaming effect. When Evan uses the pick-drag technique without bending, it's often the b7 or b3 blue note, with a little vibrato.

ROBBIE ROBERTSON WITH BOB DYLAN AND THE BAND, "LAY, LADY, LAY"

2010-04-19T16:28:00.007-04:00

www.wolfgangsvault.com/

From the fabulous live music site Wolfgang's Vault, here are three different versions of this arrangement. Each one has lots of Robertson fills, plus a solo. I believe the first is the released version from 1974's "Before the Flood," but Robertson fans will find a few new ideas on the other versions here. Robertson gets a lot of mileage out of the high G position, but even though it's basically all pentatonic he never sounds stale, and he doesn't really sound like anyone else. (Aficionados will hear a little Roy Buchanan in Robbie's pinched harmonics, but the phrasing is his own.)

WAYLON, TELE, AND PHASE SHIFTER, "CAN'T YOU SEE"

2010-04-19T10:01:00.002-04:00

Here's some phase shifter, for Marty Lynds and anyone else who digs it. Nice Ralph Mooney solos, and nice chunky gloopy Waylon breaks too. It was country guitar in the 1970s, when twangy met gloopy--

JEFF BECK, "CAUSE WE'VE ENDED AS LOVERS"

2010-04-15T08:58:00.009-04:00

This Stevie Wonder tune is the vehicle for some of Beck's best ballad playing. I'll admit there are aspects of this performance that I don't love-- while Beck has always used crazy excess as an element of his playing, arguably there's more of that here than necessary. I'd also make the generalization that the crazy excess was used in shorter bursts in his earlier work, and with more humor. But regardless of whether you agree with me on that, a few things remain clear about Beck's playing, from any period. He consistently demonstrates a large number of virtuoso techniques, enabling him to mix unusual sounds with unusual phrasing and articulation.

In his more contemplative moments, some of his idiosyncracies lead to very beautiful and expressive playing. There are some of those here if you listen for them.

It's also important to note that Beck's basic approach here is taken from Roy Buchanan-- the use of volume knob to create a variety of "faded-in" attacks was the main ingredient in Buchanan's soulful sound, and Beck incorporated this approach into his own sound after hearing Roy. Beck often plays a Strat, and heavy whammy-bar use colors his tone much of the time. Here you can see him working to get some of the same effects without the bar. It's interesting to hear the different tone he gets on a Tele.

KEITH RICHARDS BRAINS FAN WITH TELE, (BLACK PICKGUARD)

2010-04-05T22:30:00.001-04:00

Classic moment.

DANNY GATTON, "SLEEPWALK"

2010-03-26T09:49:00.001-04:00

I'll be avoiding my computer for a bit, trying to get some "work" done.

Here's a Gatton clip to tide you over.

JOE MAPHIS WITH TOMMY DUNCAN, "MAKES NO DIFFERENCE NOW"

2010-03-06T09:52:00.004-05:00

Here's a Joe Maphis solo behind Tommy Duncan, western swing's greatest singer. It's from the Ranch Party tv show in the 50's. Tex Ritter does the introduction.

It's nice to hear Maphis in this mid-tempo bouncy setting, rather than the lickety-split tempo he's known for.

ROY NICHOLS, WITH MERLE HAGGARD, 1978 "WORKING MAN'S BLUES"

2010-03-05T09:24:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted any Roy Nichols for a while, so here's 1978 Austin clip. Roy takes a nice solo (with a little bit of grit along with the twang), then Merle plays one later in the clip.

MIKE BLOOMFIELD WITH BOB DYLAN, "MAGGIE'S FARM"

2010-03-03T22:12:00.012-05:00

Bloomfield burns here, at the infamous "Dylan goes electric" Newport performance in 1965. Lots of fills around the vocals, and a few short breaks. You can hear the booing at the end-- it's historically interesting, of course, but these days I'm less interested in all that than in the opportunity to hear Mike Bloomfield on a Telecaster.

(note-- the article mentioned below suggests that Bloomfield is the key element that caused all the loud volume, booing, etc.
Sounds reasonable to me-- I like the concept that a loud Telecaster helped change rock history.)

Peggy from www.mikebloomfield.com/ forwarded this link to an in-depth article about Bloomfield's experiences on the weekend of Newport 1965. It's very interesting and detailed-- that's where I found the picture above with the Butterfield Blues Band. THANKS, PEGGY!
www.mikebloomfieldamericanmusic.com/newport.htm

NORMA JEAN, "TRUCK DRIVING WOMAN"

2010-02-26T16:06:00.001-05:00

There's some nice sessionman pickin' on this song by the unjustly overlooked Norma Jean.

BUCK TRENT, WITH DOLLY PARTON, "DUMB BLONDE"

2010-02-23T21:39:00.002-05:00

There's a whole lotta Mosrite on here, as Buck Trent plays double stop Don Rich licks, single note lines, a little taste of "Memphis," etc. Plus, it's always great to catch some early Dolly.

KEITH RICHARDS, WITH ROLLING STONES, "HANG FIRE"

2010-02-19T10:06:00.004-05:00

As any Stones fan knows, there's an awfully large pile of studio and live recordings of this band. Keith's playing is variable in quality. Here's a choice example of him playing a really solid solo, with that raunchy-yet-twangy quality that Telecasters can get better than any other guitar.

PHIL BAUGH, WITH BUDDY EMMONS, FIDDLIN' FRENCHIE BURKE, "CAJUN FIDDLE"

2010-02-16T10:12:00.002-05:00

Here's more Phil Baugh with Frenchie and Buddy. On this tune, Phil is in more of a Nashville mode than a "fiddle tune" single note mode, with double stops, "banjo rolls," and bends using his foot-operated bending gizmo.

PHIL BAUGH, WITH BUDDY EMMONS, FIDDLIN' FRENCHIE BURKE, "BIG MAMOU"

2010-02-16T09:33:00.005-05:00

More Phil Baugh, with some good coverage of his right hand picking technique on this cajun fiddle number. Phil takes a couple breaks here, as well as playing some fills-- with Emmons as a bonus. (It's always valuable to see what top-notch pickers do with two chords, and it's also always interesting to see hot Nashville cats playing more traditional material.)

thanks to Charlie McCardell for sending me this clip.

GEORGE JONES, "THE RACE IS ON," UNKNOWN TELE PICKER

2010-02-15T12:56:00.002-05:00

Here's another unknown picker, with a great Tele tone. If anyone knows who this guitarist is, please let me know!

GLEN CAMPBELL, LARRY COLLINS, ETC., "FIVE DOLLARS AND IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT"

2010-02-15T11:56:00.004-05:00

At 1:38, Glen Campbell (with Jazzmaster) and Larry Collins (Mosrite doubleneck) play some hip harmonized lines. (There are some fills elsewhere as well.) Plus, Faron Young, Lorrie Collins--- probably more that I'm forgetting.

At this point, people like "RockinGator" www.youtube.com/user/RockinGator

are posting twangy clips faster than I can watch 'em, much less post 'em and write about 'em. Thanks, RockinGator!

HANK GARLAND, WITH FLOYD TILLMAN, "SLIPPIN' AROUND"

2010-02-15T11:49:00.001-05:00

Hank plays a nice solo around 1:13.

ROY BUCHANAN, WITH MUNDELL LOWE, "MISTY"

2010-02-09T22:18:00.001-05:00

Here's an excerpt from the 1970s PBS special on Roy.

JUNIOR BARNARD WITH BOB WILLS, "GOODBYE LIZA JANE"

2010-02-01T16:43:00.003-05:00

Here's a Junior clip with Wills; I don't think I've seen any other footage of him. He takes a solo around 1:05.

Many Junior transcriptions now available--

straubcountryguitar.blogspot.com/2010/01/catalog-of-available-transcriptions.html

UNKNOWN EPIPHONE PICKER SHOWS US HOW TO TWANG WITHOUT A FENDER

2010-01-28T14:19:00.003-05:00

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.)

THUMBS CARLILLE WITH AUNT FANNY, "CRAWDAD HOLE"

2010-01-27T16:14:00.003-05:00

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)

GRADY MARTIN WITH RED FOLEY, "CRAWDAD HOLE"

2010-01-27T16:04:00.002-05:00

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.

DON RICH WITH BUCK OWENS, "MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT," "FOOLIN' AROUND," AND "LOVE'S GONNA LIVE HERE AGAIN"

2010-01-26T08:18:00.005-05:00

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

TED GREENE, "AUTUMN LEAVES"

2010-01-23T21:27:00.004-05:00

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

CATALOG OF AVAILABLE TRANSCRIPTIONS

2010-01-22T11:53:00.032-05:00

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

RICHARD THOMPSON, "SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS"

2010-01-20T16:18:00.002-05:00

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?)

CURLY CHALKER AND JIMMY CAPPS ON THE WILBURN BROS. SHOW

2010-01-12T11:48:00.004-05:00

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.

EDDIE BIEBEL WITH WAYNE HANCOCK, "JOHNNY LAW"

2010-01-09T22:42:00.005-05:00

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.

"BROTHER" PAUL BUSKIRK AND HIS HARVEY DOUBLENECK

2010-01-05T08:18:00.003-05:00

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!"

WAYLON PLUS TELE AND PHASE SHIFTER-- "LONESOME, ON'RY AND MEAN"

2009-12-31T21:33:00.000-05:00

DOCUMENT WATSON

2009-12-24T22:48:00.001-05:00

Here's an excerpt from a Japanese website. I'm a big fan of Document Watson's playing, too.

"The following are the top ten countries guitarist to hear in some countries playing skills.

1. Chet Atkins

2. Merle Travis

3. Jerry Reed

4.罗伊克拉克

5. Hank Garland

6. Albert Lee

7. Mei Li Kate 100

8. Document Watson

9.诺曼布莱克

10. Tony Rice

ClassicElectric guitar sound of country music is characterized by the classic single-coil guitar sound pickup, usually the fender or fender telecaster pickups, and the fair has been distorted to enlarge the employment of the most frequent, a fender dual 100-watt amplifier reverberation."

GLEN CAMPBELL, "LITTLE DOLL"

2009-12-20T17:32:00.001-05:00

Here's more early Glen, a cheesy song and a cheesy guitar (Teisco Del Rey), but there's nothing cheesy about his solo.

(I poached this from Marc O'Hara's guitar blog, uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/)

"HANK'S DREAM" BY THE SMOKIN' 45's

2009-12-16T15:23:00.004-05:00

WARNING! THIS AUDIO IS PAINFULLY DISTORTED!

I'm posting it, regardless, because the guitarist (Dusty Ciggaar, from the Netherlands) has copped these Hank Garland licks so well. I suggest turning your speakers down pretty low, and watching his left hand for some clues about how Hank Garland played doublestops and moved around the neck. I haven't checked the original version to see if it's note-for-note, but he's definitely got the flavor. It's one of those Hank things where he seems to be playing rockabilly, hillbilly boogie, and western swing all at the same time. Hank Garland was one of the players who kept reminding us that all these styles are closely related, and it's nice to see that young pickers are still stealing from the master.

note-- the Garland family have been leaving very kind comments on this blog, and they've passed along the link to this clip of the Smokin' 45's. It's a rehearsal, and although the visual of Dusty's playing is not ideal, the sound is a little less distorted than on the live clip.

GRADY MARTIN, "Y'ALL COME" WITH ARLIE DUFF AND RED FOLEY'S BAND

2009-12-14T10:44:00.002-05:00

There's precious little Grady Martin on this clip, unfortunately. We only get a brief glimpse of him standing up to play a hot solo on what appears to be a Bigsby doubleneck, before the camera cuts away to a closeup of Arlie Duff's shoes. (The shoes are pretty striking, it must be said.) Mostly, when we see Grady, he's not soloing, and when he's soloing, we don't see him. Still, any footage of him is essential.

LEFTY FRIZZELL, "IF YOU'VE GOT THE MONEY" AND "SAGINAW"

2009-12-13T09:01:00.002-05:00

I have no idea who the guitar picker is here. It might be two different guys, and it might even be lip-synching-- either way, good guitar playing.

MERLE AS A BUCKAROO

2009-12-11T08:59:00.002-05:00

Here's a little trivia-- I'd heard that Merle Haggard suggested the name "Buckaroos" for Buck Owens's band, but I didn't know there was a story behind it. Thanks to Alvin Blaine on the steel guitar forum, I can pass along the story to you. Merle played bass with Buck for a while, and Buck bought matching outfits for the band. When Merle tried his on, with the fringe cowhide jacket, he said, "What are we, some fuckin' Buckaroos?"

GRADY MARTIN ON 78, "HOT LIPS"

2009-12-09T11:20:00.001-05:00

The guitar playing on this corny arrangement is pretty hot-- but if you can't take tinny sound, and warped vinyl warbling, you might want to move along to the next post.

JUNE CARTER LEAVES US ALL IN THE DUST

2009-12-04T15:37:00.002-05:00

Johnny Cash is great, of course, but watch this clip where June Carter leaves him in the dust. Damn, June-- she really steals this song. I love the line where she's "dancin' on a pony keg." (That can't be easy to do-)

LLOYD GREEN WITH FARON YOUNG, 1957

2009-12-04T13:58:00.002-05:00

Here's another moment for the Lloyd Green disciples listening in. It's interesting to see how Lloyd sounded in an older style than we tend to associate with his mature work. I like how it's very, very musical, sort of a look ahead to the sixties which still fits the fifties vibe.

JAMES BURTON, WITH THE SHINDOGS AND PATTY DUKE, "I'M HENRY THE VIIITH I AM"

2009-11-30T22:07:00.002-05:00

James plays a hot solo here, a great example of how he could take a pretty stale song and breathe some life into it with his twangy rock and roll sound. Burton's country playing is generally my favorite stuff by him, but it's always interesting to see how he approaches a melody, no matter how generic the track is otherwise. Burton's work from this period shows how he was a master of the same skill I associate with Nokie Edwards from the Ventures-- the ability to take virtually any tune and attack it from a surf/trash/twang perspective.

GENE MOLES, UNSUNG PICKER, WITH RED SIMPSON, "DIESEL SMOKE AND DANGEROUS CURVES"

2009-11-29T22:28:00.004-05:00

There's plenty of twang from the unsung Gene Moles, on this Red Simpson trucking cut. It may be a Mosrite he's playing here; Moles was the quality control man at Mosrite. (Incidentally, Mosrite and Moles were both based in Bakersfield. I found Gene Moles's name on an early Merle Haggard personnel credit while I was researching Roy Nichols. Apparently Moles also hung out with Nokie Edwards of the Ventures; obviously I need to investigate Gene's work further!)

ROY NICHOLS, "MAMA TRIED," 1978

2009-11-23T21:52:00.005-05:00

Here's a rare live clip of Merle Haggard in 1978. Roy Nichols plays his classic intro lick, and the solo more or less like the original, but then tears into a nifty three-part (with Merle and the saxophonist) western swing version of the melody. (Most likely this was arranged by Eldon Shamblin, visible in the clip.) It's an interesting melding of Merle's earlier Bakersfield style with his Bob Wills influence.

ROY NICHOLS, "WORKINGMAN'S BLUES," PLUS A BONUS-- TINY MOORE

2009-11-18T15:51:00.005-05:00

Here, finally, is some earlier Roy Nichols than I've previously posted. You can buy this clip on the great shoutfactory Haggard dvd "Legendary Performances." (There's not nearly enough Roy on there for my taste, but that's mainly because I want to hear Roy playing five minute solos on every tune. Also, a few clips have Merle on shows without the Strangers. The house bands are still pretty hot, though.)

Here's one from the great period where Roy was still getting a lot of solo space, but you also had Tiny Moore on electric mandolin. (Tiny sounds like he's using phase shifter on this clip-- perhaps everyone won't consider that a bonus, but it sure doesn't stop him from picking a hot solo.)

Note for gear fanatics-- Roy has something that looks like a Charlie Christian pickup in the neck position on his Tele. Should you care? Only you know the answer to that.

WAIT AROUND FOR THE ENDING-- Roy gets in a few more bends at the tag.

WAYLON, "MENTAL REVENGE"

2009-11-18T15:07:00.002-05:00

Here's a great but obscure Mel Tillis song, with Waylon picking a few Tele licks.

PHIL BAUGH ON MOSRITE WITH FUZZ, GLEN CAMPBELL PICKING ACTUAL COUNTRY MUSIC

2009-11-16T08:36:00.003-05:00

Here's a real oddity-- an artifact from the pre-Cambrian Glen Campbell career, when he was picking some serious old-school country. Then you get Phil Baugh with a Mosrite doubleneck and fuzztone-- I like fuzztone in general, but it's a special treat when the hillbilly pickers break out the fuzz. It's always interesting to see what a country picker will do with fuzz, and Phil does a cool whammy bar trick that sounds like a truck revving up. Hot!

JAMES BURTON FEATURE ON SHINDIG

2009-11-15T11:24:00.002-05:00

I would guess there's lots of James Burton pickin' on old Shindig clips. I haven't been able to find much more than this one so far, though.

UNSUNG PICKERS- GENE SLONE W/DON GIBSON

2009-11-13T16:05:00.004-05:00

Excellent solo and fills by Gene Slone. I saw a post where some know-it-all wrote that Hank Garland would have played a better solo, but he guessed Gene Slone did all right. What a bunch of horseshit! No-one digs Hank Garland more than I do; he was arguably the best Nashville guitar picker ever. That doesn't take anything away from Slone's great solo here-- interestingly, he plays a bunch of Hank Garland/Grady Martin single-note fills early on, then plays a solo with pedal steel-like phrasing and tone. The fills later in the song sound like they could be a steel player-- but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's Slone again. (note for non-players-- it's not easy to get that steel sound on guitar.) It's fun to obsess about the legends like Garland and Martin, and search around for their work, but it's important to remember that for every hot A-list guy, there were hundreds of great pickers yapping at their heels. The fact that producers chose to use the same players on session after session doesn't mean there weren't tons of also-rans that could play "clean as country water," and I'm happy to learn from 'em-- in Nashville, a fourth string guy is often better than the first string in any normal town.

"WILDWOOD FLOWER," CHET ATKINS

2009-11-13T14:40:00.002-05:00

The usual jaw-dropping (yet still mild-mannered) arrangement by the great Chet Atkins. It's interesting to compare this to Maybelle Carter's classic version.

karlstraubguitar.blogspot.com/2009/11/wildwood-flower-maybelle-carter.html

LLOYD GREEN, WITH CHARLEY PRIDE (LAWRENCE WELK SHOW)

2009-11-07T18:11:00.004-05:00

"Just Between You and Me," a honky-tonk weeper (but with some bounce to it!), was a memorable cut on the famous Panther Hall live album. Here's a version from a couple years earlier, with the great Lloyd Green joining Charley Pride on the Lawrence Welk show.

CLIFF GALLUP SOLO, RECREATED BY ESTONIAN ROCKABILLY GUITARIST ARTUR SKROPNIK

2009-10-29T08:56:00.004-04:00

Artur Skropnik plays this Cliff Gallup solo beautifully in this clip. The original solo, from Gene Vincent's version of pop chestnut "Peg O' My Heart," eloquently illustrates the solution to a problem I've been struggling with for years. Apparently, if I had just taken the time to learn this Cliff Gallup solo, I would have figured out the solution.

The problem-- how to use double stops to outline chord changes. I've mostly clung to the major/minor thirds method, which constantly paints me into a corner-- using only thirds, you often wind up with a harmonized line that doesn't outline the chord too well. Often it won't sound "wrong," exactly, but just kind of bland in a context including seventh chords and other extensions. The solution? Mix your thirds with sixths, and throw in some triple/quadruple stops too when you can fit them.

There's more to it than that, but that is enough to give me some ideas. Here's a link to Artur's transcription of the solo. (I believe his transcription omits his pickup entry.) Thanks, Artur!

www.rockabillybash.com/article.php?id=118

JIMMY BRYANT, (I THINK!) WITH TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD, "SHOTGUN BOOGIE"

2009-10-25T21:17:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure this is Jimmy Bryant, but it sure sounds like him back there, filling around Ernie's vocal. If you look close, you can see a guy who looks like Jimmy, playing what looks like a Telecaster. I'm not sure this evidence would stand up in court, but Jimmy or no Jimmy, there's great playing here. I hear a snippet of what sounds like Speedy in there too.

GRADY MARTIN, "FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE," WITH RED FOLEY

2009-10-15T23:10:00.007-04:00

Grady Martin's on a ton of records, but this is the first clip I ever saw where you can actually see him play. He plays a hot hillbilly boogie figure around :37, (notated here) and danged if he isn't playing it on a Bigsby double-neck. A few nice licks at the top really nail that fifties country guitar sound, and he plays some nice backup double-stop figures at 1:08.

If anyone else has found any other Grady Martin clips, let me know!

LEON RHODES WITH ERNEST TUBB, "DRIVING NAILS IN MY COFFIN"

2009-10-15T22:23:00.003-04:00

Typically great fills from Leon Rhodes, with solo around :57. Great Emmons solo too!

JIMMY BRYANT AND SPEEDY WEST, "FLYIN' HIGH"

2009-10-15T11:04:00.003-04:00

Here's the great Jimmy Bryant, playing a tune that was eventually recorded as "Cotton Pickin'". This live version from TV is arguably not as hot as the studio version, but who cares? It's still killer, and although the kinescope is pretty grainy, you get some chances to see Jimmy's technique up close. It's amazing how much of the soloing is up above the 12th fret-- it really jumps out at you sonically in that register.

Bonus-- you get to see the interaction between Jimmy and Speedy-- Bryant does a few goofy Speedy-esque moves while comping. I never noticed anything like this on the studio stuff; maybe on the show Bryant got more into the clowning and upmanship.

thanks to Howard Parker for sending this; he says there's more of it so I'll investigate and keep you posted.

HOT COUNTRY LICK IN E

2009-10-12T13:58:00.005-04:00

This lick spans four positions (every one but E position) and uses bends and slides. The key element here is the use of half-step grace note slides to give your picking hand a break. This can be used to get into a new position, but I think the most significant advantage to using these slides is to take some of the pressure off your picking hand; this helps you with speed because you don't have to work as hard. (The rock way to do this is to use lots of hammers and pulloffs-- this works in country too, but the sliding technique sounds a little hipper to my ears. (It's also common in jazz guitar.)

I came up with this lick while working with Doug Seven's excellent "modern" country guitar instructional material, available from his site sizzlingguitarlicks.com/.

I think Doug got this idea from Brent Mason and others.

At some point I'm planning to put up video of me playing in this vein, but in the meantime here's the notation.

JOE MAPHIS WITH WANDA JACKSON, "HARD-HEADED WOMAN"

2009-10-11T11:54:00.004-04:00

Joe Maphis takes a hot break here; although Joe was one of the first country pickers to figure out how to transfer fiddle tunes to electric guitar (along with Jimmy Bryant), he was also one of the few "straight country" guys who fit in well with rockabilly, Grady Martin being another.

As an aside, I'll just mention it's refreshing to hear a woman say "you betcha" and then hear Joe Maphis's Mosrite next, rather than a bunch of phony soundbite politics.

THANKS, Howard Parker, for forwarding this.

TRUCK DRIVER TELECASTER (DAVE DUDLEY, "COMIN' HOME")

2009-10-04T14:49:00.003-04:00

Records like this are Telecaster twang ground zero. I need to pick up a good collection of Dave Dudley and his trucker country colleagues, if anyone has a suggestion--

HANK GARLAND, ROCKABILLY SESSION

2009-09-19T09:15:00.004-04:00

Here's an obscure rockabilly side, with hot solo and fills from Hank Garland. Gene Maltais's "Crazy Baby" is pretty boilerplate rockabilly, except for Garland's over-the-top playing. With players like Garland and Grady Martin, the true story of the work is not always on the hits.
(And speaking of Grady Martin-- I didn't do any web detective work to confirm the youtube claim that this track is Hank Garland. Hank could do just about anything, so it could be him, but it sure sounds a lot like Grady Martin to me. He had an idiosyncratic way of playing rockabilly that was very raunchy, but still somehow sounded country too. Martin sounded more country than most rockabilly players, but he had as much edge and rock and roll in his playing as any rockabilly specialist. If anyone cares enough to do some research, please let me know what you find about the identity of this guitarist.)

HANK GARLAND TRANSCRIPTION BOOK, "VELVET GUITAR" ALBUM

2009-09-15T22:06:00.001-04:00

Guitarist Mike Joiner has done guitar transcriptions from Hank Garland's "Velvet Guitar" album.

Hank was a true musician's musician-- aside from playing on countless Nashville country sessions, he made a handful of top-notch jazz recordings before a car accident in 1960 made it impossible for him to play professionally. Garland's "Jazz Winds from Another Direction" is his most celebrated jazz album, but the "Velvet Guitar" lp has some beautiful playing as well. This album, currently available as part of the "Move" two-disc collection, may have been originally promoted and packaged as a "mood music" type of record, but it's nonetheless excellent. It actually has one advantage over the more well-known "Jazz Winds;" Garland is virtually the whole show. Impeccable single-note lines alternate with hip double-stops and some of the sweetest chord melody playing I've ever heard.

I'm looking forward to spicing up my playing with as many of these Hank Garland licks as I can steal!

Mike's notation/tab book is in PDF form. Anyone interested can contact Mike Joiner at jazzguitarist27@yahoo.com.

Here's a sample from Mike's book. "Ed's Place" is a slow and swinging blues. The hammer-ons and pulloffs are a great example of how to use slurs to get a bluesy jazz flavor. Listen to the track here--

www.karlstraubmusic.com/2-03 Ed's Place.mp3

click on "MORE" to see track listing from Mike's book.

. The tracklisting is:

1. Secret Love
2. Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair)
3. Greensleeves
4. Tammy
5. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
6. Autumn Leaves
7. Like Someone In Love
8. Ain't Nothing Wrong With That, Baby
9. Blame It On My Youth
10. Ed's Place

STEVE TROVATO, "TIGER RAG"

2009-09-11T15:02:00.003-04:00

Steve Trovato is a real rarity-- a sophisticated player/educator who can play older styles with the right feel. I hear so many different influences in his playing-- Chet,
Albert Lee, Les Paul, Jimmy Bryant, Hank Garland, etc. etc. Beautiful stuff.

HOT COUNTRY LICK IN G (D POSITION)

2009-09-11T10:40:00.002-04:00

I got the idea for this lick while trying to steal some Nashville stuff from a Steve Trovato clip.

This lick will help you develop your ability to play out of D shapes. A lot of great country and blues licks come out of D shapes, but the D positions require a lot of stretching and shifting and they're tough to use. Inefficient though this position may be, don't neglect it! Its value lies in its special sound. The lick I have here can be played more easily in open G, or in its neighboring E position, but it sounds very different in a D position. That's because it uses a lot of the G string, giving you less of the thin B and E string sound. Of course, when you're going for that brittle twang tone, the B and high E are indispensable, but this position gives you more of a modern Nashville tone.

It's also a great pinky workout, and we all can use more of those.

LEON RHODES GUITAR SOLO TRANSCRIPTION from "MY WINDOW FACES THE SOUTH," WILLIE WITH THE TROUBADOURS

2009-09-08T09:07:00.016-04:00

Here's a cool artifact-- Willie Nelson sings Bob Wills's "My Window Faces the South" with the Texas Troubadours. That's about as Texas as you can get. Check out Leon Rhodes burning throughout--- lots of fast eighth-note runs and nice chord stabs behind the vocal, then a real workout of a solo. Another great opportunity to watch the technique of a master.

I have this solo transcribed below-- click on "MORE" to get to it, and you can click on the music to enlarge.

Most of the time with Ernest Tubb you get Leon's version of the Billy Byrd style. Tubb was very generous in giving space to his sidemen to stretch out, though, and here's a fascinating example of Leon in a lickety-split western swing setting. He starts down in an open G position, with Jimmy Bryant-esque fiddle-tune runs (throwing in a cool whole-tone lick!) and works his way up three octaves. "Window" is a great tune for improvising, because you get eight bars of G before the chords start moving into "rhythm changes" territory. When this happens, the chords move mighty fast, and Leon shifts into arpeggio mode. This is a common technique in this kind of music.

Check the tablature carefully-- some of these position choices had me scratching my head at first, but I watched the video and tried to play the notes exactly where Leon did, and eventually it made sense. In fact, in several cases, Leon's choice of fingerings and positions made it easier to play these lines.

IMPORTANT TIP ABOUT PLAYING FAST! Whenever I study the work of fast players, I almost always find interesting fingerings, use of positions, shifting techniques, etc. I think most fast players have spent a lot of time finding out efficient ways to move around the fingerboard. Players trying to play faster often focus too much on the right hand, not realizing that you have to plan out your left-hand moves on the fingerboard so that you know where you can go. If you're burning down the road in your hot rod, you can't pull over to ask directions.

Check Leon's right hand picking angle too-- keeping wrist relaxed, and experimenting with the angle of pick to string is important, but it won't help you if you don't know where the notes are. Good luck!

WESTERN SWING CHORD MELODY VOICINGS

2009-09-05T00:55:00.004-04:00

(Note-- I'm hoping to put some examples of this either in notation or maybe on a video at some point. I'm swamped with work for a while, but if anyone out there hounds me about it, I might get to it a little quicker.)

This approach is inspired by a quote from Lenny Breau to the effect that he mostly just used thirds and sevenths (guide tones) to harmonize melody lines. You have to have some theory and fretboard knowledge to make this work, but if you've been playing jazz changes for a while this method shouldn't be too hard for you. The way I'd been harmonizing melody lines for chord melody style felt a little clunky to me, and since I've been experimenting with this Lenny Breau system, it's really freed up my playing.

I thought I'd try doing this in a western swing setting, and I figured out some interesting things in the process.

When I was playing in more of a jazz style and using this system, I ran into some trouble when the melody note was either the third or the seventh of the chord. Doubling the melody note in the guide tones usually sounds bad to my ears, so I've tried putting other chord tones in to replace the note already in the melody. This works okay, but the obvious notes left over are the root and the fifth, and using these notes defeats the purpose somewhat of the guide tone approach. The genius of harmonizing with guide tones is that they outline the harmony while still giving you an open kind of sound. When you add roots and fifths, they add weight and density to the texture-- perfect for many musical styles, but for most kinds of jazz the result is a sluggish, cluttered feeling. When you're arranging a standard in chord melody this way, it's not a serious problem because the chord tones are not going to be thirds and sevenths all the time. Still, I couldn't wondering if there were some other options I should try.

When I started thinking in western swing terms, some interesting solutions popped up. I've noticed over the years that steel players like to use voicings that include whole step dissonance on adjacent strings. A fifth can be voiced right under a sixth, and likewise a ninth under a high third. Major sixth chords are also usually used where a jazz player might go with a major seventh. These sounds are characteristic of western swing.

When I tried voicing fifth and sixth under a third in the melody, and a ninth and third under a seventh, it worked pretty well. For dominant seventh chords, I still use guide tones as the harmony. For major type chords, I'll use thirds and sixths as my guide tones. (If the third is in the melody, I like to use sixth, root, third.)

If I'm playing jazz, I'll still run into trouble, I guess; since I usually walk a fine line between jazz and western swing, though, I'll probably start throwing in these western voicings and hope for the best.

TRANSCRIBING AND TAB FOR COUNTRY GUITAR, ETC.

2009-08-31T11:54:00.011-04:00

I can transcribe guitar parts from records for you. (Examples of my transcribing can be found on my Karl Straub Guitar blog, karlstraubguitar.blogspot.com/)
If you're looking for something you can't find online, I can transcribe to order for less than you'd probably pay for a lesson. My base price for a transcription is $30.00. This can vary depending on various elements. (note-- if you're interested in me writing western swing arrangements for you, here's an example I recorded. straubcountryguitar.blogspot.com/2009/08/panhandle-rag-straub-arrangement-for.html

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
(Karl transcribed various instrument parts from several Warren Zevon recordings. He then arranged the parts for three horns.)

"Karl helped transcribe my most basic head arrangements into three perfectly harmonized horn parts for my performance fronting a thirteen piece band. There was only one run through just prior to the show and so the notation had to be correct, and it was. His experience as a musician playing in many different styles makes him especially easy to relate to conceptually and I would recommend him for any project requiring a keen ear and an accurate transcription."

David Kitchen

PRICING AND POLICIES

MORE EXPENSIVE

Complicated music, such as chord voicings on a jazz record, 3-part harmonized lines such as you'd find on a Bob Wills record, Chet Atkins fingerstyle arrangements, etc.
These kinds of things take a long time to transcribe. It also takes much longer if you want notation, as opposed to tablature. Notation includes rhythms, adding a lot of extra work. I can also provide a video clip of me demonstrating how to play the parts, or certain techniques. That takes a lot more time, of course.

LESS EXPENSIVE

Single-note solos and fills are easier to transcribe. It's also easier for me to transcribe using tab only, and not notating rhythms. I prefer notation myself, because it's more accurate than tab, but if you don't read notation or rhythms, I can do tab-only quicker for you. The tablature will tell you frets and strings, but you'll have to figure out the rhythms on your own.

BULK RATE

If you are interested in an ongoing service, like taking lessons, I may be able to offer a discount.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE VALUE AND COST OF THIS WORK.

I've already had some customers tell me my prices are too high. Naturally, I understand the concept of "what the market will bear." If you honestly can't afford what I'm charging, please tell me that and we may be able to work something out. If you think I'm overcharging, please consider the following information.

If you take a guitar lesson with a qualified professional, you would very likely pay even more than my transcribing price for one lesson. If your teacher has to write down something he's figuring out by ear, that takes additional time. This is assuming you can find a teacher you trust to figure things out accurately.

Transcribing is not like raking leaves-- it's very complex work, and not everyone can do it. I have a music degree and years of experience teaching and performing many different styles. I think sometimes people have trouble thinking of musicians as qualified professionals who should be paid well. Part of the problem is that there is so much free tab and online information. This conditions people into thinking they should be able to get tab without paying for it. Some of the free stuff is good, but much of it is worthless. There is also an awful lot of music you will never find free tab for.

I provide a service for people who are serious about music, and want their transcription to be accurate. I also am doing this for people interested in music that's hard (or impossible) to find in tab form. If I charged my hourly teaching rate for my transcriptions, my price would be much higher! I'm charging less than I think I'm worth because I'm trying to establish an online reputation and not scare people away.

PAYMENT POLICIES

At this time, I ask for payment by mailed check at the conclusion of the work. My address is Karl Straub, 406 Cloverway, Alexandria, Virginia, 22314. I can post the transcription while it's in progress, in case a customer wants to give suggestions for me to do it differently in some way.

MY TRANSCRIBING SYSTEM

I can email a file with the transcription to you. I usually post it on my private site, where you can watch it in progress, and print it out for your own use.

WHAT I NEED FROM YOU

Customers must make the recording available to me in one of the following ways.

1. Mail me a burned CD of the music.

2. Email me an mp3, using YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com/) or similar program. (Note-- if you have ITunes program, it's easy to make an mp3, drag it to your desktop, and send it it to me in an email using YouSendIt. My email address is karlstraub@hotmail.com.)

3. If the song is on YouTube, send me the link. I can usually transcribe from a YouTube clip.

I also need very clear information from you about what you want. This means a clear description of which parts, solos, chords, etc. I also need to know the timings of where a part comes in. (i.e. if you want a guitar solo, I need to know that it is 1:40 to 1:58.)

PANHANDLE RAG, STRAUB ARRANGEMENT FOR TWO, FOUR, OR EVEN FIVE GUITARS

2009-08-16T15:39:00.004-04:00

www.karlstraubmusic.com/PANHANDLE RAG straub arrangement.mp3

Here are three different Straub arrangements of "Panhandle Rag."

(Please note-- anyone who would like a copy of these arrangements should email me at karlstraub@hotmail.com. I'm happy to sell it to anyone who would like to use it for their own group. I'm also available to write similar arrangements for anyone who wants to spice up their country or western swing music with harmonized stuff like this. Want a Bob Wills style arrangement written for your group? I'm here to help!)

Some of this is in four-part style-- I played these sections as two parts, both playing double stops. It takes a lot of work to play a four-part arrangement with just two players-- the double stops are tough, and it took me many takes to get it right.

(Of course, if I learned how to punchin while overdubbing, it would be easier. But one man can only do so much.) It's a lot easier to play these kinds of lines with four players, but how many groups have that many soloists handy? (In fact, this arranging approach is even stronger with five players-- with a fifth line an octave below the top line.)

The eight bar intro is four-part style.

Next is thirty-two bars (the whole head) in two-part style. This is two lines, and could be more easily played by two players. This section is a fairly straight rendition of the original melody, harmonized.

Then I have more four-part style, thirty-two bars. This is again played by two guitars with double-stops.

Last, I have another two-part section. This is the variation that departs most from the original melody. It's hotter and more swinging.

BUDDY MERRILL, STEEL GUITAR, ON LAWRENCE WELK SHOW

2009-08-16T11:38:00.005-04:00

Call me old-fashioned, but I'd rather watch the Welk show than the hideous "American Idol." I think we've somehow reached a point where our current mainstream pop music is actually less hip than Lawrence Welk.

(thanks to Charlie McCardell for sending this along.)

LEON RHODES WITH BUDDY EMMONS-- "WALKIN' THE FLOOR OVER YOU"

2009-08-04T12:19:00.003-04:00

The Troubadours with Charleton and Rhodes are usually considered the hottest lineup Tubb had, but it must be said-- before Charleton came on board, this guy Emmons wasn't bad.

BUDDY CHARLETON WITH LEON RHODES ON FLATTOP GUITAR, "COOL IT"

2009-08-04T09:33:00.004-04:00

This is a feature for Charleton, with the bonus of Leon playing what Ernest Tubb refers to as the "grammar guitar." He's struggling to keep it near the mike, but playing great as usual. It's interesting to watch a guy who usually plays electric when he's playing single-note stuff on acoustic-- he doesn't really change his style much here. Pretty swinging, as usual.

MERLE HAGGARD PLAYS WITH SOME REAL BITE ON THIS SOLO, WITH GUEST TAMMY WYNETTE

2009-08-02T22:22:00.003-04:00

At 1:21, Haggard plays a Tele solo worthy of the great Roy Nichols. I've seen and heard a lot of Merle Tele solos-- he always has a great feel and tone, but sometimes his execution paints him into corners he can't get out of. Getting out of corners was Roy's specialty-- and it takes a lot of practicing to learn how to do that! At any rate, this is probably the best and tightest solo I've ever heard Merle play. He's still slightly tentative compared to a top-drawer picker, but it's beautiful playing, with the twang and some tasty overdriven raunch. Years ago, Haggard had an interesting influence on Roy's playing-- supposedly at Merle's suggestion, Roy started experimenting with what I call an "unbend" lick. The pre-bent note struck and unbent became a Roy Nichols trademark.

HANK GARLAND-- "SUGARFOOT RAG"

2009-08-02T21:42:00.004-04:00

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!

GEORGE, WE HARDLY KNEW YE

2009-07-13T22:50:00.001-04:00

www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-george-fullerton8-2009jul08,0,5638626.story

George Fullerton, Leo Fender's right hand man, passed away the other day. Michael Jackson was a hell of a dancer, as I've been reminded again and again recently, but George Fullerton is part of my life every time I pick up a Tele, or plug into a Fender amp.

Thanks, George, for all the twang.

JUNIOR BARNARD WITH BOB WILLS

2009-07-07T18:10:00.003-04:00

The usual hot solo from Junior, at 1:05.

(thanks to Howard Parker for forwarding this clip.)

HANK GARLAND, WITH DON GIBSON "BLUE, BLUE, DAY"

2009-06-15T14:55:00.003-04:00

Hank Garland is one of the prototypes (Jimmy Bryant being another) of the country guitarist who can mix twang and jazz.

TUXES, BATSHIRTS, THUMBS CARLILLE, A PRETTY BLEARY-EYED ROGER MILLER, ETC.

2009-06-12T11:42:00.004-04:00

blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/02/opry-almanac.html

This clip has Thumbs Carlille, some country-jazz playing, another excellent unsung picker named Jimmy Colvard (he played on Dave Dudley's "Six Days On the Road") and much, much more. There's really too much great music and weirdness to explain. Enjoy, and thank Charlie McCardell for passing this along. (Bill Kirchen passed it to him, evidently.)

I am quite sure I have never seen anything on TV in my life that was as real and strange as this long clip. (I didn't even mention a hung-over Roger Miller.)

SOME BILLY BYRD (FINALLY!)

2009-06-10T22:28:00.003-04:00

here's some Ernest Tubb with Billy Byrd. Leon Rhodes came along and took the Billy Byrd style to another level, arguably, but it's important not to forget how perfect and melodic Byrd's lines were. Sort of like Bach, but with twang.

Note-- since I wrote this, I've seen some early (pre-Byrd) clips of Tubb, with Jimmie Short playing some excellent guitar. I'd like to clarify that the "Billy Byrd" style is really Byrd's expansion of the earlier style played by Short and others. I think Byrd really set the standard, though, taking Tubb's style and combining it with a jazzman's familiarity with the whole guitar neck. (Incidentally, I always read that Byrd was really a jazzman at heart, but I haven't heard any recorded evidence that he played jazz. There's plenty of Troubadours stuff where you can hear Leon and Charleton demonstrating jazz chops, but nothing comparable with Byrd, to my knowledge. If anyone out there can enlighten me about this, please do!)

THUMBS CARLILLE, "SPRINGFIELD GUITAR SOCIAL"

2009-06-04T13:15:00.006-04:00

This is pretty similar to the Phil Baugh showcase I posted a while back, with the bonus that more obscure guitarists are included. Even a sick Speedy West imitation!

BILL HARKLEROAD (WITH MALLARD, "BACK ON THE PAVEMENT" )

2009-05-25T22:39:00.006-04:00

Here's Bill Harkleroad, aka Zoot Horn Rollo, with his post-Captain Beefheart band Mallard. While I don't like this nearly as much as I like the Magic Band, Mallard is a great ensemble with some unusual ideas. Harkleroad's solos and background riffs under the vocals are a lesson in how to incorporate Beefheart guitar ideas into a more conventional context. Great Telecaster sound-- trebly, slightly overdriven. Harkleroad can't really be called underrated, because most people, even guitarists, haven't heard of him. He's one of my heroes, though-- anyone interested in the traditional/avant-garde kind of playing Tom Waits featured on his records (esp. guitarist Marc Ribot) should listen to Harkleroad's work to hear one of the guys that pioneered it.

The music here is somewhere in or around bluesy/funky Little Feat/Joe Cocker territory, with just enough off-kilter rhythms and phrasing to distinguish it from the mainstream. (Some of the other youtube cuts have more of a prog-rock flavor, and some of the keyboard soloing sounds Cecil Taylor-esque.) I suspect the band wasn't accessible enough for the mainstream, yet too connected to roots music to please the prog crowd.

ROY BUCHANAN, "SWEET DREAMS"

2009-05-25T16:26:00.005-04:00

Here's Roy in a clip from 1974. (I believe it's from the Musik Laden program.) The person who posted it says he has more material from the famous PBS tv special, some of it with Merle Haggard and Roy Nichols.
(see earlier post, karlstraubcountryguitar.blogspot.com/2008/12/buchanan-rides-alone.html)

If I see that around, I'll put some of it here. I had it on video, and have no way to transfer it and post excerpts as of yet--

Anyone who has the "Snake Stretchers" album knows that "Sweet Dreams" is one of Roy's great performances, and any version of it is welcome, especially on video.

JIMMY BRYANT (WITH TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD)

2009-05-24T22:44:00.002-04:00

Jimmy plays a great short solo here, a great example of how he can go from western swing boogie licks to bebop-type lines, and then wrap it up with some double-time fiddle tune style playing. Killer, as always-- (and, as usual, a great Speedy West solo too.)

USING HALFTIME IDEAS TO PLAY LINES AT FAST TEMPOS

2009-05-22T12:19:00.005-04:00

My style revolves around shifting positions, shifting between major-scale ideas and blues ideas, varying rhythms, articulation, etc. It works well for me in slow and medium tempos, but in fast tempos I flounder-- mainly because at a tempo like 200 quarter notes per minute, eighths are hard to sustain. I've been frustrated that tempos like that tend to make me play bad ideas; I fall back on treading-water licks, repeated notes, and all the lame stuff that even great players sometimes use at fast tempos.

I came up with an approach that is starting to help. It involves thinking of the tempo in a different way. It's based on my theory that fast tempos intimidate me, causing my hands to tense up. Anything that helps you relax is good, and thinking in half-time seems to help.

1. If you are at a fast tempo (like quarter note equals 200), think of the quarter notes as eighth notes. (Tapping your foot on two and four in the half time tempo can help. This is the equivalent of tapping foot on three in the actual tempo. Practice the transition back and forth along with a metronome.)

2. Once you're thinking in half-time, play eighth-note lines. These are the equivalent of quarter notes in the actual tempo.

3. When you have the eighths together, switch to "double-time" runs for half a bar at a time. Now you're playing eighths for half a bar, and sixteenths for half a bar. (This means you're playing quarters and eighths in the actual tempo.)

4. If you can keep this up for eight bars or so, you've probably got something that will do the job when you have to solo. You can make it more interesting by making it less a rigid ratio between eighths and sixteenths, mixing it up a bit and being less symmetrical. Using some rests is also good-- practice starting ideas on something besides beat one.

5. Eventually, you'll be able to sustain the half-time sixteenths longer; in the meantime, you'll have a solo that sounds more musical. Ideally, by the time you can keep the half-time sixteenths going, you'll be using less treading-water ideas.