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

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.
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MERLE AS A BUCKAROO

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?"
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ROY NICHOLS, "MAMA TRIED," 1978

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

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.
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ROY NICHOLS WITH HAG, "BOTTLE LET ME DOWN" 1978

This is the best Roy Nichols playing I've seen in a clip. It's a great example of how Roy mixes western swing ideas with chicken pickin'. Also, (although some may balk at this generalization!) Roy's playing here shows an approach to melody that is all too rare today. I spend many hours studying the work of today's Tele hotshots, and I learn a lot from them, but it does sometimes feel that the goal today is to play hot licks and move around the fingerboard fluidly. I'd like to hear more playing that puts the hot licks where they should be-- part of the discussion, but secondary to melody.


I should confess that now I'm just poaching clips from the Telecaster Forum. I hope no-one objects!
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BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE

Here's an interesting item. This excerpt is from the outtakes of the early seventies PBS special about Roy Buchanan. Roy played this solo with Merle Haggard and his Strangers. It shows how you can use a Tele to play a Bakersfield country-type solo, but with a bit more bite and raunch to it.
Roy splits a bridge on the Lefty Frizzell classic "Mom and Dad's Waltz." (At the end of Roy's solo, you can hear steel player Norman Hamlet come in so seamlessly I had trouble hearing whether it was Norman or Roy.) Most of his available recordings are more in a blues or rock vein, but this rare snippet represents the twilight zone between trash and twang.

Roy Buchanan was heavily influenced by Haggard's guitarist Roy Nichols, but it's mostly in outtakes and obscure recordings that you can hear the country element in Buchanan's work.
(note-- the notation is temporarily gone due to a Blogger error-- when it's fixed i'll get it up here again.)
TECHNICAL DISCUSSION

Any kind of guitar playing with a lot of bending is hard to notate. My program, Finale Guitar, doesn't have a way to clearly indicate whether a prebent note is struck again while bent, for example. (At least, I can't figure out how to do it.) On top of that, for those who have trouble reading already, the addition of bending symbols makes it even more confusing. I suggest using this transcription as a rough guide to where to put your fingers, and relying on your ear to get the timing and other details. I've left out muted string raking to embellish a note, and other little things. Roy's brief solo here illustrates one thing he may have seen in Roy Nichols's work-- the ability to move all over the neck efficiently to get desired effects. I think Nichols knew where the bending licks were, and could jump around to set himself up for the next bend. Whereas blues players often camp out in one position, players like Nichols often move up and down the neck constantly when filling or soloing. This Buchanan excerpt can help you get used to doing that.

Of course, most people revere Buchanan for his unique sound. Colleague Jeff Lang told me that Roy B. cranked up volume and tone knobs on amp and guitar to get his classic Fender/Fender tone. Probably true, but when I put my amp's volume and treble on ten it's pretty painful, so when I want to get a Roy Buchanan sound I start at ten and back off (usually WAY off). I've also found that I can get a fair approximation of the sound at a lower volume by using a Z. Vex Super Hard On with a Tube Screamer (drive down all or most of the way). On top of this, an Analogman CompRossor helps wake up the snarling false harmonic stuff. (This is a good place to plug www.analogman.com/ , the place to go online for great knockoffs of classic pedals, modifications to make your pedals sound more classic, and hip current boutique stuff like Z. Vex pedals.) All of that will get you in the ballpark, but ultimately you have to dig in with your pick and yank the hell out of those strings. The amp won't do it for you, and i guess most people reading this know that the Tele won't do anything without a fight. (I read somewhere that Buchanan liked his string action high, also, because he thought you should have to work to get your sound. I agree.)


www.karlstraubmusic.com/ROY MOM AND DAD'S WALTZ SOLO.mp3

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