"Six Early Blues Guitarists"

[JanVigne]

I just recently picked up two books from a used book store which I'm finding to be interesting. The subject of this thread is "Six Early Blues Guitarists" by Woody Mann. Mann was yet another student who sought out Rev. Gary Davis as a mentor. The copyright is 1973. Mann includes in his introduction this quotation from Kenneth Patchen (http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=kem...-8&fr=veri-ie8), "A rhythm felt is a rhythm that has its own laws. It is an absolute mistake to ladle out stress like a cook measuring off the ingredients for a cake ... "

The book includes songs from Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie and Davis himself. Interestingly, though Mann mentions that Blake did play some slow songs, he's only included fairly up tempo pieces from Blake for inclusion in this edition. Natch!

He's also included a half dozen pieces from other players as additional material.

His notation and TABs are well done as far as I can see at this point.



On a side note, the person I happen to be taking dobro lessons from was on the radio the other day. She's a fairly well known local player who has been around for a few decades establishing her reputation. She's travelled and studied with players known to most Texans and those with international reputations. She happened to mention in her radio interview that certain performers she had played with were virtually never tuned up. It wasn't important to them to be in tune as much as it was to just be playing. Tuning was a detail they didn't have time for. I believe she was mostly talking about her time with Mance Lipscomb.


Back to the Mann material, his instructions for "Georgia Rag" by McTell exist only as "Free and Sloppy". Wilkins' "Get Away Blues" is described as "Sloppy".

Rev. Davis' "I Am the Light of This World" receives the instructions to play the piece "Religiously". Jesse "Baby Face" Thomas' "Blue Goose Blues" is said to be "Brisk and Fast".

Some of these instructions make sense when I find a copy of the song in question. But not all versions of the song will always sound alike depending on when the recording was made.

In light of the source, early blues players, what would you folks make of those tempo instructions? Particularly "sloppy". I can do that but I don't think that's what was meant. "Religiously" means what to you?

[AX17609]

I don't know what those terms mean, either, but my personal observation is that few modern players capture the appropriate mood and tempo of the early blues guitarists. It's not a question of playing the a piece exactly the way the original was recorded, but a question of capturing the spirit. So often, all the notes are there, but the spark is missing.

Finding it is not so easy. A friend of mine, who was an excellent guitarist, once went to Stefan Grossman for lessons. He came back saying that Stefan advised him to play "sloppier". I wish I could say that it useful instruction, but it destroyed this guy's playing for a long time.

I know what he was trying to do. There's a soul to this stuff, and Stefan was trying to get him away from the notes and into the soul. My friend heard that as "sloppier", but he took it the wrong way. I certainly don't know the correct recipe. But I can tell when an essential ingredient is missing.

[Toby Walker]

Listen to the original recordings and if you can listen to how other folks may have covered the same songs. Then learn the song yourself and come up with your own variations.

[joe paul]

I could just say that it was "sloppy" writing by Woody Mann... but I'll try to do better than that.
Toby Walker is right, the first thing to do is absolutely to get hold of the original recordings. Listen to them over and over until you know them well.
Maybe what Woody was trying to get at is the question is what connection you make with the songs if you want to perform them in public, especially the Reverend's gospel songs, not an easy thing to do. "I am the Light of this World" has a joyful feel, a lot going on melodically and still that very solid rhythm, almost like a marching band.
I don't know Blind Willie McTell's Georgia rag, but I play "Get Away Blues" by Robert Wilkins, and I think it takes time to work into really getting the rhythm to flow. It has to be focused, driving, and still a little loose. That's how I feel about that song, anyway, it's a great tune to sing and play.

[shawlie]

I have the book/dvd "Ragtime and Gospel" by Woody Mann and in the lessons there he also talks about playing "sloppy".

What I got from it was to brush some extra strings while fingerpicking (which then you can cut short with the fretting hand to give it a little more bounce and fuller sound).

And throw in some stumbling bass/double-thumbing (which isn't maybe "sloppy", just a little difficult but great fun). I'd have to watch it again for his exact words, but I'm pretty sure it was about those two types of things (which aren't exactly easy of course - for me anyway, it's best to learn something "neat" before I even try to make it sloppy...).

[Acoustic_Stevo]

Stefan Grossmans books of that era sometimes came with a plastic record so you could hear a sample of the tunes, but I don't think Woody Manns book came with anything.
But everything is on the Internet, even samples on iTunes would give you an idea of what he is referring to.
I had loads of books like those back in the day, and I regret getting rid of them.