Hesitation Blues

[ewalling]

Stumbled upon this gem this afternoon. It was one of the first pieces that inspired me to learn fingerpicking, and I (kinda) worked this one out from the recording around thirty years ago. I'd never seen or heard this version before, and I thought others might like it, too. Great guitar picking, no question, but I'm impressed with Kaukonen's vocals, too.

[RogerPease]

Thanks for posting that.

Jorma’s one of the great ones, without doubt.

_RP

[Dudley]

That's inspirational!

[zombywoof]

Same tune but a lot earlier when Jorma was still playing his late-1950s Gibson J50.

https://youtu.be/mjfhsLuOEWI

[rbock]

I keep waiting to hear a bottle drop.

[Jdogblues]

Saw Jorma solo a few months ago. Kinda funny. I'm fairly new to acoustic and fingerpicking and honestly had never heard of him but I had seen him mentioned here and there so bought a ticket. As you can imagine, I'm now a fan. Better late than never.

[Sadie-f]

This was the tune I loved best being played in coffee shops when I was a mere teen. Back then I simply knew it as a Hot Tuna favorite. It was far later I came to realize how far back this tune goes.

Kaukonen's version is a tour de force, here's a version I like.

https://youtu.be/t1fIv88rBlw

[gibpicker]

I saved it just in case... Thanks for putting it up.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by zombywoof

Same tune but a lot earlier when Jorma was still playing his late-1950s Gibson J50.

https://youtu.be/mjfhsLuOEWI

In this clip, he seems to be playing a Gibson Chet Atkins - nice guitar.



I've also just realized that Jack Casady is the spitting image of my grumpy my old headmaster, only with an attitudinal haircut!

[zombywoof]

Originally Posted by ewalling

In this clip, he seems to be playing a Gibson Chet Atkins - nice guitar.



I've also just realized that Jack Casady is the spitting image of my grumpy my old headmaster, only with an attitudinal haircut!

I believe the guitar he is playing in the first video posted is a Baxendale-made Mossman Texas.

[zombywoof]

The first time I saw Jorma was with the Airplane in 1968. While we all knew he was a wizard with an acoustic based on, if nothing else, "Embryonic Journey" that first Hot Tuna LP in 1970 was a real eye opener. It had a heck of an influence on me and more than a few others.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by Sadie-f

... here's a version I like.

https://youtu.be/t1fIv88rBlw

That's wonderful - the ease and fluency he has with that 12-string. Interesting how when the song crosses the 'ethnic divide' it becomes a rather different song.

[rwmct]

I only know the "must I hesitate" part from Charlie Poole. He uses it on at least one song, "If the River was Whiskey" which also, I believe, incorporates some lyrics from "Diving Duck Blues."

[mclarry53]

I was walking down a dorm hall in the early 70s when I heard guitar music like I'd never heard before coming from an open door. It was Hesitation Blues on the first Hot Tuna album. I was into Mississippi John Hurt and had some Happy Traum and Stefan Grossman books, but hearing Jorma play acoustic didn't just expand my horizons, it changed the way I thought about playing the guitar.

I've seen him in person several times over the years and he continues to surprise and inspire me.

As the saying goes, if you don't know Jorma, you don't know Jack!

[JAMKC]

Been to two camps at Fur Peace and got to sit 5 feet away to listen to Jorma play this. Just blew me away!