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Topic: Buddy Emmons Solo licks approach |
Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 26 Sep 2022 12:38 am |
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I figured I would have to ask Pedal players this
I'm an E13 non-pedal player but am interested in the theory approach.
2 part question:
Do any of you know the common licks/approaches Buddy used to tackle jazz progressions? As I'm hearing repeated patterns across numerous songs all the time whether slowly or at speed. The best example of his entire repertoire is when he was improvising on the double album with Danny Gatton "Redneck Jazz Explosion" He uses every single lick and pattern he knew across both albums. Similar licks used in his famous "Steel guitar Jazz" album.
A lot of what I hear is the Dorian and blues scale stuff but I need some help deciphering what is the method?
So what is the theory behind how he approached improvising.
BTW already studied buddies pocket playing on the Buddy Emmons site but as a non-pedal player some of the moves aren't clear for me. I get the end point - target note approach but because I don't have pedals getting there is harder to explain and accomplish without a grasp of what pedals and levers he would commonly move.
Otherwise maybe some Tab/Notation may point me in the right direction. I downloaded some from Frank Freniere but wondered if there were any others available or any players who may be able to explain..
Thanks so much for reading.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Sam Conomo
From:
Queensland, Australia
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Posted 26 Sep 2022 4:48 am Our buddy approach
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Hi Stefen,
Have a look at this interview, that is if you haven't seen it yet.
https://youtu.be/GTowUMBmvew
It's a small glimpse into buddies thinking.
Sam. |
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Sam Conomo
From:
Queensland, Australia
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Posted 26 Sep 2022 4:50 am buddies thinking
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Hi Stefen.
The above video at 1.18 minutes is where Buddy opens up a bit about how sees and plays his pockets.
Sam. |
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Scott Denniston
From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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Posted 26 Sep 2022 5:07 am
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Buddy stated somewhere that he doesn't use pedals much at all for single note soloing. He also said he used Pat Martino's thinking and method of playing the minor five of the dominant. In other words playing patterns for Gm7 over a C7. This way you are creating melody dancing around in the upper extensions of the C7 chord. Your thinking it's "Dorian Mode" is correct as the Gm7 is the II of Fmaj of which C7 is the five. Pat Martino spells out the method clearly in his course "Linear Expressions" and some other courses.
I've dabbled in this a bit and am fascinated. Put on a backing track of static C7 and play some Gm7 patterns over it. Instant jazz. |
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John Swain
From:
Winchester, Va
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Posted 26 Sep 2022 5:11 am
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| A lot of Buddy's phrases were played without pedals, so the tuning shouldn't hold you back. That said, after 40+ years I still can't get much of it! |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 26 Sep 2022 10:01 am
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Do you have any specific examples you'd like some light shed on? It is a pretty basic approach, but as with individual musicians, what they use as a foundation and where they end up are not always the same thing. Much of an improviser's playing is usually in the moment and can consist of pet harmonic moves or licks mixed with spontaneous melodies, patterns or randomizations. There is no one specific approach. What happens in the shed is usually based on specific goals, what happens in the music is something else.
As far as the Pat Martino suggestion above, absolutely. Linear Expressions is a book I had long before I even knew who Buddy Emmons was. The way Pat sprinkles chromaticism into his lines is informative. When you are done playing the G minor forms over C7, try Db minor--the tritone substitution. This is a very common move and one Buddy used a lot.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 27 Sep 2022 11:14 am
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What Mike Neer said.
There is much more going on in Buddy’s improvisational lexicon than playing Dorian modes. The School of ii-V-I starts out simple and goes on forever. Quartal harmony, altered chord tones, even the basic blues scale with the b5 holds a ton of magic that musicians like Emmons and Gatton could go on about with all day long. It’s a rabbit hole that can get you in big trouble if you’re like me and really don’t know what you're doing. |
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Tom Spaulding
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 27 Sep 2022 11:51 am
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You might find this helpful:
C6 Toolbox
Paul Franklin:
The C6 tuning is different than the E9 in many ways, but perhaps the most important - in my mind - is that I do not see it as a "lick" instrument to the degree that the E9 is.
The C6 lends itself to be approached as a "position" tuning, where finding multiple places to play the needed harmonies leads you to playing very melodically when you solo, and going from "inside" to "outside" is very easy. All of the great C6 players like Tommy White, Buddy Emmons, Curly Chalker and many more are using the same tools, just interpreting them differently. I believe the tuning itself allows for a more melodic approach.
When you break any song down, you eventually get to the basic chord progression. When you break any chord progression down further, you end up going from Chord A to Chord B.
You can consolidate this concept to a few key harmonic movements:
1 chord to a 4 chord, (2 to a 5, 3 to a 6...all essentially the same move) 4 to a 5, (aka 1 to 2, 5 to 6) 5 to a 1 (6 to 2, 4 to b7) 4 to 1 (5 to 2, b3 to b7)
In the C6 Toolbox, I show you my choices in going from one chord to another, and how I combine the positions to create original ideas both live and in the studio.
YOU WILL LEARN
Breaking Down the Tuning Into Positions Moving From Chord to Chord: The Mystery Revealed Rich Chords and Melodic Single-note Solos Musical Concepts That Work in Any Style or Genre Using Altered Intervals To Add Color to Chords and Lines
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 27 Sep 2022 2:21 pm
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This maybe one of the most adventurous pieces of music you’ll hear from Buddy Emmons, The Great Stream by Pat Martino (which you can hear on Pat’s seminal Live! album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us9HUrkycAQ
It is a complex head, as you can hear, and yet when it goes to the blowing sections, it’s basically blowing over 8 bars each of static dominant chords with varying tensions. Buddy starts by quoting Pat Martino in the first chorus, which contains some pretty standard bop licks and a pattern from Flight Of The Bumblebee, whcih I know I copped from Sonny Stitt, I don’t where Buddy got it.
Anyway, very nice flowing lines but all very basic harmonically, mixolydian with chromatic passing tones, and also what I hear as some lydian dominant, which is the melodic minor scale a 5th above the tonic of your chord, so for C7, G melodic minor or C Lydian Dominant.
I highly recommend buying some of the Pat Martino and George Benson transcriptions from https://www.patmartino.de/
They are affordable, expertly done and informative. You will learn a lot. Start with Pat’s ‘El Hombre’ album and George Benson’s 60s recordings, like Cookbook and It’s Uptown. Where you might learn the most is hearing how they navigate the blues form. The Cooker is amazing.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Marty Broussard
From:
Broussard, Louisiana, USA
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Posted 28 Sep 2022 12:57 pm
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👀
_________________
RETIRED
"Technique is really the elimination of the unnecessary..it is a constant effort to avoid any personal impediment or obstacle to achieve the smooth flow of energy and intent" Yehudi Menuhin |
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 28 Sep 2022 3:33 pm
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The more we read about BE we find out more about him.
I met him twice only very briefly. He was a stunning man, good looking, tall, and had a voice that carried and a "presence" of a star. I think the was the "Elvis" among Steel Guitarist.
I took a big breath and thought of a "smart" question to ask... NOT something about how to play "A Way To Survive" or some artists stories.
So, I came up with something I THOUGHT maybe nobody had asked him and out came:
"What are you THINKING when you improvise?"
He was very friendly but rather short, and explained that "he didn't really know if he was thinking at all".
Later, I found out "he gets that asked that very question a lot".
I also had the pleasure to read up in Tom Bradshaws "The Steel Guitarist" "BE's Pocket Corner" that indeed he get's asked that a LOT... and his answer was unvariably the same.
Now, we read more and more and find out more and more.
I BELIEVE there was a time, when he WAS THINKING.
But what we find out, and the 1962 "Steel Guitar Jazz" Album is probably proof of this, our YOUNG BE, who called himself "just a Hillbilly" was listening to a lot of JAZZ and BEBOP of the 40's and 50's. He must have had an ear out to NYC and the West Coast. Miles, Dizzy, and so forth.
And again, the 1962 album seems to reflect that. It had NOTHING from his steel guitar heroes (he used to mention Jerry Byrd a lot)... it was the first TRUE Jazz album and the influences came far from Nashville or Texas.
So..., if you want to play like him or somewhere near him... do what he did:
Dig Parker, Davis, Gillespie... all them cats... NOT Emmons... because that's where his thinking came from... until he was so good he could reel it off "without thinking".
I for one don't derive much influence from other steel guitarists anymore. I listen to Parker, Miles, Dizzy, Joe Pass, Piano Players in Jazz and Bebop.
Piano is most interesting because it's "easy" to learn from them. They can explain and show in intervals what they are doing. Many can explain much better than guitarist who call string and fret numbers like talking TAB machines.
... J-D.
_________________
__________________________________________________________
Was it JFK who said: Ask Not What TAB Can Do For You - Rather Ask Yourself "What Would B.B. King Do?"
A Little Mental Health Warning:
Tablature KILLS SKILLS.
The uses of Tablature is addictive and has been linked to reduced musical fertility.
Those who produce Tablature did never use it.
I say it humorously, but I mean it. |
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Dennis Detweiler
From:
Solon, Iowa, US
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Posted 28 Sep 2022 4:26 pm
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J D, I asked him a too fundamental question in my younger days and not too far into technique. I asked him, "why do you use the cross-over method of picking?" He answered, "So I don't run out of fingers." 
_________________
1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8. |
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 29 Sep 2022 2:26 pm
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| Dennis Detweiler wrote: |
| J D, I asked him a too fundamental question in my younger days and not too far into technique. I asked him, "why do you use the cross-over method of picking?" He answered, "So I don't run out of fingers." |
 ... good one.
| Stefan Robertson wrote: |
I figured I would have to ask Pedal players this
I'm an E13 non-pedal player but am interested in the theory approach.
2 part question:
Do any of you know the common licks/approaches Buddy used to tackle jazz progressions?.... |
I am trying to figure out a general answer for Stefan, because over 20 years back, I threw the towel over not getting an answer to this very question.
I went to see Maurice Anderson for 3 days (9 hrs total) with a non pedal S10 C6th "just" to discuss single note improvisation. It was a new teaching subject to Maurice but since we knew each others, he said he'd try.
We did work out playing positions in MAJOR/Dominant over all the fret positions that are known to generate the same chord up and down the neck.
Maurice, known as "The Chord King" was not much into scales and modes, but rather playing off chord positions, and when you study Emmons' single note playing... it falls mostly into place where you'd have such positions.
BE was know to be one to rather not use much pedals or lever while soloing C6th single notes... maybe an occasional longer holding P7 down (specially around certain key centers which forces one too far up Hughey land or into the tuning keys) and more often the upper C to B lower engaged... MAYBE the A to Bb raise to put that in line... I wouldn't know that much.
Anyways, that's still how I work it. Except that I look at the C6th tuning as a tuning which is in "AVERAGE" a diminished tuning. Yes, it's got as many Major third adjacent string intervals as minor third, but it's also got two second intervals (if you have a D on top)... which, one could argue, kind'a averages the tuning into a diminished layout.
IF you study up on Barry Harris' teachings, you will see why I would look at it that way. Because, with little alterations, playing single notes with the tip of the bar, you can "paint" out pretty much ANY chord's arpeggio off the diminished arpeggio. As a diminished chord repeats every minor third, so, every 3 chords, ON AVERAGE, I can "paint" ANY chord's arpeggio every 3 frets. This approach opened the fretboard to me and it's ripped open pockets because "pockets" have a way of "fencing" one in... pockets have "border", "outlines". Still, I find my way thru... somewhat. It's mind-bending, no matter which approach you use.
So, that's somewhat settled. But then... WHAT to play.
After I retired from Steel Guitar, I picked up standard guitar. Playing rhythm mostly to "Gypsy"-Jazz in Europe. It's something I wished I had done LONG before I ever put a pencil under an old guitar's nut to raise the strings and fool around over them with a blues harp I never figured out how to play.
I remember calling Maurice one day and saying "I think I just SAW something" (I Saw The Light... at the end of a tunnel, and yes, it was an oncoming train).
I just realized that I was playing the same chord transitions (grip to grip) over and over again, all over the neck, and that instead of remembering a gazillion chords, I just needed to remember where they started and how they where dispersed up and down the neck. On standard guitar, you really have two main roots, the 5th and the 6th string. You have two sets of main minor, dominant and Maj7th chords... with that, you can play most ANY tune decently.
So, what did I discover? Well, ii-, V, I and ii-b5, V, i-, just modulated around endlessly. Maurice exclaimed, "I should have shown you that! but now you got it". Sure, not everything is 2,5,1... but Western music (and by that I mean music West of India, the Orient and Asia, NOT just "Country & Western"), tends to move in 4ths:
Typically: vii-5b, III7, vi-, ii-, V7, IM7, IV... all a perfect 4th up. That formula generates in segments most 2,5,1 formulas found in Western music.
SO much about theory and theoriES... they all are NOT really physics.
But then, you have to build your ears, head, guts, heart with MUSIC.
"Things" you want to play.
I do NOT believe that BE's pockets, the Major or minor Pentatonic or the Blues Scale, this or that mode, pattern trick will get you to play real music.
They are all just location patterns to explore off from and find back to. Nothing more. And the pockets and patterns which will make sense to YOU are the ones YOU will create from exploring, listening, listening to yourself, becoming CONSCIOUS of what you want to play... what you want to HEAR coming out that guitar. You need to LISTEN, LISTEN and LISTEN some more.
Start with slow things but always of QUALITY. I for one, took so much off BB and Albert King's playing. Much is slow enough to "follow" and both knew how to voice-lead (not just play ON the chord, but thru the TRANSITIONS) and both knew to be silent, to pause, take "a breath". Both use much of the Bebop Art of not constantly starting on beat one, but on the "and" (upbeat) and often after a pause.
IF you like their or somebody's music which has those qualities and is not outright overwhelming, LEARN to SING or just hum the lines.
Then hum or "scat" sing them to rhythm tracks (they are all available on youtube for... FREE) and instead of words, sing the chord's name, then the chords degree: "Cee Cee, Eff Eff, Cee Cee, Gee" then "One One, Four Four, One One, Five".
LEARNING a tune a solo, line or riff... heck a lick... means YOU know it in your BODY... NOT just on an instrument where you only do it by visual memory!
You learn them by singing, you will NEVER forget them!
George Benson made a career out of mouthing his solos, at times quiet audibly. You can observe BE on some videos, specially on JAMS mouthing his solos.
The hard truth is, that MUSICALITY can not be taught so easily.
Jerry Byrd used to teach. What he showed his students was how HE played his tunes. Voilá! He had a long career of creativity, but he only could teach you the "Tip Of The Iceberg", and I only have seen 3 who could do a credible JB... one of them was an artist in his own right... Tom Brumley.
I have seen one do a credible "Emmons"... he was an artist in his own right too... also know to be able to "CLONE" any one he liked to the point of being able to play a tune the person he "cloned" had never played... but you would have immediately "recognized"... let's say, Buddy Emmons. His name was Gary Hogue. I remember him being the steeler for two separate artist on the same concert night in Dallas, TX: Marty Stuart and GH sounded like BE the whole 90 minutes thru on his Emmons PP with a Peavey Nashville 400.
The Hank Thompson came on with the full Brazos Valley Boys Outfit, twin this, twin that... and the same Emmons PP and Nashville 400 amp where still on stage and GH came back in, didn't touch so much as a knob on the amp and I closed my eyes, and all I heard for the following hour was "Bob White" on his Bigsby and tube amp. I could NOT believe it.
At a convention, I got into somewhat of an argument with a guy who desperately tried to play the usual "Way To Survive" and "I Destroyed The World... AGAIN"... gassing himself into believing he was sounding like BE.
Both tunes are fairly "easy"... but most fail. It's BE's PHRASING. I tried to do Jerry and many of my heroes... and it's always the PHRASING... more than tone or touch or even intonation. You're trying to imitate someone's FEELINGS.
They guy swore "ONE DAY..." he would play "just like Buddy" and felt the conversation was rapidly loosing it's allure... so, I got "smarty ass" and said "OK... why don't you get up and let me show you something" and sat down at the steel he was playing. But I didn't play and instead asked him to go to the end of the little vendor's show room and walk across along the wall. To my surprise, he followed my "orders" and once he reached the opposite corner, I told him to go BACK... "but this time, DO IT LIKE BUDDY EMMONS!".
Need less to say, that ended the encounter and I got up and sought somebody else I could annoy. But..., you get my drift?
Blues and then Jazz and finally Bebop is full of "clichés". BE used the term, but it's a common "Jazz Lingo" term. A "cliché" is not quite a "lick"... clichés can be played in minor, Major... over different chord transitions... just slightly adjusted but "THAT thing" appears all over and becomes part of the musical lingo and artists pick up on them, figure them out, start applying them to other musical articulations, over other chord qualities etc... and morph them. Some remain recognizable, others are morphed so far "out of shape" they become something else, maybe so appealing, that someone else picks up on it and the cycle continues.
When we listen only thru BE's musical work, we hear certain clichés appearing and disappearing and some... re-appear a decade of longer later... but in a different time. BE managed to keep himself pretty much "modern" throughout the late 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's... after which he started to dedicate himself to some musical reminiscing and probably just to what he like the most, I hope. TIMES and PERIODS shaped and molded his playing throughout his successful career heavily. Also keep in mind that he was a co-developer of and instrument which he saw being born. His musical journey will be so different to ANY of the following steel guitarists musical journeys, because those who followed can look back onto what he and his buddies did.
HE had Speedy, Jerry Byrd and a few out of the Hawaiian days innovators to look back upon. So HE look AROUND... to Miles, Gillespie, Parker, Coltrane... maybe even Bill Evans... what do I know?... and he looked FORWARD.
'nough of that?
... J-D.
_________________
__________________________________________________________
Was it JFK who said: Ask Not What TAB Can Do For You - Rather Ask Yourself "What Would B.B. King Do?"
A Little Mental Health Warning:
Tablature KILLS SKILLS.
The uses of Tablature is addictive and has been linked to reduced musical fertility.
Those who produce Tablature did never use it.
I say it humorously, but I mean it. |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 30 Sep 2022 7:41 am
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| Mike Neer wrote: |
This maybe one of the most adventurous pieces of music you’ll hear from Buddy Emmons, The Great Stream by Pat Martino (which you can hear on Pat’s seminal Live! album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us9HUrkycAQ
It is a complex head, as you can hear, and yet when it goes to the blowing sections, it’s basically blowing over 8 bars each of static dominant chords with varying tensions. Buddy starts by quoting Pat Martino in the first chorus, which contains some pretty standard bop licks and a pattern from Flight Of The Bumblebee, whcih I know I copped from Sonny Stitt, I don’t where Buddy got it.
Anyway, very nice flowing lines but all very basic harmonically, mixolydian with chromatic passing tones, and also what I hear as some lydian dominant, which is the melodic minor scale a 5th above the tonic of your chord, so for C7, G melodic minor or C Lydian Dominant.
I highly recommend buying some of the Pat Martino and George Benson transcriptions from https://www.patmartino.de/
They are affordable, expertly done and informative. You will learn a lot. Start with Pat’s ‘El Hombre’ album and George Benson’s 60s recordings, like Cookbook and It’s Uptown. Where you might learn the most is hearing how they navigate the blues form. The Cooker is amazing. |
This is what I’m talking about. What is seen what a II chord or V or what does he do when a Imin appears etc. his approach is still unparalleled so what I’m after is what did he see when he looked down at the fretboard when blowing changes chordally and solo wise in essence I want to look through his eyes - decipher and learn.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Christopher Woitach
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 30 Sep 2022 7:52 am
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Every day I warm up with Pat Martino’s “activities” from the Linear Expressions book Mike mentions, a 4th up and 5 bpm faster, then when I can’t cleanly play it start from 100 bpm again.
Buddy uses a version of these lines - the minor pockets on his site are based on them, a little simpler. As has been stated, there isn’t a single pedal used on the “pocket corner”, so with a bit of adjustment for your tuning, those two articles should answer every question.
_________________
Christopher Woitach
cw@affmusic.com
www.affmusic.com |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 30 Sep 2022 8:03 am
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JD
Thanks for that. I always appreciate your input and I respect you so much as I remember speaking with Maurice many years ago about universal tunings for non pedal.
I do still like the approach knowledge deciphering as that is a part of jazz.
I also can’t ignore again that as Mike pointed out modes also help to explain and develop ears as you advised.
As of late
I’m not going to lie I am feeling very Buddy like when I look down at the tuning which I’ve ended up using and saying to myself. I think I’m onto something. Other days I sit there thinking damn you bar/brain. Move or think faster dammit.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 30 Sep 2022 11:12 am
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One thing to remember is that jazz is the sound of surprise. You could and should learn what others have done, but that should not be the way you play. You have to find your own voice and approach or all is for nothing. The solos you play should be your own little compositions made up in real time.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 11 Oct 2022 6:30 am
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UPDATE:
Buddy although he says he approaches "melodies" by ear he clearly said in his basic C6th instruction book on the Audio CD he says "KNOW YOUR SCALES!!!"
Mind Blown.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Damir Besic
From:
Nashville,TN.
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Posted 11 Oct 2022 7:13 pm
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Back in the early 90’s I was visiting Scotty for couple weeks at his place in St. Louis , one day me and Don Curtis were at Scotty’s shop just fiddling around with different guitars , I asked him to show me some C6 , and how to play some jazz flavored stuff , he tore up on C6 and played some jazz solo that sounded awesome to me , I said “ how did you do that “ , he looked at me and said “ you can play whatever you want , as long as you finish on correct note you’re good “ … I found that hilarious 😆
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www.steelguitarsonline.com |
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 12 Oct 2022 8:17 am
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I think the mistake most of us tend to make, is that we try to copy or learn from the best our heroes have recorded or played live, instead of investigating at HOW they got there.
BE may have stopped "thinking" much about what he was playing as he became a consummate an "free" improviser. But he too has been noted by several who witnessed his rise to stardom as practicing avidly and sometimes even obstinately purposefully.
When jamming, he could often be caught "mouthing" his lines and he was also an accomplished singer. Don't fool yourself into thinking that "his pockets", some not so obscure "Oh Boy Am I Lost"-Blues Scale provided him with the "trickery" to outplay us all. He knew in his body, heart, soul and VOICE (mouthing) what sounds he wanted to generate. In Jazz-Jargon... it's called "say".
When we look at BE's trajectory in Jazz, Swing, Jazz Blues and for the earlier period venture into Be-&-HardBop... one thing which has always come back "afloat" clearly audible, is his BLUES... or Jazz-Blues.
Jazz and Bebop aficionados make the same mistake of looking at the top of the iceberg with their heroes, as we do with our Steel Guitar Greats.
Charlie "Bird" Parker (sax) is a typical example, where "schools", "would-be teachers" now virulent on-line and "critiques" try to suggest some "Mode"/"Scales" to be what can be over-layered to explain away about 80% of these guys' playing. It's like those who insist of peddling around Pentatonics or Hexatonics (aka. Blues Scale) in some or the other form to "Oh Boy Am I Lost" (sorry Jeff, with all the love and respect...) FAKE Blues.
The roots of Miles, Bird, Coltrane... all them Great guys is The Blues! And understanding the NEED to purposefully EXRPESS themselves ("say" things)in that Lingo beyond some "scales"... voice leading from one chord to the next, etc.
Here some thoughts of a very modal inclined tutor for Jazz and Bebop online:
https://youtu.be/93vr_M7tpyc
BE had that "in the bag" and it shines thru all his C6th Jazz and Swing and even some of his E9th, even in Country.
Here are some good "late" examples of BE's FOUNDATIONS to his playing:
https://youtu.be/55W8kMDm6_w especially evident in the end (from 03:55 on) improv. which almost is a LESSON of "see THIS is how I' dune it!"
https://youtu.be/iZgcSjzcEz8 let's have that SINK IN! This is almost a LEGACY he left us. This is what STUCK with him for eternity.
DON'T rush to the guitar, but LISTEN, HEAR the chord changes, LERAN to sing these short improvisations, learn to hear the chord changes and only when you can SING or at least HUM it, to hunt it down on the guitar!
Think that C6th... the middle 8th string are tuned in 2 pairs of Major thirds, 2 pairs of minor thirds separated by a second interval... it almost averages out to all being in minor thirds. This is why, one can play DIMINISHED single note lines moving the bar just back and forth between one and the next fret across the strings. Each diminished arpeggio has the M3rd, 5th and b7t of FOUR different Dominant chords is only we lower ONE note from b9th to become the ROOT of each of these 4 Dominant chords.
This tells us that we should be able to find 4 different ways to single-note play out 4 position centers of EACH Dominant chord within 12 frets (octave), spread out fairly evenly... in AVERAGE every 3 frets (12 Frets/4 postions = every 3 frets... every minor third... in a diminished layout).
this alteration of the Diminished across the strings understanding can serve as a base to construct 4 minor, minor b5, May7,... what-have-ya-kind'a-chords on average every 3 frets with very little alteration.
When it comes to BLUES and later Jazz Blues, which really is not much more than Blues which was submitted to some Progression Re-Harmonisation and the inclusion of passing lines based off diminished patterns, it would seem important to me to explore each fret's pocket layout of DEGREES which fit the chord and all the "Blue" notes... more than "blue" notes really, movements which sound "blue"... like from a m3rd to a M3rd, a b5th to a 5th, a 6th to a b7th and then more Jazzy a M3rd to 4th and even b7th to M7th etc. In guitar Blues, they are often expressed in bends... which is OUR territorry.
When you can play Blues, TRULY Blues with PURPOSE centered off one fret, go explore centered off the next 3rd fret... the slide-ins & slide-outs will be layed out differently and this will give you "Expression".
Then you start transitioning freely throughout all 4 positions fore'n'backwards up and down the neck.
THEN, you learn to "move" that map up a 4th/down a 5th and to transition freely from I to IV form any of the 4 positions. Once you can do that, you just learned to do to the same from a V back to I.
Listen to BB and Albert King... they were BIG influences in BE's early years, he will have heard them. They set the "Book" on how to play Blues.
Then listen to Gershwin, Coltrane, Miles, Parker, Evans... and create your own version... it's all there.
Here's a good example of real Blues, taking the chords and changes into account, from our fellow Forumite Mike Neer:
https://youtu.be/YGp9zzj3egA
... J-D.
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Was it JFK who said: Ask Not What TAB Can Do For You - Rather Ask Yourself "What Would B.B. King Do?"
A Little Mental Health Warning:
Tablature KILLS SKILLS.
The uses of Tablature is addictive and has been linked to reduced musical fertility.
Those who produce Tablature did never use it.
I say it humorously, but I mean it. |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 14 Oct 2022 1:35 am
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Here is my current progress so far in looking at his pockets. Plying over a basic 2-5-1 in C
Thanks Sam Conomo for informing me the correct name for the 1st approach I discovered. The 5th mode of the harmonic minor Scale.
https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com/2022/10/14/buddys-pockets/
JD - man I love your advice its always in depth like golden nuggets. You guys are helping me visualise the approach better.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 14 Oct 2022 8:08 am
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| Very nicely done, Stefan. I would say you’ve got it 👍 |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 14 Oct 2022 12:34 pm
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| Fred Treece wrote: |
| Very nicely done, Stefan. I would say you’ve got it 👍 |
Not even close yet but very kind to say.
Only grasped 3 concepts but it’s more of the how he did it and the why? I’m sold on his approach.
Still think that strong melody and tasteful playing at speed when needed or slow but always connected will always win to my ears
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 15 Oct 2022 2:06 pm
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| Stefan Robertson wrote: |
| Fred Treece wrote: |
| Very nicely done, Stefan. I would say you’ve got it 👍 |
Not even close yet but very kind to say.
Only grasped 3 concepts but it’s more of the how he did it and the why? I’m sold on his approach.
Still think that strong melody and tasteful playing at speed when needed or slow but always connected will always win to my ears |
Nicely done indeed and well on yer way.
If you grasped 3 concepts, EXPLORE THEM... it's endless and will eventually un-earth the other 666 😈 concepts.
I agree with your stand on TASTEFUL and MELODIC (what I call "saying" something). BE was one of the most tasteful players... putting taste way before speed.
And thanks for the nice words. It's difficult to put this in a written format. I hope I could make myself somewhat understandable. We're talking about something that is very is not clearly definable... "improvising"... the ability to make things up on the spot, freely.
... J-D.
_________________
__________________________________________________________
Was it JFK who said: Ask Not What TAB Can Do For You - Rather Ask Yourself "What Would B.B. King Do?"
A Little Mental Health Warning:
Tablature KILLS SKILLS.
The uses of Tablature is addictive and has been linked to reduced musical fertility.
Those who produce Tablature did never use it.
I say it humorously, but I mean it. |
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Dave Magram
From:
San Jose, California, USA
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Posted 15 Oct 2022 5:42 pm
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Who needs pedals?
Here's a clip of Buddy E. swinging hard on a triple-neck non-pedal steel--check out the solo starting at 1:19...
Buddy Emmons - Big Beaver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrNYOKTqt58
- Dave |
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