3/23/2023 0 Comments Ten thumbs ukulele 8 bar bluesAlso, old-time string bands typically left out a few bars, especially bars 8 and 12. Older recordings were played in cut time, so there were twice as many bars. Then, add the thumb notes-or in other words, play the song as written. Do this several times, until you’re familiar with the melody. Read and play the melody notes (with stems pointing up in the music notation), leaving out the thumb notes. If you’re new to this kind of fingerpicking, try these practice ideas before playing the full instrumental version, in Example 3, audio begins at 0:56. 1 played over this chord progression:Ĭ | C | C | C | C | C | C | C | F | F | F | F | C | C | G | G | G | G | C | C || Playing the Solo 2 audio begins at 0:18), is a verse of “Deep Ellum Blues” with the pattern from Ex. Now, play the same pattern while making the song’s chord changes ( Example 2). Your thumb picks the downward pointing stems.) To get the right rhythmic bounce, try listening to the examples above. (In this type of music notation, the stems pointing up are the melody notes, played by the middle and index fingers. To begin with, get your picking hand used to the “alternating thumb” technique by playing Example 1’s simple pattern, over and over. It’s now a musical and cultural center! Getting Used to Raggy Blues Fingerpicking with a Ukulele Interstate construction nearly wiped out the Deep Ellum neighborhood in the 1950s, but restoration began in the ’80s, and it is once again home to dozens of music clubs, as well as film and arts festivals. The song became popular among string bands, and it was later recorded by Les Paul (when he was called “Rhubarb Red”), Jerry Lee Lewis, the Grateful Dead, and numerous bluegrass luminaries. As far back as 1917, the African American neighborhood had several “sporting houses,” but it was also a hotbed of jazz and blues clubs, and a favorite stomping ground for street musicians like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, and (a few years later) Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, and more. Deep Ellum, in East Dallas, Texas, was that-and much more. All three songs are about the trouble you can get into in various red-light districts. In 1935 another, similar, version followed: “Deep Elem Blues” by the Prairie Ramblers. The song goes back to 1927, when a string band called the Georgia Crackers recorded “ Georgia Black Bottom.” In 1933, the Shelton Brothers (also called Lone Star Cowboys) released a recording of “ Deep Elm Blues,” which has a melody similar to “Georgia Black Bottom” and many of the same lyrics. I didn’t know that Jerry Garcia had been playing a version of it since the early 1960s, and that it was a staple at Grateful Dead concerts in the early 1980s (as well as Garcia’s acoustic shows in the ’80s and ’90s). In this article we’ll do just that, with an old country/blues song, “Deep Ellum Blues.” The Story of ‘Deep Ellum Blues’īecause I believe in knowing what you’re singing about, here’s some background on “Deep Ellum Blues,” which is sometimes called “Deep Elm Blues” or “Deep Elem Blues.” I learned the song in the mid-1970s from my friend, folk musician Jody Stecher, and I put a bluegrass version of the song on my 1977 Kicking Mule banjo LP Bluegrass Banjo Inventions. You can apply this picking style to uke, despite the high-G fourth string, and get a similar sound. It’s sometimes called “Travis picking,” because the very influential Merle Travis took the same technique to new heights. These guitarists pick alternating bass notes on every beat with their thumb, while picking melody on the high strings with the fingers. In a previous column I showed how we c an adapt the “raggy blues” style of guitarists like Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Blake to the ukulele.
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