Neil Harpe on his website usually has these going for around 1K or more...I was thinking around $750 plus shipping (considering the unoriginal parts, etc). Message me if you're interested. I'm not strict with the price.
This is a great old Texas blues tune...credit for the first recording goes to Blind Lemon Jefferson. Interestingly, Blind Lemon's 1926 recording of Jack O' Diamonds tune (his only recording with slide guitar) is the earliest known recording of bottleneck blues.
Mance Lipscomb's version is great stuff, too. It's a different arrangement; whereas Blind Lemon's rendition is very dark and moving, Mance's is much more uptempo with a single-note bassline in Texas blues fashion. Check it out - it's a nice tune to know.
Another lesson on a great Patton tune. Playing Charlie Patton slide on this one is difficult because you've got to be sooo delicate in order to get his sound/tone - particularly on the top string. Give it a try and see how it goes!
Here's a new lesson on this Muddy Waters tune. Whenever you play Muddy Waters on guitar, think 'cat-scratch' tone...it's advice from Johnny Winter so it must be true haha! The nice thing is that once you learn this tune, you'll understand a lot of the moves that Muddy would regularly use so try out other tunes. Interestingly, one of Belton Sutherland's three (now Youtube famous) recordings, he emulates I Can't Be Satisfied on his song I've Got Trouble.
Players like Sol Hoopii, Bennie Nawahi, Sam Ku West were huge influences on American popular music during the 1920's when they all came over to the west coast from Hawaii so I thought it would be nice to take the time to revisit these guys.
Actually, there are some who even think that the main source of slide guitar in pre-war blues actually came from this Hawaiian steel guitar craze! Personally, I think this is doubtful - take for instance, W.C. Handy at the Tutwiler train station seeing an anonymous bluesman using a pocketknife slide as early as 1903. Still though, there is no doubt that Hawaiian music had its effect on the blues...Blind Willie Johnson used a First Hawaiian Conservatory Stella guitar. In fact, you can even tell that musicians like Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby styled their singing upon how Hawaiian steel guitar was phrased.
Here's a quick little lesson on how to execute Derek Trucks' eastern style licks on a single string. Sliding up and down one string can get crazy so the key is to understand how to properly manipulate your left-hand thumb so that you've got much more control and accuracy. I hope I managed to somewhat convey that! If you've got any questions, just let me know!
Hopefully, everyone here is familiar with John Fahey. Early on, he was known for discovering the great country bluesman, Bukka White...he later discovered great players like Leo Kottke, as well. It seems to me he lived a sort of eccentric genius sort of life - always searching for new sounds yet afflicted with a bizarre mental-state.
There are some people who think that Fahey played the same thing on every track of every record he made, and, to be honest, on some albums there might be some merit to that - but, there are truly unique gems that Fahey recorded that you've just got to find! His music cannot be categorized...once I realized that, I finally understood what Duke Ellington meant when he said, "there are two kinds of music. Good and bad!" This is one of those gems that Fahey recorded - Impressions of Susan. Enjoy it!
