When I was in School Blues was form. Sometimes substution chords addition of chords but still a form. There was very little regard for groove. The standard flat 4 bass line and there you go.
But there are so many grooves that are part of the blues. Just get Jimmy Lee's stuff.
When I put together Diggs Blues years ago the first rule I said was that we had to have a lot of Rhythmic variance.
This is one of the first tunes we did. A beautiful swamp blues groove from Slim Harpo.
nice version.seems like you're having fun playing it!
that was one of my most oft requested song for years.i can honestly say that hearing slim harpo changed my life,and my sense of the blues.
i just heard a version by martin lang in chicago,that is really good.very different than my version.i loved it.
i think one of the best harmonica players you could ever hear is billy burns in florida. he can knock this song out of the ballpark. ---------- www.shakeylee.com
Last Edited by shakeylee on Mar 25, 2015 5:13 PM
Lazy Lester is one of the most soulful guys around. There are very few left like him. It's full of grease. There is nothing antiseptic about it.
@Jim Rumbaugh - Swamp sound typically refers to guys from Louisiana like Lazy Lester, Slim Harpo, Lightnin' Slim. Research Excello Records. A lot of sound are shuffles that lump like Jimmy Reed on cough syrup. To have it sound right, the timing has got to be exact to get the right feel. The rhythm section has to be able to do play it right and be completely locked in.
Don't forget Tabby Thomas as one of the leading Swamp Blues Guitarists. I managed to catch him live at his Baton Rouge Tabby's Blues Box Juke Joint once
I would love to do Slim Harpo tunes with our band but there's no way our drummer or bass player can play this groove. We've tried working through Baby Scratch My Back a few times and it's a train wreck every time. Learning that tune years ago really helped me a lot and I must have jammed along to Slim at least 1000 times on both vinyl and CD. That band is so tight yet so LOOSE it still blows me away.
@Goldbrick I would call that Crosscut Saw groove a Rumba not a Mambo. I say that due to the bass playing on the "and of 2". Why do you call it a Mambo?
Westernized Blues is 12 bar 1,4,5 stuff,the tuff stuff is modal diddley bow ,no chord screamin` slide and John lee hooker stuff.them dudes who started it didn`t give a $hit about a chord....
Verry nice, your tone, phrasing...baddass vocals, too. (don't be no rooster! HA!)...love it! Nice feel. I like how you bend at the end of each riff..cool! This is a popular dance number with the West Coast Swing crowd. I love it, too. Just a great groooooove!
