Records
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Man that’s super cool he would of been so great live you can just see the feeling and energy in the videos. I really loved his songwriting also I learnt a lot of his tunes. Can’t let go and don’t pass me by are my favorites I really loved his last self titled album.
Really is sad he’s gone.To Gretsch…
(Tommy, don’t mean to overstep my bounds here, so correct me if I’m wrong and charge me with 10 minutes of metronome counting)
Tommy is friends with Rick. Rick and Tommy are two of Jr. Watson’s favorite/best students (from Jr.’s mouth at a clinic Tommy hosted a few years ago.) I believe Tommy plays with Rick every so often.
Yeah Tommy always rubs it in my face when he plays with Rick. I was hoping to have been there the night this was shot. Tommy invited me to stay with him but I was unable to get out there. I have been out a couple of times to play with Tommy. The first trip I played with San Pedro Slim, the Second time was with Billy Watson. I have a blast when I come out. Tommy and I just sit and jam all day when he is not giving lessons, and then sit in with his lessons. I was able to meet Rick when he came to Charlotte NC with Mavis Staples a few years ago. He was very nice. We talked about Tommy and music for a few minutes before he had to start packing up. It is always nice when you meet them and they are great people.
Is there a better resource than this for finding the good stuff to buy? Bluebeat looks pretty good. I’m mainly using Youtube to explore the 30s,40s and 50s music and regularly go to the Jump Blues Guitar Killers facebook site which is posted single songs. I want to get some full albums in my collection. I love anything that falls under the category of Swing, from Western swing and Django all the way into early Bebop. Mike
I do not know of any on-line places that are good for this kind of stuff. I have a couple stores in my area NC/SC that I find all of mine, but they do not do on-line business. They are also mainly just vinyl. So pass anything you find my way. I didn’t even know about Blue Beat Music/
Blue beat is my resource. Charlie is a great guy. If their is stuff you are looking for email him. He has alot of stuff that isn’t on his website. You would remember this. When I lived in Tucson I would go to a used record and book store called Bookman’s. I would buy old guitar player magazines then get records. Man that was a fun place.
I’m ready to place an order to Blue beat. What are the “must have” records that I need to get? Tommy, I’m sure I have all your lessons but what I want to do is learn some complete tunes based on those lessons. So far Tiny Grimes is the guy I’d like to focus on. On the western swing side, Jimmie Rivers is it for right now. I’m still amazed that he wasn’t recorded more than he was. One record? Tell me it ain’t so! One Bill Jennings suggestion would be good. Looking for songs with signature rhythms and licks. Anybody? I’m open to suggestions. Mike
Mike
Bill Jennings I like “Stomping with Bill” and I like the “Wailin’ Vol.’s 1 & 2” Both Vol.’s have good song selection, but Vol.2 has a few songs that have more than one take, back to back. Which something I do not like. But in the age of MP3 you can just upload your favorite version and ignore the others when you load the CD onto your computer, which is what I did. “Stomping with Bill” has a couple of cool tunes with Bill and Tiny playing together. It does not have “Big Boy” on it which is a factor for a lot of people.Tiny Grimes for me is hard because there is just so much stuff with him on it. My personal favorite is “Blues Grooves” because it is really just him, and guitar driven. I do not like listening to Xylophones, and other things, that you have to listen through on a lot of his other stuff. I also like “Blues Grooves” because he does a lot of jazz standards, and tunes that use structures that are must knows if you are wanting to get into that kind of music. Plus his versions of these standards I think are very hip, which is another reason it is my favorite. Hope these help you on your search.
I’m thinking about getting Bill Doggett Guitar Greats. I’m really liking Billy Butler.
Thanks for the suggestions. They’re all now on the top of my list. I guess “Big Boy” is somewhat of a standard. I jam on Sundays with another guitar player, harp, bass, and drummer and want to introduce some of this stuff into the lineup. None of these guys know anything about it so it’s up to me to introduce them to it and I’m a rank beginner at it. We do JJCale, Rolling Stones blues style, and other stuff that is commonly played so this should be interesting, and so I’m looking for some “standards” that I can show them. I know what you mean about about listening through other stuff like xylophones. I recently finished Tommys rhythm changes lesson and started looking for songs that I could play along with. Most of what I found had the rhythm guitar buried so far into the mix that I could barely recognize it as “Rhythm Changes”.
I’m thinking about getting Bill Doggett Guitar Greats. I’m really liking Billy Butler. Thanks!
Don’t know what happened to the post above. Edited to move the vid and it all showed up in the mix. The edit button left the scene,lol.
Tiny Grimes’ Rockin’ Highlanders is worth getting.
For Western Swing, you NEED to get the Bob Wills records with Junior Barnard. The Tiffany transcriptions (any of the releases) is the best place to start.
If you’re buying from Blue Beat, then you gotta get the West Coast Guitar Killers compilations. That will get you some other artists to check out.
I have a few Bill Doggett Albums I like. I will have to get back on the names of them though because I do not remember the names off hand. Billy Butler is good as well. I love his tune “Honey Boy”. One I like a lot is Teddy Bunn. I have been able to get a lot of people hooked on him. One of my favorites of this era, but is more of a standard jazz player, is Mary Osborne. Check out her version of “I Love Paris.” You can find her on Youtube and did post some clips of her on this forum under Records page 1, in case you missed her.
Rhythm Changes is definitely a must if you are going to start getting into jazz. That progression, and variations of it, pop up a lot. Especially with the artists you are naming. Another structure you come across a lot is the ii V I in a key, and then the ii V I to its relative minor. So if you had a tune in the key of G, its relative minor is E minor. So your progression is A minor, D, G (ii V I in G) Then the ii V I for the relative minor in G is F# minor, B to E minor. Typically you see a chord in between the two to set up the change ( typically a IV ), and sometimes you will hear the ii for the relative minor played dominant. “Autumn Leaves” is a good example of this kind of progression. Another common thing that is good to learn, and get your ears around, is cycling down in 4th’s. You come across this a lot as well in old standards. So this would say starting in G, moving to it IV C, then to C’s IV F, then to F’s IV Bb, etc.
Thanks Craner and Gretschman. Tommy has a link up for Tiffany Transcriptions that I recently checked out. Yep, Junior Bernard is the man. I have to be careful to focus on what I’m learning as time is the limiting factor right now. I’m finishing up the strawbale house I started building years ago and in the midst of divorce and still trying to get playing time in. As things progress I’m planning a woodshedding cram to get boned up on the very stuff in the above post. All this started when I sat down to learn “Stormy Monday” one day and was captivated by the 9th chords mixed with the 7ths and started researching from there. Who woulda thought it would lead to learning jazz but you can’t avoid it. It’s all tied together because the pent scale doesn’t always work with the rhythm structures like it does with the 1-4-5 blues. I’m 60 now and have the attitude that it’s never too late to learn. I better get back to my lime and adobe plaster work now,lol. Start a new thread topic and keep posting the chord progression info. I’m loving it. That may be a good lesson suggestion for Tommy. Strictly rhythm, chord progressions, common inversions used etc. That stuff is mixed in with all his lessons already but a one topic lesson might be good for newbies. I may start a lesson questions topic in the future as I have a few. ie) Why is Bflat a common jump blues key?
Mike
For the Bb key question. It is not the only reason, but a big reason a lot of the swing era stuff was written in Bb is because of the horns. Most horns and woodwind instruments are Bb instruments. So it is very easy for them to play in the keys of Bb, F, and Ab. These horns can play in all keys but some of them get awkward for the player. It is kind of the same principle as why guitar players with standard tuned guitars do not like playing in Eb. We can do it but a lot of our normal ways of playing have to change. Example we can’t use open strings anymore. Hope that answered your question.
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