Foggy Bottom

[keener]

A pretty difficult, but fun, Reed piece. Richard Smith showed me several of the Foggy Bottom licks, then I forgot most of what he showed me. (Dontcha hate that?) So I took what I remembered and fiddled around until I got something kinda close. There are mistakes in it ... I'm just glad I made it through it without my brain completely failing. Many thanks to Richard, for grand efforts in training the untrainable. (Again, for those of you looking for some help in fingering, chords, harmonics, bass patterns, anything musical, Richard's Skype lessons are great! I never would have been able to do Foggy Bottom without his help.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG-ip5AgwJA

[Olivier]

Thanks for sharing, Dr Keener !
Is there a way to get or to buy this tab somewhere ?

[keener]

Thank you Oliver.

I am not aware of any tabbing for this tune. I looked for it, and just couldn't find a tab anywhere.

I should emphasize that, if you try to learn Foggy Bottom from my video, you are only going to get an approximation to what Jerry did, not the note-for-note "real thing." Parts of it are spot-on, but a lot of it is just me approximating the tune.

When I asked Richard to help me learn Foggy Bottom, I had two parts in mind that I really wanted to learn: the beginning piece (the funky double-lick that begins with the dm7 pull off) and the break that is in G7. To me, those were the "Jerryist" pieces, and I figured I'd be content learning them note for note and "approximately learning" the rest of it.

Richard showed the first part note for note and I retained about 50% of it and did some "approximate learning" to fill in the remaining part of the "intro." The rest of it, I learned by listening and "imitating," sometimes trying to copy, sometimes settling on approximating.

I went so far as to spend 50 bucks on software to help me figure the tune out: I bought Capo for Mac, which (1) slows the tune down to up to a fourth its normal speed and (2) shows the notes for the song. It was somewhat helpful, although I just don't have the patience to set in front of the computer doing a note for note thing for hours at a time for days in row.

Richard will tell you (as he told his Facebook friends yesterday): learn one note at a time. John Knowles seconded Richard's advice. And Richard gave a link to a great talk on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdk6V5ZC ... OQ&index=3

If I were a pro trying to learn every facet of Foggy Bottom, I'd probably use the Capo software and work through the tune note for note. As it is, I didn't want to put more than a week into it: Richard showed me several licks on Monday, then I spent a couple of hours a day the rest of the week working on it, and decided it just wasn't worth it To Me to spend another week on it. (I don't learn as fast as I did 40 years ago, when I learn at all.)

Thanks again Oliver.

[stambi]

Thank you Bruce. I like it. Very nice picking.

[Olivier]

Thanks to you, Bruce, for sharing all your videos. I always like the way you play, with a great and smooth sound, and a lot of feeling.
The only thing I would suggest is to give more rhythm to your playing, but anything else is really fine (I have the same problem myself with rythm !)
Concerning "Foggy Bottom", I have not enough time to transcribe note by note, by ear, this song. It's a difficult song, and I think I will wait for a transcription done by a more competent guitarist, like Craig Dobbins or Phil Hunt.
I am always hoping for a new book on Jerry Reed. There is a lot of fantastic stuff waiting to be tabbed.
Sorry for my english...
Olivier

[keener]

Thanks to you, Bruce, for sharing all your videos. I always like the way you play, with a great and smooth sound, and a lot of feeling.
The only thing I would suggest is to give more rhythm to your playing, but anything else is really fine (I have the same problem myself with rythm !)
Concerning "Foggy Bottom", I have not enough time to transcribe note by note, by ear, this song. It's a difficult song, and I think I will wait for a transcription done by a more competent guitarist, like Craig Dobbins or Phil Hunt.
I am always hoping for a new book on Jerry Reed. There is a lot of fantastic stuff waiting to be tabbed.
Sorry for my english...
Olivier

Hey Olivier,
I was going to let your comment about my rhythm and competence get to me. But, you are no doubt right. I have not played with anyone in almost 10 years, so my rhythm has really suffered. And there are millions of pickers more competent than me. In fact to call me a guitarist is a stretch: I'm a retired engineer who sometimes picks guitar.

For sure, Craig or Phil would do a great job transcribing this, and it could be worth waiting on them. I shared my rendering of the tune because I thought a couple of folks might want to grab a couple of licks off it, as videos are relatively easy to learn from. If someone wants to do that, that's great. If not, perhaps I wasted my time recording it. Either way, I had fun learning some new licks.

Boris,
Thank you very much.
Bruce

[Olivier]

Sorry Bruce, I wanted to say : more competent than myself for transcribing.

I would better not write any more in english-speaking forums, I risk to create misunderstandings at any time !

I really appreciate your videos.

Olivier

[keener]

Dear Olivier,

Please excuse my comment above -- in looking back at it, I see that I over-reacted. I was in a bad mood (watched the Presidential News Conference). Plus, I'm an oversensitive idiot that sometimes over-reacts.

I would hope that you would continue to visit the CB and not let my stupid comments sway you away. I would also hope that you would always say what is on your mind. This world has too many people who always strive for "political correctness," at the cost of our not learning from each other.

I knew there was something about my playing of Foggy Bottom that "was not settling well" with the viewers.
- Nobody commented on it on Facebook
- There is not a single up-thumb ("like") for it on YouTube
- Only a couple of comments for it on YouTube

You went to the effort to try to tell me what was wrong with it, and, instead of appreciating it, I whined. Shame on me, and good for you for trying to help me out.

Again, my thanks to you. Please don't leave. Please do continue to comment. And please do continue to share your videos and audios with us.

Bruce

[Olivier]

No problem, Bruce !
And... artists are often oversensitive