one note samba

Discussion of history's greatest guitar player.

one note samba

Postby rhirvine » Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:59 pm

I never compared my version of this song to Chet's but I've always thought that Chet's version resolved to the Key of B major. I don't think that key is normal for western music but I don't really know. To this day when I play it (mostly to keep my fingers nimble), it resolves to the most unused key in music. Thanks in advance! It's strange but many times I just like to learn old Chet arrangements from what I remember in my head. I don't possess perfect pitch but I like to work tunes out in my head and through my fingers although I had to ask the late Paul Yandell which key "Main Street Breakdown" is in I never tried to play it as I gave up. It's beyond my ability!

Sincerely,
Rich Irvine
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Re: one note samba

Postby DagerRande » Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:31 pm

Rich, I resolve it to the key of A. There was no particular reason other than that it allowed for the right combination of open strings and fretted notes. I was never trying to match it to any recording.
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Re: one note samba

Postby Doug Working » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:08 pm

You can't beat a bossa nova beat, especially when Chet plays it!

I've always loved the rich sound of Chet's chords in this, contrasted against the wonderful melody section.

I never realized it had lyrics, though. Lyrics that I will never learn! But you may get a charge out of this: https://youtu.be/AuEv942wOZs
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Re: one note samba

Postby rhirvine » Tue Oct 09, 2018 6:11 pm

Thanks guys. Back when i first learned the tune I had great difficulty with the single note bridge part. I tried to use all thumb picking which I was never able to do very well. Years later when I saw Jerry Reed's thumbpick and index finger method I worked on it again and that technique made it much easier to pick that part. All of my single note playing now is using that method.
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Re: one note samba

Postby Doug Working » Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:09 pm

I wish I could get used to that thumb pick plus index finger technique. I rely too heavily on the pick. It's a bad habit. I'll bet Chet used the technique in Old Joe Clark and Sugar Foot Rag.
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Re: one note samba

Postby rhirvine » Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:00 am

Doug it seems any of the techniques I know I learned by the time I was 30, not to discourage you. I don't think these days I can learn anything new in the way of techniques such as the super lick (I never even tried it). I believe that Chet used the thumb index finger single notes on the tunes you mentioned and "Yakety Axe".
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Re: one note samba

Postby Doug Working » Thu Oct 11, 2018 5:55 pm

I do admit that bad habits / techniques are really hard to break. REAL hard. Not that it can't be done. But t's hard.

Years and years and years ago, I took some classical instruction from a classical guitarist/teacher. The FIRST thing he did was point out my bad technique habits and try to help me correct them. I say "try," because I'm not sure if he made a lot of progress, lol.

But I tried because I was paying him a goodly sum, and I wanted to get my money's worth. Had a family to raise and mouths to feed, and every dollar counted.

Now I got myself to raise and MY mouth to feed, and guess what? Every dollar counts! Lol, but I digress.

But yeah, bad habits are hard to break once they are ingrained..

Like I said, I got a sax now, and I want to learn, but # 1 I have NO idea where to even start, and # 2 I'm afraid that without pro instruction I might develop bad technique habits that, as with guitar, will be dang near impossible to break further on down the line.
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Re: one note samba

Postby DagerRande » Fri Oct 12, 2018 1:01 pm

And then there is Brent Mason who uses his thumb and index finger, or even thumb and any combination of the others, and manages to sound like he's using a flat pick the entire time! That's pretty impressive with a Telecaster and all of those hot licks and yet maintaining that "Tele sound"!
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Re: one note samba

Postby Steve Moran » Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:53 pm

Ya'll were talking about two finger runs from Chet. It's amazing to me how Chet could do those thumb and index finger runs so cleanly and with a full sound for each note while still playing it fast. Sounds like they are scale runs at times. If I'm remembering correctly there are a lot of those nice runs on the two albums Chet did with Les Paul. Took me a long time to figure out that sound was a two-finger run.
Thanks
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Re: one note samba

Postby DagerRande » Fri Oct 12, 2018 4:27 pm

Steve, Tommy Jones used to show me even 3 finger runs along with the thumb! When each finger can take a longer break before it's "turn" comes around again, it can make a significant difference but it also seems to have to be planned out in advance!
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