I’m not going to edit or change even a word of this one. an old tumblr post from late 2014, early in that place’s history. I’ve been trying to play this again as I ramp back up to adequacy, and though it’s slow going, I’m reminded anew how fucking great this track is! I’ve kept listening to it, so it’s an old friend, so familiar I can play it in my head, almost all of it, or any section I need to get right still. Playing it mentally helps! The fingers will come sooner or later! I now turn you over to me! The old version, without all the crushing debt…
You know how I always start these by saying “this is gonna be short”? I’m holding myself to it this time!
Little Walter was probably the most famous of all the blues harmonica players over the years. Sort of a hothead judging from some stories I’ve heard and the scars on him, but that’s it for biography aside from saying that he played a lot with Muddy Waters and had several pretty big hits on his own – in fact Walter sold bigger than anyone else on Chess, at least until Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. He claimed to have listened to lots of sax players, and you can hear that in his phrasing. Hell, I’d never wanna dispute anything he said. He may have surly and combative ancestors…
But we’re gonna focus, laser-like, on the guitar playing on this one Little Walter track, “Shake Dancer”, specifically the part played by Robert Jr. Lockwood (he took to using the Jr. as a way of aligning himself with Robert Johnson, who was supposedly a step-dad of sorts to young Robert). This track is like the Rosetta Stone of blues rhythm guitar playing. Each time through the changes Lockwood plays a new variation, each unique and inventive. You hear everything from straight ahead simple blues chords to some of those nifty ninths and similarly jazzy sounding things that can be pilfered and used as the basis for a career in rhythm guitar. A treasure trove of great stuff, and pretty easy to play too.
Sonny Boy Williamson II, KFFA owner Sam Anderson and Robert, selling some flour in the 40’s. Or was it corn meal?
I’ve probably played along with this tune more than any other single blues track over the years. It’s just plain fun to be able to duplicate what is surely one of the finest examples of blues accompaniment ever recorded. Plus it’s a really cool instrumental that’s not nearly as chaotic and disjointed as Walter’s big hit (the one that made his career as a solo artist) “Juke”. It’s in a wonderfully loping shuffle rhythm with the usual blues chord changes, no extra beats or bars to confuse or bewilder. It just makes sense, and Walter’s harp work is, as always, solid and musically rich.
I should add before I get outta here that there is another guitar part, played by Luther Tucker, though it’s not easy to hear. In fact I can’t really pick it out. Probably doubling the bass line. Lockwood’s part is right in your ears though, ripe for the plucking. If you play the guitar, here’s a helpful hint: those nifty jazzy chords can be approximated with a simple one finger bar. Other than that it’s lots of first position key of E stuff. So here it is, Little Walter and Robert Jr. Lockwood doing what they do so well on “Shake Dancer”. Have fun!
There! That wasn’t so bad, right? I kept it short, a rarity for me, and I still said what I wanted to say, something I need to pay more attention to… If you’re a guitarist I hope you’ll try playing this. It’s fun! Takes a while to get it all into muscle memory, but it’s well worth the effort, You can use bits and pieces from Lockwood’s brilliant playing here on just about any blues tune you could name. It all fits! Soon these tricks become part of your go to set of things to try if things are getting boring.
I had issues with that sometimes. I love the blues but man can it get monotonous if you don’t consciously do things to keep it fresh, Few (if any) tunes are better than this one for giving you a whole lot of new stuff to play around with. Most of it’s pretty easy to hear and figure out too!
Enjoy! And thanks for reading! Become a subscriber, comment, like, do all the things! It doesn’t happen much here…
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