Check out how he uses his thumb

[sunjamr]

Who needs a pick when you can move your thumb like that? Some pretty cool licks there. But don’t get distracted by those go go girls.

Maybe it’s time to re-visit EP050…..

Sunjamr Steve

[ranja]

Thanks, Steve!
A blast from the past.
Ron

[charjo]

Resolutions poor but I think he’s got three picks.
Classic guitar and Go Go. Sorry…got distracted. I think Jenna Ortega stole some of those classic moves in her Wednesday dance. Talk about classic…how about the Cramps and “Goo Goo Muck”.
John

[sunjamr]

Cool moves, but I reckon Freddie’s go go dancers are the best. And even Wild Cherry’s sax players were pretty good at go go moves:

Sunjamr Steve

[charjo]

Oh yeah!
I must check out the old Midnight Special shows on YouTube.
John

[Alan K]

Freddie had a unique style. To me, he was the epitome of “cool”. I think he was the main reason I needed to get my Cherry EPI 339. Looked like his band mates had a blast playing with him.

[Don D.]

Here’s a Freddie King playlist. Everything from The Beat! is on the second video, and there are selections from the show after that.

There’s a roughly chronological list of songs after the live videos, starting with number 35 (through number 117, as of today). The singles are followed by a session with Howlin’ Wolf, which is followed by albums. After that, it’s a big mess that I’m slowly picking through.

Freddie King didn’t play guitar on his first single in 1956 (“Country Boy”/”That’s What You Think”); that’s Robert Lockwood. He wouldn’t record again until August 26, 1960; the first 45 released was “You’ve Got To Love Her With A Feeling”/”Have You Ever Loved A Woman.” The first song recorded on the session was “You Know That You Love Me (But You Never Tell Me So),” it didn’t get released until Freddy King Sings came out in 1961. The playlist order follows, as best as I can, the order songs were recorded.

Don D.

[sunjamr]

Wow, thanks Don! You are the MAN!

Sunjamr Steve

[Keith T]

Thanks for posting this Don. That recording of Freddie playing in the prison is giving me goosebumps. Amazing.
And ‘Funny Bone’ – could be the inspiration for Mary Had a Little Lamb…?

[Don D.]

I hope you’ll pardon my long delay. I haven’t been feeling great.

I wondered about the origins of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” when I heard some of these earlier songs. I think “Come On” is probably their earliest common ancestor, but I wish I could say in more detail who heard what.

Scott Dirks, musician and author, offered me some advice, pointing out a couple songs I hadn’t heard. I also included later songs that used the same riff. If you think of any that might be missing, please let me know.

Don D.

[Michael M]

Reminds me of RL Burnside. Love this old time blues. Sorry I don’t know how to embed his videos but check out See my Jumper Hanging on the Line. He finger plucks with no finger picks and a heavy use of the thumb.

[GnLguy]

When talking about players that used only their thumb, we have to include the amazing Wes Montgomery. Without a doubt, Wes has influenced more jazz players and likely many rock players; his use of octave licks were smooth as glass for sure

[Author]

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