Home › Forums › Guitar Techniques and General Discussions › Ragtime Fingerpick/Strum
- This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 1 month ago by CC.
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February 12, 2019 at 4:55 pm #125106
Heya all,
I am wanting to play a Memphis Minnie song called “Me and My Chaffeur”.
I like the ragtime feel and wondering what type of fingerpick/strum would you do? Are there any lessons that might help with that style?Blues forever!
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February 12, 2019 at 5:16 pm #125107
Not sure on that one CC, but the duo Good Biscuits do a very tight duet and Daddystovepipe does a Travis fingerstyle version that might help you. Best of luck in your pursuit.
Richard
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February 12, 2019 at 6:09 pm #125116
Not to change the subject. I can’t help you with the fingerpicking but have you heard the 1950s version with Little Walter? She’s so great!
Don D.
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February 13, 2019 at 5:40 pm #125204
Don what a great post Don thanks loved it JohnStrat
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February 13, 2019 at 1:13 pm #125188
Hey Don, I loved that video. It blows my mind how in the early 1900s people used to just randomly walk all over the street, with cars narrowly avoiding them. It’s like they were pissed off at the cars for driving on THEIR road. It was a time when total chaos ruled.
And CC: I would just use the Piedmont picking style with alternating thumb. As an example, in my December Challenge response I used that style twice. Once you get the feel of it, you can play almost any tune in that style. C is the most common key to use, because you can just move your ring finger to get the alternating bass from C to G. I don’t know if the sound is good enough for you to hear it properly – it was just recorded on my iPhone:
If you want some tab, Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotten is a good place to start learning Piedmont picking style. However, 99% of the tab you will find on the internet is incorrect – kind of a dumbed-down Chet Atkins version. Here’s one that is closer to how Elizabeth played it:
https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/176966/Product.aspx
Sunjamr Steve
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February 13, 2019 at 6:14 pm #125208
Cool video Don! Got to put on some Laurel & Hardy now.
Mike
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February 14, 2019 at 9:40 am #125235
Thank you Steve for your answer to CC’s original question. I wish I had something constructive to add.
I’m glad you liked the Little Walter version and the video (truth told, I didn’t think about the visual aspect even though my brother and I frequently talk about stuff like that–going to send him this, thank you for noticing).
I didn’t mean to intrude on the fingerpicking/strumming discussion but, yes, it’s a captivating video on a great song. Here’s the original 1941 recording with Little Son Joe on second guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD2GUKwqliU
Here’s a Memphis Minnie playlist with some of my favorites front-loaded, “Me and My Chauffeur” is at numbers 10 and 11 (there were about a dozen deletions from the list since the last time I checked it; I’m not sure what they were, need to have a look and replace them).
Here’s one more Memphis Minnie-Little Walter collaboration recorded at the same July 11, 1952, session in Chicago. “Conjur Man” and “Broken Heart” are the other 2 songs from that date (plus a couple alt versions of 2 of them; there’s very little harmonica on “Broken Heart”). One version of each appears in the playlist right after “Me and My Chauffeur.”
CC, I hope you don’t mind.
Don D.
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February 14, 2019 at 12:58 pm #125246
Ha ha, CC’s probably wondering what kind of a can of worms did she open here!
Sunjamr Steve
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February 14, 2019 at 5:12 pm #125272
Oh wow! Thanks everyone! So…., the first thing I did was listen to “Lake Michigan” 4x….totally loved it, wrote the words down too. Will learn it lickety split!
So, a big thank you to Don D, and Sunjamr for giving me ideas for a finger pick/strum. That’s what I hear when I listen To “Me and My Chauffeur”. Both a strum and a fingerpick. I’m gonna get it…….maybe Brian will come up with a Memphis Minnie type arrangement…Blues forever!
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February 14, 2019 at 10:12 pm #125283
All the best luck on “Lake Michigan,” CC! That’s an unusual blues in G, seems like they just changed chords when they felt like it. Do you sing too?
Don D.
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February 19, 2019 at 4:04 pm #125767
Yes, I just wrote a song that pairs very nicely with Brians 1st ragtime lick….I’ll post it soon. Thanks Don D!!
Blues forever!
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