Chord Req: Goin' Down Slow (Fred Gerlach)

Subject: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Going Down Slow'
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 06 Jul 20 - 05:41 PM

What are the chords Gerlach uses on "Going Down Slow"? And is he in an alternate tuning?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 20 - 11:26 AM

If it's the same song, this might be of use.

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/eric-clapton/going-down-slow-chords-1879915

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 09 Jul 20 - 04:23 PM

It's a different song, but thanks anyway.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 20 - 10:48 PM

Would you be kind enough to give the first few lines of the song you want, Dave?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 05:28 PM

"Well, I'm going down slow.
I can feel myself slippin' boys.
Yes, I'm going down slow.
No matter how hard I try to stop myself
I'm going down slow."

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: Helen
Date: 12 Jul 20 - 06:02 PM

Going Down Slow - video

There's a sound snippet from Smithsonian Folkways and album information:

Going Down Slow

Album: Twelve-String Guitar: Folk Songs and Blues Sung and Played by Fred Gerlach
Year Released: 1962
Catalog Number: FW03529_206

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: GUEST,Dave
Date: 13 Jul 20 - 01:10 PM

Thanks, Helen.
I've had the album since it came out, but can find no info on tuning and chords. A straightforward enough blues, yet I am unable to get the sound.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: Helen
Date: 13 Jul 20 - 04:45 PM

Hi Dave,

I don't play blues or even listen to it much so I can't help you there. In my search yesterday I found this:

You can download the pdf file. It's 33 pages of liner notes on an The 12 String guitar as played by Leadbelly: an instruction record by Pete Seeger

It came up in the Google search with a reference by Seeger to Fred Gerlach's tuning. I didn't download the file but I tried to skim the text for the reference to Fred Gerlach and couldn't find it. It looks like a useful reference and I also found in my Googling that Gerlach and Seeger knew each other or played together sometimes.

I also read this comment by someone called Bobby on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum

"Fred was one of Leo Kottke's earliest influences and in fact, lent Leo His Roy Noble 12 string for Leo's album "Mudlark". Fred was a craftsman and a player. He built huge 12 strings that matched his powerful strength. He said that, (quote) "anyone can put 12 strings on a guitar, but that isn't a real 12. A 12 has to be big. It has to be big bodied to carry the sound. Big to carry heavy bronze strings, like Leadbelly used to play. It's special. Nothing like it. Alot of people just play a 12 because it sounds pretty. The extra strings give you 'instant arrangement'. You know, it makes all the chords sound new and different without any effort. It just isn't like that. The 12 should be played because it's demanded. Because no other instrument will do. Leadbelly couldn't play on a 6 and be Leadbelly. A 12 is for 12 music, a 6 is for 6. Nobody today wants to make the effort." (quoted from Baxter's Guitar Workshop) Bob Baxter himself, tried to play one of Gerlach's 12 string creations and had this to say about it: " I discovered one key that gives a hint of his special ability. His 12 string is almost too big to play. The large body cut off the blood under my forearm when I tried it, and my hand started to fall asleep halfway through the tune. The fingerboard was so wide I had to execute the chords in segments. And as for fretting the extra heavy bronze strings, I wished I had a pair of vise-grips. The neck was like a telephone pole and my fingernails were immediately chisled away to nothing by the double strings. All in all, Fred's talent is directly related to Fred's physical ability. No little girl is going to play 12 string according to the gospel of Gerlach. No 6 string picker is either, unless he's as powerful and dedicated as Fred."


If you Google for Fred Gerlach 12 string guitar there is a lot of information out there. Good luck!

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jul 20 - 11:31 AM

Hi Helen,
Thanks so much for the references. Quite a thorough look at Leadbelly. Gerlach is indeed mentioned twice, once concerning just the regular set up of the twelve strings, and again as someone to listen to. I appreciate your help and I will continue the search but probably will have to depend on my ear rather than external sources. Thanks again!

Dave

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Fred Gerlach, 'Goin' Down Slow'
From: Helen
Date: 14 Jul 20 - 03:52 PM

Hi Dave, please come back to this thread and keep us up to date on your progress. Persistence and determination! :-)

Subject: Lyr Add: GOING DOWN SLOW (Jimmy Oden)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 23 - 05:05 PM

I think this is the original recording. My transcription from the Internet Archive:


GOING DOWN SLOW
(Jimmy Oden)
As recorded by St. Louis Jimmy [Oden] on Bluebird B-8889-B, 1941.

I have had my fun, if I don’t get well no mo’. (2x)
My health is failin’ me, an’ I’m goin’ down slow.

Please write my mother; tell her the shape I’m in. (2x)
Tell her to pray for me; forgive me of my sin.

Tell her: don’t send no doctor; doctor can’t do no good. (2x)
It’s all my fault; didn’t do the things I should.

On the next train south, look for my clothes home. (2x)
If you don’t see my body, all you can do is moan.

Mother, please don’t worry; this is all in my prayer. (2x)
Just say your son is gone out of this world somewhere.

- - -
The Internet Archive also has recordings by:
Billy Wright and Orchestra, Savoy 870-A, 1952.
St. Louis Jimmy, Parrot 83, 1956.
Brownie McGhee, Alert 405-A, no date.

Spotify also has recordings by:
Champion Jack Dupree, on “Blues from the Gutter,” 1958.
Howlin’ Wolf, on “Howlin’ Wolf,” 1962.
Aretha Franklin, on “Aretha Franklin Arrives,” 1967.
Canned Heat, on “Canned Heat,” 1967.
Bobby “Blue” Bland, on “His California Album,” 1973.
Ray Charles, on “Ray Charles Volume II,” 1974.
Duane Allman, on “Dreams,” 1989.
B. B. King, on “The Best of B.B. King,” 1991.
Eric Clapton, on “Pilgrim,” 1998.
Peter Frampton Band, on “All Blues,” 2019.
(Tom Waits has a different song by the same title.)

Subject: Lyr Add: NEW GOING DOWN SLOW (Poor Boy)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Apr 23 - 11:11 PM

The Internet Archive also has this somewhat different version:


NEW GOING DOWN SLOW
As recorded by Poor Boy on Black & White 106-A, 1945.

Somebody write my mother; tell her the conditions I’m in. (2x)
Tell her I believe to my soul my heart is full of sin.

I was once a bad fellow, but I won’t be bad no mo’. (2x)
The conditions I’m in, people, I’m goin’ down slow.

But I’ve had my fun if I never get well. (2x)
The one knows my condition, the only one who can tell.

Some people thinks I’m dead, but I’m still goin’ down slow. (2x)
I may be here a long time; the good Lord only knows.