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02 May 02 - 06:42 AM (#702748) Subject: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: songs2play Did my eyes deceive me or did a see a very nice lady, by the name of Elizabeth Cotton, fingerpicking to "Freight Train", left-handed and UPSIDE-DOWN, on the Martin Carthy TV Prog on BBC4 the other night. Or was a trick of the TV ? If so, how the h*ll do you tab that. |
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02 May 02 - 06:47 AM (#702749) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: Nigel Parsons Must be "Cotton - pickin'" easy *BG* |
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02 May 02 - 07:06 AM (#702756) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST,Bullfrog Jones (on the road) A guy who comes to one of our sessions plays like that. You don't want to be following him if you don't know the chords! BJ |
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02 May 02 - 07:20 AM (#702764) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST,BobbyM Tab for freight train - http://guitarvideos.com/tabs/freight.htm It don't look inverted to me. |
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02 May 02 - 07:28 AM (#702766) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST,MCP She was famous for playing in that unorthodox mannner - a right-handed guitar played left-handed and upside down, contributing to her own sound. I've only ever come across one person in the UK playing like that in the last 35 years. Mick |
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02 May 02 - 07:38 AM (#702769) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST,T-boy I may be wrong, but didn't Dr. Ross play like that? Also, I believe, Albert King. I remember someone on the UK folk scene doing it too, one of 2 brothers, called Mark something. I suppose it can't be too difficult, as long as you start that way and pay no attention to anyone round you. |
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02 May 02 - 11:05 AM (#702892) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: Bullfrog Jones How 'bout Jimi Hendrix? Or perhaps it was normal on whatever planet he was from. |
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02 May 02 - 11:28 AM (#702907) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: English Jon Elizabeth Cotton claimed to have written (and probably did write) freight train. She was left handed and self taught, hence the unusual style. EJ |
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02 May 02 - 11:39 AM (#702916) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: McGrath of Harlow Sensible thing to learn to do, since most of the guitars around are strung right-handed. I've occasionally had a go at a left-hand guitar, being right-handed - it feels really strange, but it could be fun. Maybe sometime I'll string up a guitar of my own left-handed.
The other thing I've thought of is trying a left-hand strung mandolin, because that'd give you the same string values as the bass four strings on a standard guitar, but in reversed octaves, and standard guitar chords would work, but sound comnpetely different. Anyone ever tried that? (So far I've never run into a left-handed mandolin.) |
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02 May 02 - 11:55 AM (#702924) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: MikeofNorthumbria Hi Bullfrog Jones!
Sorry to be picky, but you are slightly misinformed.
Hendrix was left handed, and played on a right-handed guitar - but with the strings reversed (1st where the 6th should be, and so on). Quite a few other southpaw guitar-slingers do do this. The thickest string is farthest from the ground for them, as it is for us. So the chord shapes which their right hands make are essentially the the same as the shapes made by the left hands of right-handed pickers.
It's much rarer to find someone who plays left-handed on a normally strung right-handed guitar, like Libba Cotton - Albert King was the only other example I could think of. Doctor Isaiah Ross played open tuning with a slide,which is a different technique, and must be easier to reverse. Whereas Ms Cotton was finger-picking in normal tuning, and thus playing the thinnest strings with her thumb, while plucking the basses with her fingers. Just thinking about it makes me feel dizzy - but she made it sound beautiful, bless her! Wassail! |
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02 May 02 - 02:14 PM (#703031) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: RoyH (Burl) Elizabeth Cotton's story is remarkable. As I heard it she applied for, and got, a job as a domestic with a family who were interested in music. When she saw the children playing on guitar she mentioned that she 'used to play'. They handed her a guitar, and the rest is history. The name of the family -Seeger! If you don't believe me, ask Peggy. Ms Cotton was a genuine artist. It really doesn't matter what hand she favours, or how her guitar is set up, the main point is that she played enchanting music. |
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02 May 02 - 02:28 PM (#703044) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST There's a brief biography of here in the 'magazine' section of Mudcat. Click here |
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02 May 02 - 02:30 PM (#703047) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: McGrath of Harlow As fot tabbing it, you'd just label the strings the other way round. |
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02 May 02 - 05:16 PM (#703169) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: BanjoRay Libba Cotton also used to play 5 string banjo upside down, picking the fifth string with her index finger - awesome stuff. My friend Mitch Proctor (of R Cajun and The Zydeco Brothers) plays guitar, fiddle and mandolin that way, all beautifully. It must save a lot of bother buying new instruments if you're left handed. He's a bit single minded - when he comes to our Old Time session in Sheffield (UK), he won't play any Cajun tunes, because he's "got his Old Time head on". Cheers |
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02 May 02 - 07:48 PM (#703261) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: Bill D Bill Birchfield, of the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers also played guitar upside down & backwards pics from festival (and, boy those folks could play!...Joe Birchfield had the best version of "Ragtime Annie" I ever heard!) |
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02 May 02 - 07:56 PM (#703264) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: Bill D another pic of Bill playing banjo backwards |
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02 May 02 - 08:05 PM (#703268) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: Art Thieme BILL STAINES plays upside-down and backwards too-----same as Libba Cotton. (Her biggest problem was keeping her skirt down.;-) (art thieme) |
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07 May 02 - 03:34 AM (#705744) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: songs2play Got a picture of Libba's style on following web page. Pity can't see right hand. http://bluesnet.hub.org/waterman/cotton.html |
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07 May 02 - 01:48 PM (#706035) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST blicky |
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08 May 02 - 12:42 AM (#706492) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST,Sonja I've read that Elizabeth Cotton's first guitar didn't have strings on it, so she just put the strings on it the way that seemed natural for her, and that's why, being left-handed, she put them on in reverse order and chorded with her right hand. Dunno if it's true, but that's the story as I was told it. Sonja |
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08 May 02 - 11:27 AM (#706708) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: BanjoRay Sonja - her strings were on in their normal positions - being left handed, she played the guitar upside down. Cheers |
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08 May 02 - 11:58 AM (#706734) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST,Mark Ross on the road in Montana Miss Libba learned to play by surreptitiously learning on her brothers guitar when he wasn't home. She couldn't restring it or he would have suspected something, so she developed her unorthodox style. Using her 1st finger on the bass gave it a certain feel which CANNOT be duplicated by us mere mortals. She wrote FREIGHT TRAIN when she was in her 'teens, I believe. When she got religion, she gave up playing guitar for many years, and only resumed playing after she went to work for the Seeger family. By the way, Jim Rooney who know is a big producer flatpicks bluegrass upside down & left handed. Mark Ross |
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08 May 02 - 01:04 PM (#706770) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: GUEST,julia Smithsonian Magazine did a little piece on her. It's probably on their website. |
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14 Mar 07 - 12:14 PM (#1996513) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: Murray MacLeod Yet again, Youtube is your friend. Elizabeth Cotten playing "Freight Train" |
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14 Mar 07 - 04:23 PM (#1996801) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: The Sandman Thanks murray,I then went onto the related video of WizzJones in newquay in 1960,and lo and behold my cousin Sue,is being interviewed in a programme about the beatniks,this is a hilarious video . |
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14 Mar 07 - 04:33 PM (#1996812) Subject: RE: Elizabeth Cotton on Martin Carthy BBC4 From: BanjoRay Thanks Murrey for spelling her name correctly for the first time in the entire thread (some of the mistakes were mine!) Ray |
