The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #43536 Message #649381
Posted By: GUEST,Iceboy
13-Feb-02 - 04:51 PM
Thread Name: Blind Lemon questions
Subject: RE: Blind Lemon questions
M. Ted-I guess what I mean by G-box is that, if played open with the third fret as root, you'd be in the key of G. That's if I'm understanding the position you described with the root at the eighth fret. A lot of times when working with pre-war solo guitar, I think of the "positions" like a harmonica player might think in terms of blowing straight harp (1st position), cross-harp (2nd), or any of the other 6 positions you could get on a diatonic harp. In guitar for example, if you were playing out of a position using an A chord (open e, open a, second fret barred e,a,c sharp, fifth fret a) you could capo at the third fret, move the whole position up three frets, and you'd still be playing in "A" position, even though you'd now be in the key of C. I think the position you described was 6th to 2nd string c,e,g,c,e. If this pattern was moved down from the 8th fret to open position starting on the 3rd fret, it would be a G chord, and thus, by my peculiar terminology "G position." Clear as mud?! Ha-ha. I just tend to go with positions I think artists use to get their bass lines or chord voicings, regardless of what key they're capoed to, and it seems from a lot of what I've heard that Blind Lemon really tends to favor the G-C-E-G-C-E voicing in open position, as opposed to C-G-E-C-E-C. I have by no means worked on all his songs, though. I've studied about eight of them pretty seriously in the positions of C, G, A , and E.