Category Archives: those that are trained

those that are trained, those that belong to the emperor

Doc Watson

1 Comment

Guitar great Doc Watson passed away earlier this week. I’ve stolen a lot from him. Well, one thing. But it’s a good one.

When I play guitar or ukulele using my fingers to pick instead of strum, I use a basic Piedmont-esque / Merle Travis style that I learned from Watson via an instructional VHS tape I checked out from the Long Branch Public Library in Silver Spring, Maryland in 2002, and which I now see is a Smithsonian Folkways video still available on DVD called Doc’s Guitar: Fingerpicking & Flatpicking.

Specifically, I stole the first bit he teaches/plays on that video: “Deep River Blues.” Below, you can see me doing trying to do this bit  — same key (E), same diminished chord (G dim), same neck position and everything — as The Viper and His Second String perform the Neil Young song “Vampire Blues” (shot and uploaded to YouTube by Sue Peacock earlier this year — that’s birthday boy John Peacock you’ll see taking the suitcase solo in the middle). [Need to track down a copy of this video – It’s gone!]


from http://youtu.be/LpwrXyigmX8

And now here’s Doc Watson doing the same thing but better on “Deep River Blues.”


from Doc Watson performs “Deep River Blues” in the DVD “Doc’s Guitar: Fingerpicking & Flatpicking,” Smithsonian Folkways, Published on Jul 13, 2010

Great stuff. And now you can learn how to do it too!

those that are trained

How to build a washtub bass pt. 3 – playing

Leave a comment

You’ve got the materials. You’ve put them together. So how do you PLAY a washtub bass? Here, in the last of three installments, the Viper shows you how. A transcript follows the video.

The bass you see being put together here will make its public debut on Friday night, May 7, in the very capable hands of Riley Broach. Riley, along with John Peacock and the Viper, will be playing with The Viper and His Second String as part of a four-band jug-music show at the Coffee House, below Redeemer Lutheran Church on 631 N. 19th St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Also featured are Larry Penn’s Washboard Band (featuring Dave Fox), Peter Lee, and the Grumpystiltskyn Jug Band.) The show starts at 8:00 p.m. It’s a Food Pantry Benefit, and so a donation of $4 and two cans of food is requested.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFqWUXJjK3Q

TRANSCRIPT

Now, to play the washtub bass.

PLACEMENT: When I’m at home, I just put it straight down on the floor. But if I want a little more volume, I’ll put a book under it. Today, we’re using Charles Schultz, The Complete Peanuts, volume 1.

STANCE: Then the notch that you carved in the stick will go on the back rim. Your weak foot will go behind the tub, behind the stick. And your strong foot will go on the rim of the opposite side, where the book is, to hold it down when you play.

PLUCKING: To play, you pull it tight enough to make the string taut. And if you pull the staff back to make the string tighter, the note will go up. And if you move it more towards the middle, you’ll get a lower note. And then when you put it all together, it will sound like this.

[“Seven Nation Army” follows, featuring Irene Jerving on washtub bass drum]

those that are trained

How to build a washtub bass pt. 2 – construction

Leave a comment

So you’ve already carefully jotted down the materials you would need to build a washtub bass. Now in this, the second of three installments, the Viper shows you how to put the parts together. A transcript follows the video.

The bass you see being put together here will make its public debut on Friday night, May 7, in the very capable hands of Riley Broach. Riley, along with John Peacock and the Viper, will be playing with The Viper and His Second String as part of a four-band jug-music show at the Coffee House, below Redeemer Lutheran Church on 631 N. 19th St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Also featured are Larry Penn’s Washboard Band (featuring Dave Fox), Peter Lee, and the Grumpystiltskyn Jug Band.) The show starts at 8:00 p.m. It’s a Food Pantry Benefit, and so a donation of $4 and two cans of food is requested.


youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsBkwBTQMv8

TRANSCRIPT

Now to build the washtub bass.

WASHTUB: We’re going to start with the washtub. We’ll be removing the handles, which you can do with a bolt cutter, if you have one, [or a] hacksaw — sometimes, if they’re soft enough, even just a pair of pliers. Drill a hold in the bottom and then put in the hardware assembly.

OUTSIDE HARDWARE: Eye bolt, lock washer, fender washer.

INSIDE HARDWARE: And in the inside: fender washer, lock washer, lock nut. Then you want to make sure you tighten it, quite tight. (This ended up being just about perfect. The bolt doesn’t extend past the nut, which is good if you want to carry stuff in the tub: it won’t scratch as much.) And then we’re done with our tub.

STAFF: Now we’re going to work on the staff. First, we’re going to cut a notch across the bottom. That will fit into the rim of the tub, and that’ll allow it to rest on the rim without slipping while you’re playing. Then we’re going to drill a hole through 48″ up for the string to go through. I’ll go a little bit more than this. But you don’t want to go too deep, because you don’t want this to touch the bottom of the tub, which will rattle. So just about 1/4 of an inch, enough to keep the thing from slipping. Now we’re going to measure 48″ up the staff. And mark it: that’s where we’re going to drill the hole.

[NOTE: One correction to this. Rather than drill the string hole 48″ up the staff, I’d recommend going a few inches higher (like to 52″) so that the string itself, when taut, will measure 48″ from staff to eye bolt (it’s the hypotenuse — use your knowledge of right triangles!).]

And when you do the drilling, you just want to make sure that the hole is going through perpendicular to the way that the notch is cut — in other words, the hole should be facing the center of the tub. You’re going to drill the hole big enough for your rope to go through.

STRING: Now that we’ve got the hole drilled, we’re just going to feed one end of the clothesline through that, and then tie a knot on the other side. And then cut off about 6 feet. And we’ll run that through the eye bolt — double back, like that. And then we essentially want to adjust the length until it’s basically taut when the string is almost straight up and down. When it’s straight up and down, that’s the lowest note you’re going to be able to hit. Then we’re going to take our clamp. Clamp this, and screw these back on. Eventually, we’ll cut this. But for now, I’m going to leave it until I have a chance to test out the bass: make sure I like the tautness of the string, and the length and everything. And the nice thing about the clamp, rather than tying it, is it makes it  much easier to make small adjustments while you’re figuring out what work.

PLUNGER: And then the last thing we need to do is to build a riser to allow the sound out to come out of the instrument. So we’re going to cut a notch in the top of the plunger. And that’s going to go under the rim.

And that’s how you build a washtub bass.

those that are trained

How to build a washtub bass pt. 1 – materials

1 Comment

So. Who you do know wants to build a washtub bass? In this, the first of three installments to show you how, the Viper details the materials you’ll need, all of which can be picked up at your local hardware store. A transcript follows the video.

The bass you see being put together here will make its public debut on Friday night, May 7, in the very capable hands of Riley Broach. Riley, along with John Peacock and the Viper, will be playing with The Viper and His Second String as part of a four-band jug-music show at the Coffee House, below Redeemer Lutheran Church on 631 N. 19th St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Also featured are Larry Penn’s Washboard Band (featuring Dave Fox), Peter Lee, and the Grumpystiltskyn Jug Band.) The show starts at 8:00 p.m. It’s a Food Pantry Benefit, and so a donation of $4 and two cans of food is requested.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq_OvpmV6I8

TRANSCRIPT

Today, we’re going to be building a washtub bass. I’m following almost word for word the instructions by Barefoot Larry Collins that you can find at jugmusic.com.

WASHTUB: To build a bass, you need a few basic materials. The first, and most important, is, of course, the washtub. This is a “hot-dipped” tub. The galvanized ones are cheaper and you can find those at Home Depot. This, you have to go to a hardware store, but it’s a little bit stronger. We’re going to be taking off the handles and drilling a hole through the bottom. The size is a #3 washtub. This one holds 17 gallons and it’s 24″ across the mouth. The other important detail is you need to make sure the washtub you get has a rim on the back, here, because that’s where the staff is going to rest. (We’re going to cut a notch in the staff and put it there.)

STAFF: The staff should be a piece of hardwood — like a handle from a tool — at least four feet long. Hardwood is stronger than pine. This is a 60″ eye-hoe handle — also from Ace Hardware — 1 and 3/4″ round-eye, Bulldog brand. We’re going to be carving a notch in the bottom, and we’re going to be drilling a hole in the top where the string will go through. Your hand will rest above that, and you want something nice to grip. You know it’s hardwood if it has a grain.

STRING: The string that you’ll pluck can be many things. This is the most basic one: it’s a 3/16″ clothesline — cotton clothesline. Larry Collins recommends parachute cord as slightly better. I haven’t made that jump yet, but that would probably be the next upgrade I would make.

HARDWARE: The next thing is the hardware assembly. (And I’m going to come up here to show you this.) What we have here is an eye bolt: 3/8″ cast. That’s where the string is going to attach, and this is on the outside of the tub. It should have a nut that comes with it. Then the next thing you’ll want is a lock washer, just to hold it together; Fender washer, which will distribute the strain on the tub a little better. That’ll go on the outside of the tub. On the inside, a second Fender washer, second lock washer, and a lock nut. The string itself will clamp on using the 1/8″ clamp set, “for use with wire rope.” This looks like this. And, you know, that unscrews, and the rope will go through, and it’ll be pulled together.

PLUNGER: And the final item you’ll want is just a basic plunger that we’ll cut a notch in. This will sit on the ground, and the bottom rim of the tub will sit in it, and that will hold it slightly off the ground to let the sound out.

And next, we’ll actually put this thing together.

fabulous ones, innumerable ones, those that are trained

Learn to play the Viper way

Leave a comment

About a week-and-a-half ago, I took the plunge into ensuring my ukulele kung fu legacy by posting an ad to Craigslist, Milwaukee offering “Guitar, ukulele, mandolin lessons” at what are, I must say, very reasonable rates. I have received a smattering of replies, but so far nothing definite (though I have been busy learning Hannah Montana’s “Fly on the Wall” in preparation for one possibility).

If you’re in Milwaukee, and want to learn to play the Viper way*, give me a ring. Here’s the text of the ad, as I just reposted it earlier this afternoon. As you’ll see, I tempt would-be students with free mp3 samples of my playing in action. Feel free to sample yourself!

GUITAR, UKULELE, MANDOLIN LESSONS

Do you play a stringed instrument? Want to?

Challenge your playing by working with a teacher who can draw on more than 25 years of professional performance experience in rock, country, traditional jazz, bluegrass, jug, and other old time styles.

I can help you develop your skills and a broader sense of music theory on acoustic or electric guitar, ukulele, mandolin or, really, any instrument that you can pluck or strum. (And some you can’t — I’ve provided audio examples of my playing on various instruments below.)

I am willing to teach all levels, but am especially suited to working with intermediate-level musicians seeking to become competent on unfamiliar instruments or in unfamiliar styles (e.g., are you a metal shredder who wants to play in a traditional bluegrass band?). I can also help you learn to better accompany yourself as a singer or songwriter.

My rates are $20 for a half-hour session, $30 for an hour, or $45 for sessions up to two hours long. I am located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, and am willing (within reason) to travel to meet you. Call me at 414-231-3148 and stop letting that instrument collect dust.

EXAMPLES OF MY PLAYING VARIOUS INSTRUMENTS / STYLES

Feel free to right-click and download any of these mp3 files.

  • Mandolin – “Heyse Latke Kalte Latke” / “Jerusalem Ridge”This is a klezmer original semi-instrumental paired with a bluegrass standard by Bill Monroe. You’re hearing me play the lead on a Turkish-manufactured mandolin with a banjo body. The band I’m playing with is Maryland’s own Paint Branch Ramblers, caught in rehearsal.
  • Baritone ukulele – “Pennies from Heaven”Solo instrumental performance in a kind of cocktail-bar-jazz style on this pop standard. A baritone ukulele is tuned like the top four strings of a guitar (D-G-B-E) and learning how to play it is a relatively painless transition for most guitarists.
  • Electric guitar, baritone ukulele, and yodeling – “Last Call Waltz”Another original semi-instrumental in a loose honky-tonk waltz style. Wait for the bridge to hear the electric guitar (about halfway through). And, yes, I can teach you how to yodel. The band is an Illinois supergroup drawn from members of Tangleweed, the Kennett Brothers, the Corn Likkers, and the Viper and His Famous Orchestra.
  • Banjo ukulele and jug – “Everybody’s Truckin'”Ukulele accompaniment (and some singing in the middle – that’s me on the hi-de-hos) on this traditional jazz / western swing standard. Listen for the uke, jug, and comb trio in the middle, brought to you by the magic of multi-track recording. The band is the Paint Branch Ramblers.

* Incidentally, this way of framing my pitch (not the one I use in the ad itself) is taken from a famous accordion teacher in Madison, Wisconsin, on whose estate sale I worked as a young handyman for the Bethel Resale Shop in the early 1990s. His name was Rudy Burkhalter, and along with the dozens of accordions he left behind, there were piles and piles of flyers featuring a bespectacled, crew-cutted, pre-teen with a piano accordion and the invitiation to “Learn to Play the Burkhalter Way.”

I just looked him up, and it appears that there is still an annual “Rudy Burkhalter Memorial Accordion Jamboree,” last spotted at the Oregon High School Performing Arts Center in Oregon, Wisconsin (just outside of Madison). As this site notes:

Rudy Burkhalter (1911 – 1994), an immigrant from Basel, Switzerland and the upper Midwest’s foremost Swiss-American traditional musician, opened an accordion school in 1938 with his wife, Frances, teaching throughout south-central Wisconsin. Once a week, the two would travel to Monroe, New Glarus, Darlington, Dodgeville, Watertown, Beaver Dam, Richland Center, Reedsburg and Baraboo, advertising two months of free lessons as well as furnishing the accordion. Eventually teaching up to 500 students per week, with classes of 20 to 40 students, countless people in Green County learned to play the instrument.