3/24/2024 0 Comments Mean woman blues tablature![]() ![]() I prefer the slower version, but I recognize that the official releases have a cultural life of their own, and for better or worse, are the recordings that are available to most people. Slowed down, the groove becomes more mellow, and the vocals are calmer and more authoritative. The official releases are anxious and intense, with Johnson’s voice sounding strained in its upper register. The music takes on a very different quality slowed down. This is not just an abstruse musicological debate. John Gibbens argues that Johnson’s recordings were mastered 12% too fast, perhaps to make them more “exciting.” This guy on YouTube slowed down “Kind Hearted Woman Blues” so that the guitar would be in the key of A, and I agree with him that this sounds better and more believable: It’s also possible that the recording was made (or mastered) at too high a speed, and that the pitch should really be lower. ![]() However, Johnson is pretty clearly playing in the key of A in standard tuning, so maybe he had a capo on the first fret. It sounds like it’s closest to the key of B-flat. The recording is pitched 30 cents above standard A440 tuning. Here’s the first song Robert Johnson ever recorded. Doesn’t it seem more likely that he got so good by just practicing a lot? Rather than engaging with all of that nonsense, I would prefer to focus on his music. I find it distasteful to read about him selling his soul to the devil to get good at guitar. Robert Johnson’s life is famously not well documented, and his fans have filled the vacuum with endless mythologizing. However, Robert Johnson is so sublimely great that he leaves me no choice. I love Robert Johnson, but it feels so corny to be yet another a white dude rhapsodizing about him. ![]() So far, I have resisted writing about Robert Johnson on this blog. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |