Clarence White Guitar

Clarenceltrhite

ol Exacltranscriptions 24 tunesand breaksby the guitari$.Complete tegendary analvsis andinstructionon uniquepicking Claience's technique, syncopation, andbackupstyle.

M7 -871642 qC591 1978

Plusa completemusical biographv, discographv,.and, manyneverbelore-puolrsneo photos.In standard notationandtablature. BV RussBarenberg. OakPublications/$4.95

BLUEGRASSMASTERS

ClarenceUrhite by RussBarenberg

Oak Publicationi Ne*Yort. London. Tokvo. Svdnev' Colosne

Contents 4 Introduction 5 Musical Biography 9 Musical Style II Notation and Temt f2 IntroductoryInstruction 12 Syncopation l3 Pick Direction and the Rieht Hand Crosspicking 16 18 Alalyzing a Phrase 20 TheMusic 20 A Life of Sorrow 22 MountainDew 24 No Title Yet Blues 25 Rugle Call Rag 27 FarewellBlues 30 Joh Henry 32 Sally Goodin(1964) 35 SallyGoodin(1973) 36 Billy i the Lowground 40 Listen to the Mockingbird 43 Nine PounilEammer 48 I'maPilgim 5l BarefootNetlie 52 SheikofAruby 54 New River Truin 56 Soldier's,Ioy 58 The NewSoldier'sJoy 60 JuliusFinkbtuei Rag 62 AlabamoJubilee 64 If You'rcEver GonnaLoveMe 66 DarkHollow 68 Backup 68 I'm a Ptlgim '71 Discography

Introduction Oncein a whlle you run acrossa musicianwhoseplayingseemsto havefallenright out of the clearblue sky. ClarenceWhitewasone of thosepeople. Clarencewasamongthe fiIst to usethe guitar extensivelyas a lead instruanentin a the bluegEssband.Wjth an incrediblyrcfreshingapproach,he absorbedand transcende'd flatpicking prev

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FarewellBlues New Dinmsions in Bdjo and Bluesras

This is my personalfavorite.It's an intricatelyworkedout breakwith the most effectjvc I've everheardon the guitar.Rolandmadeno bonesabout his fondness useof crosspicking for it: "Oh, I usedto just threatenhim, if he didn't do that, I \rasgonnabrcak his guitar-I 1-2,56 and sections(measures lovedthe way he did that." Remember,in the crosspicking l7-23), hold the left-handpositionsto build a layeredtexture of soundAlthoughthe solo is complex,it's gracefuland not at all awkwardto play. It js well guila' designed for playingon an acoustic

FarewellBlues E. Sclroebel P.Mares L. Rappolo

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seventhfret of the D strin *Similar to the above; pick the G stnflg (sixth frct) as you arrive at the with the slide.

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,onn Henry Clarcnceplaysthis one pretty fast with a strcng,ddving pulse.The breakis ext.emely characterjstic ofhis style.Seep. 18 for further commentary.

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SallvGoodin It's interestinghereto seethe differcnt waysClarenceplayedthe fimt part of this tune' PartAr (1964) follows the melody closely.lt's pretty straight,but hasa f-ewtasty twlstsAa (1973) is slightly more improvisatoryand prcsentsa vadationof the basicmelody. Finally,in .4.2,A3 and A5, he probesthe depthsof the tune with much more exploratory improvisationand somereally greatlicks. Stjll, the melodyis clearlythe inspiration You'Il find touchesof syncopationthroughout thesebreak. At the end of Part A1, the last note ofthe sectionis tied into the next measureand becomesthe first note of Pafi l0-l l ). Br aswell! (Measures Part A3 : Notice the down-strokeson off_beatswhich areusedlbr addedemphasison someofthe slidingdoublestops. Be rcady for someheavysyncopationin Part 82 (measure9 ), and enjoy yourselfon Part A5 it's terrific guitarplaying!

Soily Goodin(tw) Traditional

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Billy in thelowground You'Il find it in severalother The triplct figurc you seein measureI is very characteristic. brcaksaswell. 1l-12, you'll seehow 3-4 with that jn measures If you oomparethe phrasein measures passage The flrst accentsthe fourth beat Clarencewasableto cont.ol andvary his emphasis. vividly of the measure,the second,the "and" lollowing the fourth beat.Thesepassages displayhis distinctivesenseofphrasing. Part B l usesa delightful combinationof syncopationand melodic crosspicking.Hold down the notesin the crosspicking(measuresl9-22 ) for that "stringy," free-ringingsound.

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Listento theMockingbird Played at a medium-slow tempo, this is a beautilul and delicate version ol the tune- Aim fbr a pretty, clear and ringing sound. For example, the fi$t note of measure2 is written as an eighth, but let it ring to hannonize with the open B string which follows. Likewise, hold the ncxt note (second fret of the G string) xs you piay the one after it (fint frct ofthc high E string). Clarenceis playing a harmony to himself here.

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releasingvour left hand prcssure' : fade oll the note by sliding down the string while slightly get a sort of "sighing" effect' A clearlv articulatedslideis not hear'l. Instead,you should 4l

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Nine Pound Hammer This cut contains some of the most impressivebluegnss guitar playing on reco.d. Clarcnceplays five separatebreaks, a1lwith a sp.rntaneou"feel. Nev...t.uying too fu. fiorn the melody' he managesto turn out one mouth-watering phrase after anotherl The musrc ilows wiih an energeticef'fervescence that only in thc finest musiciansgoestranA in ,ruu with such convincing ideas. Hisfi$tfourbreaksarepresentedhere.Makinguseofalotofniccblucsylicks,rrey demonstratejust how much can be done when a g.eat imagination is turn"j foo.. o" , 'inrpJcbluigfrssrunp. l \e u5edr..enl mJrks more c\trn\ircly In llresi lr.rn\crjption.,nan allcmpt ro cnr\(! lhc Und ofpulce rhat Cldfincr actir\e\_

Roland,itc, md Cldence White

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Nine PotrndHammer lst Break: The accentedslidc in measureI is one ofClarence,s trademarks. Ile echoes and reinlbrces the lilst note of the measure(open G) by sliding into thc samenote on the D string. These slides also found in measurcs5 and 6 are highly charge{:land should sound like mlnor explosrons.

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3rd Break: This solo startsoffwith intenseenergythat buildsto a iienzicd outburstolbluesy norcs in the tburth and fiflh measures.

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4th Break: Clarcncebegins ts he does in the first break, but notice how freely he gets into sornc!rung different. One vcry distinctive touch concs in measures 9-12 . Hc starts with a phrasc built arcund descending sixths, and ends up playing a whole passagein two voices, ch.lracteristicallyskipping acrossstrings t'rom trcble to bjrss.

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I'maPilgrim This is probably the most complicated of Clarence's recorded solos. Given the clbow room aflbrded by a slower tempo, his command of complex rhythms is working overtime. Throughout this tune there is an underlying rhythnr of ejghth-note tdplets- In the inlerest ;f sjmplilying the notation, *nat's written as J ii actLrallyplaycd as i"-p = ' ln the middle of the break he lets fly some rapid llre notes which are besi describedon paper as rcgular sixteenth notes. In these passagcs(measures 19'2O,22 24 and 28-29) tltc beat is divided into four parts rather than thrce. The opposition of this new division to the prevailing triplet feel, and the speedat which these notes are eftbrtlessly recled off, combine to prcduce an efTectthat will sruely make your jaw drop. At this tempo the pick direction follows no simplc rule. The ones I've indicated seemto me. after many ear-iatiguing hou$, to best rcproduce his sound l think it's a pretty accuratc rcconstruction ofthe way he pickcd the notes, but jf you ind that something else better suits your own right hand, you needn't feel bound hand. foot and pick to my I hope you ha\c a chanie ro herr tht recordirgl -ug€rcsrions.

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Shot from guns,out and out flatpicking.Playthis twice as last asis humanlypossible and Clarcncewill still beatyou to the finishline. capoon 2nd fret

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Sheikof Arabv Li!i. in lhe Past(19641

li was a real shocker to hear this tune played by a bluegrassband back in 1964 and Clarence'sstrange guitar playing makes the performance evcn more surprising. With an impossibly active right hand, he plays a kind of accompaniment to himself while the melody emergeson top. Listen to the record: try to get a senseofwhich notes fotm lne melody, and play so that those notes are prominent. His second and third bfeaks on l-lle record are even crazier.

Sherkof Araby

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