SRV - Texas Flood Question....and rakes...

From 3:35-3:42, how is SRV doing that dirty bend sounding thing?

Also, any tips on doing good, percussive rakes in blues. Does the distortion level and type play a role in how the rake is manifested?


Thanks.

You can get good percussive rakes totally clean, its all in the hand technique. You can't really describe how to do it in writing, just keep messing with it till it clicks.

From 3:35-3:42, how is SRV doing that dirty bend sounding thing?


He's bending a note on the 6th string, but also grabbing the 5th string as he goes up. The 6th string is bent and pre-bent the standard full and half steps, but the 5th string doesn't need to be perfectly bent. In fact, it works better when it's inbetween to give that dissonance that you're hearing, which sounds "dirty".

Give it a shot!

By the way, is that you in your avatar at Buddy Guy's? Did you do the Old Town School blues ensemble? I did that a number of years ago, and it was good fun.

I worked like a mad demon for about a year, trying to get a handle on Frank Gambale's sweep picking technique... and failed miserably. However, that mostly useless exercise in futility did allow me to become a halfway decent "raker". I think that a good place to start is to just get comfortable with some moves within the good ol' Chuck Berry-approved minor pentatonic/blues box. These examples work over A minor, or A "blues".

Ascending :

-------5--8-
-----5------
---5--------
-7----------
------------
------------

Descending:

-8--5----------
-------5--------
---------5------
-----------7--5-
-----------------
-----------------

Note that the second example contains one more note than the first; both fall naturally for me within the same amount of 'time' - but there's a different rhythmic grouping of the notes between the two, that I have no idea how to communicate here.

That C note on the 8th fret of the high E is the minor 3rd of A. I like to give it what I call a "teaser bend" - not a full half step bend, more like a quarter step, such that it flirts with implying the major 3rd, but falls short of nailing it.

The following can serve as a repeating 'lick'. The pick is used only once - as a backward rake for the first three notes. The following two notes are pulled off, and the last note is hammered.

-5---------------
---5-------------
-----8--7--5----
---------------7-
-----------------
-----------------

Proper damping with the picking hand is key to avoiding unwanted extraneous string noise, particularly as gain is added.

My all-time fave "raker" is the very tasty, yet highly overlooked, Barry Bailey with the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Best of luck, and happy raking!

My all-time fave "raker" is the very tasty, yet highly overlooked, Barry Bailey with the Atlanta Rhythm Section.

Yea Tim,

I have always thought that Barry was the most overlooked guitar player around. Talk about playing a solo to fit the song - this guy's a master.

Later,

I saw ARS at the Mable House last fall. Gret show. Barry was rockin as always. I've been diggin their music for 30 years.