Tone Hunt, Bo Diddley Sound!

[weemikey]

I saw Bo play maybe two years ago here in Vancouver. I gotta say, it was a disappointing show. He really just talked through the whole thing while the backing band locked down the beat. Plus he brought on this young 'friend' to do an impromptu back and forth banter thing. Honestly he played about two songs in the whole show.

Anyway... he was playing through a Roland Jazz Chorus and it didn't even sound like a guitar. All echo and tremelo and chorus. Is that his 'sound'?

 

[Brian Krashpad]

the time i played with him, he was playing his rectangular guitar (i have no idea what it was or what kind of pickups) through a Twin. no pedals on the floor, all his effects were onboard the guitar. of course, that was back in the '80s, no idea what he was doing in later years.

I played with him 2 and a half years ago, and he was using his rectangular Gretsch through a Roland JC-120, with some kind of multi-effect unit, and at least one stompbox of some sort:

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[woodman]

I saw Bo play maybe two years ago here in Vancouver. I gotta say, it was a disappointing show. He really just talked through the whole thing while the backing band locked down the beat. Plus he brought on this young 'friend' to do an impromptu back and forth banter thing. Honestly he played about two songs in the whole show.

Anyway... he was playing through a Roland Jazz Chorus and it didn't even sound like a guitar. All echo and tremelo and chorus. Is that his 'sound'?

that's a sad tale, mikey. by that time his health was failing, and i suspect he was less than 100% ... in summer 2007, he suffered a stroke, then a heart attack, and never got back to full strength. from your description, it sounds like he was just trying to make the night. he got bilked out of millions in royalties, so he depended on live shows to float his boat and kept performing long after he was at the top of his game.

 

[musicalmartin]

I would have thought Bo's "sound "was all in that right hand. We used to play some of his numbers in the 60's and I used a Hofner V3 and a Watkins amp with tremolo,no-one came up and complained that we didnt sound like him.LOL

 

[MickM]

Great story Woodman!! Sounds exactly like the show that my youngest brother did opening for and backing Bo. Difference being my brother was absent minded enough to light up a cigarette during the 20 minute rehearsal. WRONG ANSWER!!!! Ain't no smoke in Bo's show!! After that rule was made clear everything went smooth. You watch Bo and you realize that it ain't all about tone and technique, when you play for non-musicians it's about entertaining!

 

[bluetele54]

...well actually...

I know Bo in the early days used Magnatone amps for a while because they had that "true vibrato sound", not "tremolo".

...I backed him up several times...the first time at the Haight Street venue the "I-beam"...

...we began rehearsing and tried to figure out what he wanted...what he didn't want was the drummer to play what we thought he wanted,the classic "Bo Diddley beat"...he just wanted a straight beat and he'd do his thing...

...as we were getting into another tune,he cried out "STOP!!!",we froze...he looked at me and said "I used to have four of those amps",as he pointed to my brown 4X10 Concert amp that I was using,so I wager that he'd used those amps more so than the Magnatones,unless you've got pix,but those Concerts had a pretty unique trem/vib (whatever) on there own...we relaxed after that and played respectfully...I bought some maracas at Haight/Ashbury Music and did my best "Jerome",played some harp on "Bring It to Jerome",and generally tried to stay out of his way...

...he was a riot in the green room and had a bunch of stories to tell,but one thing he said will forever be burned in my brain:

..."...I'm not a fightin' man,but if I run,don't catch me..."...RIP Bo!!!...

 

[woodman]

what he didn't want was the drummer to play what we thought he wanted,the classic "Bo Diddley beat"...he just wanted a straight beat and he'd do his thing.

my experience exactly. and in the context of his show, it worked. go figure! on some of the old records, he had the classic Bo beat; on others it was the straight beat. but what made those early cuts unique was Jerome Green on the maracas ... those two had some kind of mojo working.

 

[byrdbrain]

I know Bo tinkered a lot with his equipment.
From the New York Times eulogy:

Mr. Diddley’s watery tremolo effect, from 1955 onward,
came from one of the first effects boxes to be manufactured for guitars:
the DeArmond Model 60 Tremolo Control. But Mr. Diddley contended
that he had already built something similar himself, with automobile parts
and an alarm-clock spring.

 

[tpaul]

"Mr. Diddley."

I love it.

BTW there was a long piece on him about 1-2 years ago in Rolling Stone where he also claimed to have built the first guitar effects boxes using car parts - part of a carburator if I remember correctly.

 

[charlie chitlin]

I've read several interviews with Peter Green where he mentioned Bo as his favorite.
Interesting.
Man...the first record I ever bought was Cosmo's Factory.
I LOVED "Before You Accuse Me" and it took me YEARS to find out who E. McDaniel was!

 

[Jim W]

BeachBob + 1 for the Numbers band - lived in around Kent for years. Jack and Bob Kidney's parents lived down street from my parents.

Saw alot of good bands at JBs - James Gang, Glass Harp, Lacewing, Raspberries. I also saw Cold Blood and Hound Dog Taylor but I can't remember whether it was at JBs or the club next door.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

I've read several interviews with Peter Green where he mentioned Bo as his favorite.
Interesting.
Man...the first record I ever bought was Cosmo's Factory.
I LOVED "Before You Accuse Me" and it took me YEARS to find out who E. McDaniel was!

I'd wager a large number of New York Dolls fans didn't realize that "Rock And Roll Nurse" was a Bo cover too. I know I didn't for awhile.

 

[woodman]

I know Bo tinkered a lot with his equipment.

i see him as an unappreciated innovator. the axe i saw, everything he needed was onboard the guitar — he didn't need no steenkin' stompboxes! some pretty nifty engineering ....

 

[beach bob]

+ 1 for the Numbers band - lived in around Kent for years. Jack and Bob Kidney's parents lived down street from my parents.

Hat damn. Small world! Those were some fun times, back in the early - mid 80s for me.

 

[eggman]

Howdy,

I've always considered Keith Richards and Bo Diddley as being similar in style. Give 'em just about any guitar/amp and they'll still sound like themselves! With them it's all in the heart, soul and a rhythmic right-hand technique.

Eggman

 

[Jim W]

I did not see it mentioned, but didn't Bo play in a open tuning? I always thought it was E. This would certainly explain some of his uniqueness

 

[weemikey]

that's a sad tale, mikey. by that time his health was failing, and i suspect he was less than 100% ... in summer 2007, he suffered a stroke, then a heart attack, and never got back to full strength. from your description, it sounds like he was just trying to make the night. he got bilked out of millions in royalties, so he depended on live shows to float his boat and kept performing long after he was at the top of his game.

Yeah, I TRIED so hard to be positive about it, but as you said, he was not in the best of health. That said, he spins a great story and I think most everyone there was there to support him, regardless of what songs he got through. I like to think a portion of the proceeds from my ticket went to buy gifts and drinks for his VERY young lady companion. Go Bo!

 

[edhead]

Hat damn. Small world! Those were some fun times, back in the early - mid 80s for me.

I lived across the street from JB's in '81. Don't think I missed a Wed or Sat night at JBs the whole time I lived there.

The Kidney's brothers still perform as the Kidney Brothers. Bob is not doing real well phyisically.

 

[Derek S]

I'd wager a large number of New York Dolls fans didn't realize that "Rock And Roll Nurse" was a Bo cover too. I know I didn't for awhile.

The title of that song is actually, "Pills." Great song!

 

[fendertx]

. Bo was jamming his ass off — we played like we'd never played before, like horses pulling his thundering chariot. [EDITED for accuracy]

Yes Sir, I'm pickin up what you are puttin down!!!