Songs like "Clap" by Steve Howe
Dean Gaudet
album)... I find the song incredibly fun to play; so I'm looking for
other songs of the same style. What is the name for this style of
music? What other artists perform it?
Dean
Daren McClearnon
: I recently learned how to play "Clap" by Steve Howe (from an early Yes
: Dean
That song (and "Mood for a Day" from Fragile) seem like someone told the
Flamenco style to "forget the broad in the red dress and have a good time."
That is, Happy, Contemporary Flamenco. Toward that end, you might check
out some of the more upbeat Flamenco works, such the three+ albums of
Ottmar Liebert (lots of Am-Dm action). Another favorite is the grand trio
of Al Dimeola/Paco Delucia/John McLaughlin who got together about ten years
ago and did two albums, "Friday Night in San Francisco" and "Passion, Grace,
and Fire". Each of the artists had/has done flamenco apart from these tours,
but these two albums have a certain jouy d'vivre (sp?). I also saw one of
their shows in 1983 and guess who opened for them: Steve Morse. I was
immediately impressed with Morse, and you'll notice that every Dixie Dregs
album has at least one classical/upbeat/acoustic song (if you handle the
rest of the Dregs' albums, which are "eclectic."
I wholly agree though; the Clap is a great song, there is room for whole
albums/careers to be built on the high-energy acoustic identity. So many
acoustic albums are so pensive (or worse, "relaxing") you'd want to slash
your wrists but you keep falling asleep.
Anyway, Ottmar is pleasant and easy to imitate.
dBm.
Andrew Thall
It IS a lot of fun, ain't it! You might try his "Mood for a Day" as well; it's
a great show-off tune, when you pick up an acoustic at a party or wherever.
"The Clap" is a ragtime blues sort of tune...I've heard Howe (on a radio show)
playing other original ragtime blues compositions, so I know it's a style he
enjoys. As far as the original bluesmen...guys like Blind Boy Fuller, Sam McGee,
Blind Blake (not to be missed!!), Lemon Jefferson, and Rev. Gary Davis...these
guys are all fantastic, and mostly available on CD these days. Stephan Grossman
has innumerable books on old blues and ragtime guitar styles available.
As far as modern interpretations of the form, Grossman's recorded quite a bit,
as has Jorma Kaukonen, with Jefferson Airplane ("Embryonic Journey"'s another
fun tune) and with Hot Tuna...Jorma and Grossman were both heavy into the Rev's
tunes.
It's a fun style to learn--you can spend a lifetime on its subtleties, or just
learn bits and pieces for kicks and to augment your repertoir and technique.
--
Andrew "Only-the-worthless-can-be-reformed" Thall
aka th...@cs.unc.edu
"I went out and walked around,
somebody yelled, 'Say, look who's in town!
--Mister Diddi-wa-diddi! Mister Diddi-wa-diddi!'
I wish somebody'd tell me what 'Diddi-wa-diddi' means!"
Simon Edmund Dixon
I've never heard of "Clap", but I play "Mood For a Day", also by Steve Howe,
so I guess it is similar. I think I have the music written out somewhere,
but I definitely don't have it in TAB. If you like the flamenco influence,
let me recommend Paco Pena's album and book "Toques Flamencos: Music for the
Student Repertoire". Paco holds back from playing his most difficult stuff on
this record, but unless you are _really_ good, it is hard enough. The book
has a section on how to do all the flamenco strumming and hitting the guitar,
and then contains music and TAB for all of the pieces on the album. IMO
the transcriptions are very accurate, and for the bits where the timing
doesn't seem quite right on the music, just listen to the record and you'll
know what to do.
Enjoy your rasgueados and golpes!
- simon