The Steel Guitar Forum

Here's a Spade Cooley track from his Decca Dance-O-Rama LP, Yearnin'. Joaquin really kills in this one.

Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/l8IDSA39zzw

I have an early version of this same song by the Waikiki Hawaiian Trio (with Sol Ho'opi'i). Joaquin kills it!

His playing just KILLS me. Unusual video to go along with it .

David Goodale wrote:His playing just KILLS me. Unusual video to go along with it .

Thank you, I tried! I was originally looking through all my VHS tapes for some Little Rascals, which I have a ton of, and came across Tae-Bo. Perfect fit for my warped mind. It took a Herculean effort to make it happen, since I recorded from the TV with my iPad camera. Oy, the editing....

How did you know that that's what I see in my head when I listen to Joaquin!

I love (among, like, everything else) his upward rakes. Kills me.

Those upward rakes were the result of listening to and learning a bunch of Sol Hoopii stuff, IMO. There are some of those elements in his playing, for sure, but he took it to a place those guys only dreamed of.

Well, there is that story about him being at the Ball studio and the senior Mr Ball told him to play like Sol when another Hawaiian guitarist came in. Possibly Dick McIntyre, who asked when Sol had come to town. I'm not sure of all the facts of that tale but it would definitely show he could sound like other players.

Man, I love his stuff. That is some happyass steel slinging. I wonder what Spade would think of the Tae Bo vid... Thanks, Mike!

Can't help but think of Charlie Christian when I listen to this solo.(over and over and over)

By the way, that video seems strangely in sync at times

great stuff...simpler than some joaquin but still hard to grasp. just finding where and how he starts a phrase can be mind boggling.

that stupid video is a total groove sucker for that music...annoying.

The Dance O Rama recordings are great. If you can find em pick em up.
All the artist that recorded on the Dance O Rama series for that matter.

Billy Gray with Bobby Koefer
Tex Williams with JM and or Wayne Burdik
Bob Wills with Vance Terry
Theres a few others too.

The Tae Bo video cracks me up . Might need to do a bit to get in shape for Joaquin transcriptions .

What is the general consensus on his method of blocking?

From the folks who saw him play in his later years like Lee Jeffreies and Chas Smith, I've been told his right hand did not come down at all. I gathered from this, that he pick blocked. Tho, one of those guys or any one who saw him play and payed attention to details can shed more light on the subject.
Todd

I just finished transcribing the solo for Yearnin'. Maybe this is the beginnings of Vol. 2....

Todd, it sounds to me like he moved the tip of the bar around the strings for single note playing, keeping the back end of the bar off the strings.

So Mike, do you think the block is achieved simply by lifting the tip of the bar between notes and letting the 3rd and 4th fingers of the left hand mute the string after the note? I do that a lot and always assumed it was a cheap shot.

I've always been stumped by his blocking and picking technique, and I wish there were more videos or first hand accounts of his playing.

These short clips provide some evidence that, at least early on, he did lift the bar when playing single note lines, as Mike suggested. It also looks as though he used a fair amount of short, rapid palm-blocking for single note and chordal work, which runs contrary to what people actually saw later in his life. Of course, it's totally possible that his technique changed over time--his sound sure did. On those later records, you can hear his picks clicking the strings, which would make sense if he pick blocked at that point or never let his right hand come down. I don't hear this so much on the earlier stuff, but it may not have been hi-fi enough to capture.

I'm curious to hear what others have experienced, but I've always had an easier time getting through his solos by using palm blocking along with alternating thumb and index for the single note lines. The exception being three fingers for some of the quick across the bar rolls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAx9Yk6bB7I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELdZdYQYyHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xMZkc_qakM

Some of those lines on the solo sounded almost clarinet-like, as if he were releasing his inner Benny Goodman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpWsrNK4nuM
I hope this works, it kind of looks like he is palm blocking on this one.

I would bet that on Crazy Cause I Love You he is doing forward sweeps with his thumb before picking the notes on the first string. You can hear that the notes are not blocked very well, as they ring into each other. What I'm talking about happens at 0:13 of this solo:

http://soundcloud.com/joaquin-murphey/c ... e-you-solo

From the videos I've seen plus the testimony of people who watched him play I'd say that Murph used what John Ely call's the Hawaiian style of blocking ... lifting the back of the bar plus pick blocking. Lee Jeffreiss saw him play in person close up and maybe he can chime in here?

Mark Eaton wrote:Some of those lines on the solo sounded almost clarinet-like, as if he were releasing his inner Benny Goodman.

Well, I transcribed this and made a MIDI file using clarinet, so here's what it could sound like:

http://www.mikeneer.com/yearnin_cl.wav

Andy, if he were pick blocking at those tempos, would we not hear a series of clicks? Is there an example of pick blocking at similar tempos that we can listen to? I am not suggesting that I have any idea. Whatever he did to achieve staccato passages seems essential to his style.

I have posted the transcription of the solo on my blog: http://www.mikeneer.com/lapsteelin/?p=2056

This is an amazing solo top dig into! Enjoy!