The Steel Guitar Forum

I have been trying to figure out the beginning ascending lick on Bobby Black's ride on "Semi Truck" as played on Commander Cody's "We've Got a Live One Here" CD. It is not the same as the one tabbed on the Rebel site. Anyone got any ideas?

If you e-mail me a .mp3 attachment, I'll give it a listen.

No need. I got the song.

Thanks Jeff, He seems to be using the second and fourth strings on this lick, but I can't get the sequence of notes.

Yeah, he is definitely using the 2nd and 4th strings. Buddy Cage used to do a lot of those types of 2nd/4th string chromatic runs when he was with NRPS in the 70's. The trouble with that style is that it's all half-tone increments with no positional playing, so all you can do is listen to the lick 100 times and try to discern each little half-tone note change. Yeech!! I'll try to take a shot but I may end up giving up. I personally don't find this type of lick satisfying to play, all though they do sound neat. By the way, Cage did a lot of stuff that I did think was great, on songs like "Panama Red" and others, although I have to admit again, when he starts his "Hello, Mary Lou" solo with that chromatic run of his, it does sound cool!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 10 December 2000 at 08:12 AM.]</p></FONT>

It`s a crowd pleasing lick,BTW!

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Olli Haavisto
Polar steeler
Finland
olli@icon.fi

I can remember sitting in the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City in the early 70s and watching Buddy Cage play with the NRPS. They were the opening act for The Grateful Dead at that time. This was before I ever attempted to play the PSG. I couldn't believe the sounds he was getting, and I'll never forget that chromatic run at the beginning of the Hello Mary Lou solo. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Both Black and Cage use these chromatic licks often in their solos, but they never seem to over use them. I think the trick to the effective use of these licks is to only use them for a measure or two. They definitely add a little class to a solo.

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You only wanted that part (the ascending line), not the whole solo, right?

Thanks Jeff, I am at work now and can't wait to get home and try this out. Humming it in my mind, it looks correct. I was only having trouble with the ascending line. I have pretty much worked out the rest of the solo because it is largely played by position with very little horizontal movement up or down the neck. I think I wore my CD player out trying to figure the first part of this lick out. What you've tabbed looks so simple in comparison to what I was hearing.

Allen, try this instead. I tell you, It's hard for me to hear these chromatic runs! Anyway, I think the basic concept and fingering is the way I laid it out. It's a matter of what fret you're on. And frankly, you can be on just about any fret. The secret to this is just to make sure that in every 2 to 3 note segment, you need to hit a note of the major scale. And you have to make sure that the run ends up being resolved properly. Otherwise, you can do most anything.

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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jeff Lampert on 13 December 2000 at 06:21 AM.]</p></FONT>

Jeff, I see what you mean. Right after this lick I believe the solo goes into a "pedals down" lick on the 12th fret. I guess from that stand point, I like version two where the chromatic run ends up on the 14th fret. Thanks for all your help.

I also learned that lick years ago from Hello Mary Lou, called it "The Martian Lick".

That makes sense to me. It definitely starts on the ground and gets in the stratosphere quickly. The whole solo sounds like something from Mars.