boom boom tab

[jollygreen]

Off Ultimate guitar tabs for Hooker's Boom Boom song.

They're showing the following tuning for the fretboard:

F
C
Ab
Eb
Bb
F

Comments?

 

[Austinrocks]

might check here has the song listed

http://threechordguitar.com/vids.htm

 

[cameron]

Off Ultimate guitar tabs for Hooker's Boom Boom song.

They're showing the following tuning for the fretboard:

F
C
Ab
Eb
Bb
F

Comments?

i.e. standard tuning but a half-step sharp. No idea if that's what Hoooker used, but wouldn't be surprised. All those old-school blues guys tuned the guitar to their voice rather than to any other reference. You might as well use standard tuning, unless you're more comfortable singing it in F. If you want to do it in F, you could just use a capo . . .

 

[stevel]

Off Ultimate guitar tabs for Hooker's Boom Boom song.

They're showing the following tuning for the fretboard:

F
C
Ab
Eb
Bb
F

Comments?

Have you checked out the Yardbirds version? In standard E. Not identical but would give you a nice point of reference.

Steve

 

[cameron]

Have you checked out the Yardbirds version? In standard E. Not identical but would give you a nice point of reference.

Steve

I'm pretty sure Hooker did it in E as well. There may be some version or other that has strayed sharp due to a tape generation slightly being off-speed at some point in its history. Could also just have been sharp to begin with.

 

[The Captain]

Or, the Whites Stripes song You Know My NAme (or somethign ike that), which is Boom Boom staight up. Irt's a pretty simple dirty blues, and i think even I could work that one out by ear.

 

[mc5nrg]

Got a capo?

 

[JonR]

In all the youtube videos I've found JLH does it in E:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOyj4ciJk34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EHWujXubNM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMP10siqqgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg0cGVJJH7w

However, the original recording was in F:
http://www.last.fm/music/John+Lee+Hooker/_/Boom+Boom
Anybody's guess why it came out in F. Maybe JLH was tuned up, or used a capo, or the tape speed was altered (accidentally or deliberately).
It seems unlikely he would have played it in F (tuned to EADGBE), when he clearly preferred E in those live versions.

I've always played it in F, btw - it's pretty easy in that key, and I like being able to bend the b3 on 3rd string, which you can't do if it's an open G.

 

[buddastrat]

I've always played it in F, btw - it's pretty easy in that key, and I like being able to bend the b3 on 3rd string, which you can't do if it's an open G.

Sure you can Jon, behind the nut. But I play it in F too, because it matches my recording.

 

[JonR]

Sure you can Jon, behind the nut.

Yes, but not exactly while you are playing, with your hands on an E/Em chord shape...
I mean yes I can stretch my index back to the G string behind the nut, while still holding the chord, but it's not as natural or immediate a move as working from the usual F/Fm shape (thumb on 6th).
I also like the way the F shape lets you mute the strings more effectively - I like to have my index on those top 3 strings, not letting them ring open.
For Hooker-style soloing (on an open E chord), I would be using a hammer-on trill on that open G, on to the G#, as he does sometimes.

Both ways are good... But I can't get into that behind the nut bending...