r 'n' b sliding 4ths and 5ths

Its very old
But Jimi Hendrix did that alot
And he was a great soulmusician

But the whole moving of especially 4ths comes quite natural on a Guitar
I think we will find it in Jazz, Blues, Hawaian guitar and way back in traditional westafrican guitarplaying and Luth-playing

 

I'm guessing guys like Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper pioneered it.

 

Sometimes I wish I could STOP using them! When I hear myself on playback, I find I overplay them.

 

I finally have overcome that same issue. It's just that they sound so good, it's hard to not too sometimes...

 

Franklin,

I find that folks mistake my use of them for actual talent! (which in turn, makes it all that much harder giving them up)

 

I'm not quite sure I am following what the OP is talking about. Are you talking about slurring the note into the fourth, as in coming up from underneath? I may already be familiar (and doing this), but I don't understand the OP's question.

 

I think he's talking about sliding double-stops, such as heard on tunes like "Rainy Night In Georgia", as cited above. Cornell Dupree is a real master of that kind of style.

 

When I think of a fifth interval that's the basic power chord, and the fourth interval is the inversion of the same, as in Deep Purple, Smoke on the water. Are you actually talking about 6th intervals here? Eg, a third degree of the scale, played under the octave of the root? Then you harmonize that interval right up or down. If so, yes I dig that sound a lot.

 

The guys who slide double-stops around use both 6ths (inverted 3rds) and 4ths (inverted 5ths). The sixths (think of Cropper's intro to "Soul Man") usually involve skipping a string and are often finger picked. I've heard 6ths like that referred to as "Memphis 6ths" - because of the Steve Cropper connection and the Stax/Volt records he played on.

So it'll be a 6th when a string is skipped, and a 4th when adjacent strings are played. Individual licks can use both intervals in various combinations . . .

 

OK I don't know who did it first, certainly Jimi stole from Curtis Mayfield, but why don't we tab our favourites so we can all learn some nice tricks here?

I take it we're talking about this kind of thing (in A):

--5~7~5--------------------------
--5~7~5--5~7~5-------------------2
----------4~6~4-----------2~4~2--2
-------------------2~4~2--2~4~2-------
-------------------2~4~2---------
----------------------------
Any more for any more?

Geoff

 

Great thread! Keep 'em coming, please!

 

Check out the beginning of "Castles made of sand"

 

Technically speaking this gospel/soul/R&B rhythm style makes use of sliding and hammered on 3rd's, 4th's, 5th's and sixths. Blues, funk and country players also use sliding tritones quite effectively. Country guys also tend to use bends more than hammer ons - like bending a minor 3rd up to a 4th or even a ma7 to a unison.

 

Go back and listen to early jazz, be-bop, and big band like Glenn Miller and you will hear players and singers using this type of thing day and night. Frankly I too don't have much of a clue as to precisely what the thread is actually about but from the conversation thus far can assume it means blues notes and a generally bluesy style but "sliding fourths and fifths?" Sliding which way? Bending? Slurring? No mention of double stops. Can you link to a clip? You will get an even better answer like that.

 

Arlen Roth: Soul and R&B Double Stops

 

Floyd Cramer (nashville piano man) was one of the folks who helped popularise that-.

 

You mean sliding double-stops like the video shows. Can be thirds or fourths or fifths or sixths.