The Mighty Popo's African Guitar

[diddleydee]

hey wonderful music , thanks

[hotelesbaratos1]

is a machine on the guitar, a really spectacular theme

[TheIlai04]

what guitar is it and how can i get me one like this??

[strummer43]

I agree with nonix - and I learned classical guitar up to Grade 8 level pieces. You can play this stuff with classical fingering. But it doesnt sound the same. Playing with one finger and thump emphasises the rhythmic interplay of bass and treble lines. Its the same with the Rev Gary Davis's stuff.

[SharaNaturalJourney]

that was very good!

do we have to have the same guitar to do this?

[Surfister]

@SharaNaturalJourney no

[Nonix321]

@discballer9 well call it what you want it is still a bad technique in which case you would be an illiterate fool for not recognizing it.

[ChrisManuel]

@Nonix321 I'm not meaning to be argumentative here, but close you eyes and listen: can you tell how many fingers he's using? Also, notice that he's damping the strings with the side of his right hand at the bridge. African guitar is not classical guitar - if he was using Aaron Shearer's technique he wouldn't be able to damp at the bridge, which is essential to emulate the sound of the mbira. The mbira's sound is the inspiration for many African guitarists. Listen with your ears, not your eyes.

[Nonix321]

He's technique is just horrible, there are 3 other fingers besides the thumb & index. You're just making it a lot more difficult.

[dicsballer9]

@Nonix321 that's African style fingerpicking, you ignoramus.

[leftysergeant]

@Nonix321 Dude, the technique works . This fingering style is also the roots of blues guitar. Go look for some video of the n'goni. What he is doing here is translating the sound of the n'goni to the guitar. To do that, it follows that he would finger it the way he would an n'goni. This uses just the two fingers in most cases. Another really beautiful African instrument is the kora, a 21 string lute that is played with only four fingers, two from each hand. He isn'tplaying flamenco here.

[nappyroots89]

what scale is he using to play?

[GtoThaillDog]

@nappyroots89 afriscale

[dominicanhop1]

great! it sound great

[wildblue2]

great playing, wish it wasn't on a piezo set up like that. that tone....

[bobiesworld13]

he came to my school today

[jackjill666]

he came to my school today too.

[JohnMalcolm]

A bit closer.....no point being this far away in a lesson

[Kingangi]

Great playing and sharing bro! I'll be looking out for your recordings.

[CiCo1137]

anyone know what brand guitar this is is?

[ChrisManuel]

Brand: Godin

Model: Multiac

[youngergunner09]

Lol My dad needs to teach me how to do that

[stargate669]

why can't you learn yourself and do some work?

[mwuzaji]

Anapiga vizuri

[Leonmitch]

I just love the uplift of the sound of African music!

Simple and yet so beautiful!!! That's the artistry! xxx

[seyoumeye]

the play is unique indeed!

[crouch3131]

Never ceases to amaze me that when a talented person posts a music video people start arguing like cats and dogs..must be that old emotion jealousy rearing its ugly head again..

[Nyirabisabo]

Peace! Zedlife, good call! it realy sounds like my tune!!! specially the second part of mine. Good one man now I'll go get some Samba Mapangala, I have heard few of his tunes but most certainly not this one. Thanks for the video. Mighty popo

[Galacticplane]

What a lovely guitar session!

[Nyirabisabo]

Peace! This is Mighty Popo here. Thanks for listening and observing my playing, it is amusing to read all these comments! This song "IBRAH" is one of my own I wrote it about five years ago and it's on my latest album Muhazi. It's in the style of the late great Franco from the DRC It is a tribute to Ibrahim a great congolese guitarist who was there with the rest of them back in the 60s and 70s he's now living in Rwanda where I met him and took some lessons from Fidel was his name back then Cheers

[giomusic2008]

Peace & harmony please !! The discussion is endless but I would say the the outcome should be the most important thing , when he played I could "imagine" Africa. I had an experience with an African singer form Liberia few year ago , through her I was exposed to African artists/ guitarist, I've noticed that ( as Startripping was saying) they give less importance to the clarity of the sound ( within limits of course)

[wanderingmenstruals]

Does anyone know what tuning he's playing in?

[mavinga]

its a classic congolese tune..i think either from one of those guitar players from the 60's

[mavinga]

now I remember its a song by Samba Mapangala, congolese artist, mostly popular in kenya and now living in america..forgot the name of the song but it came out in the 90's and its sung in kiswahili when the name of it comes to me i will post it so you can get it if you want

[zedlife]

I've have been viewing this video of the Mighty Popo for a long time & keep trying to learn how he plays the chords without realising i had actually come closer to learning it thru the version by Samba Mapangala,his version is 'Muniache' & yes it's in swahili ,i love the song.The Mighty Popo plays it differently i love his style,trully close to Franco's style.

[stargate669]

use your ears and electrocute yourself when you fail. Dick Cheney does this all the time and it's part of American govt policy and culture now.

[ICThr3e]

E A D G B D

Most likely.

[startripping]

That unpleasant "quack" as you call it is,in actuality,found in a lot of African guitar and stringed instrument playing. Seems Africans don't feel the need to sound squeaky clean like westerners do. Personally, I love hearing the rattles and squeaks. Sounds organic to me. You'll hear this in older western recordings too like texas blues,songster and rural back porch styles. You'll also hear "out of tune" guitars but really,they are only out because western ears are used to "perfect" 440 pitch.

[diminishedlogic]

It's called a piezo pickup; it tends to pic up extraneous non-musical movement of the string.

This mans technique is pretty perfect.

Do you even play guitar?

[startripping]

My comment did not critisize his technique nor did I critisize african guitar playing. Pay attention to what I said: "Africans don't feel the need to SOUND squeaky clean like westerners do". Note the opperative word "sound" not "play". And not only do I play guitar but I've been blessed to see some great players including D'Gary out of Madagascar and Boubacar Traore out of Mali. Some things aren't as cut and dry as they appear my friend.

Peace.

[diminishedlogic]

bub,

youre making a ridiculous generalization,

jimmy page could play sloppily on occasion...

it doesnt mean eric clapton another british guitar player is also sloppy.

Jimi hendrix was sometimes out of tune as well.

[paapakobe]

startrip- u r correct & obviously saving your breath. In fact even a lot of our traditional instruments have things added to make them distort & buzz & rattle: ngoni, djembe, bala, mbira =strings, drum, xylophone, kalimba, all of them have modifications to achieve that. It gives a vocal or percussive or chorusing character to notes

[cartoonlike]

When the strings are hit a bit harder than usual, that aesthetically unpleasant "quack" rears its ugly head.

[LearnRootsMusic]

The guitar is a Learn Roots Music studio guitar, set up with low action for jazz flat picking, so some of the aesthetically questionable tone is from the set up. The Mighty Popo's fingerstyle attack sounds much better with higher action. He was going to record the DVD with his electric but decided to have some tonal variety with the Godin. He also plays his Gibson ES135 (w/ p90 pickups) on the DVD.

[ajvan]

hey is that classical godin or regular one?

[LearnRootsMusic]

It's the regular neck-width Multiac Duet. It's the earlier version with the bridge pickup and the internal microphone.

[savatele]

bravo!

[voodoou20two]

nice

[Kaitanyk]

Very nice, think I'll get the dvd

[Tonyzzz7]

fantastic

[berean315]

Hey, that fantastic! Let's see more AFrican fingerstyle guitar like this.