Reverend Gary Davis - Children of Zion

On Pete Seeger's show Rainbow Quest

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Rainbow
• Quest
• Reverend
• Gary
• Davis
• blues
• guitar

[jumba5]

Are people really hating on Pete Seeger? Maybe his banjo skills aren't quite up to par with the Rev's abilities on the guitar, but I admire Pete's genuine enthusiasm for the music and for learning. It's possible that we may not even have this great footage if it weren't for him.

[JusticeWar]

AMEN !!!!

[SolAlVla]

Genius - he is always and everywhere a genius!!!!

[TheCastIronCowboy399]

Check out "KAST IRON KOWBOY".Raw christian blues

[PHJimY]

@mtut Thanks for that info mtut. I wonder why Gary would bring two guitars. He was not an alternate tuning guy, but stuck to standard except to play Whistlin' Blues. I saw him at the 1965 Mariposa Folk Festival in Maple Leaf Stadium and he was still playing his SJ200. "Talk to me Miss Gibson." I still have a photo of Rev Gary, Mississippi John, Gord Lightfoot and Tom Kines at a workshop at that festival.

[BlackMonk66]

@mtut I have a Stefan Grossman book of transcriptions that's good for the basics of his playing, though my problem isn't getting it in my heart, it's getting it in my fingers. It's amazing to me that he could not only play this material, but improvise around it. Anyway, according to the book, the only altered tuning he used was on "Whistlin' Blues" which has an odd tuning that comes out to a D6 chord. Grossman says he never heard it used anywhere else. I'll check out those lessons. Thanks.

[mtut]

@parrotshake reverse that and you have standard tuning (EADGBE). Which is what he was using (downtuned a bit; "a tuning" is about having the strings right relative to each other; being "in tune" only matters if you have other musicians playing or you can't sing in pitch with the instrument). I've seen the same article as you did at some point. It confused me for a moment. His chord shapes all work in standard.

[mtut]

@earwax8toecheese I hear you, kind of. Your second sentence is right on the money. It was important to what Seeger wanted out of the show to demonstrate that white musicians were receiving and actively appreciating "black music." Which had implications. In "O Glory, How Happy I am," Seeger and the two Brits join in on the chorus. Not that they need to for the quality of the performance, but because they love good music and it draws them in. I didn't need to hear banjo either. Work on spelling.

[mtut]

@PHJimY I think the Rev. brought two guitars, and at this point he'd retired Miss Gibson, his beloved jumbo six-string (he loved it, I love hearing it), and bought two Bozo 12-strings, named after their builder. Leo Kottke played Bozo 12s for a time when his Gibsons blew up. Donovan and Phillips both played 12-strings sometimes but on this show DL played a sixer and SP played a sitar. Great comment, though. I felt pretty much the same. Nobody's fault GD stole the show.

[mtut]

@BlackMonk66 Yeah, I'd be surprised if he was ever not in standard. Though often somewhere below concert pitch (esp in his late, 12-string period). I don't quite have the ear, but a whole step down would be a safe place to start. What you really have to look out for is that he'd use multiple shapes of (technically) the same chord in the same song. Ernie Hawkins, one of his students, has some good useful lessons on YT that give you a good sense of how the Rev operated. The rest is in your heart.

[RedJimmy3]

Wow. I can't believe I've never heard this before. And people looking for tabulature.. don't look for tabulature...Transcribe it for yourself. It might take you a really long time but you will learn a LOT more from it by listening to it and writing it down than by just reading it. That is far more valuable. To just read it off a TAB and play it would be sacrilege, and totally "not blues".

[blues12003]

The three dudes watchin look totally messed up....i hear why! The old reverend has wonderful tone and connection