Charlie Patton and Stella Guitars Bottleneck Slide Blues

I purchased this concert size 1930 Oscar Schmidt Stella guitar on ebay. It had no tuners. No nut. The original bridge was there, but the saddle was broken. The back was coming off, and reglued very poorly. Inside, the crack to the side was repaired, and cleated shut using Popsicle sticks and wooden clothes pins. Fortunately, it was remarkably well done and solid! No label inside, but it has Stella written on the headstock. My friend, Jimmy, a professional guitar builder, repaired all these issues, and restored this guitar back into a wonderful playable condition. These ladder braced guitars have amazing tone. Especially, in open tuning played with a Bottleneck.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• blues
• religious
• folk
• delta
• 1920
• 1930

[snakehips81]

Very nice singing and playing.

It's very difficult to sing and play the melody on the slide WHILE keeping the rhythm going on the bass strings. You make it look and sound effortless. Wish I could do that !!!

Excellent.

[KeniLeeBurgess]

@snakehips81 Thank you for your comment. Well, it took time to get the various parts together, but if you really want this skill, you can achieve it too with a disciplined persistent practice. Singing against recordings I made of just playing guitar helps a lot. Simple songs with alternating bass and bottleneck will make your skills stronger before you move onto more challenging songs. Enjoy your practice.

[bona371]

hello Mr. Lee, just wanna ask another question...

do you know what kind of stella charlie patton was using, or it's the one that you were playin' ? i really crazy about patton, maybe i'll buy that stella someday, haha...

thanks btw for always answers all of my silly questions...

[KeniLeeBurgess]

@bona371 Thank you for your question. No one fully knows, but if you do some research you will come across accounts that Patton played Stella guitars. I believe it was Son House who said, Patton owned a high end Stella that had a "tree of life" inlay in the fingerboard. Oscar Schmidt Stella guitar were available through mail order down South and were very affordable. Regardless, no truss rod, open headstock, ladder braced, concert size is the typical 1930 guitar. Enjoy.

[Whiskeyfirst]

Beautiful.

[KeniLeeBurgess]

@Whiskeyfirst Thank you for your comment. Enjoy.

[davnkatz]

THIS is how the blues AND REAL country music - not that crap today they call C&W or R&B - was born.

[sheilapatrick1]

nice ring to that guitar man not bad sangin neither

[KeniLeeBurgess]

@deltabilly1 Thank you for sharing. Yes, The majority of bottleneck blues is either played in Spanish or Vestapol tuning. In general, even though there are advantages and disadvantages to both of these tuning, it is possible to arrange in either one effectively. It is just a matter of understand the intervals between the strings. The two tunings have much more in common than they have differences. Enjoy.

[deltabilly1]

@garyhicks789 I think Bukka mostly used open D or "Sebastopol" (DADF#AD). Also open G or "Spanish" (DGDGBD) for his lap style version of Poor Boy.

[KeniLeeBurgess]

@garyhicks789 Thank you for your comments. Glad to hear you enjoyed my rendition. I don't pay too much attention to original keys or tunings, but I create arrangements based on my own impressions. Basically, I play in the key that is best for my voice. Happy New Year. Enjoy.

[garyhicks789]

Thank you so much for the tuning it sounds amazing, do you know what tuning Booker White used ?