Joaquin Murphey Sound

Bill Bassett · From: Papamoa New Zealand

I'm not real familiar with the the great Joaquin Murphey but from what I have heard I am struck by how much he could make that steel guitar sound like (of all things) a clarinette. Does anyone know if he also played reed instruments or is it just him emulating what they do? It's a great effect and as far as I can tell unique to him. I just wonder if he was doing that on purpose or if it just came out that way?

Bill Bassett
Rimrock AZ

Mike Neer · From: NJ

It's really the fluid nature of his single note playing that makes his playing unique and, of course, his note choices. As far as that goes, he was unparalleled. Bob Dunn and Sol Hoopii were 2 predecessors who also played a single note style, but Joaquin took it to another level. His picking was extremely clean with great note separation and he had a superbly swinging feel. He could also play a great chord solo. His playing wasn't incredibly harmonically sophisticated, but just enough to really make your ears stand up.

I also really love the tone of his amps and steel--they do have a woody or reedy quality to them. A lot of the amps back then were bare, finished wood with those great old Rola speakers--very resonant. The speakers were very responsive and absolutely spoke, with a nice hump in the midrange.
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Jay Jessup · From: Charlottesville, VA, USA

I have not seen anything on Joaquin that indicates he played any instrument other than steel. Many of the old live transcriptions that Joaquin is on have him really overdriving those poor under matched amps of the era which to my ears enhances the single string clarinet effect especially once he gets up in the higher registers.

S.M. Johnson · From: Oregon, USA

I chanced to discover the miracle of those little eight inch Rola speakers while experimenting with
"those little old practice amps" the kid in the music store directed me to.

I'd heard an unidentifiable 'pop' on many of Jerry's solos but could not find it until it happened in my own music room, with my Ric Bakelite and a little Harmony with 8 inch Rola Speaker. It's what you folks have described as "over-driven" speakers.

I later found I could get the same/similar popping sound with my Peavy LA-400 and its 12 inch BlackWidow speaker by turning the saturation up to about 3.5 or 4. This is just short of where the FUZZ Sound starts to kick in. At least with my Bakelite I get it and it sounds GREAT! Amp's very heavy but aside from that, great sound.

I realize most of you here already knew this but I just wanted to be sure someone new might get the story.

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

JM often used a V Front Super, or Dual Professional amp, which was not underpowered for the day -- essentially the same as the Pro from the same period. The Dual Pro or V-Front Super were hardly "practice amps." But the Dual Professional or V-Front Super had two 10 inch speakers and the Pro had a 15".
I doubt JM's playing through a Standel was as overdriven.
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Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Scott Henderson · From: Camdenton, Missouri, USA

Seems like I heard an interview with JM and he mentioned how he drew from the style and technique of a clarinet players. When I am trying to get that sound I move my right hand further up on the neck. Not too much but just a little to get more of the guitars vibration in the sound. Just my thoughts.
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Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

I got your clarinet right here:

http://picosong.com/FVp

Here is part of a post on this forum from Michael Johnstone in 2001:

"And I guess the only thing that I ever really wanted to pick up from Murph was the way he would do those little dotted 32nd note trills and weave them into jazzy lines. I finally figured out that he got that from Benny Goodman records and whereas Benny did them with the trill key on his clarinet, Murph used the old Hawaiian technique of trilling between two strings.

Of course when I asked Murph to show me how he actually did it, which fingers to lead off with, where some examples might lay out on C6 etc, he acted like he didn't know what the hell I was talking about."

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

When Joaquin first appeared on the So.Calif . music scene with Spade Cooley it was somewhat of a shock to all of us
Steel Players. Most of us had emulated Leon McCauliff and Noel Boggs from their recordings with Bob Wills. There were nightly remote radio broadcasts of the Spade Cooley band from the Riverside Rancho in Glendale, Ca. Joaquin's playing pretty much mesmerized all of us. It also was quite a shock to to the Lead Guitar players who pretty much dominated single string jazz playing with the Western Swing Bands. This was as much a milestone in Steel Guitar playing as Bud Issacs and Buddy Emmons in later years.

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

That's interesting stuff, Billy. I've often wondered what went on in players minds when they first heard JM, a young JM at that.
Your mention per the lead players is of special note, as it seems 'take off' guitar slowly took a back seat to hot steelers for a few years before lead guitar started regaining some ground and then never looked back.

Chris Bauer · From: Nashville, TN USA

Pulling this thread back from a few years back... Anyone know roughly the time line of when Joachin was using which model amps?

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