| Author |
Topic: Nailing a Bucky Baxter Lick |
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
|
Posted 22 Jan 2022 9:02 am |
|
"Walk Out Backwards" is on a set list for tonight. Since the singer is a woman and the key (Bb)is the same, I'm guessing we are basing it on the Sarah Evans version, with Bucky Baxter on steel. I don't intend to cop every lick, but I always like to have them in the bag in case I don't come up with something good on the spot. There's a little descending lick in the middle of the turnaround that's bugging me. It sounds like there's something more chromatic going on than I am finding when I go to play it. When the turnaround lands on a IV chord (E-flat; starting at 1:09 in the video linked below), Baxter does a little descending lick whose outline is:
| Tab: |
Fret 18 16 13 14
string 4 Bb Ab F- G
string 5 F-G Eb-F D- Eb
|
I keep thinking there is some other chromatic thing happening here beyond the simple strings 5-4 with A pedal (and E-raise lever at the end). Is it just the sound of the in-between frets (17 and 15) on the way down? Or is there something more complicated that my feeble ears and hands can't stumble on?
Thanks for any feedback.
Walk Out Backwards |
|
|
|
chuck lemasters
From:
Jacksonburg, WV
|
Posted 22 Jan 2022 11:36 am
|
|
| It sounds to me like one of those slightly off kilter licks that include the second string … |
|
|
|
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
|
Posted 22 Jan 2022 12:07 pm
|
|
| Chuck, that's exactly what I keep thinking! But darned if I can find it using the 2nd string. |
|
|
|
chuck lemasters
From:
Jacksonburg, WV
|
Posted 22 Jan 2022 12:25 pm
|
|
| Thirteenth fret, pedals down, sliding down to twelve and eleven, no pedals? |
|
|
|
Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
|
Posted 22 Jan 2022 3:53 pm
|
|
Slowed the video down to one-quarter speed and this is what I got...
The sliding descending line is done on the 2nd string that's been lowered all the way down (a full step).
You bounce between that lowered 2nd string, that gets slid down with the bar... and 3 double-stopped "stabs"(as I call them) on string 4 and 5. "Stabs" since you immediately block after hitting them so they're like a quick pop.
Here's the lick at 1:09:
* Slide into Fret 18 as you hit strings 4 & 5 (then block)
* Hit string 2 (already lowered a full step with the lever) - then slide down 2 frets letting it ring.
Now, repeat the above sequence, but you're now sitting 2 frets down:
* Fret 16, hit strings 4 & 5 (then block)
* Hit string 2 (already lowered a full step with the lever) - then slide down 2 frets letting it ring.
* Fret 13 hit strings 4 and 5A (then block. Think 'AB position')
* Then quickly move the bar up to Fret 14 and hit string 5A alone (Think 'A+F position')
+++
That last stab in Fret 13 above may not be correct. It may be like this: double-stop in fret 15, then ending in fret 16 on string 5. This version is not just a different position, there's a different note in there... but I think it's the first version above, because those are the notes Dan heard too. |
|
|
|
Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
|
|
|
|
Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 12:59 am
|
|
Great tune and a playground for pedal steel being a shuffle with open spots for fills.
I reminded of Hal Rugg's style as well as Weldon's. |
|
|
|
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 4:46 am
|
|
| Thanks for all the help folks. I'll sit down with this today and make this part of my arsenal. Very useful lick. |
|
|
|
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 10:45 am
|
|
I think the descending line is just between strings 4 and 1, starting at the 13th fret, slide to 11th, then to the 9th with F raise on 4
_________________
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest - Paul Simon |
|
|
|
Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 11:11 am
|
|
This awesome Weldon lick is a bit different than the one the OP is hunting for. This one here is all double stops -- and brings in different notes. Meanwhile, the lick in question is slightly simpler where the descending note is a single string glissing down, interspersed with double-stops... but the general effect is similar-ish. |
|
|
|
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 11:25 am
|
|
Ian: that could be the core of it, but there are definitely double stops at the beginning of each module in the lick.
Tucker: I think you're right. Maybe I was hearing that signature Myrick lick in my memory banks against what I was actually hearing on the Sarah Evans recording, giving a false sense of chromaticism. In any case, I'm going to woodshed all versions presented here. Good stuff all around, and thanks everyone for helping out! |
|
|
|
Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 11:31 am
|
|
I couldn't have really have decided how to play it... not without slowing the recording way down and listening with headphones. I encourage folks to try that if they aren't already going that route. Very helpful on up-tempo stuff
In YouTube, you just click on the little round icon on the lower right that looks like a gear. Then change 'Playback Speed' from 'Normal' to, say, 0.5 for half-speed. |
|
|
|
chuck lemasters
From:
Jacksonburg, WV
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 2:29 pm
|
|
| Finally had more of a chance to listen to the song this evening. I am thinking 14th fret, F lever, picking strings 2and 3 double stop, then string 4 which rings as you drop to 13th, repeat, 12th fret, resolving on 11, no pedals. |
|
|
|
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 23 Jan 2022 9:11 pm
|
|
| Dan Beller-McKenna wrote: |
| ...there are definitely double stops at the beginning of each module in the lick... |
add string 3, the double stops are strings 3 & 4 at each position, F-A, Eb-G, D-F.
_________________
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest - Paul Simon |
|
|
|
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 2:51 am
|
|
| Quote: |
| the double stops are strings 3 & 4 at each position, F-A, Eb-G, D-F. |
Almost. The interval is a perfect fourth in the first two iterations, so (a different location for Tucker's solution):
 |
|
|
|
chuck lemasters
From:
Jacksonburg, WV
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 6:57 am
|
|
I stand corrected… the notes in Dan’s last post sound right to me…..edit…after listening another time of two, I may have to hold with my previous thoughts..
Last edited by chuck lemasters on 24 Jan 2022 7:47 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 7:36 am
|
|
| Well, to give credit where credit's due, it took Tucker's posts to get me to those notes. |
|
|
|
Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 7:49 am
|
|
My $.02 are in measure 4.
 |
|
|
|
Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 12:59 pm
|
|
| Dan Beller-McKenna wrote: |
|
Good! I like this position better and I think it's where Baxter played it. One last modification suggestion:
The tab doesn't show the 2-fret bar slides down on the 1st string, but if you do two of those slides, that lands you on fret 9. So... rather than doing what's tabbed here toward the end of the lick (strings 1 and 2 in fret 11), I think it's strings 3 and 4 with the F lever in Fret 9.
Then two options for the last note: either string 1 in Fret 9 -- or quickly sliding up to Fret 11 then hitting string 4 (no F-lever). I think it's maybe the second option because there is a high harmony note that's barely audible. That would be string 3 ringing from the last double-stop that's now slid up to 11 (don't block it like the prior two double-stops). |
|
|
|
Dan Beller-McKenna
From:
Durham, New Hampshire, USA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 1:44 pm
|
|
| This thread has turned into a poignant lesson on how many places there are to get the notes you want on the E9 steel. Frank's works at least as well as mine. Good idea on the ending, Tucker. I'm going to make it my business this week to start getting comfortable with all of the different string/pedal combos on this lick. Look, ma! New synapses! |
|
|
|
chuck lemasters
From:
Jacksonburg, WV
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 2:50 pm
|
|
My idea of beginning at fret 14, picking strings 2and 3 together, then string 4 with the F lever uses the same notes with the exception of reversing the order on the double stops, F and Bb to Bb and F. The slide down to fret 12, followed by the slide down to fret 11, no lever, gives you the descending slide to the end of the lick. You guys are probably correct in how Bucky Baxter played the lick, but for my money beginning on 14 certainly lays better on the guitar with a minimum of movement, pedal changes, and very little, if any deviation from the original. You know, that was probably one of those passages that was given no thought whatsoever when recorded, simply an ingrained lick leading to the next chord. Bucky Baxter is probably up there laughing at us.  |
|
|
|
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 24 Jan 2022 2:53 pm
|
|
| Dan Beller-McKenna wrote: |
| Quote: |
| the double stops are strings 3 & 4 at each position, F-A, Eb-G, D-F. |
Almost. The interval is a perfect fourth in the first two iterations, so (a different location for Tucker's solution):
|
I would still do it the way I suggested, sliding down 13 > 11 > 9 and add the F lever on 9, simply alternating between the double stops on strings 3&4 and the intermediate sliding note on string 1 between each position (adding the B pedal at 13 and 11 as you noted to give the 4th interval). This involves the least amount of histrionics IMO.
_________________
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest - Paul Simon |
|
|
|
Tucker Jackson
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
|
Posted 25 Jan 2022 10:58 am
|
|
I'm with you Ian... but then, I just tried Chuck's version (all the same notes) and for me, it's far easier to play it out of that position. Pick-blocking the double-stops is natural, bouncing between that and the thumb. Apologies to Chuck for not grasping what you were saying from the start. To Chuck's version I would add what Ian mentioned, dropping to fret 9, strings 3 and 4F for a double-stop, before ending in Fret 11 hitting 4 again. So simple and easy to play... once you know the code.
Lick At 1:09 over the Eb
| Tab: |
1 ________________________________
2 ____14_______12_________________
3 ____14_______12_______9~~~~~~___
4 _______14F~~~~~12F~~~~9F~11~~___
5 ________________________________
|
Framework-wise, the Chuck version is basically starting in the A+F fret position for the Eb chord. It just adds in the 2nd string. In the heat of battle, if I'm looking for a lick in Eb, that's a really logical fret position to work out of. |
|
|
|
Dennis Detweiler
From:
Solon, Iowa, US
|
Posted 25 Jan 2022 11:50 am
|
|
It also sounds like a Hal Rugg lick. He tuned his second string open to C#.
_________________
1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Boss 59 Fender pedal for preamp, NDR-5 Atlantic Delay & Reverb, two Quilter 201 amps, 2- 12" Eminence EPS-12C speakers, ShoBud Pedal, 1949 Epiphone D-8. Revelation preamp into a Crown XLS 1002 power amp. |
|
|
|
Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
|
Posted 25 Jan 2022 12:12 pm
|
|
| Tucker Jackson wrote: |
| I'm with you Ian... but then, I just tried Chuck's version (all the same notes) and for me, it's far easier to play it out of that position. Pick-blocking the double-stops is natural, bouncing between that and the thumb. Apologies to Chuck for not grasping what you were saying from the start. To Chuck's version I would add what Ian mentioned, dropping to fret 9, strings 3 and 4F for a double-stop, before ending in Fret 11 hitting 4 again. So simple and easy to play... once you know the code... |
I agree that it's a little easier to block this way but it still seems more logical to my feeble brain when it's more linear, the double stops are on the same strings, the descending slide on the same string each time.
| Dennis Detweiler wrote: |
| It also sounds like a Hal Rugg lick. He tuned his second string open to C#. |
Yes, this works even easier, starting at fret 16 with string 2 lowered a whole step and string 4 lowered a half (both on one lever for me), double stop 1&2, block, strike 4, slide to fret 14 and repeat, release all and slide to fret 11, double stop open strings 1&2 then open string 4. This also keeps the all the double stops and descending slides on the same strings.
| Dan Beller-McKenna wrote: |
| This thread has turned into a poignant lesson on how many places there are to get the notes you want on the E9 steel |
Yes!
_________________
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest - Paul Simon |
|
|
|
