28 Bonus - November 2022 - A Spoonful Blues
Added 2022-11-28 19:54:27 +0000 UTCA Spoonful Blues is a composition by Charlie Patton, who is considered one of the most significant and influential blues musicians of all time. This song is not the same as Willie Dixon's Spoonful which came later and became a very popular blues song. However, it is believed that it had a major influence on the creation of Spoonful.
A Spoonful Blues has an interesting harmony and form that is not the classic 12 bar blues. Harmony is based on a segment from the cycle of 4ths. It starts with C# major and with the help of descending and ascending transitions it goes through F# major, B major and it finally comes to E major. Charlie Patton played this song with a slide in E major tuning which further simplifies the harmony and playing as all chords are played as pure bar chords.
This rendition is played in standard tuning with Travis picking without a slide. The chords are regular major bar chords with the root on the sixth string. In the second part, the whole theme is played in a lower register with power chords.
If you want to play along with the original version, you will notice that not every cycle is the same because, depending on lyrics, Charly Patton sometimes stays longer on chords F#, B or E.
