Yes! Sir, you are absolutely correct about this. When one listens to the original record, it’s apparent that the second note that Sumlin plays, the “G” note, is the first beat of the measure. It’s the only way everything makes sense. There’s a video on RUclips of Howlin’ Wolf playing the song live, and he approximates the guitar riff on his harmonica. That performance demonstrates what you’re trying to show here. Thank you for being one of the few people I’ve seen who has actually figured this out!
Thx for the comment! Yes, I actually talk about that live video or wolf in my video and I list it as one of my "proofs" in the description section. And I mention that that harmonica riff Wolf starts with in the live video is very similar to Little Walter's harp riff on my "My Babe," a riff which definitely starts on beat 4 with the 2nd note on beat 1.
Thanks for this, since I just instantly noted the exact same thing when for the first time checking out the Yardbirds version. "Why have they changed the rhythm??"Has anyone asked them? Cannot see how there can be any debate over the fact that they changed it, in addition I agree totally with your reflection that the intricate and personal phrasing and timing of the original bluesmen should be respected by anyone who makes a career out of covering their songs. Not necessarily playing every note the same way, but still, recognising the timing as a fundamental part of the essence of the song.
thx Helena, - I think the answer is pretty simple. When Clapton learned the song he probably mistakenly heard HS's guitar phrase on the wrong beat in the same way people hear Bonham's opening to "Rock and Roll" or the piano on Radiohead's "Videotape" on the wrong beat. I don't think he intentionally changed it to be on beat 2 instead of beat 4 he just heard it wrong from the start and never faced it. Most people hear it on 2 as well. It's very easy to do, hear it wrong that is. I did as well until the drums and bass come in. Once that happens it should be obvious that the phrase is on 4.
Honestly I haven't heard a British cover of a blues standard that was played correctly rhythmically. They added their own flavor and it sounds great but there's always the feeling that there's something missing or not right. On Wolf's Evil, for example the snare drops on the one and then on the off beat between two and three. Such a small detail completely changes the groove and it's really easy to miss.
Yes, and it's super rare to hear drummers who can play that old stuff anymore. There's a guy in Austin who is very good at it. He also plays a lot of country.. His name is Rick Richards.
You are on the money! And I've known this for years. Well actually I've just known that it was flipped backwards but but I've never known how to explain it even to myself! I knew it had to be simple. Thanks for giving me the count. That being said, Wolfs timing on the vocals is INIMITABLE , and Sumlin's riffing feel/timing is as well, even it could never be duplicated again by himself from the two other performances that I've heard! It's a once upon a time thing. But a thousand great bands from the Yardbirds to the Dead to name two of the biggest and the best, have missed the meat of the cool groove, where you picked it up and nailed it to the wall. Thank you sir!
Wow! Awesome analysis. My first exposure to one of the best blues songs to come down the road, Smokestack Lightnin', was 1967 in Marin County, in a smoky club house on Muir Beach, by a young group called "the Flying Circus". I was blown away. Lookin forward to checkin out your channel!
Thx Michael! In the early '90s I played a very cool club close to there called Sweetwater in Mill Valley. It was a listening room type venue with very attentive audiences. Chris Isaak's manager came out to see us there and down the street there was a great record shop. The owner invited me to come by one Saturday afternoon and he'd made me up a great cassette compilation of Guitar Slim recordings. Good memories! Cheers from Texas. Paul
@@LosNoviembres Yep. I saw John Hammond Jr solo at the Sweetwater in the 80's. Just before I moved out of Marin $$$. You know all the cool places used to be "blue collar". That record store was fantastic since the '60s.
Serendipitous! So our band decides today we're gonna add Smokestack to our line up. We're a backing tracks band, so I have to put together the bass and drum tracks. SO I jump on RUclips so I can lisen to a few versions to figure out how w're going to play it. And I decided it'll be like the original. And what did I hear when I played it? Or rather, when I listent to some other versions after listening to HW? I heard a bunch of bands playing it backwards! Hmmm. I thought about it a little. Then later tonight while on RUclips, your vodeo came up. Spot on!
That's great, Wayne! Yes, I think almost everyone hears the phrase on the wrong beat when they initially listen to the HW version. The difference is they only listen to enough to learn the lick and don't listen through to the whole track. It becomes obvious though that's something's amiss when one get's even just a few bars in after the drums and bass come in. And here we are something like 70 years later and everyone is playing it on the wrong beat!
Wow, I just saw this video and you are correct sir. After seeing it I listen to the grateful Dead version and it struck me immediately that the first bar of their reminded me of green onions. I wouldn't necessarily say everyone is doing it wrong, blues and Rock and pop have common ancestors but they are very different. An almost defining characteristic of early rock and roll is what folks used to call the BackBeat and and it's not surprising to find examples of songs that have been reshaped in a particular style. I think of Joe cocker doing with a Little help from My friends; it's nothing like the original but I certainly wouldn't call it wrong.
This is very very interesting, thank you very much. I think you're spot on with your discovery. I love that alternating E octave. And your singing is 👍🏼👍🏼 "Buster Poindexter" = David Johansen
Great vid....I always get outta wack when I get covers that timing don't sync up... And Buster P was the closest to a good reporting representation of the original😁
One time I saw an old video of Sumlin showing how to play - he slides up to the fifth on the B string whilst plucking the top E - and of course I copied that. He was playing a goldtop LP in the video and also said how he set his tone!
Hoopa - I covered that video in my video. Make sure and watch the whole thing. As well, others have made the same comment as you ... you can read my replies in this thread.
the big change in how the song evolved was the result of the young British musicians in the early 60s becoming interested in real blues and melding it with rock. it's not wrong, it is evolution. The version recorded by the Yardbirds is still blues ,...just higher record sales. with more feel and better vocal track and harmonica
Totally different issue to people starting the riff on a different beat which, if you're covering the song, is objectively wrong. And you think the Yardbirds had more 'feel' than Wolf...OK. Subjective taste is just that, subjective.. but that's a bold claim.
Just found this. I think you've got it ( I couldn't figure it out frankly). I've also been totally vexed with Wolf's "Down in the Bottom" Sound's so simple but every time I think I've figured out the mojo, I realize I still don't really have it. Going to fool around with the count later today. I know the riffs but feel like I'm going against the grain. My reference is the live recording backstage at the Newport Folk Festival. I'd love your take on this. Thanks
On "down In the Bottom" it sounds like they are holding the I chord for an extra measure before going to the IV. He does something somewhat similar on "Killing Floor" before the 1st line of every verse (also the IV chord) except there he holds the I chord an extra 2 beats. I also remember Elvis' band doing an extra measure on the I chord of "Mystery Train" before going to the IV.
Purists will say things have to be played the way they were recorded at a particular time but that orthodoxy attitude tends to suck out musical creativity for conformity. The blues players of Wolf's generation rarely just copied earlier versions of songs but instead creatively adapted them to their own style and expression - and that is really what the blues is about. Blues players also recorded sometimes quite different versions of the same songs at different periods of their careers as their style and interpretation evolved - nothing set in stone for them. For example: Elmore Jame's versions of Dust My Broom are very different from the RJ original; Muddy Water's covers are very different from the originals (King Bee, Kindhearted Woman etc) ; and Wolf's version of Goin Down Slow is completely different from previous ones. And that's what makes them great and interesting - not "wrong" at all cos they deviate from earlier versions. Trying to do "faithful" tribute act-style versions is sterile - the opposite of, and less faithful to, the approach that made the original blues players great.
Hi, Templeton - all good stuff except that's not what this video is about. But to take your point listen to my rendition of Little Walter’s “My Babe.” I worked up my own arrangement so I could play it on solo guitar. I’m doing what you say blues musicians do. But again - THAT is not what THIS video is about. And further, to counter your point … EVERYONE is playing ‘Smokestack’ THE SAME!, in other words like Clapton. They are not making some conscious decision to proffer their own unique interpretation. They are placing the main guitar phrase on 2 instead of four and just assuming that’s how the song goes. The main thesis here is that EVERYONE, including me, originally hear’s HW’s version on the wrong beat in the same way they do Bonham’s intro to Rock and Roll” or Thom York’s piano on “Videotape.” That is until they realize the error and fix it. And when they do the song(s) have a much better groove an rhythmic integrity. Can you name another famous song, one whose main phrase or riff is displaced (misplaced) to a whole different beat of the count? I can’t. The fact is that the way a phrase is placed over a beat is a huge factor in music. What most likely happens here is Clapton listend to a few measures of the song, heard the phrase on the wrong beat and then recorded it that way. And after that EVERYONE has played it THE SAME, which is Clapton’s mistaken way. Are you really going to say that NO ONE since 1956 has decided to play the phrase the way it is on HW’s original? Can you show me a version ANYWHERE where a group / guitarist plays the phrase on the same beat as Wolf’s. If the guitar phrase in ‘Smokestack’ is so revered in blues history, and it is indeed, than why does NO ONE play it on the same beat as the original?????
@@LosNoviembres So if everyone copies one version it’s bad cos they didn’t all copy the original version. Cos ‘objectively’ it grooves less. A subjective opinion and a bit reductive (in my subjective opinion 😀) as groove can’t just be reduced to playing a particular version. The components of ‘groove’ are more diverse than that - with certain elements of feel, dynamics, locking in with the band etc present or lacking then either way of playing the riff could be more or less in a groove.
@@templetonknee2146 Again - it's one of the most revered musical phrases in all of blues history ... and yet no one chooses to play the phrase on the same beat as the original???? Not buying it. That tells me that Clapton mistakenly heard the phrase on the wrong beat, recorded it that way and that's the way people have played it ever since, Now - name another song where that's happened ... in any genre of music.
Brilliant video. I think you're very correct. But I find it hilarious that you know David Johansen as Buster Poindexter instead of the other way around.
@@thedashgreen65000 Yes, I admit I wasn't much of a fan of the NYC bands NYDs, Velvet Underground or even the Ramones. I only came to that stuff later in my career. So, my first real awareness of him was doing the lounge stuff. Thanks for the words on the video and thanks for watching! Paul
Actually, in the original recording, it's always sounded to me as if a note has been cut off right at the beginning. There's also an immediate clam in the guitar part (a low F after the first low E), which could suggest there was something odd going on.
Yes, one of my students and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago and it sounds like maybe Hubert was already playing when the engineer hit the record button. I might load the 1st couple seconds of the song into my audio software and do a little audio forensics ... I'd like to see if I can hear the reverb tail of possible notes he'd already played. It is odd how he doesn't play the high open E getting started but rather only the low E and then the high G ... one of those lovely little mysteries of those old records.
it's why so many guys back then used thumb picks - youd get a fuller band-like sound from just one guitar because you were essentially playing like a pianoplayer would
Ah, man ... thx for chiming in. I dig the DB's version, and the vocal beats mine hands down. There's another song, an old spiritual / gospel tune that in the same way bands / choirs place the first note of the melody on the 2 instead of the 4. Will do a video on that one soon as well.
You can tell by the drums. Every other measure he plays "& 4" on the snare. No drummer would ever do that on the "& 2" every other measure. All the sheet music online is wrong.
I cover the snare drum aspect in the video ... it's one of my "4 profs." Also, I actually did find sheet music dating from the original version that does have Hubert's phrase starting on the 4. I may do a shorter video on "Smokestack" and I'll include a screenshot of that sheet music.
The point is you play differently every time if your playing correctly. The London sessions are some of the best for Wolf in terms of commercial success. There is no right or wrong in any of it.Wolf just like Muddy and the master of different start JL Hooker. The Down beat and up beats are nearly always different every single take. Look go and speak to the Stones as i did back in the day. There is is no right way
BUT - everyone isn't playing it different every time, they are all playing it the same, i.e. like Clapton (the Yardbirds) version and NO ONE is playing it like Wolf's version. Now, you have to admit that is very odd for such a revered song isn't it? Or, put it another way - name a famous (or otherwise) song that is consistently played 2 beats off from the original in all subsequent covers.
Blues unlike other genres is passed around and re interpreted many times. You may be right. However I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. It's like posing the question: Did Jimi Hendrix play All along the Watch Tower wrong ? If you're a real musician, you try and bring some of yourself into whatever you play otherwise just get a junk box.
Yeah, I don't think it's a matter of "interpretation” in this case though. As I state in the video and in response to another comment in this thread - Everyone is basically playing it the same, and the way they all change it is to put one of the most famous blues phrases ever on a different beat all the way through the song. Again, they aren’t really reinterpreting the song they are playing it on the wrong beat because they hear the original incorrectly OR they simply learned one of the subsequent versions after Clapton’s with the Yardbirds. So, I don’t really think it’s similar to asking if Hendrix did ‘Watchtower’ the way Dylan did it. I think it’s more comparable to the way fans and many musicians hear Radiohead’s “Videotape” incorrectly with the first piano chord being on “1” when it’s on the “and of 4.” But there are, thankfully, no famous cover versions of that song with the chords played on the wrong beat. Do you see what I mean? Again - go and listen to Howling Wolf’s original and ask yourself where you hear Hubert Sumlin’s phrase. Almost all guitarists / musicians will incorrectly hear the phrase on “2” instead of where it really is on “4.” That’s an important point, namely that all subsequent versions, famous or not, are played in the manner of someone who listens to the original and counts the song 2 beats off! Not losing “any sleep.” On the contrary, I think it’s a fascinating situation.
I mean, Hendrix didn't play the iconic Watchtower riff/progression two beats off from Dylan's original. He just spiced it up and gave it his own flavour. I agree with the vid creator, this isn't 'artistic interpretation' or 'evolution', its one dude getting it wonky and everybody then copying him.
In my memory it was Johansen, and Jimmy Vivino and the drummer from the Band. I'd sell my VHS if I could. On the topic of singers/bands changing old originals, can anyone doubt that the Stones' Little Red Rooster is SO SUPERIOR to the original and same with their sped up I Just Want to Make love to You arrangement? I was so disappointed when I heard those first originals. Maybe, of course, you like what you first hear?
There are some where I prefer later versions and some where I prefer the originals. I always like Foghat's version of "Just Wanna Make Love To You." But say Jeff Beck / Rod Stewart's version of "Ain't Superstitious" ... that's a great version but I like Howling Wolf's original better.
Absolutely I agree 100%. What the white boys and Jimi Hendrix did was take that concept two the next level. The original smokestack lightning spawned, Susie Q, Polk salad Annie, mustang Sally, and Mississippi Queen.
Yeah, that's interesting, but wasn't that the case with a lot of covers over the years? Especially Blues songs. For the record, my favorite incorrect Smokestack Lightnings are The Yardbirds' 5 Live Yardbirds version, and the Grateful Dead's Bear's Choice version. Soundgarden's is a wreck.
Absolutely incredible playing brother. Excellent, clear analysis of the issue too. The thing is, music is a fluid thing. A chaotic wave function that creates transcendent diassocitive states of mass conciouness. Souls in harmony, soaring together on sonic magic carpets. Healing through transubstantiation of trauma into extascy. Music is prayer. Especially The Blues. The blues is about pain and redemption. No two people pray the same. If you dig the way 'ole Howlin Wolf howeled then by god, learn how to howl like him. Picasso said that good artists borrow and great artists steal. I think what he meant was "steal the idea, Then do it your own way. Transform it and give it your own voice: Here's a clip of me doing my own thing with "When the Levee Breaks" by way of both Memphis Minnie and Led Zep: ruclips.net/video/APWqN9w8bms/видео.html Make it truly your own, as you do here with analysis and brilliant singing and playing. I was an architecture professor for 15 years. You are a professional.
Couldn't agree more!!. I very rarely do covers of anyone else's music because I want to create my own. If I do then I have to do it my own way. Mainly because I'm a stubborn old git and tend to do most things my own way, but also because I've never been a copier, never followed fashion trends, always wanted to be different to the madding crowd. Also because I know my limitations of what I can play and I'd rather produce something unique but good than a poor copy of the original. Each to their own though... whatever floats yer boat. ALL music is good if it makes you happy and having Muso friends is just the best thing ever. 80% of my friends are musicians and when we have a party it usually lasts 4 days 🙄😊 ps: Liked your version of "when the Levee breaks" 👍
Thank you and hello. The guitar is an Epiphone Dove, specifically the Ltd Edition Dove / EE. It was a gift from one of my students. I really enjoy playing it!
Love that room colour. From another paean. I wouldn't even know that word without my expensive education. Funny, ain't it. Hubert Sumlin ain't regular - he's a one-off. God's Man.
I hear you on this and indeed Blues is often improvisational. I think the thing here though is that everyone is playing it the same aa Clapton did in the Yardbirds, with Hubert Sumlin's guitar phrase starting on beat 2. So they aren't really improvising or doing their own "feel" but playing it the same instead of like the original where Sumlin's phrase starts on beat 4. The clincher though for me is that 100% - or very close to that - of musicians / guitarists when they hear Howling Wolf's original will count it 2 beats off ... including me until I looked into it and researched it. go and listen to the original and count it and see if you hear the phrase on 2 and count the whole song. Does it feel right. Very soon in you'll find it if you count it that way it just feels wrong. I think most guitarists just listened to the first few measures, learned the guitar phrase, and forgot to really listen to the whole song (the original version) ... or they simply learned it from Clapton's version or subsequent version based on Clapton's version.
@@ofoghladha2110 so every guitarist and band that has covered one of the most revered blues songs with one of the most famous blues guitar phrases ... decided to play everything 2 beats off? no, they were hearing the original incorrectly or just learned it from Clapton or subsequent versions of his version. again - go and count along with the original all the way through and you'll find if you count the guitar phrase starting on 2 than pretty soon you'll notice the whole song feels out of whack.
Nice1 I reckon your on the right track , blues is all feel ( I'm on about the proper stuff done how it should be) this tutorial is great because he's exploring where the feel comes from , I sort of disagree with a couple of things my opinion is the groove came from Willie Johnson not Hubert which explains why Hubert didn't nail it in his videos , also the original could be a slowed down recording because it is slightly flat , also the original to me was a piece of magic between great musicians syncopation , piano , 2 guitars , bass , drum , harmonica and an incredible vocal that shakes your world , beautiful stuff , god bless Charlie Patton. Best wishes , can recommend big Joe turner 80s recordings on Pablo vinyl , boogie healing soul medicine , love n peace man
My answer to that is that everybody hear's the original with main guitar phrase starting on "2" in the same way they mistakenly hear Bonham's start to "Rock and Roll" or Yorke's piano on "Videotape" on "1." But all three are incorrect which becomes apparent when one listens closely to the rest of the song. In the case of "Smokestack" Clapton got it wrong and when that version became famous - much more famous than the original for a decade or so - then everyone copied Clapton's mistaken version.
@@TheGorillafoot I saw a Wolf documentary where Hubert was talking about how the older guys like Wolf told him to get rid of the pick and use his fingers
The video is not about technique ... it's about playing a song on a wholly wrong beat, backwards to be exact. To give an example ... if someone wrote out the sheet music whether someone played it with a pick, fingers, or thumb and finger picks would have no effect on the actual musical composition.
One Cat.. Several Pigeons.. out clubbing.... I think it might of originally been written in 7 beats to the bar..!!! But its drifted back to 8 because that takes a long while to become second nature... A band and any guest players would struggle... There is a brilliant track by CAN in this 7 beats malarkey called ONE MORE SATURDAY NIGHT... It's very danceable but I've noticed most dancers can't quite align with the beat and they don't know why "!!! It's definitely a guilty pleasure of mine when I Deejayed a bit... Get them on their feet a good 15 minutes THEN slip it in... Try it for yourselves now everyone is a dj!! I have it on a proper record.. Because I still can't spell vinyl vynil,,?! Thing about the cycle of 7... and smokestack... The emphasis could be squeezed and pop up thus : ** 34***/**34***/**34***/**34***/ The diagonal dash not being the 8 of course... I wonder could anybody play it this way and never stray back into 4/4 land... Other than Captain Beefhearts magic band members!! I was a drummer and always pushed 7 on the bands I was in.. It does flow if played enough.. But it can escape and our minds are our prisons, in some real senses... I loved 5 as well and 11 works for me.. People break these up in unique personal ways... Hey presto... Music fitted up like a suit... It's fun I insisted... Enjoy it.. I ordered... But nobody listens unless you're MARK. E. SMITH!! Good elf!! Xx
It is different, but if you listen to Wolf, w/ band, and Hubert on youtube, the snare is, like most blues, on 2 and 4. So the riff 's low E first note starts on 1. Wolf starts his phrase on 2, Its his late phrasing that all felt is "off", but its the white rock singers starting too early. No One Gets John Lee Hooker right, either. Muddy was more predictable. IMHO, that is. You sound good, but you dont seem sure, it could be a caucasianal rushing tendency... ? Wolf was magnificent! Could be case for pro tools, metrognome and all that digital crap, but I know a backbeat and a downbeat. Ask a good blues drummer, like Tony Braunagel, singers come in when they feel like it, a drummer gets fired.
Nope, and I cover everything you mention above in my video. But two things you forget from my video is the how the Willie Dixon's bass part works with Hubert's phrase. NO bass player would ever and has ever played that bass part backwards like that in any blues, country or Bossa tune and I can prove it by asking you show me an example from anywhere. Another way you can see this is look how other band's versions of the song actually decouple that bass part from the riff in a wholly different way that Wolf/Hubert/Willie did it. NOT ONE cover version keeps the bass part and Hubert's part couple to together. Beyond that there is my mention of the double snare hit that goes through the whole song. NO drummer would or ever had done that all the way through a song on the & of 1 and 2. It's always done on the & of 3 and 4.
I will also add that on the live version - I mention this as well in the video - watch Wolf count it in and start on beat 4 by quoting the phrase from Little Walter's "My Babe" which starts on the 4. Also Wolf's "Spoonful" starts on the 4. And finally after I did the video I looked up the original sheet music. The phrase - high open E - starts on 4.
They just messed it up. They were all too stubborn to admit it. I personally think Willie Dixon messed it up. Some Chicago folklore mentions the biggest gun always won those disagreements.
I haven't heard anyone properly play the lead intro to Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' either. It's more interesting and complicated than the usual simplified version just about everyone else has played since. ruclips.net/video/T38v3-SSGcM/видео.html
Here's Hubert teaching how to play Smokestack Lightning with Jimmy Vivino, Levon Helm, Michael Merrit, David Johansen. ruclips.net/video/BUhcww0x0Bg/видео.html
I explain your linked video in mine and as well have dealt with it below in various comments. But crucially HS doesn't play it that way in the live British video or on the original recording with Howling Wolf. So - what's different about the original HW recording / British live performance vs. the video you link? Watch my whole video and read all the comments below and you'll see.
Dude I think I got to listen to this song again because I Just Came Upon it like I don't know maybe 2 hours ago and frankly it sounded like a bunch of nonsense. I enjoy music, and specifically like I enjoyed tone and good Rhythm and stuff but that song it was just a bunch of nonsense. Actually went and read the lyrics and the lyrics are not nonsense, but when Howlin wolf sang it I couldn't understand nearly anything he had to say.
Yes, if you watched my video I cover your linked video. HS is indeed playing the phrase as he always did. But the band, especially the bassist and the the singer enter on the wrong beat thereby placing HS's phrase on on beat 2 instead of 4 where it should be. All you have to do is reference Howling Wolf's live version in England with HS and Willie Dixon and you'll see the guitar phrase is on beat 4. I talk about that video in mine as well and it's linked in my description ... just hit "see more."
Hi, Roman - most of my videos aren't in the "explainer" category. Have a look around my page, their's plenty of original music I've done for film, TV, Tanya Tucker's tequila company etc. "Just fine music" as you say. But many people do find the workings of music fascinating while at the same time not losing the sense of mystery. If you aren't in that category than no problem, just watch my other videos. Thx. Paul
That's a witty quip BUT - there are a great many guitarists on RUclips teaching 'Smokestack' who ARE referencing HW's original version when they demonstrate the guitar phrase. And they are ALL teaching it on the wrong beat, i.e. beat 2 instead of 4. Which only proves my point all the more, namely that they are hearing HW's original wrong in the same way people hear Bonham's intro to "Rock and Roll" or Yorke's piano on "Videotape" on the wrong beat. The difference is that no one has come along and pointed it out on "Smokestack" where with the other two songs (and many others) it has been pointed out countless times.
I already corrected that long age in the description / "see mor"e section below the video. All you have to do is read. But Dixon did write a lot of HW's stuff so it's hardly worth mentioning ... especially given that I'm correcting on Wolf and Sumlin's behalf, a HUGE ongoing mistake that has persisted for 70 years. A little perspective would be in order. Thx.
I'm not criticizing your playing on this. I think you're right about when the guitar lick comes in with the "turned around" beat. Also, I prefer the alternating thumb that you do on this song instead of the drone on the 6th string that Hubert Sumlin did. You got a nice sound on it. By the way, Willie Johnson, not Hubert Sumlin, played the main lick on the original 1956 version of this song, the famous version. Most people don't know that because Willie was not playing with Wolf by the 1960s when Wolf played in the UK when all those rock guys copied it.
@@markhoffman2237 the thing that bothered me is that I put a foot note in the description correcting who wrote the song ... bothers me when people don't read or watch whole videos but still comment. I've never heard any one say that Sumling didn't play the original phrase ... do you have any sources on that?
Yes, I do have a source for that. Hubert told me that Willie Johnson played the main lick on the record and taught it to him, and he said Wolf taught it to Willie.
@@markhoffman2237 ok, but I and I think most people would want some other sources on that ... i.e. Did Hubert tell that to anyone else? It would seem he would he or Wolf or Johnson would've gotten that out there, if even only through casual conversation. Anywho ... it's not really something I'm going to fixate on. But if there are other sources out there I'd like to hear about it.
Yes! You are EXACTLY right! I felt it was "off" also when playing it, and so stopped playing it for that reason. Now I know why.
Thank you!
Yes! Sir, you are absolutely correct about this. When one listens to the original record, it’s apparent that the second note that Sumlin plays, the “G” note, is the first beat of the measure. It’s the only way everything makes sense. There’s a video on RUclips of Howlin’ Wolf playing the song live, and he approximates the guitar riff on his harmonica. That performance demonstrates what you’re trying to show here. Thank you for being one of the few people I’ve seen who has actually figured this out!
Thx for the comment! Yes, I actually talk about that live video or wolf in my video and I list it as one of my "proofs" in the description section. And I mention that that harmonica riff Wolf starts with in the live video is very similar to Little Walter's harp riff on my "My Babe," a riff which definitely starts on beat 4 with the 2nd note on beat 1.
Yes, I saw your comments about that video performance after I’d already commented. Thanks again for a very thorough analysis of the song.
You play that great. Sounds fantastic. Love the blues and especially smokestack lightning.
Thank you AZD!
Thanks for this, since I just instantly noted the exact same thing when for the first time checking out the Yardbirds version. "Why have they changed the rhythm??"Has anyone asked them? Cannot see how there can be any debate over the fact that they changed it, in addition I agree totally with your reflection that the intricate and personal phrasing and timing of the original bluesmen should be respected by anyone who makes a career out of covering their songs. Not necessarily playing every note the same way, but still, recognising the timing as a fundamental part of the essence of the song.
thx Helena, - I think the answer is pretty simple. When Clapton learned the song he probably mistakenly heard HS's guitar phrase on the wrong beat in the same way people hear Bonham's opening to "Rock and Roll" or the piano on Radiohead's "Videotape" on the wrong beat. I don't think he intentionally changed it to be on beat 2 instead of beat 4 he just heard it wrong from the start and never faced it. Most people hear it on 2 as well. It's very easy to do, hear it wrong that is. I did as well until the drums and bass come in. Once that happens it should be obvious that the phrase is on 4.
Honestly I haven't heard a British cover of a blues standard that was played correctly rhythmically. They added their own flavor and it sounds great but there's always the feeling that there's something missing or not right. On Wolf's Evil, for example the snare drops on the one and then on the off beat between two and three. Such a small detail completely changes the groove and it's really easy to miss.
Yes, and it's super rare to hear drummers who can play that old stuff anymore. There's a guy in Austin who is very good at it. He also plays a lot of country.. His name is Rick Richards.
Fascinating. I appreciate you taking the time to make this video. I think you're right.
Thanks Mark!
You are on the money! And I've known this for years. Well actually I've just known that it was flipped backwards but but I've never known how to explain it even to myself! I knew it had to be simple. Thanks for giving me the count. That being said, Wolfs timing on the vocals is INIMITABLE , and Sumlin's riffing feel/timing is as well, even it could never be duplicated again by himself from the two other performances that I've heard! It's a once upon a time thing. But a thousand great bands from the Yardbirds to the Dead to name two of the biggest and the best, have missed the meat of the cool groove, where you picked it up and nailed it to the wall. Thank you sir!
Thx my2!
Wow! Awesome analysis. My first exposure to one of the best blues songs to come down the road, Smokestack Lightnin', was 1967 in Marin County, in a smoky club house on Muir Beach, by a young group called "the Flying Circus". I was blown away. Lookin forward to checkin out your channel!
Thx Michael! In the early '90s I played a very cool club close to there called Sweetwater in Mill Valley. It was a listening room type venue with very attentive audiences. Chris Isaak's manager came out to see us there and down the street there was a great record shop. The owner invited me to come by one Saturday afternoon and he'd made me up a great cassette compilation of Guitar Slim recordings. Good memories! Cheers from Texas. Paul
@@LosNoviembres Yep. I saw John Hammond Jr solo at the Sweetwater in the 80's. Just before I moved out of Marin $$$. You know all the cool places used to be "blue collar". That record store was fantastic since the '60s.
Well done and very informational. Glad to see you trying to teach the rest of us, what we’re supposed to be doing with our two left hands.😉
Don’t apologize for any of this! This is MUSIC. The kids need this type of understanding.
The kids (modern guitarist) get it. Give em old rhythm blues like this, create mini orchestra. Shredders from the 80s are no longer elite.
bro when i heard you play it i was like "omg what yea i am playing it wrong" thanks for this tutorial fellow blues man
Absolutely brilliant, thank you , just subbed . Cheers from New Zealand
Serendipitous! So our band decides today we're gonna add Smokestack to our line up. We're a backing tracks band, so I have to put together the bass and drum tracks. SO I jump on RUclips so I can lisen to a few versions to figure out how w're going to play it. And I decided it'll be like the original. And what did I hear when I played it? Or rather, when I listent to some other versions after listening to HW? I heard a bunch of bands playing it backwards! Hmmm. I thought about it a little. Then later tonight while on RUclips, your vodeo came up. Spot on!
That's great, Wayne! Yes, I think almost everyone hears the phrase on the wrong beat when they initially listen to the HW version. The difference is they only listen to enough to learn the lick and don't listen through to the whole track. It becomes obvious though that's something's amiss when one get's even just a few bars in after the drums and bass come in. And here we are something like 70 years later and everyone is playing it on the wrong beat!
I love it that you care so much.
Thank You.
Wow, I just saw this video and you are correct sir. After seeing it I listen to the grateful Dead version and it struck me immediately that the first bar of their reminded me of green onions.
I wouldn't necessarily say everyone is doing it wrong, blues and Rock and pop have common ancestors but they are very different. An almost defining characteristic of early rock and roll is what folks used to call the BackBeat and and it's not surprising to find examples of songs that have been reshaped in a particular style. I think of Joe cocker doing with a Little help from My friends; it's nothing like the original but I certainly wouldn't call it wrong.
Earl Phillips, drums. Recorded January 1956, Chicago
Thesis and Theory are both Greek words : ) Greetings from Athens friend🙋I love your work!
... just now seeing this, Alex
This is very very interesting, thank you very much. I think you're spot on with your discovery. I love that alternating E octave. And your singing is 👍🏼👍🏼
"Buster Poindexter" = David Johansen
Thank you MiM!
Are you David Johansen?
Nailed it. Everyone else has too much staccato with a pick. Legato needs to be in there at specific beats to let it flow.
Pretty cool mate Love early music especially the blues .Enjoyed your video and understanding of the music. Cheers mate🇦🇺
Thanks Glenn! Cheers from Texas.
Funny you should mention that video I was watching it before I clicked on your and they sounded pretty good
the Howling Wolf vid from England early '60s?
Great vid....I always get outta wack when I get covers that timing don't sync up... And Buster P was the closest to a good reporting representation of the original😁
thx Rick!
Great video. Thanks for posting
Thank you, Guy. Glad you liked the video and thanks very much for subscribing! Paul
One time I saw an old video of Sumlin showing how to play - he slides up to the fifth on the B string whilst plucking the top E - and of course I copied that. He was playing a goldtop LP in the video and also said how he set his tone!
Hoopa - I covered that video in my video. Make sure and watch the whole thing. As well, others have made the same comment as you ... you can read my replies in this thread.
the big change in how the song evolved was the result of the young British musicians in the early 60s becoming interested in real blues and melding it with rock. it's not wrong, it is evolution. The version recorded by the Yardbirds is still blues ,...just higher record sales. with more feel and better vocal track and harmonica
Totally different issue to people starting the riff on a different beat which, if you're covering the song, is objectively wrong.
And you think the Yardbirds had more 'feel' than Wolf...OK. Subjective taste is just that, subjective.. but that's a bold claim.
Just found this. I think you've got it ( I couldn't figure it out frankly). I've also been totally vexed with Wolf's "Down in the Bottom" Sound's so simple but every time I think I've figured out the mojo, I realize I still don't really have it. Going to fool around with the count later today. I know the riffs but feel like I'm going against the grain. My reference is the live recording backstage at the Newport Folk Festival. I'd love your take on this. Thanks
Thanks, Charles - yeah, I'll take a listen to that version. Theses guys were tricky with their phrasing, no doubt.
On "down In the Bottom" it sounds like they are holding the I chord for an extra measure before going to the IV. He does something somewhat similar on "Killing Floor" before the 1st line of every verse (also the IV chord) except there he holds the I chord an extra 2 beats.
I also remember Elvis' band doing an extra measure on the I chord of "Mystery Train" before going to the IV.
As St Stephen said “did it matter, dies it now”
Perhaps Sumlin always intended the song to be the "wrong" way and Wolf wanted it to groove harder and came up with the "right" way.
That's definitely a possibility. Thx for chiming in!
Purists will say things have to be played the way they were recorded at a particular time but that orthodoxy attitude tends to suck out musical creativity for conformity. The blues players of Wolf's generation rarely just copied earlier versions of songs but instead creatively adapted them to their own style and expression - and that is really what the blues is about. Blues players also recorded sometimes quite different versions of the same songs at different periods of their careers as their style and interpretation evolved - nothing set in stone for them.
For example: Elmore Jame's versions of Dust My Broom are very different from the RJ original; Muddy Water's covers are very different from the originals (King Bee, Kindhearted Woman etc) ; and Wolf's version of Goin Down Slow is completely different from previous ones. And that's what makes them great and interesting - not "wrong" at all cos they deviate from earlier versions. Trying to do "faithful" tribute act-style versions is sterile - the opposite of, and less faithful to, the approach that made the original blues players great.
Hi, Templeton - all good stuff except that's not what this video is about.
But to take your point listen to my rendition of Little Walter’s “My Babe.” I worked up my own arrangement so I could play it on solo guitar. I’m doing what you say blues musicians do. But again - THAT is not what THIS video is about. And further, to counter your point … EVERYONE is playing ‘Smokestack’ THE SAME!, in other words like Clapton. They are not making some conscious decision to proffer their own unique interpretation. They are placing the main guitar phrase on 2 instead of four and just assuming that’s how the song goes. The main thesis here is that EVERYONE, including me, originally hear’s HW’s version on the wrong beat in the same way they do Bonham’s intro to Rock and Roll” or Thom York’s piano on “Videotape.” That is until they realize the error and fix it. And when they do the song(s) have a much better groove an rhythmic integrity.
Can you name another famous song, one whose main phrase or riff is displaced (misplaced) to a whole different beat of the count? I can’t. The fact is that the way a phrase is placed over a beat is a huge factor in music. What most likely happens here is Clapton listend to a few measures of the song, heard the phrase on the wrong beat and then recorded it that way. And after that EVERYONE has played it THE SAME, which is Clapton’s mistaken way. Are you really going to say that NO ONE since 1956 has decided to play the phrase the way it is on HW’s original? Can you show me a version ANYWHERE where a group / guitarist plays the phrase on the same beat as Wolf’s.
If the guitar phrase in ‘Smokestack’ is so revered in blues history, and it is indeed, than why does NO ONE play it on the same beat as the original?????
@@LosNoviembres So if everyone copies one version it’s bad cos they didn’t all copy the original version. Cos ‘objectively’ it grooves less. A subjective opinion and a bit reductive (in my subjective opinion 😀) as groove can’t just be reduced to playing a particular version. The components of ‘groove’ are more diverse than that - with certain elements of feel, dynamics, locking in with the band etc present or lacking then either way of playing the riff could be more or less in a groove.
@@templetonknee2146 Again - it's one of the most revered musical phrases in all of blues history ... and yet no one chooses to play the phrase on the same beat as the original???? Not buying it. That tells me that Clapton mistakenly heard the phrase on the wrong beat, recorded it that way and that's the way people have played it ever since, Now - name another song where that's happened ... in any genre of music.
Brilliant video. I think you're very correct. But I find it hilarious that you know David Johansen as Buster Poindexter instead of the other way around.
No offense intended by the way. Just found it mildly amusing.
@@thedashgreen65000 Yes, I admit I wasn't much of a fan of the NYC bands NYDs, Velvet Underground or even the Ramones. I only came to that stuff later in my career. So, my first real awareness of him was doing the lounge stuff. Thanks for the words on the video and thanks for watching! Paul
Actually, in the original recording, it's always sounded to me as if a note has been cut off right at the beginning. There's also an immediate clam in the guitar part (a low F after the first low E), which could suggest there was something odd going on.
Yes, one of my students and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago and it sounds like maybe Hubert was already playing when the engineer hit the record button. I might load the 1st couple seconds of the song into my audio software and do a little audio forensics ... I'd like to see if I can hear the reverb tail of possible notes he'd already played. It is odd how he doesn't play the high open E getting started but rather only the low E and then the high G ... one of those lovely little mysteries of those old records.
@@LosNoviembres That would be interesting. I think that glitch can flip your perception of where the beat is.
@@Fledermausman Exactly
Very Interesting information.
Thanks, Mel ... and thank you for subscribing.
it's why so many guys back then used thumb picks - youd get a fuller band-like sound from just one guitar because you were essentially playing like a pianoplayer would
The London sessions. “Those white boy want to play the blues so bad, and they play them so bad”. Quite a eye opener.
Them white boys wants to play the Blues so bad - and they do.
I learnt this song for my band, I ended up finding Covers of it to learn from instead for this very reason
You're absolutely correct.
Ah, man ... thx for chiming in. I dig the DB's version, and the vocal beats mine hands down. There's another song, an old spiritual / gospel tune that in the same way bands / choirs place the first note of the melody on the 2 instead of the 4. Will do a video on that one soon as well.
Wow,I thought I was the only one who noticed this,
You can tell by the drums. Every other measure he plays "& 4" on the snare. No drummer would ever do that on the "& 2" every other measure. All the sheet music online is wrong.
I cover the snare drum aspect in the video ... it's one of my "4 profs." Also, I actually did find sheet music dating from the original version that does have Hubert's phrase starting on the 4. I may do a shorter video on "Smokestack" and I'll include a screenshot of that sheet music.
The point is you play differently every time if your playing correctly. The London sessions are some of the best for Wolf in terms of commercial success. There is no right or wrong in any of it.Wolf just like Muddy and the master of different start JL Hooker. The Down beat and up beats are nearly always different every single take.
Look go and speak to the Stones as i did back in the day. There is is no right way
BUT - everyone isn't playing it different every time, they are all playing it the same, i.e. like Clapton (the Yardbirds) version and NO ONE is playing it like Wolf's version. Now, you have to admit that is very odd for such a revered song isn't it? Or, put it another way - name a famous (or otherwise) song that is consistently played 2 beats off from the original in all subsequent covers.
Blues unlike other genres is passed around and re interpreted many times. You may be right. However I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. It's like posing the question: Did Jimi Hendrix play All along the Watch Tower wrong ? If you're a real musician, you try and bring some of yourself into whatever you play otherwise just get a junk box.
Yeah, I don't think it's a matter of "interpretation” in this case though. As I state in the video and in response to another comment in this thread - Everyone is basically playing it the same, and the way they all change it is to put one of the most famous blues phrases ever on a different beat all the way through the song. Again, they aren’t really reinterpreting the song they are playing it on the wrong beat because they hear the original incorrectly OR they simply learned one of the subsequent versions after Clapton’s with the Yardbirds.
So, I don’t really think it’s similar to asking if Hendrix did ‘Watchtower’ the way Dylan did it. I think it’s more comparable to the way fans and many musicians hear Radiohead’s “Videotape” incorrectly with the first piano chord being on “1” when it’s on the “and of 4.” But there are, thankfully, no famous cover versions of that song with the chords played on the wrong beat. Do you see what I mean?
Again - go and listen to Howling Wolf’s original and ask yourself where you hear Hubert Sumlin’s phrase. Almost all guitarists / musicians will incorrectly hear the phrase on “2” instead of where it really is on “4.” That’s an important point, namely that all subsequent versions, famous or not, are played in the manner of someone who listens to the original and counts the song 2 beats off!
Not losing “any sleep.” On the contrary, I think it’s a fascinating situation.
@@LosNoviembres This is fun!
I mean, Hendrix didn't play the iconic Watchtower riff/progression two beats off from Dylan's original. He just spiced it up and gave it his own flavour. I agree with the vid creator, this isn't 'artistic interpretation' or 'evolution', its one dude getting it wonky and everybody then copying him.
In my memory it was Johansen, and Jimmy Vivino and the drummer from the Band. I'd sell my VHS if I could. On the topic of singers/bands changing old originals, can anyone doubt that the Stones' Little Red Rooster is SO SUPERIOR to the original and same with their sped up I Just Want to Make love to You arrangement? I was so disappointed when I heard those first originals. Maybe, of course, you like what you first hear?
There are some where I prefer later versions and some where I prefer the originals. I always like Foghat's version of "Just Wanna Make Love To You." But say Jeff Beck / Rod Stewart's version of "Ain't Superstitious" ... that's a great version but I like Howling Wolf's original better.
Absolutely I agree 100%. What the white boys and Jimi Hendrix did was take that concept two the next level. The original smokestack lightning spawned, Susie Q, Polk salad Annie, mustang Sally, and Mississippi Queen.
Yeah, that's interesting, but wasn't that the case with a lot of covers over the years? Especially Blues songs. For the record, my favorite incorrect Smokestack Lightnings are The Yardbirds' 5 Live Yardbirds version, and the Grateful Dead's Bear's Choice version. Soundgarden's is a wreck.
Absolutely incredible playing brother. Excellent, clear analysis of the issue too. The thing is, music is a fluid thing. A chaotic wave function that creates transcendent diassocitive states of mass conciouness. Souls in harmony, soaring together on sonic magic carpets.
Healing through transubstantiation of trauma into extascy.
Music is prayer. Especially The Blues. The blues is about pain and redemption. No two people pray the same. If you dig the way 'ole Howlin Wolf howeled then by god, learn how to howl like him. Picasso said that good artists borrow and great artists steal. I think what he meant was "steal the idea, Then do it your own way. Transform it and give it your own voice:
Here's a clip of me doing my own thing with "When the Levee Breaks" by way of both Memphis Minnie and Led Zep:
ruclips.net/video/APWqN9w8bms/видео.html
Make it truly your own, as you do here with analysis and brilliant singing and playing. I was an architecture professor for 15 years.
You are a professional.
Couldn't agree more!!.
I very rarely do covers of anyone else's music because I want to create my own.
If I do then I have to do it my own way. Mainly because I'm a stubborn old git and tend to do most things my own way, but also because I've never been a copier, never followed fashion trends, always wanted to be different to the madding crowd. Also because I know my limitations of what I can play and I'd rather produce something unique but good than a poor copy of the original.
Each to their own though... whatever floats yer boat.
ALL music is good if it makes you happy and having Muso friends is just the best thing ever.
80% of my friends are musicians and when we have a party it usually lasts 4 days 🙄😊
ps: Liked your version of "when the Levee breaks" 👍
Nice lesson and nice guitar sir. What's model of this guitar?
Thank you and hello. The guitar is an Epiphone Dove, specifically the Ltd Edition Dove / EE. It was a gift from one of my students. I really enjoy playing it!
@@LosNoviembres like your video with My Babe cover, cool stuff!)) I've enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for sharing.
@@denisivanov2522 Thanks again. Keep checking in .. I have more videos coming.
🎉nice
i agree, most of this stuff has been lost.
Blues captured like an insect in amber.
Love that room colour. From another paean. I wouldn't even know that word without my expensive education. Funny, ain't it. Hubert Sumlin ain't regular - he's a one-off. God's Man.
But your wolf noise needs work.
Dig it!
Blues is an improvisational artform that's constantly evolving so maybe it's actually not right or wrong , just a different feel ?
I hear you on this and indeed Blues is often improvisational. I think the thing here though is that everyone is playing it the same aa Clapton did in the Yardbirds, with Hubert Sumlin's guitar phrase starting on beat 2. So they aren't really improvising or doing their own "feel" but playing it the same instead of like the original where Sumlin's phrase starts on beat 4. The clincher though for me is that 100% - or very close to that - of musicians / guitarists when they hear Howling Wolf's original will count it 2 beats off ... including me until I looked into it and researched it. go and listen to the original and count it and see if you hear the phrase on 2 and count the whole song. Does it feel right. Very soon in you'll find it if you count it that way it just feels wrong. I think most guitarists just listened to the first few measures, learned the guitar phrase, and forgot to really listen to the whole song (the original version) ... or they simply learned it from Clapton's version or subsequent version based on Clapton's version.
@@LosNoviembres it's just a different groove
@@ofoghladha2110 so every guitarist and band that has covered one of the most revered blues songs with one of the most famous blues guitar phrases ... decided to play everything 2 beats off? no, they were hearing the original incorrectly or just learned it from Clapton or subsequent versions of his version. again - go and count along with the original all the way through and you'll find if you count the guitar phrase starting on 2 than pretty soon you'll notice the whole song feels out of whack.
@@LosNoviembres I'm sure you're right
Nice1 I reckon your on the right track , blues is all feel ( I'm on about the proper stuff done how it should be) this tutorial is great because he's exploring where the feel comes from , I sort of disagree with a couple of things my opinion is the groove came from Willie Johnson not Hubert which explains why Hubert didn't nail it in his videos , also the original could be a slowed down recording because it is slightly flat , also the original to me was a piece of magic between great musicians syncopation , piano , 2 guitars , bass , drum , harmonica and an incredible vocal that shakes your world , beautiful stuff , god bless Charlie Patton. Best wishes , can recommend big Joe turner 80s recordings on Pablo vinyl , boogie healing soul medicine , love n peace man
I think you're right, but I also don't think it makes much difference; it sounds good to me either way.
Also, I wonder if this was a conscious decision, or if it's just the way they did it cause it sounded good to them.
My answer to that is that everybody hear's the original with main guitar phrase starting on "2" in the same way they mistakenly hear Bonham's start to "Rock and Roll" or Yorke's piano on "Videotape" on "1." But all three are incorrect which becomes apparent when one listens closely to the rest of the song. In the case of "Smokestack" Clapton got it wrong and when that version became famous - much more famous than the original for a decade or so - then everyone copied Clapton's mistaken version.
Good video. If you wanted to get technical, you’re not playing it the way Hubert did if you’re using a pick.
Exactly what I thought.
@@TheGorillafoot I saw a Wolf documentary where Hubert was talking about how the older guys like Wolf told him to get rid of the pick and use his fingers
The video is not about technique ... it's about playing a song on a wholly wrong beat, backwards to be exact. To give an example ... if someone wrote out the sheet music whether someone played it with a pick, fingers, or thumb and finger picks would have no effect on the actual musical composition.
One Cat.. Several Pigeons.. out clubbing.... I think it might of originally been written in 7 beats to the bar..!!! But its drifted back to 8 because that takes a long while to become second nature... A band and any guest players would struggle... There is a brilliant track by CAN in this 7 beats malarkey called ONE MORE SATURDAY NIGHT... It's very danceable but I've noticed most dancers can't quite align with the beat and they don't know why "!!! It's definitely a guilty pleasure of mine when I Deejayed a bit... Get them on their feet a good 15 minutes THEN slip it in... Try it for yourselves now everyone is a dj!! I have it on a proper record.. Because I still can't spell vinyl vynil,,?! Thing about the cycle of 7... and smokestack... The emphasis could be squeezed and pop up thus :
** 34***/**34***/**34***/**34***/
The diagonal dash not being the 8 of course... I wonder could anybody play it this way and never stray back into 4/4 land... Other than Captain Beefhearts magic band members!! I was a drummer and always pushed 7 on the bands I was in.. It does flow if played enough.. But it can escape and our minds are our prisons, in some real senses... I loved 5 as well and 11 works for me.. People break these up in unique personal ways... Hey presto... Music fitted up like a suit... It's fun I insisted... Enjoy it.. I ordered... But nobody listens unless you're MARK. E. SMITH!! Good elf!! Xx
It is different, but if you listen to Wolf, w/ band, and Hubert on youtube, the snare is, like most blues, on 2 and 4. So the riff 's low E first note starts on 1. Wolf starts his phrase on 2, Its his late phrasing that all felt is "off", but its the white rock singers starting too early.
No One Gets John Lee Hooker right, either. Muddy was more predictable. IMHO, that is. You sound good, but you dont seem sure, it could be a caucasianal rushing tendency... ? Wolf was magnificent! Could be case for pro tools, metrognome and all that digital crap, but I know a backbeat and a downbeat. Ask a good blues drummer, like Tony Braunagel, singers come in when they feel like it, a drummer gets fired.
Nope, and I cover everything you mention above in my video. But two things you forget from my video is the how the Willie Dixon's bass part works with Hubert's phrase. NO bass player would ever and has ever played that bass part backwards like that in any blues, country or Bossa tune and I can prove it by asking you show me an example from anywhere. Another way you can see this is look how other band's versions of the song actually decouple that bass part from the riff in a wholly different way that Wolf/Hubert/Willie did it. NOT ONE cover version keeps the bass part and Hubert's part couple to together.
Beyond that there is my mention of the double snare hit that goes through the whole song. NO drummer would or ever had done that all the way through a song on the & of 1 and 2. It's always done on the & of 3 and 4.
I will also add that on the live version - I mention this as well in the video - watch Wolf count it in and start on beat 4 by quoting the phrase from Little Walter's "My Babe" which starts on the 4. Also Wolf's "Spoonful" starts on the 4. And finally after I did the video I looked up the original sheet music. The phrase - high open E - starts on 4.
That's one of the songs Wolf wrote himself.
Yes, someone informed me of that a while back ... I think I added it to my descriptions section below the video ...
Its written and pronounced Lightnin as it was written not Lightning
They just messed it up. They were all too stubborn to admit it. I personally think Willie Dixon messed it up. Some Chicago folklore mentions the biggest gun always won those disagreements.
I haven't heard anyone properly play the lead intro to Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' either. It's more interesting and complicated than the usual simplified version just about everyone else has played since.
ruclips.net/video/T38v3-SSGcM/видео.html
Cool! Now do Clapton's "Crossroads" solo . . .
Do you mean in the way he turns the beat around and gets backwards on the solo ... ??
Is this some kind of spoof video....please tell me it is.
I don't think it is...please tell me it isn't.
Here's Hubert teaching how to play Smokestack Lightning with Jimmy Vivino, Levon Helm, Michael Merrit, David Johansen.
ruclips.net/video/BUhcww0x0Bg/видео.html
I explain your linked video in mine and as well have dealt with it below in various comments. But crucially HS doesn't play it that way in the live British video or on the original recording with Howling Wolf. So - what's different about the original HW recording / British live performance vs. the video you link? Watch my whole video and read all the comments below and you'll see.
Dude I think I got to listen to this song again because I Just Came Upon it like I don't know maybe 2 hours ago and frankly it sounded like a bunch of nonsense. I enjoy music, and specifically like I enjoyed tone and good Rhythm and stuff but that song it was just a bunch of nonsense. Actually went and read the lyrics and the lyrics are not nonsense, but when Howlin wolf sang it I couldn't understand nearly anything he had to say.
Still not right to my ear - still in the style of ….
Here's how to play it by Hubert Sumlin. ruclips.net/video/BUhcww0x0Bg/видео.html
Yes, if you watched my video I cover your linked video. HS is indeed playing the phrase as he always did. But the band, especially the bassist and the the singer enter on the wrong beat thereby placing HS's phrase on on beat 2 instead of 4 where it should be. All you have to do is reference Howling Wolf's live version in England with HS and Willie Dixon and you'll see the guitar phrase is on beat 4. I talk about that video in mine as well and it's linked in my description ... just hit "see more."
@@LosNoviembres 👍
Oh no, another Rick Beato. Hearing things that you have to be a music genius to understand. Just fine music to me.
Hi, Roman - most of my videos aren't in the "explainer" category. Have a look around my page, their's plenty of original music I've done for film, TV, Tanya Tucker's tequila company etc. "Just fine music" as you say. But many people do find the workings of music fascinating while at the same time not losing the sense of mystery. If you aren't in that category than no problem, just watch my other videos. Thx. Paul
Most musicians can count to 4. Knowing the difference between beats 2 & 4 is hardly 'genius level'
This IS the Music of the Hills and Valleys of all of the East and Southeast.
Play originals and you'll never play it wrong.
That's a witty quip BUT - there are a great many guitarists on RUclips teaching 'Smokestack' who ARE referencing HW's original version when they demonstrate the guitar phrase. And they are ALL teaching it on the wrong beat, i.e. beat 2 instead of 4. Which only proves my point all the more, namely that they are hearing HW's original wrong in the same way people hear Bonham's intro to "Rock and Roll" or Yorke's piano on "Videotape" on the wrong beat. The difference is that no one has come along and pointed it out on "Smokestack" where with the other two songs (and many others) it has been pointed out countless times.
Willie Dixon did NOT write this song. Wolf wrote it.
I already corrected that long age in the description / "see mor"e section below the video. All you have to do is read. But Dixon did write a lot of HW's stuff so it's hardly worth mentioning ... especially given that I'm correcting on Wolf and Sumlin's behalf, a HUGE ongoing mistake that has persisted for 70 years. A little perspective would be in order. Thx.
I'm not criticizing your playing on this. I think you're right about when the guitar lick comes in with the "turned around" beat. Also, I prefer the alternating thumb that you do on this song instead of the drone on the 6th string that Hubert Sumlin did. You got a nice sound on it.
By the way, Willie Johnson, not Hubert Sumlin, played the main lick on the original 1956 version of this song, the famous version. Most people don't know that because Willie was not playing with Wolf by the 1960s when Wolf played in the UK when all those rock guys copied it.
@@markhoffman2237 the thing that bothered me is that I put a foot note in the description correcting who wrote the song ... bothers me when people don't read or watch whole videos but still comment. I've never heard any one say that Sumling didn't play the original phrase ... do you have any sources on that?
Yes, I do have a source for that. Hubert told me that Willie Johnson played the main lick on the record and taught it to him, and he said Wolf taught it to Willie.
@@markhoffman2237 ok, but I and I think most people would want some other sources on that ... i.e. Did Hubert tell that to anyone else? It would seem he would he or Wolf or Johnson would've gotten that out there, if even only through casual conversation. Anywho ... it's not really something I'm going to fixate on. But if there are other sources out there I'd like to hear about it.
The only version worth listening to is by "The Yardbirds".