This is the talent that should have recognition in the Rock Hall of Fame. Humble and with grace, a beautiful, talented human being. Thanks to those who made the effort to post these videos.
She grew up in a strict, religious family and girls weren't supposed to play guitars. So she'd sneak her brother's guitar out from under the bed and practice when no one was around. However, she was left-handed, and so learned to play a regularly-strung guitar upside-down. That's why the chords and progressions she produced were so different from anything else that was being played at the time. A pure definition of the word "unique."
agreed, we need to get back to the instruments.. sick of all the electronic/ computerized music that the kids love these days.. I feel like the average 14-15 yr old kid wouldn't appreciate her.
+deaner1722 alright Grandpa (or grandma?). Don't you have a bridge (or bingo) video to be commenting on? Maybe expressing how sick you are of Uno and/or Trouble the board game! (maybe I"m showing my own age?) How these are no talent games based on luck?? (All the while your old games being just as fun and emotive as the new games?)...
+deaner1722 not true I love this style of music and I'm only 15. kids just listen to that bull shit cause other kids think it's cool and all kids want is to be cool. on a personal level this stuff hits me right in the heart man.
I like to try and play guitar. So when you try and play makes you appreciate seeing Elizabeth play so beautifully and calmly . Imagine having a mum or grandma like that :)
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (née Nevills) (January 5, 1893 - June 29, 1987)[1] was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter. A self-taught left-handed guitarist, Cotten developed her own original style. She played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down, as she was left-handed.[2] This position meant that she would play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as "Cotten picking".[3]
WOW! Great musician! Great guitar player! Yes, I agree with Justin G. Steele when he wrote, "Thanks to those who made the effort to post these videos!" Yes, thnx! I appreciate it and I appreciate you!!!! I also thank those filmmakers, producers who did these amazing recordings of these wonderful, amazing musicians way back when! Thnx for sharing! 'Keep*On*A*Rocking*N*A*Rolling!' :)
Inacreditável... com que leveza e naturalidade essa senhora leva os dedos as cordas, sem esforço, sem expressar dificuldade alguma... com uma facilidade inacreditável! From BRAZIL!!!
In terms of color, blues is an adaptation of African rhythms. In other words, the music came to America with the Africans and evolved. The whites who play blues learned from Black people. It only stands to reason that the most influential blues artist would be black.
At 6 minutes and 18 seconds and sound like the Mario brother s. Theme song. Lol...the true innovator.... Rag time.... Old time country... The birth of nation.... top hats and carriages the queen Victorian age AKA Mary Poppins the 1920s 30s 40s 11
Ridger 1978 = What an honour and privilege it would have been to know this lovely lady, she always played guitar upside down like that! The dislikes are on here because the people who put them here are not allowed anything sharper than crayons in the secure home they're in! Probably typed the dislikes on here inbetween drooling uncontrollably and waiting for the nurse to change their soiled underwear for them!
Oi bom dia? Hoje acordei pela manhã! Decidi abrir as redes , parece meu espírito se comunicou com meus ancestrais! Escute essa Heroína Americana, fera no blus; e muita honra!
Sound quality will be restored in the future because this footage will live long after the guitar wizards who can't really play are forgotten. It will be glorious to hear then.
I had the pleasure of seeing her play at Folklife Festival in the opera house in Seattle, Washington. I will never forget it. Thank you for posting this. Love that Washington (DC) Blues....
My jaw is on the ground. Amazing. That is the way Jimi Hendrix played at first, a right-handed guitar upside-down, and the strings upside down also, he later flipped the strings.
Hermosamente fantástica en mi caso tengo la suerte de que mi padre me a enseñado algunos tiemples por la labor diaria no lo practico .pero los tengo en mi memoria y los reconozco donde quiera que los oiga ......
That wasn't the discussion. My initial question was (as a keen follower of this type of guitar style) why I'd never heard of Elizabeth Cotton. Someone supposed it was down to her colour, but I am of the belief it was more because of her gender. My digging around the top 25 Blues guitarists found 25 men - No Women! It was more of an aside that 5 were white and tended to be more recent.
I agree, I've only just discovered her and I'm 60! She's so brilliant and singular, I can only put it down to her gender coupled with her brilliance that she's been left in the shadows for so long!
This is essentially the same tune as the "Spanish Fandango" recorded by "Uncle Charlie" on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, "Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy."
Spanish Fandango was an old "parlor" piece of written music for guitar from the 1800s done in slack key open G tuning. It entered the folk tradition by being such a popular piece that self taught guitar players figured out their own versions of it, such as Ms. Cotten's.
Spent a lovely hour or so at her house with MS John Hurt and Tom Hoskins, who also played left-handed upside-down and backwards. John played a somewhat different "Spanish Flangdang". Middle 1960s. What a sweet lady she was.
She taught me to make apple pie: Granny Smith apples, lots of butter and cinnamon and lemon juice for the filling, preferably lard or crisco for a light crust--get dough to pea size (she used a fork or pastry cutter) before rolling, don't knead it, just form into ball and roll out. She was quite old when I watched her do this and was cold enough to wear a sweater even in a hot kitchen in Oakland. One talented lady!
@@gennyhaley7014 What a sweet memory! Somehow I am not at all surprised that this woman can make excellent music AND excellent pie. May we all learn to become like this!
What I don't understand is why she's not better known? I love guitar picking music, and have dredged through dozens and dozens of GUYS, and this beautiful lady has been hidden away like some sort of secret. I've just spent the last 24 hours digging every where to find her music. I don't understand why she's not right out there.
These are the true hits....unbelievable cant stop listening. While it's not the hardest song to play, its the picking style/tone that no one can or will be able to reproduce. Where is this on vinyl???
But Jimi didn't perform with a right handed strung guitar. Libba once explained that she had brothers who played, but there was only one guitar in the house and they wouldn't let her restring it, so she turned it upside down.
I'm sure colour was right up there too, but gender knocked her way down the "must play list". I just checked a list of the "top 25 most influential Blues guitarists ever" - all 25 were men, 20 out of 25 were black.
This is the talent that should have recognition in the Rock Hall of Fame. Humble and with grace, a beautiful, talented human being. Thanks to those who made the effort to post these videos.
Justin G. Steele Screw the rock HOF. Music shouldn't have or need gatekeepers of approval.
why lump this in with rock when it is clearly not rock?
It's not rock, though.
I agree on it all. She is very talented..
Why sully her reputation, she's not a rocker, she's an American original.
A beautiful woman and great musician.
She grew up in a strict, religious family and girls weren't supposed to play guitars. So she'd sneak her brother's guitar out from under the bed and practice when no one was around. However, she was left-handed, and so learned to play a regularly-strung guitar upside-down. That's why the chords and progressions she produced were so different from anything else that was being played at the time. A pure definition of the word "unique."
Dick Dale approves
Actually it wasn't a guitar that she she snuck, but a banjo. She bought her own guitar later, but first learned to play her brother's banjo.
i can see that she knows the chords very well. if you look closely, you can see a C Chord clearly, on the other video of her i saw A minor
Jimi Hendrix played a right handed guitar ( he also was left handed) a developed a unique sound
She simply restrung her own left handed guitar.....and rocked it all the way home...🤘💕
We are grateful to the people who share these moments. Elizabeth Cotten is a gem, what legacy!! 👍
She gets that special sound, that comes from that special place, love and peace, thank you!
I love the black-and-white grainy footage, it adds to the charm of the music.
I concur.
Whoa! Never so clear a blend of heart and mind with her instrument. She makes it sound like two instruments!!!
No words to honor this beautiful soul.
Dear Elizabeth... Cotton. Thank You.
What a beautiful Soul she was! It would have been special to see her live! But it is special to see and hear her here, too! Thanks for posting!
🙂🤎❤️🤎🌼
Mon dieu, je ne peux m'empêcher de toujours revenir à cette musique hypnotique. Une force tranquille.
This music radiates love, that's why it feels so good to hear
So true. It's like fresh baked buns from your grandma.
She is Killing it!
Thank you for bringing this talented blues woman to light.
This is some ahead of it's time guitar work for sure... Such a cool chick ❤
Beautiful. We need more music like this. Not that modern day cacophony. Marvelous musicians like her and Gary Davis are rare.
agreed, we need to get back to the instruments.. sick of all the electronic/ computerized music that the kids love these days.. I feel like the average 14-15 yr old kid wouldn't appreciate her.
+deaner1722 alright Grandpa (or grandma?). Don't you have a bridge (or bingo) video to be commenting on? Maybe expressing how sick you are of Uno and/or Trouble the board game! (maybe I"m showing my own age?) How these are no talent games based on luck?? (All the while your old games being just as fun and emotive as the new games?)...
+deaner1722 not true I love this style of music and I'm only 15. kids just listen to that bull shit cause other kids think it's cool and all kids want is to be cool. on a personal level this stuff hits me right in the heart man.
+contactkeithstack grandpa? hah hah. take lessons Sonny boy. maybe one day you'll be a somebody.
Michael K open your mind
brilliant!!!! one of the BEST guitarists EVER. why she not listed in guitar press top 100s? and who are the 4 dislikes? wtf?
+guitarHero1885 4 dislikes are Justin Bieber fans!
or closely related! no accounting for taste.
Very True!
+guitarHero1885 They haters.
Five now - Poi Dogs who think they invented slack tuning
I think what makes her sound so distinct from the rest is that her downstrokes sound like upstrokes and viceversa.
is that knuckles up or down?
I like to try and play guitar. So when you try and play makes you appreciate seeing Elizabeth play so beautifully and calmly . Imagine having a mum or grandma like that :)
Love you Elizabeth !!
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (née Nevills) (January 5, 1893 - June 29, 1987)[1] was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter.
A self-taught left-handed guitarist, Cotten developed her own original style. She played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down, as she was left-handed.[2] This position meant that she would play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as "Cotten picking".[3]
She is literally playing the guitar upside down. Southpaws stand up!
charles pineda Great, but you don’t have to say “literally” all the time.
@@JeffaHensley YOUR MOM
@@houseofpills GOTTEEEMM!!!!
@@JeffaHensley did you hear him? He said YOUR MOM
I saw that! All that fingerpicking, completely "backwards". Amazing.
Thank you so much for posting this. This music makes people better. God bless you, and God bless Elizabeth Cotten.
thank you cotten beautiful prestation
Brilliant playing a guitar left handed strung right handed,Hats of to Lizzy,What a gem.
No fancy, no show, a simple woman with an incredible talent!!!!!! God bless you!!!!
her guitar playing I would categorize as very fancy but I dont mean that in a bad way obviously but she does flex in her own ways during the songs
All gods are fictional.
Keep in mind that the audio quality is inevitably rough and probably sounds more out of tune than it really was at time of recording.
WOW! Great musician! Great guitar player! Yes, I agree with Justin G. Steele when he wrote, "Thanks to those who made the effort to post these videos!" Yes, thnx! I appreciate it and I appreciate you!!!! I also thank those filmmakers, producers who did these amazing recordings of these wonderful, amazing musicians way back when! Thnx for sharing!
'Keep*On*A*Rocking*N*A*Rolling!' :)
A national treasure. Thank you for uploading
Am I the only one who has turned the computer upside down and watched her play? Then it makes sense what she did and she did it well!
Lefty here, she's left handed playing a right handed (upside down) guitar :)
no, i can see what's she doing without turning my monitor
This is incredible - playing left-hand strung for right-hand
She just reversed the guitar but not he strings, amazing.
this is spectacular, i've never seen or heard anything like this before
Inacreditável... com que leveza e naturalidade essa senhora leva os dedos as cordas, sem esforço, sem expressar dificuldade alguma... com uma facilidade inacreditável! From BRAZIL!!!
MEU NOSSO DEUS QUE COISA MAIS LINDA DE SE OUVIR ,EITA GLÓRIA AO CRIADOR !!!
In terms of color, blues is an adaptation of African rhythms. In other words, the music came to America with the Africans and evolved. The whites who play blues learned from Black people. It only stands to reason that the most influential blues artist would be black.
The guitar was introduced to the us by Spaniards bro don’t make it about color
this lady is amazing this style is everywhere
At 6 minutes and 18 seconds and sound like the Mario brother s. Theme song. Lol...the true innovator.... Rag time.... Old time country... The birth of nation.... top hats and carriages the queen Victorian age AKA Mary Poppins the 1920s 30s 40s 11
I have no words,, I thought others on this studio were awesome,,, this woman ,, gots some balls,,,,
David Holts " State Of Music" on PBS has a great doc. about her that is a must see!
Ridger 1978 = What an honour and privilege it would have been to know this lovely lady, she always played guitar upside down like that! The dislikes are on here because the people who put them here are not allowed anything sharper than crayons in the secure home they're in! Probably typed the dislikes on here inbetween drooling uncontrollably and waiting for the nurse to change their soiled underwear for them!
Oi bom dia? Hoje acordei pela manhã! Decidi abrir as redes , parece meu espírito se comunicou com meus ancestrais! Escute essa Heroína Americana, fera no blus; e muita honra!
what a fantastic tune. every mums expectatation
Sound quality will be restored in the future because this footage will live long after the guitar wizards who can't really play are forgotten. It will be glorious to hear then.
let's collect some money to send the two people that don't like this video to an ear doctor
I don t want want to waste money on These people at all
A head doctor. They're crazy
maybe they have vision problems and missed the thumb?
I think that they will also claim the Hendrix was the best guitar player EVER, gimme a break.
First song I cried , second ,I laughed in wonder....third, just marveled and smiled ...
I had the pleasure of seeing her play at Folklife Festival in the opera house in Seattle, Washington. I will never forget it. Thank you for posting this. Love that Washington (DC) Blues....
What a great collection of musicians!
I listened to those masters when I was much younger. Now I even more appreciate their contributions!
Glad I tripped over your channel.....Chock full of talent ....Thank you
Amazing ! so glad to have found this. Thank you
やっぱりエリザベスコットンは最高だよ！！
Thank you for uploading this!
What a gem, simple and great style.
ESSA MULHER ERA UM GENIO FO VIOLÃO !
Wow ... glad i found this
Three fingers for Washington Blues and I'm Goin' Away. A different rolling feel.
wow that is brilliant .. so laid back and fun
I love the time traveler with the iPhone at 4:56
Always have preferred east coast raggy blues to delta/country blues.
her surname is Cotten....her playing is pure silk......
Har Har MahaDev
😂
My jaw is on the ground. Amazing. That is the way Jimi Hendrix played at first, a right-handed guitar upside-down, and the strings upside down also, he later flipped the strings.
This people should be everlasting!!
love her... ❤💙💙💓💓
i like how lena hugues used to play the spanish fandanfo almost exactly like that
Hermosamente fantástica en mi caso tengo la suerte de que mi padre me a enseñado algunos tiemples por la labor diaria no lo practico .pero los tengo en mi memoria y los reconozco donde quiera que los oiga ......
So beautiful
there is nothing more than this. this is all we need.
She's the coolest. I'm amazed out how sick she played.
Thank Heaven for Elizabeth Cotton!
love that Washington blues song she does in this
+deaner1722 shit dude nice nugs
Sillycibin thanks bud
hah
Beautiful
she's so lovely, i wish i knew her or something. she seems so cool
what a great player
This is an absolute treasure .
That wasn't the discussion.
My initial question was (as a keen follower of this type of guitar style) why I'd never heard of Elizabeth Cotton. Someone supposed it was down to her colour, but I am of the belief it was more because of her gender. My digging around the top 25 Blues guitarists found 25 men - No Women!
It was more of an aside that 5 were white and tended to be more recent.
I agree, I've only just discovered her and I'm 60! She's so brilliant and singular, I can only put it down to her gender coupled with her brilliance that she's been left in the shadows for so long!
This is essentially the same tune as the "Spanish Fandango" recorded by "Uncle Charlie" on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, "Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy."
Spanish Fandango was an old "parlor" piece of written music for guitar from the 1800s done in slack key open G tuning. It entered the folk tradition by being such a popular piece that self taught guitar players figured out their own versions of it, such as Ms. Cotten's.
Spent a lovely hour or so at her house with MS John Hurt and Tom Hoskins, who also played left-handed upside-down and backwards. John played a somewhat different "Spanish Flangdang". Middle 1960s. What a sweet lady she was.
Are you serious?
She taught me to make apple pie: Granny Smith apples, lots of butter and cinnamon and lemon juice for the filling, preferably lard or crisco for a light crust--get dough to pea size (she used a fork or pastry cutter) before rolling, don't knead it, just form into ball and roll out. She was quite old when I watched her do this and was cold enough to wear a sweater even in a hot kitchen in Oakland. One talented lady!
@@gennyhaley7014 What a sweet memory! Somehow I am not at all surprised that this woman can make excellent music AND excellent pie. May we all learn to become like this!
Albert King plays like that too, I always thought that was wicked cool
So Sweet...
Great channel thxs
Fantastic
love this
What I don't understand is why she's not better known? I love guitar picking music, and have dredged through dozens and dozens of GUYS, and this beautiful lady has been hidden away like some sort of secret. I've just spent the last 24 hours digging every where to find her music. I don't understand why she's not right out there.
Folkways LP
As I listen ....i fall to to floor with shame not able to play
Elizabeth Cotton is great! You might also like Hawaiian slack key guitar like George Kahamuko or anything on the dancing cat label.
Just what i needed to soothe my raging mind
wonderful
So pretty. Its upsidown. Look at the strings
These are the true hits....unbelievable cant stop listening. While it's not the hardest song to play, its the picking style/tone that no one can or will be able to reproduce. Where is this on vinyl???
I've played upside down lefty forever and this looks incomprehensible to me.
RIP Elizabeth. ((:
I like rag-time on guitar.
Spanish Flang Dang (instr.)
George Buck (guitar)
Washington Blues (instr.)
I'm Going Away
Playing left handed on a righthanded strung guitar, priceless. Jimi could do both !
But Jimi didn't perform with a right handed strung guitar. Libba once explained that she had brothers who played, but there was only one guitar in the house and they wouldn't let her restring it, so she turned it upside down.
No , but he could do it. l know people who played with him and were also close friends
🙏🙏🙏! Gauchère.
Bravo 👍
thank you
sweetness love u truly..
amazing!
no wonder my father love her!
I'm sure colour was right up there too, but gender knocked her way down the "must play list". I just checked a list of the "top 25 most influential Blues guitarists ever" - all 25 were men, 20 out of 25 were black.
respect
notice she is a lefty playing a right hand strung guitar. Amazing!
Fantastic.