KELLY JOE PHELPS
KELLY JOE PHELPS
By Terry Sullivan
Table of Contents page
Introduction 2
Musical History 5
Musical Influences 6
Musical Theory 10
Playing Style 12
Equipment 15
Tunings 19
Straight Guitar Technique 20
Lap Guitar Technique 21
Songs Played 29
Song and Singing Techniques 31
Song Writing 33
Performing Live 34
Recording 37
Conclusion 39
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Austin, Texas
Introduction
As with many guitar players, I’ve gone through many peaks and valleys with my musical experiences. I joined my first rhythm and blues band when I was in the fifth grade. We called ourselves the Changing Times. Since then, the times have really changed. I’ve been in many bands over the years and have played all types of music from blues and country to jazz. I truly needed a totally new perspective on the music I was locked into. I had a great need to move forward with my music because I knew I had reached a plateau with my guitar playing as well as with my singing. Everything I played and sang felt and sounded old and overplayed. I was ready for a change, and a new direction.
After years of playing a pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster guitar in a three-piece blues band format, I decided to unplug and focus solely on acoustic, fingerstyle, straight and lap guitar playing. To accomplish this goal, I spent hours looking for new sources of inspiration and creativity. I traded CD’s like baseball cards and burnt out two cassette recorders while picking up several new songs and licks note-for-note. Then one day, while returning from a local music shop in Dallas, Texas, I had the most wonderful fortune of hearing Kelly Joe Phelps play and sing on a pre-recorded radio talk show out of Austin, Texas. It was by sheer chance that I just happened to tune my radio to a public broadcast that was airing an interview with Kelly Joe Phelps. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Kelly Joe made his lap guitar sound like a grand piano, and his voice had the soul of Muddy Waters. His free-spirited, improvisational creative approach just blew me away. I literally ran my car off the road to listen to this most creative fingerstyle player.
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The Old Days…
After this radio show ended, and I came back to earth, I literally raced home to order Kelly Joe’s CD’s over the Internet. Thus began my quest to understand Kelly Joe Phelps, his music and his singing and playing styles; and where and how he grew into such a fabulous musician. As a result, for the last couple of years, I have totally submerged myself into Kelly Joe’s approach to playing both lap- and straight-style fingerpicking acoustic guitar and singing techniques.
With a lot of work, I have learned several of his lap and straight guitar tunes. I play his tunes live in front of my audiences. His music grabs their hearts and souls. For example, the day after the September 11 Tragedy, I had the opportunity to play one of Kelly Joe’s recorded lap songs “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder” at a prayer session at work. We had lost friends on this most tragic day. A large group of us (around forty people) were trying to make sense out of what had happened at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. I realized then the power of Kelly Joe’s music. This tune moved my audience so much that I had to learn more. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. So, I decided to pay the money for hotel, travel and registration for a once-in-a-lifetime musical learning experience with the man himself. My visit gave me the most wonderful fortune of spending nearly four days with the master of acoustic guitar at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch in Southern Ohio. This unique opportunity allowed me to experience first-hand how this extremely talented man made music with just a metal steel bar, six strings and a guitar.
It’s not unusual for me to get totally involved with a creative project. So, I have spent several months refining my Fur Peace Ranch notes, listening to Kelly Joe’s music and practicing his playing and singing approach until my fingers and throat have turned raw in order to know how to play in the light of Kelly’s style. It’s a process that is hard to explain. Kelly’s music has to be part of you. You can’t be thinking about what you are trying to do. It just has to flow like a waterfall with the momentum taking you over the edge only to fall back down to earth to float down the sullen stream out to ocean. This learning morphing process has helped me leap off of my plateau and move forward with more new songs and styles, more inspiration than I could have ever dreamed possible.
This summary is my gift to you, my notes from my experiences with Kelly Joe Phelps as well as subsequent learning’s I acquired from my friends. I hope you will find them as rewarding and helpful as I have. One last thing… I want to take this time to thank Jean-François, my dear friend from France. He has inspired me in so many ways to learn more and play better, as well as complete this summary. “Thanks Jean-François for being such a wonderful soul. Your kindness is a virtue like no other. I hope you will come to Texas one day to play the club circuits with me.” If you haven’t already done so, check out his wonderful web site, it is chalked full of nuggets of inspiration. You can access his most wonderful web site at:
Please e-mail me at terrylsullivan@ should you have questions or comments.
Happy playing and singing…
Terry Sullivan
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Musical History
Kelly’s Family and Musical Development History
Kelly’s earliest childhood musical memories were watching and listening to his family play music. He was raised with the idea that music was something you did, not something you listened to. Kelly’s entire family, including his mom, dad, sister and brother, all played musical instruments. His dad and mom played piano and guitar. For the most part, his parents loved and played country western music such as Buck Owens and Hank Snow. He also has an older brother that is eleven years older than Kelly as well as an older sister. Kelly thought little in those early days of becoming a musician.
Kelly joined the school band as a drummer during his fifth grade year and continued playing drums throughout his high school years. He also took piano lessons at the age of eight because his sister played piano. It was around this time he started playing guitar informally when he was twelve years old when his Dad handed him a guitar and taught Kelly a Lightnin’ Hopkins riff and a couple of Hank Williams country tunes. He was also really impressed by Jimmy Page’s guitar playing on the first two Led Zeppelin records. This is where he started his life-long journey of picking up riffs from records. He would work hours upon hours in attempt to figure out what various guitar players were doing with their music. He would play and learn a song three notes at a time, over and over again until he would pick up the song, note-for-note. Kelly said he had worn out many 33 albums by lifting up the needle off the record, over-and-over again.
How Did Kelly Joe Get Into Playing Lapstyle Guitar?
Kelly Joe Phelps began our first music lesson at the Fur Peace Ranch by describing why and how he got into playing lapstyle guitar. He was looking for a way to get out of his “musician’s rut.” He had been playing free-style jazz as a fretless bass player for a number of years, and found himself looking for a new direction. He said all guitarists fall into these types of “holes,” or “plateaus” that they can’t escape. Playing the lapstyle guitar brought him out of his rut. His personal choice to move into a new direction of playing opened up his entire creative world.
There are many reasons why Kelly Joe moved to playing lap guitar. He likes the tonal quality produced by playing his guitar in his lap with a steel bar (“slide”) in left hand much better than the tones that are produced when playing a conventional (“straight”) guitar. Kelly doesn’t like “bright, brittle tones. A steel bar helps bring out a richer, darker, broader tone. Additionally, Playing lap guitar feels more natural to Kelly Joe even though he originally didn’t know what he was doing with it. He likes the fact that the lap guitar is a “fretless instrument.” With the bottleneck approach, a player must use the conventional guitar chord forms. However, lapstyle guitar playing frees up the player and provides many more tonal options than the straight guitar can provide. After several years of playing lap acoustic guitar, Kelly Joe has invented and perfected a truly unique creative way of expressing himself.
Kelly Joe was determined to play the blues professionally, so he put the names of various local cafes that offered gigs for tips and free meals on a stack of 3” by 5” index cards and set off for his new music career path. He played in these small venues for years as an acoustic country blues artist. This is also where he taught himself to sing.
Playing in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon is one of the few cities in the country where a musician can make a living without touring across the country. There is a lot of audience and club support, and the cost of living is very low. So, musicians can actually make a living there.
Musical Influences
Throughout the four days I spent with Kelly Joe, he referenced many influences. It’s true that Kelly Joe did work hard on figuring out their musical approaches; however, he later realized he didn’t want to be locked into the same song with the exact same notes. He would get very bored with this approach from a playing perspective. So instead, he would look to the guitar greats (some of which are listed below) for inspiration and then work endlessly trying to put his own slant on the creative work of others. Here are just a few of Kelly Joe’s comments concerning his many musical influences:
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John Standefer and I at his guitar clinic at the
Lighthouse Church, near Fort Worth, Texas
John Standefer is a fascinating man, full of inspirational energy, and a fantastic guitar player. He is a religious instructor who has influenced thousands of guitar players from around the country over the years, including Kelly Joe Phelps. He owns and operates a guitar clinic on wheels called The Praise Guitar Workshop
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He was a major influence on Kelly Joe’s playing style. John Standefer was a hometown guitar guru who opened the door for a new fingerstyle style approach for Kelly Joe at the young age of seventeen. I had the wonderful fortune of attending John’s guitar workshop in Fort Worth, Texas. John is an expert on every aspect of guitar fingerstyle playing. He plays Chet Atkins better than anyone I have ever heard. He also has an article in Fingerstyle Magazine (comes out every other month). If you get a chance, attend John’s workshop. It will really open up your playing.
Fred McDowell’s album, Long Way From home, was a major musical influence for Kelly. As Kelly put it “This album really did it for me.” He described an experience Leo Kottke had shared with him some time ago. One night, Leo went to a Fred McDowell concert, and Fred McDowell invited him up to play his guitar and sing. Leo couldn’t play Fred’s guitar at all, not one lick, because the action was set up so high with huge, worn out strings. He also had a matchbook under one of the strings at the nut to raise that action. So, no one could possible play this guitar, not even Leo Kottke, and give it justice, other than Fred McDowell himself. Leo just handed Fred’s guitar back to the owner and sat down in total frustration.
“Robert Pete Williams was the greatest country-blues improviser. Williams didn't know (memorize) his songs or lyrics. Instead, he would just start singing without recalling the exact words or the melodies. He was a true improviser.”
Ornette Coleman
Kelly said: “At first, I hated Willams’ and Colemans’ work because I didn't understand where they were coming from. Later, I grew to understand and play their music. They helped inspire my inprovational style.” Kelly Joe really liked Ornette Coleman because he had that kind of “countryish” style in his jazz melodies. He thought it was very real, earthbound music.
“Skip James was not as great as Williams, but still a big influence on my playing.”
“John Coltrane was a great saxophone player who never rested. There was always something going on, always something changing in his music. It was vital, and you felt he was really putting everything on the line.” Kelly Joe wondered what music would be like if everyone took this approach to playing and improvising. He hoped it was a trap he would one day fall into.
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Jorma Kaukanen and I at his wonderful
Fur Peace Ranch in Southern Ohio
Jorma Kaukonen is one of the most influential guitarists in the world. He has provided and instructed his acoustic finger style guitar approach to thousands of guitarists. Kelly Joe became drawn to Jorma’s music at some of the gigs they played together. Kelly even picked up one of Jorma’s tunes called I Am The Light of The World. Jorma is a creative genius and an unmatched guitar picker. I personally found him to be a very nice man who would take the time to talk with anyone at his Fur Peace Ranch in southern Ohio.
He has performed with countless famous musicians such as Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, and Jimi Hendrix and formed one of the most famous of all folk-rock bands in 1965 called Jefferson Airplane. Additionally, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 as a founding member of the band. Then, in the 70’s while still with the Airplane, Jorma and Jack Casady formed the band Hot Tuna that inspired a whole generation of acoustic finger-style guitarists.
Jazz
Music was something that came naturally to Kelly. So, it has always been intriguing for him to find new challenges. This is why he got into jazz…it presented the biggest challenge. So, he played nothing but jazz for at least ten (10) years. When he moved from Seattle to Portland, Be-Bop was the music being played. He jumped into this style feet first and became totally immersed in Jazz and the fretless bass. He also played piano, bass, drums, and horns (saxophone). He took up bass because there wasn’t much work for jazz guitar players. He was more interested in playing jazz than worrying about learning guitar. So he played bass during this time only to play guitar a few times when he could hook up with friends to play bluegrass or folk music. He played a few of these gigs, but he didn’t really go back to the guitar until he reached his last twenty’s.
Kelly Joe began playing jazz in 1980, not so much as a guitar player, but more so as a bass player. He thought jazz guitar players weren’t “behind it.” The more Kelly got into the freer side of jazz (playing the fretless bass), the less he was attached to the more “straight-ahead stuff.” Once he understood this freedom, he was able to borrow from lots of different influences. What he found was that he wanted to play in an improvised manner, but with a more folk kind of music.
Country Blues and Lap Guitar
Sometime in 1989, at around the age of 30, Kelly started his music career over with an entirely new direction. He set his jazz bass playing aside and became consumed with the sound of country-blues. He converted from the fretless bass to the fretless lap guitar and combined it with a folk-based, country-blues, free improvisional playing style.
At the time, he was thinking about playing solo guitar, but he couldn’t find an anchor for it. This all changed when he heard Fred McDowell’s album Long Way From Home. He realized then he had his needed anchor, a style of music he could relate to and use his experiences and talents to evolve into something totally new and exciting.
Kelly Joe’s new playing approach made complete sense. With his new musical direction and vision, he was able to combine his love for improvision and musical textures with folk music. This is why he made the switch over to lap-style guitar. He began playing the acoustic guitar on his lap with a slide in his left hand rather than using a finger slide placed on his ring or little finger. Slide playing made more sense to Kelly Joe because he liked the warm, rich tones produced by the heavy steel bar pressing on the guitar strings in his lap.
Music Theory
Kelly Joe expressed the importance of music theory time-and-time again throughout his workshop. He covered theory in a “general sense” because a lot of what we do musically can be accomplished without knowing theory. He said “creativity” is not dependent on knowing or understanding theory; however, knowing music theory can open up creative doors for new directions and help you understand “what” you are doing.
Kelly Joe has studied theory extensively throughout his career. Theory is “how” he views the guitar and any other instrument. He said he took up other instruments, such as the piano and saxophone, just so he could better understand the relationship of notes.
Kelly Joe related music theory to the lap guitar. He said the guitar is “a very strange instrument.” It is sort of like playing a horn, piano and drums all in one. This explains the technique necessary to play lapstyle guitar where your thumb is used to play the bass lines and chords while and your fingers are used to play the melody lines and rhythms.
Note: He played a nice simple lead lick to illustrate how he didn’t need to know theory to play or learn that line. He wasn’t thinking in terms of “what” the names of the notes were when he was playing. Instead, he could tell you the names of the notes were, after, they were played because he had studied theory.
There are a lot of things you can do with a guitar by just listening without understanding “why” or “what” you are doing theoretically. Sometimes your hands will just go somewhere on the neck of the guitar will make a cool sound. If it sounds good, use it! Open creativity is paramount; nevertheless, learning and knowing the language of “music theory” totally frees up your playing and your creative options. Music invents theory-not the opposite. It happens after the fact. Music happens, and then it helps us understand what has happened.
Kelly Joe said theory is a way of explaining “what” is happening musically…after…the music has already been created. It is “a language” that provides a vehicle to explain or describe what is, or could be, happening. It also points to new and exciting creative possibilities by providing a pallet of emotional colors (playing options) to express your messages, feelings and moods. It is important not to assume where you are going when you create music. Keep your options open and be free with your creative ideas. Explore the endless creative possibilities because everything you learn from guitar will help you go somewhere.
As Kelly stated: “Music is a never-ending journey. It can be confusing, but many times this “confusion” brings about change that leads into something new and exciting. Theory will help us better understand this journey.”
Music is a Language
You have to “learn” music. It's similar to learning a foreign language. If you were going to learn French, you would learn to speak it before you would learn to read it. Music follows the same process – you can learn so much by just listening and playing. In theory lessons, Kelly’s instructor would play a chord or a scale, then Kelly Joe would have to tell the instructor what he had just played. He would identify the sounds and articulate back to the instructor “what” the notes and chords were. (E.g. “minor seventh” or “dominant chord”) This helped Kelly Joe develop an understanding of the tones, what they were and how they related to each other and how they could lead to creativity.
Kelly doesn’t think in terms of “what” the notes are. Instead, he plays what sounds good and then uses theory to understand what he is doing or free him up to move in other directions.
Internalizing the locations of notes will help us stay out of that oh so horrible “guitar player’s rut” and improvise to a large degree. A lot of music playing and creation is knowing where things are on the fingerboard.
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Here I am playing with a great picker and songwriter, Sterling Finlay
Playing Style
Kelly’s Overall Music Style
Kelly Joe plays traditional country-blues in a non-traditional manner. He is a storyteller, and his music finds inspiration in country blues, traditional music, gospel, bluegrass, rock and jazz. He plays a variety of types music including spiritual (gospel), traditional American Appalachian and centuries old tunes from England and Ireland. His songs provide the complete gamut of human emotions from revelations to pain and suffering. His overall goal is to continue to move forward with his music because “change” is a necessity. He believes playing music is a life-long evolving experience that should never be stagnant.
Although Kelly Joe has put many hours into copying his musical influences note-for-note, he prefers to play his own style of music rather than a cheap version of someone else’s recording. Instead, he focuses on incorporating all the things he likes about music. He has an insatiable need for improvising, otherwise, he would easily grow tired of his songs. To feed his appetite for change, he improvises to make his music more appealing to his audience, and himself.
Spontaneous Creativity
Kelly Joe doesn’t “compose.” Instead, he always strives for spontaneous creativity and creates music at a specific point in time only to turn around and totally change it’s force. Kelly said he is getting more comfortable letting more of his music show up. He tends to let his mouth and mind wonder. He plays with the emotion of blues, the lyrical language and imagery of the folk-blues tradition, and the improvisational, freedom and allowed by jazz. These elements come together like a glove in Kelly’s playing.
Guitar Style
The essence of Kelly’s music is “Folk.” Kelly Joe said, “ Country music is a form of folk music. Music labels change, but the music always stays constant. For example, “Bluegrass” is labeled “hillbilly.” Bluegrass and country split. “Country” is now an offshoot of “pop.” And, “blues” is closer to “rock and roll” then where the blues originally came from. In Kelly Joe’s mind, he’s nothing more than a folk musician, in the most general sense. He doesn’t consider himself a blues music icon in a strict sense of the word. Instead, he carries his music “forward” rather than representing what is “behind.”
Kelly has a kind of jazz passion. He started paying attention to country-blues players as he felt they offered him the ending example. He had to stop everything else (playing jazz) and pay attention to it, learn to play it effectively and honestly.
Everything Kelly plays and sings is an attempt at spontaneous creation. Kelly said” “The songs are blueprints and when I play. I am building the house that isn’t build yet. Sometimes the color of the paint is different and the windows are in different places.” He likes this about living life and certainly about music alike. He builds a repertoire of inspiration in country, blues, traditional music, gospel, bluegrass, rock and jazz. The more he got into the freer side of music, the less he was attached to the more straight-ahead stuff. Once this freedom was laid down, he was able to borrow from lots of different influences. After playing free form bass for several years, he became confused as to where he should go with his music.
Two Ways to Look at Playing Guitar
Kelly Joe said there are really two ways to look at the way we play guitar: 1.) … by playing chords, or 2.) … by playing individual single notes. It has taken Kelly years to perfect this technique, but he looks at the fingerboard in terms of single note combinations rather than chords forms.
Playing Technique for both Straight and Lap Guitars
Everything Kelly does is based on a visual image of the fingerboard regardless of which guitar he is playing. He strives to have a musical conversation with himself. “It's like having a conversation with someone where you are thinking of the words you are going to say just before you say them, but it feels spontaneous. Think and hear what you want to say, and it will feel spontaneous.”
As Kelly Joe said specifically concerning lap guitar playing, “Everything you do with chords is essentially an intimation of harmony.” This means he uses partial chords with harmonic scales to make the audience believe he is playing chords and melodies in their entirety.
Kelly said the slide guitar is more like lyrics, it mimics the melody. A conventional guitar is more harmonic.
Acoustic Soloist
Kelly Joe was originally attracted to jazz in his early twenties because it was a challenge. He learned how to play (on the fretless bass) as many different scale types as possible over many types of chord progressions. This was interesting to Kelly Joe at first, but later, after playing free-form jazz for many years, he grew tired of it. This is when he decided to get back into acoustic guitar playing. He said “there’s nothing cooler than hearing someone play acoustic solo guitar and singing. There is an amazing amount of power and beauty in playing solo.” Kelly prefers to play solo on the acoustic straight and lap guitars. He said, playing solo is similar to being a poet, painter or an author. There’s something very special about being solitary. This has always fit for Kelly Joe personality, and has always made the most sense, for better or worse.
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This night, I warmed up For Shake Russell and Dana Cooper…
Check out Shake and Dana at:
Kelly’s Lap Technique
When playing, Kelly sometimes anchors his right hand with his pinky, and picks with his thumb, index and middle fingers. On other songs, he holds all three fingers together (on his right hand) and strums while picking out melody notes with his thumb. His right hand actually runs free across the top of the guitar’s body (near the sound hole), strumming lightly up and down across the strings. Other times he will get a steady and equally swift flow of notes from his index finger and thumb. He uses this approach to produce fast major and minor scale runs.
Note: Look at the lap guitar as you would if you were to sit down and play a piano where your playing options are free.
Kelly Joe always plays his lap-style guitar in open D tuning (DADF#AD). It’s like tuning your guitar to an open E and then tuning all the strings down a full step. He does this so he can use heavier strings without destroying the guitar from the excessive string tension. He has experimented with other tunings. For example, on Roll Away the Stone he may have been in a different key other that D.
Note: No matter what tuning Kelly Joe uses, he tries to get a visual, mental picture of the keyboard in his mind’s eye. He can see where the notes are with his eyes closed. Kelly said to accomplish this; you need to “know” where things are on the fingerboard for both lap and straight guitar playing, regardless of the tuning used. He suggested we memorize the keyboard and practice visualizing where the notes are for both straight and lap guitars.
Music as a Religious Experience
Kelly Joe tries to pull out as much as possible from his guitar. He, like Fred McDowell, plays both church music and the devil’s music, and he does both with equal passion and emotion. Kelly grew up around religion, mostly from his mom and dad. Kelly obscures the lines between these two music elements. He believes music is a religious experience, regardless of “what” it is. Kelly said music comes from an “intangible place,” which is the same place religious experiences come from.
Music is a Prayer Language
When Kelly refers music to a “prayer language,” he said this is a biblical notion about speaking in tongues. It also refers to how the music expresses emotions in ways that can’t be expressed in any other way. “This is one of the most beautiful things about the arts.”
Kelly Joe is a much more introspective artist than extroverted entertainer. Playing music is a very spiritual thing for Kelly Joe, not in any religious sense. It's a work of the soul for him. So when he is onstage, he likes playing for the audience, and enjoys the audience’s interaction. Above all, music gives Kelly Joe a means of expression.
Equipment
Kelly Joe has played a variety of instruments throughout his life including drums, mandolin, banjo, bass and acoustic (straight and lap) and electric guitars. He also took saxophone lessons for two or three years just so he could learn how to improvise, to learn where the notes were and their relationship to each other. He wanted to learn how to improvise, and to understand his music both mentally and emotionally. Here is a list of some of his tools of creativity.
Kelly Joe’s Straight Guitar - Model Name: Guild DV52AGHG
“ABHG” stands for "Antique Burst High Gloss." The High Gloss provides some brighter tones than other finish types.
Model Number: 350-0800-(Color#)
Category: Vintage Dreadnought Guitars
Body Style: Dreadnought
Scale Length: 25 5/8"
Top: Solid Spruce Top
Bracing: Hand Scalloped
Back: Book matched Rosewood
Sides: Solid Rosewood Sides
Neck: Mahogany
Width at Nut: 1-11/16"
Fret board: Ebony (12" Radius)
No. Of Frets: 20
Bridge: Ebony
Hardware: Gold
Machine Heads: Grover Gold Plated Die-cast Tuners
Electronics: Optional
Finish: High Gloss (Nitro-cellulose Lacquer)
Colors: (721) Natural,
(737) Antique Burst
Unique Features: Abalone Rosette,
Dot Inlay,
Cream Binding,
Bone Nut and Saddle,
Black Pick guard
Case: Includes Standard C4500 Hard-shell Case p/n 3501075204
U.S. MSRP: $1,699.99
Source: U.S.
Introduced: 1993
Discontinued: 12/2001
Kelly Joe’s Lap Guitar
Kelly’s lap guitar (used on his slide video) was an early ‘60s FJN (Folk Jumbo Natural). It’s got a wider-than-normal fingerboard. In George Gruhn’s column about this guitar, he said: “Gibson was looking for a guitar that you could put nylon or steel strings on and this is what they came up with.”
Kelly Joe used a Gibson J-60 for his straight guitar work. He later converted this guitar to a lap guitar after he put his fist through his older FJN Gibson lap guitar one night on the last song of a set as he was totally immersed into the passion of a closing song. He said it was totally destroyed. Kelly Joe said he doesn’t use picks or fingernails, so the J-60 meets his need for a guitar with lots of volume. He also uses a Takamine G-335 for his twelve-string lap songs.
Model Name: Gibson J-60
TOP Hand Selected "AAA" Solid Sitka Spruce
BACK AND SIDES Solid Indian Rosewood
FINGERBOARD/INLAY Ebony/Mother of Pearl Dot Markers
BRIDGE Ebony
PICKGUARD Traditional Tortoise
BINDING Multiple Bound Body
TUNERS Gold
SCALE 25 1/2"
FINISH Antique Natural Lacquer
The appearance of a rosewood flattop guitar in the Gibson line is a rare occasion. In Gibson's one hundred-year history, only about a half-dozen production models were made of rosewood. The J-60 Rosewood was the first new release of its kind in over 20 years, and its debut in 1992 was especially important because it came as a result of an overwhelming demand for a rosewood Gibson flat-top.
The J-60 brings pre-war Gibson quality to a modern square shouldered dreadnought. It features a hand tuned top with Gibson's '30s-style "Advanced Bracing Pattern" which gives this guitar a volume, tone, and projection suitable for concert hall and ensemble performances.
Lap Guitar Setup
Kelly’s lap guitar action (height) is approximately 7/32 of an inch from the top of the fret on the low D string and slightly lower on the high D string. The back bridge isn’t a straight bridge on his J-60, but if you watch his slide video, you will see he used a rather straight bridge on his FJN Gibson.
Acoustic Pickups
Kelly Joe uses Sunrise pickups in both of his guitars. Each string magnet is adjustable. The high D and A strings are set substantially lower than the pickup screws on the other four wound strings. These magnetic screws were very much below the top of the pickup. The high A string magnet is slightly lower than the A string magnet. He said there isn’t a coil of metal around the unwound strings, so they are more sensitive to the pickup screws, so he rolls them down significantly. They are unexposed by wrapped wire.
Metal Bar Slides
Kelly Joe was using the Shubb SP2 metal slide; nevertheless, they kept pitting out with his hard playing style. As a result of this wear, he had to buy one SP2 per month. One night at a gig, a Mr. Scheerhorn came up and gave Kelly a free Scheerhorn Stainless Steel slide. At first, the sharp edges and round top of this new slide bothered Kelly as he was used to the flat surface area of the Shubb SP2. He later got used to this radical shape and has never looked back. He said he is a very traditional player, but using the Scheerhorn slide is one contemporary move that he will not forgo. He believes this slide is faster and allows the player to move quickly between notes. I actually broke down and bought one of these Scheerhorn slides. Kelly was correct, because it is made of “stainless steel,” it’s indestructible. It’s worth the investment. I really did, however, like the Lap Dawg, it moved quicker; nevertheless, it pitted out too quickly.
Strings
Kelly Joe uses standard medium gauged D’Addario strings for the bottom four strings of his lap guitar and swaps out the high D and A strings out for an unwound .19 (high A string) for the second string, and an unwound .16 (high D string). These D and A string sizes change depending on the guitar – it’s different from one guitar to the next. For example, his older “FJN” Gibson had a shorter scale with the twelfth fret (instead of a fourteenth fret like his current Gibson J-60 guitar) closer to the body. The scale got longer with his J-60, so the .20 and .17 were too tight, so he switched them out with a .19 and .16!
These larger unwound strings help maintain a strength in tonal quality, to help them blend with the other medium-gauged wound bass strings. Also, it helps prevent unwanted fret noise when the heavy solid steel bar is pressed against the strings. This string tension helps hold the bar up away from the neck thus avoiding fret noise. The combination of heavier unwound strings and medium gauge wound strings provides a richer, fuller tone and sound.
Capo
Kelly Joe does all of his own guitar Luthier work. For example, he makes his own capos and installs his own bridge and saddles. He explained how he made his own unique capo for his lap guitar. He learned how to tape sandpaper to the top of the fingerboard on his neck to help sand the curve radius on the back of the ebony capos. He explained how he takes twenty-five sanding strokes on one side, then flipping the ebony capo around to do twenty-five strokes on the other side. He continues this process until he has the correct radius. This is but one of many Luthier projects Kelly undertakes to keep his guitars in good playing shape.
Kelly Joe explained how he moved away from his doll rod capo and designed a new fretted capo. He had a bunch of old guitar parts in a box, and one day, he pulled out an old bridge that was in the box to make the “fretted” capo he uses today. He cut it to size and sanded it down and inserted a piece of fret wire. He moved away from the piece of ebony and a quarter inch doll rod because he wanted to have one piece to deal with when moving his capo around from fret-to-fret.
Guitar Cases
Kelly Joe uses Calton cases. These cases are the best for traveling professional musicians because of their touch fiberglass construction; however, they are very expensive and very heavy. He had a blue case for his straight guitar and a red case for his lap guitar. New, these cases cost more than $500 each. I’ve seen them used for around $380 from Elderly Music. I finally had to spring for a couple of Calton cases because my conventional cases would only last for around twenty or so flights before they would fall apart. Also, you can’t buy insurance to protect your valued instruments. In the end, it was the only insurance policy I “could” afford.
[pic]
Here’s one of my best friends…Les Moore. Les is a fantastic guitar picker and
singer. In the early Days, Les inspired me to go beyond, to reach for the stars.
Years later he showed me the importance of finding my soul from within, to
play from the heart, rather than from an electric plug.
Tunings
Kelly Joe uses one tuning for his entire slide playing: DADF#AD. He discovered years ago he had to keep his lap guitar in one tuning in order to improvise, so when he picks up his lap guitar, he’s not confused with where the notes are in this open D tuning.
He eventually settled for a conventional standard (“straight”) guitar tuning of: CGCGCF. He uses this standard tuning for his straight guitar for the same reason, so he knows were the notes are and so he can hear these notes in his head.
Roll Away the Stone is a twelve-string guitar song. He set this guitar up in C where the second set of strings were 5ths. This tuning approach fattened up the sound considerably.
With the Shine Eyed Mr. Zen album, Kelly Joe used the same tuning approach as well. He tuned his straight guitar to CGCGCF. But on Capman Bootman he tuned in DADGCE.
Lately, he has been going to a D on the high string from DADGCE to DADGCD. He did this by accident as he forgot to tune the D up to an E one night while playing a gig. He played the song with a high D live and liked the sound. He worked the tune with a "poly" chord in it its tuning. This means two chords forms are played at the same time. Top C and Bottom D. He also put a capo on the second fret.
Killin Floor, Clementine and Taylor John
This "conventional" tune is most often tuned to an open C. Sometimes it is tuned to an open D. Clementine is also usually played in this tuning. Taylor John played with a dropped D tuning with out a capo on the second fret.
River Rat Jimmy and Beggar’s Oil
River Rat Jimmy is in open C tuning with a capo on the third fret. So is Beggars Oil on the new record. The fifth string is the root on River Rat Jimmy.
Straight Guitar Technique
Kelly’s Right-hand Technique
Kelly Joe said learning how to play lap guitar has allowed him to play straight guitar much freer. It has opened up a lot of creative doors for his convention playing technique. He used to play straight and lap guitar much more orderly and straightforward. His freer style has evolved considerably since 1994. Today he is much more random and freer with his thumb and bass lines.
Kelly Joe pulled out his conventional guitar and tuned it to standard tuning (EADGBE.) He explained his right hand technique, which includes using two fingers and his thumb. Earlier in his career, he used three fingers and a thumb with his right hand approach, but he later went to two fingers and a thumb because it felt more natural.
He showed us how our first three fingers covered the first three strings, and the thumb covers the bottom three strings. The goal is to try to establish thumb and finger independence with your right hand. Because he understood these kinds of patterns right away when studying with John Standefer, he was able to quickly learn more sophisticated types of picking patterns where the thumb was not regular.
Thumb Technique
Kelly Joe is not cognizant of when his thumb becomes part of the melody versus when it becomes part of the bass lines. He used to play straight bass line rhythms early on, but later his style evolved and he became less dependent on playing straightforward rhythmic bass patterns.
He picked up his straight guitar so he could show us how he could play the guitar like a banjo without using his thumb to keep the rhythm going.
Note: Kelly Joe said we should practice a song without keeping the thumb rhythm. Intentionally play the melody lines only using your right hand thumb and fingers with out playing the bass lines. This will help develop your melody style. He said you don’t always have to use your thumb to fill in the holes.
When he realized this, it opened up an entirely new perspective with his playing. It freed him up to do more creative things.
Note: He also suggested we practice picking up some of the melody notes in the lower three bass strings when playing as well.
He said sometimes the “chunka…chunka bass-line thing” (steady, rhythmic bass line approach) is perfect, and other times it’s not…it depends on the song and our mood.
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Here’ the band playing the oldest music hall in Texas… That’s me playing with my two wonderful friends Bobby Joe Harlow and Billy Ray Lawson on upright bass at Greune Hall. The audience is always great at this club. This day,
you could hear a pin drop and the thunder rumble...
Lap Guitar Technique
Open Tuning
The two most common lag guitar tunings are open D and open G. Kelly Joe said: “With open D tuning, the middle string is the fifth of the chord-it never changes the color. It always remains the same. The F# string, however, is very tricky.” He prefers the open D tuning because all of the melody notes are better located on the neck.
“Tempered Tuning” Technique
Kelly Joe uses an “A” tuning pitchfork to hear a true A note. He then hits the harmonic on the twelfth fret of the fifth A string. Using his pitchfork, he tunes this string to an A note. Then, he tunes the forth string harmonic to the harmonic of the fifth string. He takes out any harmonic vibrations that may be present. Next, he tunes the third string’s harmonic on the fifth fret to that of the harmonic of the forth fret on the forth string, forth fret harmonic. Then he tunes the third F# string slightly sharp. He actually puts a little wave in it. This ensures the chords are all sound and in tune.
Kelly uses the same approach for conventional tuned guitars. Guitars aren’t always perfect, so he tunes this third string slightly sharp, very much the way a piano tuner tunes a piano out of tune, so no matter what you play, the instrument is in tune. This is called “tempered tuning.” If you tune to exact pitch using a conventional tuner and play a fifth fret chord, it will sound out of tune unless you tune the third string slightly sharp. This string has to be a little sharp to be in tune with the chord. This is also true for standard tuning. The degree of sharpness really depends on the individual guitar. They all have certain idiosyncrasies that will warrant a different degree of sharpness.
Finger Usage
Kelly Joe used his thumb and index finger (on his right hand) to show his student’s how to play the melody notes. He said he doesn’t have a set formula for using certain fingers to play certain strings. He suggested we use two or even three fingers to pick out the notes, whatever works for us.
He played a very nice set of licks using a major scale.
Note: He showed us how the ultimate goal is to play freely.
The two main goals of this type of practice is to 1.) Getting your thumb separate from your fingers, and 2.) Learning to hear these separate musical components, so you can conceptualize when you are playing bass and the melody lines at the same time. Kelly uses two fingers and a thumb for his right-hand approach.
Kelly Joe wasn’t sure when he first felt an independence with his thumb and fingers, but he said it was a two-step process. First, he played finger style and figured out the tunes note-for-note. These songs and the playing approach became engraved in his muscle memory. He didn’t have to think about what he was doing. Because his memory is bad, he wasn’t sure where he was supposed to go next if he forgot where he was in the song. So, when he started playing lapstyle, he got away from playing straight “chunka, chunka” , note-for-note songs with his thumb on the bass lines, on both lap and straight guitar. Instead, he started to use his thumb to play more of the melody lines along with his fingers. This new approach opened him up a lot. He said it’s much harder to play melody lines with his thumb than it is with his fingers, but it’s necessary to create “propulsion.” This is essentially where your rhythm comes from because your fingers are going to be involved in playing the melody and trying to flush out some of the chords. It all comes together to “move your music forward.”
Kelly Joe said when you practice, we should attempt to be regimented and use conservative, clean fingering approaches with your right hand. But, when you play live, there are no rules. It really depends on the situation and what you are trying to accomplish with your playing and singing. For example, Kelly Joe said you could play House Carpenter very straight, but you probably won’t want to play it that way live because it would sound too stiff and clean. It would be better to combine it with “hammer-ons” and “pull-offs” and throwing your thumb into scales, fill it with darkness and forward motion. To accomplish this, he uses hammer-ons and pull-offs to get extra notes into his music. Then, you are rolling the sound, and it is “smooth.” When playing lap-style guitar, it is impossible to play quick runs (scales) without using hammer-ons and/or pull-offs in your playing approach because you can’t move the slide quick enough to capture the notes. This approach should apply to standard and chordal tunings.
String Muting
Kelly Joe did some nice scale work to show our class how he muted strings. He uses a “palm muting” technique on House Carpenter. Resting the palm of your right hand just in front the bridge completes this conventional muting approach. He suggested we not move our palm too far forward because it would cause the sound (volume) to go away (mute the strings too much). He played various guitar parts of House Carpenter to show us how he muted the strings with his right hand. He said this muting is done mainly on the lower wound strings, the fifth and sixth strings, while playing the bass and rhythm lines with your thumb.
Kelly Joe uses his thumb to do most of the muting with the right hand. He explained how to use your thumb and fingers to pick out the notes. Then he showed us how to mute notes by using your thumb. He gave examples of when you would want to hear notes ring and when you wouldn’t want the notes to ring.
Muting behind the bar is a must to eliminate noise. Kelly Joe uses his ring finger and a little bit of the little finger on his left hand to mute the strings just behind the slide bar. He mainly uses the little finger when the full bar comes into the picture. Normally, his little finger is not actually muting as the ring finger is doing all the work. It’s not necessary, and it is more of a comfort thing. There is also muting that is going on with the right hand as well.
Thumb Playing with the Slide Style Guitar
Kelly Joe said he uses his thumb to strum songs such as Somebody to Save Me as well as with Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed and pulls out the individual notes needed with his thumb and fingers. He has changed his playing style over the years, so he doesn’t really do many “strumming” type songs any more. Instead, he plays the slide guitar more like a piano by playing the bass lines and chords with his right-hand thumb and the melody notes with his fingers. He gave a demonstration to illustrate how he approaches his bass line technique for House Carpenter. He hits the second note in the bass line (forth string) very hard with my thumb to help drive the beat of the song. He actually tries to get his thumb under the string to pull out the volume and sharp attack.
Interval Training
Kelly Joe suggested we learn to play and hear the open strings, to know the separation of tone…the intervals. Memorize these open note intervals. These intervals (the distance between the notes) are the same on the lap guitar when you lay the bar across all frets to change the pitch.
Playing and Intonation Techniques
Kelly Joe quickly figured out how to play bass lines, melody and chords - all at the same time with one metal slide. This involves, to a large degree, “intonation techniques” as to what’s happening, as opposed to actually “playing it.” So, he hints at the bass line, chords and melodies, instead of actually playing them throughout the song.
When you listen to Kelly Joe’s music, you will see he often uses the traditional 1, 4, 5 chord progression. There is a never-ending number of ways to manipulate these chords. He goes to the four and five chords to support the root note or the one chord. When playing, he quickly bounces back to the one chord or the one note on the scale, he goes back to a point of resolution. Most songs are based on this chord progression.
Kelly Joe visualizes himself with his lap guitar in his hands. He always knows where the root notes of the chords are located. He played the open six, four and first “D” strings. He said he knew these three strings supplied the root notes to him.
All open strings contain what Kelly called “power chords.” To accomplish this, Kelly plays the root plus the fifth of the chord to create what he called a “power chord.” He said the fifth and second strings provide the chordal quality or color by essentially backing up the root notes to form chords. The F# is the “major third” of the chord.
Playing in Various Keys
Kelly Joe primarily plays his lap guitar in root tunings by playing in the root key. This explains why he moves the capo around a lot so he can change keys. He said a lot of good Dobro players can play capoless in several keys in open G tuning, without changing the tuning of their guitars.
At times, Kelly Joe will break away from this strategy. For example, if he is playing in a studio session and someone asks him to play in B minor, he will use the fifth fret as the root note. To accomplish this, Kelly Joe will put a capo on the second fret, or he will not use the capo at all. It depends on what type of song he is working on and where he will need to resolve notes.
Nevertheless, when playing solo, he always plays in the root key. This works best for him because he chooses to always have lots of motion going on the guitar as he is playing (…to play lots of notes). If he doesn’t have the option of using all his strings in combinations, he wouldn’t have as much support as a solo artist.
Kelly’s Playing Attack
Kelly’s playing attack is hard and strong, so he has to use heavier strings. He doesn’t use nails or finger picks. He used to use finger picks the first couple of years he started to play lap because he was playing on the street, and he needed as much volume as possible. Nevertheless, he didn’t like the harshness of the tones, so he quit using them. So, Kelly went to bare fingers, but it took a long time to build up enough calluses and strength to get the needed volume. This was a real problem for Kelly Joe at first because he actually switched overnight. Therefore, if he wants hard, harsh tones, he can pull it out with his hands, or he can play it soft and sweet. With finger picks, he was stuck with one harsh sound. Dobro, or National Steel bodied guitars may need picks to get the appropriate edge in sound. Nevertheless, he said using picks “...is like trying to type with mittens on.” It is very inhibiting. Overall, has more overall control of his volume and tones by not playing with long fingernails of finger picks.
Little Finger Technique
Initially, Kelly Joe was using his little finer as an anchor for his right hand. As time went on, he began to also use it to keep beat rhythmically. He used to use his little finger on his right hand for rhythm a lot more in the earlier days, particularly on his first album, than he does today. You can hear this approach on his first album. He has since moved away from this approach.
Playing Bass Lines and Melody Notes
Kelly Joe visualizes in his mind’s eye both the bass lines and the melody notes. He sees what is happening on the fingerboard, in his mind. He can see the notes. That’s what’s going on in his head and it helps him keep the shape of the song.
Scales
Note: Kelly Joe suggested we know where the major and minor scale notes are located on the neck for both lap and straight guitar playing. Be able to find these scales by hearing the notes. Develop a “music vocabulary” visually and audibly.
Know what the major and minor scales are and where the notes are located on the fingerboard. Know what these scales sound like and what they are “theoretically,” that is, understand the theoretical relationship between the scale notes and why it makes sense to play them in a particular sequence.
Organize the fingerboard in your head and figure out how to play a major and minor scale. It’s good to use as many open strings as you can because you want to organize yourself based around the open strings. This is why he went with an open tuning to start with, because you can find the same note in more than one place with the guitar. There are times you will want to decide where you want to get a particular “same” note. Do you want a lower resonating D for a bass note or a med or higher-ranged D note included in you melody line? This is the flexibility you have with an open tuning. He said different situations would determine where you get that note and why.
Hit the first four notes of the major scale on the sixth string and so on. He said the intervals get smaller with the third and forth strings. Once you know where the scale is located with your hands, picture yourself playing the scale. See yourself playing through the intervals. These two major and minor scales will give you lots of options. Practice and know these scales forwards and backwards. Do it with your “minds-eye” as well.
Minor Scales
There are several different types of minor scales including natural minors, harmonic minors, and modal minors as well. For folk or country-blues, use the standard minor scale, which gives you a minor third and a flat seventh, a typical “blues thing.” Kelly said the minor scale he played for us had a normal sixth in it. The full minor scale drops this note down. This is the minor scale he suggested we use.
Practicing
We should be able to close our eyes and hear the open strings of the guitar. Whether it is in open or standard tuning, we should be able to hear the intervals of the open strings. It doesn’t have to be “in pitch” because it’s more important to be able to hear the intervals. The first place to start practicing is with the open strings - the intervals. This is the starting point for being able to improvise. Music is like a language. You have to know where the open notes are before you can start understanding various melodies. (Note: He sang a melody and then played it exactly the same on his lap guitar.) Kelly Joe said if you don’t know where the first note is, you won’t be able to find the other melody notes. Make sure we can hum or sing the open note intervals, regardless of the tuning.
Another exercise is to think of the simplest melodic song like Mary Had a Little Lamb or Happy Birthday and be able to play that melody. This will help you see and hear intervals as well as see the frets in your minds eye. He said this is really hard and takes a lot of work, but the end result is well worth it. The hard part is to be able to play it “spontaneously,” to be able to see it in your head. You should be able to see (on the keyboard) the melody or song in your head just before you play it. Pick a nursery rhyme and pick any starting point on the neck and play it without having to fish around for the notes. Catalog these various sounds. Learn to play be ear, not simply by memorizing the same solo over and over again. Instead, picture yourself playing the correct notes by internalizing your intervals.
Kelly Joe said we should separate two things. 1.) Playing by ear to recognize the intervals, where we need to go to hit a particular note(s) and 2.) music theory, know “why” things are happening.
Kelly Joe played an incredible melodic version of This Land Is Your Land and discussed how he played it. He said he could see the intervals in his mind and where the notes fell. He said it was like carrying on a conversation with himself.
Kelly Joe is suggesting we “visualize the intervals on the guitar” or “visualize yourself playing the melody on the guitar.” He is saying we should be able to sing the song to ourselves and imagine ourselves playing it… at the same time. As he explained, this is why he at times appears to be mumbling during his songs when he is in concert because he is actually singing the songs in his head at the same time he is improvising with his guitar. He is more comfortable with the “unexpected” than with the expected. This is why he likes to improvise. As a performer, he doesn’t know what is coming or where it is going.
Note: “Improvising” is hearing it (the music or melody notes) in your mind and knowing physically how to do (play) it. The ultimate goal is to learn the fingerboard…by ear!
Conventional Practice techniques
Ninety percent of the time, Kelly Joe practices on his “straight guitar.” He’s striving to play the normal guitar as comfortably as possible. Then, when he plays slide, it feels fresh.
Practicing Techniques
Here is a list of practice exercises Kelly Joe took us through:
1. First play the major scale by itself and count “one, two, three…one, two, three…” Don’t use “hammer-ons” and “pull-offs” for starters. Instead, play the notes clean. This exercise is for your right hand and practicing your “intonation,” your ability to hit (play) a exact, clean note. Play your notes very “squarely” with no slides or pull-offs. Playing squarely teaches you how to play slide better, and in tune. When you play “squarely,” (go to a note without sliding) you don’t have the option to hear when you slide into a note. Instead, you have to hit it exactly, the first time you attempt to hit the note. Therefore, you learn to play in tune. (He played a couple of awesome scales. One without sliding, the other sliding on his lap guitar.)
2. Play your thumb notes with every note in the major scale using your fingers. Keep a rhythm with the thumb and go up and down the major scale.
3. Play the major scale with your fingers. With your thumb, play the bass notes with every other major scale note played with your fingers. Playing the bass notes and melody notes simultaneously teaches you independence.
4. Same exercise as number 3, but play every other note with your thumb on the off beats. Wait and play the 2 and 4 (second and forth beats of a measure) bass notes instead of 1 and 3 bass notes. This type of practice will teach us right-hand independence.
5. Come up with some more practice approaches on your own. Play the bass note on every second beat… on every third beat and so on. Exercise as many options as possible. This will help you get your thumb to operate on its own. Get some “independencies”!
6. Practice using a slide, but do not slide into the notes. Instead, play these notes clean. This exercise is for the right hand and intonation, so hit every note as clean as possible. It's harder to hit the note square. Practice this...
7. Practice major and minor scales on all strings and remember to use (play) as many open strings as possible, avoid playing linearly. Then, practice the same scales on one string at a time (linearly).
8. Pick a common melody and then play every other melody note (with your fingers) and follow through with the scale. Play the melody first, and then add the bass notes.
9. Now do the same thing but create a new melody pattern going up the melody scale and playing 1, 2, 3, 4, where 1 and 4 are the same notes. Then, start the same scale on the next higher note. Play the melody first, and then add the bass notes.
10. Because we are tuned to Open D, most of the tunes we play will be in the key of D, and we will want to play the D major scale. Learn to play the D major and minor scales on all the strings. Play the D Scale on the D string, then play it on the A string. Make sure you play the D scale on both strings. Do this on all six strings. This will help you figure out where the various notes are located – I will free up your picking options!
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Some last minute instruction
Songs Played
Traditional Songs
Kelly likes to play “traditional songs” for two reasons: 1.) The lyrics have something he can attach himself to, and 2.) The example of the song he has in his head is a “powerful, moving performance.” He borrows from both of these elements to project a sort of “emotional involvement.”
Good Night Irene
When figuring out Good Night Irene, you need to play it straight as possible first so you understand the chord structures. This will be the basis for improvising. Know and understand the chords and the chord changes of this song. Get and keep the chords in your head. Then, you can begin to improvise and go to new and interesting places on the neck.
House Carpenter
House Carpenter is a traditional folk song that has been around for two or three hundred years. It exists on both sides of the Atlantic. There is, however, a debate as to whether the song is Irish or Scottish. It’s a tune that was carried over on the ships, and has stayed around up in the Appalachians, played mostly by banjo players. It’s a “tragedy ballad” involving a love triangle, where the main two characters (a man and a woman) die in the end in a shipwreck. Kelly Joe explained how the theme behind House Carpenter evolves. How a woman leaves her young child behind and follows a guy out to sea on a ship and then they both die in the ocean. He said you don’t want to take a “walk in the park with that song.” (He described his clean, with no muting, playing approach to playing this song.) Instead, you want to support the story line with forward moving music and guitar playing with lots of bass note muting and darkness.
At one point, there’s a conversation between the man and woman when they are out at sea. She starts crying. He assumes she is crying because she left her husband. But instead, she is crying because she left her child. Once you break open a song rhythmically (He usually sets all of his songs up rhythmically at the beginning rather than just jumping into the song), this way, you have freed yourself up to deal this song on many levels. The man is saying, “What in the hell are you crying for? And, she says, “you should know damn good and well what I am crying for.” Other times Kelly feels that she is saying, “ I just realized what a mistake I made, and she is absolutely heartbroken.”
An Appalachian country-folk banjo player, singer Clarence Ashley, from North Carolina or West Virginia, influenced Kelly with this song. Kelly got into this song because he liked the forward motion of the lyrics. “It was a dark story/song.”
To illustrate his point, Kelly Joe played another version of House Carpenter that wasn’t as forceful. It was very clean with no string muting. He said it was too plain without forward motion and did not support the story line. He played a more forceful version, and all of a sudden, the song had “mystery” with the rhythm bouncing all over the place, and the notes were dropping in and out from nowhere. The melody zipped over the top and a foundation was created. He created a storm that supported the story. Once you’ve started the foundation (… the introductory setup at the beginning of the song), you can’t get away from it. The rhythm is internalized. This “opens you up” to fill in the gaps with various pieces of scales and chords.
He played an awesome ending to this song. He broke up the timing (bass pattern or rhythm). Nevertheless, he said he doesn’t always break it up. Sometimes, he will keep the rhythm going strong, and the metronome is still going tick, tick, tick in his head. Other times, Kelly Joe will sing with the melody line of the guitar. Still other times he will sing above the melody line. He knows where both sets of notes are on the guitar. It takes practice, but he will sing one note while playing a different note. Kelly Joe said, he developed this style as a result of learning how to play such simple tunes as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
Kelly Joe played a very nice part of a different slide song using the solid thumb pattern. Then, he played a couple of licks from House Carpenter. He said he didn’t play it (House Carpenter) the way it sounded on his CD. To accomplish this type of improvision, you have to - internalize your time and know where the notes are located on the fingerboard! Then, your playing will wrap around the internal timing of the song, always coming back to the main beat. The listener then creates the bass line in their minds. “This is one of the grand beauties of playing the guitar finger style. You are limited to what you can do, but you are completely unlimited to what you can intimate (make the audience believe you are playing all the parts of the song) what you are doing. It’s almost like magic when you can pull it off. This doesn’t mean you should attempt to fool someone, because it (the tune or music) actually exists. When you free up your right hand this way, what you have is something (music) that’s “going forward.”
Kelly Joe was studying these types of songs to better understand how to propel a story forward. He calls this “forward motion” where the audience is pulled and pushed into a powerful, dark direction rather than happily walking on their own fruition as the listener does with the Hobo’s Son and When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder songs. He said these beautiful songs were like a “walk through the park” with a steady predictable rhythm. House Carpenter, however, was much different. It has a lot of power behind it. It pulls audience (and Kelly Joe) in. This is how it works for Kelly with the traditional songs he plays.
Hobo’s Son
This is a straightforward song. It is based on Kelly Joe’s personal experiences. It has to do with meeting someone you like very much, getting together, then this other person admits what she considers to be a mistake. The guy can’t change what and who he is. Therefore, she goes away, and he realizes he has to wait the rest of his life for something like this to come along again. This is the theme behind Hobo’s Son. He wants this woman more than anything else in the world, knowing he can’t possibly hold onto it.
He said the Hobo’s Son sort of takes you on a walk through the park with an ice-cream cone. It takes these nice little steps. You’re almost forced to do that in your mind when you listen to this song. You don’t get a sense of “forward motion” as you do with House Carpenter.
Go There
Kelly wrote this song when he was on tour with BB King. He needed another rhythmic song for his tour. This is the only song he has written while on tour. This is also the last song on his instructional lap video. Writing on the road doesn’t work for Kelly.
Song and Singing Techniques
Song Playing and Structure
Kelly Joe pointed out how we should start a song with a grabbing guitar solo or unusual lead-in. Then, weave the middle of the song, then bring the song home with another solo or unusual ending, as Kelly calls it: “bringing it (the song) home.” This puts a “frame” around the song. He also said we should pay attention to the lyrics because they make you responsible. Embrace the fact that you don't know what you are doing. This will help you go places (improvise) you didn't think of going before.
Kelly Joe’s take on song writing is to first write poems and then try different styles of guitar to fit the tones of the lyrics. He will then try these new songs at various gigs and see if they work. He will cultivate the songs and music until he gets close to a song he would like to record.
Singing
Kelly Joe started singing around the same time he started playing lapstyle in 1992. He did not have any previous singing experience while playing bass and jazz.
Kelly Joe suggested we should be able to sing a few notes and know exactly where those notes are on the fingerboard and be able to play those notes without having to hunt for them. In other words, know your fingerboard.
Kelly Joe likes to harmonize three half steps above the solo.
Pitch Matching
Kelly Joe originally was emerged in the country-blues school focusing on the intricacies of the country-blues leaders. He became intensely consumed with lap guitar, singing and playing country blues music. He spent countless hours rehearsing and working out tunes note-for-note on his turntable by slowing down the album rotation speed to 16RPM.
When he first started playing, he learned various artists note-for-note. It was all he could do, to play their songs verbatim. He then enjoyed learning and playing these songs because he had spent time learning how to play them…note-for-note. He explained how he would do a lot of “pitch matching” where he would drop the needle down and learn the song three notes at a time. He explained that after you play the songs a few times (note-for-note), it (playing these learned songs) gets boring. This helped foster his need to learn and teach the art of improvisation. This made it easier for Kelly Joe to pick out the chords and scales. It wasn’t abnormal for Kelly to be totally consumed by something involving music, and that’s exactly what he did.
To accomplish his new quest, Kelly Joe began listening to the country blues legends such as Mississippi Fred McDowell, Robert Pete Williams, Skip James, Joe Calicott, Blind Willie Johnson, Joe Calicott, Doc Bogs, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Leadbelly. . They were big country-blues influences for Kelly Joe. He came to realize that all he wanted to do all along was to improvise in a folk/blues context, but it took him ten or so years of playing free form jazz on the fretless bass to teach him the spontaneity he lacked.
Robert Pete Williams was actually closer to Kelly’s heart than Fred McDowell’s music. Even though Fred was his inspiration, Robert Pete was one of his freest mentors. He especially liked the way he sang. Nothing (lyrics) was locked down at all. A listener could never determine when he was going to sing again as he would come out of nowhere or when he was going to play again or how long he was going to do “it.” He never heard anyone else do that (improvise) to a large degree. He admired him for that. He said, “It’s just damn inspirational to listen to him just sit down with a guitar and play the damn thing, to sit down and sing and play and not know ahead of time what you’re going to play. What an improviser.”
Over a span of ten years, country blues became a set of sounds and emotions that Kelly Joe identified with and wanted to include in what he was playing and singing. Today, however, he doesn’t consider himself to be a “blues musician.” Instead, he just wants to find the “music,” regardless of the style. To some it up in Kelly’s words, “He never follows just one sound.” Instead, he has made sure throughout his career to test all of the sounds (music) that appeal to his curiosity.
Pitch
Kelly Joe believes you don't have to have perfect pitch when you sing. He gave a demonstration in our session where he sang a few notes and he was slightly off in pitch when he played the same notes on his guitar. He said this was just fine as long as we understood the spaces, where the intervals were and how to sing or play them. In other words, you don’t have to hear the scales in key or have to have perfect pitch. You don’t have to be able to sing the C major scale perfectly, in key. The important thing is to be able to know and sing the intervals. As Kelly Joe stated: “The “spacing” is important when you sing to yourself. It’s not as important for your pitch to be correct.”
Song Writing
Songwriting is not something that comes naturally to Kelly Joe. He tries to improvise when he writes, but it turns out to be a very regimented process. His process is straightforward. He first writes the words, what he calls “poetry,” and then he figures out what type of music goes best with these words. When he writes and creates songs, he doesn’t really write the songs as “compositions,” (songs with specific parts) actually creating songs with various segments, pauses, highs and lows. Instead, he throws notes around and finds what sounds and feels the best.
The words are always set, and musically, he tries to leave room to get inside of a song. Every once in a while, this process works, and a great song is created. Kelly Joe said the song, at its creative point, is like a is like a “slippery fish.” It can get away from you if you’re not careful, meaning the creative process is hard to tame, and must be cultivated or it will not happen, or come out right.
Kelly Joe pays close attention to how words are handled. He focuses on their direction and meaning. He looks to professional writers for creative writing inspiration, rather than songwriters because they are the best word users. He said songwriters deal primarily with emotions; but good novelists deal with creative words and prose to reflect emotions, facts and details within the framework of their stories. As a writer, Kelly Joe is clearly drawn to the emotional extremes of words and music.
Creating Songs
Kelly Joe suggested we pick a song and compose it. Change it and Rearrange it. This is how he copies songs.
Performing Live
Playing Gigs
In 1992, Kelly Joe took every gig possible around the Portland, Oregon area. He said he played every Mexican restaurant, café, and street corner he could - as many as thirty-five to forty gigs per month, and sometimes three times on Saturdays and twice on Sundays. A lot of his playing and singing was developed because he was always playing. Things were bound to evolve.
Playing Live
He said when he plays live, he does things he wouldn’t necessarily do acoustically, when he is not plugged in. The guitar doesn’t respond the same way when it is not amplified. Playing in front of people puts you in a position where you have to respond. When Kelly is playing, "He's like a woodpecker in a woodshop" where anything goes.
Kelly Joe suggested we don’t develop a set list. As Kelly said “A gig is not like an interview.” To him, “…it’s like sitting down over a beer and talking. There’s nothing to work out ahead of time.” No two shows or songs are ever played the same way. Even if he worked out and studied the songs, and memorized every note, it would never have the same feel.
When Kelly is on stage, he likes playing for the audience. Interaction with the audience is very important to Kelly. He doesn’t approach a gig with the attitude that he needs to feed his audience, or give them something. He sometimes feels envy for performers that have this talent, but it’s just not him, or his style.
Kelly’s Live Setup
Concerning setting the tones and volume in a live environment... Kelly sets the mains (pa speakers) first. This helps Kelly Joe determine what the room will sound like. He then mixes the monitors. His main concern is to make sure the audience will hear good music. Then, he concerns himself with the monitors.
All musicians are particular about their tone, and Kelly is no different. Kelly’s PA setup is a combination of strong (passive) Sunrise pickups and a (active) BSS DI boxes. Previously, he was using Countryman DI boxes, but they were almost too clean, too acoustic sounding.
Don't try to make your live sound, sound “acoustic.” His secret to good a quality sound is a good passive pickup with a strong active DI box.
Many times engineers try to hard to make Kelly Joes’ sound like he is not plugged in. This strategy doesn’t work for Kelly. He accepts the fact that the tones are completely different when plugged in versus when not plugged in.
When Kelly is plugged in to a pa system, it almost doesn’t sound like it is acoustic. His guitar has a different set of tones plugged in versus not being plugged in. Kelly’s theory is you cannot reproduce an acoustic sound through a set of speakers. This is why he doesn’t like to mic his guitars on stage because the soundman usually can’t get it right. He said he has given up on this idea and now he just runs straight through the DI boxes into the PA system. It leaves the impression that it sounds very natural with a nice warm sound that he really likes.
He doesn’t use a microphone on his guitar when he plays live because it leaves too much for technicians to control and possibly not mix properly. Instead, he goes directly into the active BSS DI box.
Amplified Concert Sound
Kelly Joe uses passive acoustic guitar Sunrise pickups so the engineers don't have to turn up the volume as much in the PA mix. They run hotter than most acoustic passive pickups and don't pick up as much noise from lights, etc. like active pickups do.
He uses two separate BSS AR133 direct boxes. He labels them “#1” and “#2” with a permanent market. #1 is always used to identify the appropriate channel for his straight guitar and #2 is always used for his lap guitar. This helps the sound engineers (and Kelly) keep the right tones and settings for each guitar. His straight Guild guitar (see below for details on this guitar) has a little more high-end and volume, so he relies on the engineers to roll off some of the highs and balance the volume with his vocals. Concerning his stage setup Kelly said: “You can't make a guitar sound right live unless you use a direct box. This combination of Sunrise pickup and BSS direct box expands the overall tonal range and volume of your setup. They won’t make your guitar sound exactly like your unplugged guitar; however, the tones and volume characteristics are great.” (Note: He orders the BSS DI boxes through Full Compass out of Minnesota. They cost around $150 each.)
He uses a multi-directional mic for his vocals so he isn't constricted from movement. This allows him to be free with his music.
Sometimes, Kelly describes his singing direction to sound engineers, as if it was “a seventh string on a guitar.” He tells them his approach is to “weave my vocals into the guitar, so when they’re setting their level. He tells them not to make his vocals too far out in front of the guitar. When he thinks of it in this way, it’s almost as if he’s not actually singing. He said this might be his safety net because it’s like he’s really not singing.
Kelly’s game plan is about “instrumental improvisation”, not “vocal improvisation.” The lyrics provide a framework around which he builds his instrumental dialogue that varies from performance to performance. The blueprint of Kelly’s’ songs are always in the lyrics – they are his anchor.
Playing Live - Monitors
After the mains are set, Kelly Joe asks the sound engineer to bring up the monitors until they are balanced with the mains. The sound technician rolls off the highs and/or lows to reduce feedback. He has the techs “bottom out” the monitors and keep it (bottom end) in the mains. If not, there will be feedback in the monitors. He is not all that concerned with the tonal quality of the monitors. He just needs to be able to hear himself. He is totally concerned with what the audience will be hearing rather than the monitor tonal quality. He said the sound the audience hears is paramount to what he hears through the monitors. He will also have the technicians cut the top end so he can get more volume.
Voice, Lyrics and Sound Mix On Stage
Kelly Joe’s voice is like an instrument. It’s a smoky growl, like an instrument, a warm, smoky, dark-brown drawl that captivates his listeners. He doesn’t always do full justice to the intricate flow of the lyrics…these are no twelve-bar blues. The melodies take us on a dusty journey across the heartlands. He has an ear-catching voice – dusky, well worn. He wanted to pursue his guitar styling within a framework of a song structure that included lyrics. He believed that playing with a singer would be a cop out. He said singing was like taking your clothes off in front of an audience where you are totally exposed.
Kelly Joe said he is glad he is playing and singing. He said it feels like its part of his overall package. He described singing as the “seventh string on the guitar.” At gigs, he has to make sure the sound engineer mixes the sound appropriately. Sometimes, they want the vocals way out front (much louder than the guitar) and the guitar is buried. Instead, his approach is to weave his vocals into the guitar. When he thinks of singing this way, it’s almost as if he’s not actually singing at all. He uses his vocals like an additional instrument, singing in a smoky, gliding tone. This is the heart of his extraordinary sound. Not only does his guitar technique give him the freedom to go where he wants to go his voice meshes with it seamlessly, but his lyrics leave words unspoken and tensions unresolved.
Kelly doesn’t change the words when performing a song. Rather, the lyrics provide a framework around which he builds an instrumental dialogue that varies from performance to performance. How he records a song is different than the way he will play the song in live performances. He constantly changes his music. He told us in session that he has 60 to 70 songs that he totally changes each time he performs. He said that art should be constantly changing. He asked us when we had last read a great novel…twice. As Kelly pointed out: “It just doesn’t happen!” This is why we should constantly change our music, to provide a variety of music for the audience and us.
For Kelly Joe, it’s the lyrics on which he hangs whatever happens instrumentally. In Kelly’s words, “The lyrics are my anchor.” He said: “The blueprint of my songs are always there in the lyrics.” But he also said he has never actually sat down and composed a song all the way through.
Kelly’s Song Selection In Concert
Kelly has 60 or so songs in his arsenal. He doesn’t use a song list. He likes the freedom to choose songs and paint his emotional picture live depending on the mood of his audience, and himself.
Recording
Early Demo and Recorded Tapes
Kelly put a cassette tape together and gave it to café owners to try and get gigs in the early days, to play for tips and/or food. He decided to take that one step farther and put a cassette tape together to sell at his shows. He said, at the time, and as he has always done with each recorded album, he recorded on the edge of his abilities. He stretched his playing capabilities to the limits. He has repeatedly used this approach to record each of his four CD. s All these creative and playing ideas have been absorbed and are stacked on top of new learning’s. Kelly Joe continues to grow and evolve.
Studio Setup
In the studio, Kelly Joe doesn’t use a DI box. Instead, records his guitar and vocals using two or three mics. He may use up to two mics for his guitar and one for his vocals depending on his specific recording needs. He said you have to experiment to find the ideal placement of the mics for the best tones. He doesn’t separate his vocals from his guitar when recording. He plays and sings the song all the way through. He may, however, use a mono-directional mic(s) in the studio so he has more control over the mixing process. This separation gives him more flexibility to separate the guitar from his vocal tones during the mix down process, even though there is some bleed through both.
Kelly may use a little reverb when recording; however, for the most part, he records (and plays live) with little EQ or reverb. Instead, he relies on the sound engineers to master the final mixing process to add whatever EQ or reverb is needed. On his last recording, the engineers added an almost immeasurable amount of reverb to the final mix. It made a huge difference in the final sound.
Kelly’s said the less EQ the better, whether recording in the studio or playing live. Mic placement is usually the problem if the tones are off. He may also use some compression in the studio to get rid of any distortion that is usually caused by the extreme highs. Compression allows you to control how hot the single gets in the mix. It keeps the top end down. The goal of using compression is to eliminate distortion that is caused by the high end, “to put a compression lid on the distortion.” Kelly uses a DBX160A compressor.
Recording
Kelly Joe recorded Shine Eyed Mister Zene with the vocals slightly off to the left and the guitar off to the right. He said recording a song “locks in the music.” The audience hears the same version many times over. By the time he is done recording a CD, he is sick of it because he has heard it so many times.
He overdubbed the song on his latest album song call Gold Tooth. He sang through a bullet mic.
Recording At Home
At home, for his Roll Away the Stone CD, Kelly used an ADAT recorder in his living room so he wouldn’t feel the pressure of studio work. He used a Neumann KM-184 microphone on his guitar and an AKG 414 for his vocals.
In Kelly’s words concerning recording at home: “Instead of booking time in a studio and hoping that once I got there I was going to be creative and inspired, I recorded at home. This way I was free to record any of the songs as many times as I wanted, until one particular occasion when the song felt like it was playing itself. I used a minimum amount of gear: a couple of microphones, mixing board and a DAT recorder. I was trying to capture (record) performances that I figured were just going to happen without trying to force or control them.”
[pic]
This is one of my favorite jamming spots, a haunted house in the hills of
West Texas. The Shelton’s are long gone from this world and it’s been
vacant with the all clothes and furniture left in tack for more than
fifty years! There is no roof on this house. Check out the high heels
on the living room floor. I’m floating…
Conclusion
I work very hard, every time I pick up one of my guitars on learning Kelly Joe’s playing and singing techniques. In the process, I have learned to play several of Kelly’s songs note-for-note. My favorite songs I usually play live are Piece By Piece (…of which I play on my straight guitar in open E tuning in the key of F, with the capo on the first fret; and on my lap guitar in open D, of course), Tommy, When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, Sally Ruby, as well as Hobo’s Son, to name a few…
My ultimate goal is to create and improvise my own music on both my lap and straight guitars. Additionally, I want to be able to improvise in my own words as well. I think it would be so cool to have an unrehearsed conversation with my audiences. Basically, I want to have a total free spirit when it comes to playing music. It takes a lot of guts, but I find myself reaching out farther and farther at every gig. So, I’m getting a little closer to this improvisional goal each and every night. Additionally, I am getting more comfortable with my lap guitar as well as playing in open tunings on my straight guitar. Nevertheless, I still have a long journey ahead of me, so my story has only yet begun. Thanks to Kelly Joe, however, I have acquired a very unique direction in my music -- I’ve gone to another level in my understanding of music theory and playing my guitars and singing…
Kelly, if you are reading this article, I want to thank you for your inspiration and talent you have bestowed into my life. Your music has moved me and my audiences beyond explanation. I’m so glad that little voice inside my head told me to turn on the radio to a station I had never listened to before, only to hear your wings flapping. I can only hope I get to share a piece of Life again with you again some day.
Take care “Mate” and happy playing…
Terry Sullivan
terrylsullivan@
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