This is the general idea of what Robert Johnson plays while he sings. Its not necessarily meant to be note-for note – this is stuff that youll have to internalize in order to play intuitively! Check out my website for more Delta Blues lessons and discussion: www.deltabluesguy.blogspot.ca Sorry if things were a bit vague…some of this stuff is awkward to convey over video. If you have any questions, PM or comment!

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11 thoughts on “Robert Johnson Lesson: Crossroads Pt. 2”

  1. robertowatsiano
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    thanks ive got it now thanks m8 you helped me get there been tryin to play this for ages.

  3. robertowatsiano
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    is there a bit missing from this the turn around where he sings " i believe in goin down"

  4. nobudius
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    I agree w McTell-he’s got the benefit of a recording career that spanned decades to compare to, e.g., the Atlanta sides (old Willie was quite the force to be reckoned with). His early recordings def seem to have the "Alvin & the Chipmunks" treatment, if you will. I think the ‘speed’ argument is valid enough to look into and debate, although I wouldn’t say the issue is universal.

  5. blah148
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    …the other thing is that it’s been (sort-of) concluded that he tuned his guitar so that the bottom string was B – or even lower than that – and based on that, you could well say that the BWM’s were sped up. Robert Johnson’s stuff is a lot harder to decided…I’ll just say that I don’t think his are sped up – here’s an awesome resource on the subject! elijahwald (dot com) /johnsonspeed.html

    Definitely an interesting topic…

  6. blah148
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    With BWM, it’s a little easier to come to conclusions than, say, the Robert Johnson recordings…with sessions like the one with Curly Weaver and Lomax’s 1949 recordings, since they had the opportunity to record longer sides, I don’t think they’d have any reason to speed up the takes in order to fit them on old 78’s. If you listen to those later recordings, the register he sings his vocals in is LOW! Some of those late 20’s early 30’s recordings just don’t match up…

  7. nobudius
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    What’s your take on the ‘speed’ argument with these old recordings? Listened to some slowed down tracks of Blind Willie McTell from prewarblueslabo’s account, and they sound…with some admitted hesitation, WONDERFUL.

  8. blah148
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    All of that’s so true! I couldn’t have said it better myself haha

  9. nobudius
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    Cool videos you’ve got. Really shows how nuanced his music was: parts upon parts upon parts. Didn’t hurt that he seems have had daddy-long-legs for fingers.

  10. blah148
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    the capo should be on the 3rd throughout the song…I realized this after the fact haha
    sorry about that!

  11. Benjamin Lozovoski
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    so the intro has the capo on the 4th but this part is on the 3rd?

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