Tuesday, May 19, 2009

TREMOLO AS ONLY EDDIE PEABODY COULD SUPPLY IT


Here's Eddie Peabody, one of an army of now-forgotten musicians who get lumped into the dismissive "novelty" category. Once upon a time, "entertainers" were often technical virtuosos as well. In those days, you couldn't just strut around like an underwear model with bedroom eyes as pyrotechnics explode in the background; people expected you to be able to play your instrument. I'm only dimly aware of this "genre," if you can call it that, but fortunately I have a cadre of informants who are always happy to enlighten me about this kind of stuff. Enjoy, and be sure and watch Eddie's right hand (grainy youtube quality, regrettably!) for insight into plectrum tremolo technique. (thanks to the anachronistic George Welling for passing along this gem.)
Posted by Karl Straub at 9:38 AM
Labels:

2 comments:

  1. fourstring@omnilec.comFebruary 9, 2010 at 10:35 AM

    Any one out there ever figure out the mechanics of that little downward arpeggio Eddy does in triplets that changes chord by two notes instead of three's? I think I have it figured out but wondered if anyone else did. He used it quite frequently, most prominently in the intro to "Way Down Upon The Swanee River". What an entertainer he was. I had a chance to see him in Springfiled, Illinois back shortly before he died but passed it up. Shame on me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karl StraubFebruary 9, 2010 at 11:19 AM

    don't know if this helps, but if you're referring to the run beginning at :26, here's my assessment. it sounds like it's basically a mostly stepwise descending line harmonized initially in broken tenths, then it switches to sixths. this abrupt switch makes it confusing to the ear and hard to hear, but most likely made it easier to play-- i don't have an instrument like Eddie's handy, but i'm guessing the line had to be adjusted because he ran out of neck. it also could be that the adjustment to thirds enabled him to finish on the fifth note of the scale, cleanly ending the phrase.

    the bottom line, which is in quarter note triplets, is the following notes-- (G F# E) (D C B) (Bb A up to D) (Db C D)

    the spread between the line and its harmonized part changes to sixths when the line ascends from A to D.

    i did this kind of quickly, so please feel free to comment again with corrections, clarifications, etc.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)