Sunday, May 10, 2009

Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy

Recorded by Uncle Dave Macon in 1924, and again by Woodie Guthrie, listen to a clip here, this fun song can be played and sung in various ways because it's so basic you can fool around with your own version. Here is another simple sound clip of it in a very simplified version. Try making up a new silly verse to it!...

I worked up a simple tab that blends in well with typical dulcimer strum rhythm and skips a bit of the blues effect some versions have. It was a little too low for me to sing in G, so I put it in the key of A. I chose the reverse ionian tuning of EAE to make it way easier to tune to if you are starting from DAD. (the 'normal' ionian tuning for the key of A would be AEE). To get to EAE from DAD all you have to do is tune both your melody string(s) and your bass string UP ONE STEP from D to E...and leave your middle string at A.
Be sure to get a nice greasy slide from the 4-5 frets when you're playing "time, time, time...".

The photo is actually of my own two greasy skillets, when I made a skillet bread filled with fruit last week called "Dutch Baby"...they came out pretty good!


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