Old Joe is Shufflin'

By: mandobill Mood: content Date: 04/30/2007 21:41:33 Music: Acoustic

We need to have a mood setting for "tired."

Wanted to jot a few notes about another of my posted songs. I call it "Old Joe Shuffle," and, of course, it's my personal take on the old fiddle tune Old Joe Clark. Like much of what I do, I was noodling around one night and happened upon it. The main instrument is guitar, in this case capoed on 5 with a drop-D tuning.

When I was in high school I landed on a fingerpicking style which remains my favorite. I use a flatpick as the "thumb" and pick with my second and third fingers. That way I can work my way smoothly between fingerpicking and flatpicking licks. I remember seeing Glen Campbell doing that many years ago on TV and since have seen Ricky Skaggs and others do it as well. Works for me. Another advantage is that I can pick the muted bass notes harder with a flatpick than a thumbpick, which always seems to slip if I hit it too hard. I never really got the hang of flatpicking with a thumbpick, though I've seen others (like Eddie Adcock just a few years ago) do it quite well.

As for the other instruments, the second guitar is the same one (see my gallery page) sans capo, plus mandolin and bass. Maybe I'll be able to upload pics of them someday. The bass is a 1938 S-8 Swingmaster that I'm quite proud of.

I really enjoyed tracking this song. I think I got a pretty natural "band" sound that doesn't sound too mechanical or contrived, even though I did use a clicktrack. By the way, I use N-Track Studio on a 2 gHz PC, mostly through a Behringer 1-inch mic. I love N-Track and have used it for several years. It's programmed in Italy (I think) by a guy named Flavio. http://www.fasoft.com

I think there's nothing like tracking in your home studio -- all the comforts of home, plus no timeclock ticking. Makes me glad to be alive right now with such a wealth of cheap technology available.