Posts Tagged ‘diddley bow’
Play a Diddley Bow Like Seasick Steve
Music should always be fun. It should be easy for anyone with almost any level of aptitude to make some form of music. Unfortunately we are taught that, in order to make music, you need to study music tablature, learn scales and chords, spend money on expensive musical instruments and practice loads. But this is far from the truth.
Have you ever see any African tribes people dancing to drums? These talented drummers will have never been to music college. Obviously they aren’t familiar with scales, chords or paradiddles. But they know how to have a good time. Using simple instruments to make music, maybe a home made drum or rattle, is really great fun and what music should be all about.
There is a one stringed Brasilian instrument called a Berimbau that has African roots. The instrument looks very much like a bow that might be used for hunting. Now this simple instrument is the precursor to pretty much all forms of stringed instrument including guitars, harps and even pianos.
You make have heard of an instrument called a Diddley Bow. This is an African American folk instrument that uses only one string or wire. These might typically be made by stretching a piece of wire along a length of wood. The string is made taught with a bridge of some kind, maybe a can, and then fretted with a slide, often a knife, piece of bone or bottleneck.
Lonnie Pitchford, a well known exponent of the Diddley Bow would make his one stringed instruments by attaching a wire to the vertical support of his front porch. In fact, making Diddley Bows in this manner, by attaching a piece of wire (often fence wire or broom wire) to a house or shack, was common practice amongst the poor workers living in the Mississippi Delta region.
The sound of the Diddley Bow is very much the sound of the blues. Many of the early blues orginators from the 1920s and 1930s got their start by twanging Diddley Bows. One popular modern day Diddly bow player is Seasick Steve. So why not make yourself a simple one string Diddley Bow today and make some music.