Comments

• Lango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator

  September 2015 edited September 2015 Posts: 1,855

  He uses these fingerings, often leading with the lowest note followed by the rest of the chord
  
  G 355433
  
  Abdim 4X34XX
  
  Am7 5X55XX
  
  D7 5X45XX
  
  ********
  
  G XX5433
  
  G9 XX3201
  
  Cmaj7 X3200
  
  Am X02210
  
  D7 5X45XX
  
  G 355433
  
  **********
  
  He makes some unusual chord choices on the bridge: instead of the regular sheet music chords ( Am7- Bbdim- Gmaj7-E7) he plays the melody on the third string using the following pretty and unexpected chords
  
  Am 002210
  
  Eb7 X11323
  
  Bm XX4432
  
  Em XX5453
  
  I won't write out all the rest of the chords for the bridge as they are easy to find if you want to know them...
  
  However, I will note that during the phrase "melody played..." he uses a very characteristic Lang chord movement as a substitute for the actual chords
  
  G7 10-X-9-10-8-X
  
  F7 8 -X-7-8-6-X
  
  E7 7-X-6-7-5-X
  
  A9 X-4-5-4-5-X
  
  Am9 XX5557
  
  D9 XX4555
  
  Hope somebody is finding this interesting...
  
  Will
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."
  
  Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
  
  Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  
• Lango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator

  September 2015 edited September 2015 Posts: 1,855

  I don't know if anybody is following this thread or not, but I'm going to just put down a few thoughts about Lang's playing generally...
  
  1) Lang was very different from Django in that he was a skilled reader of music. And by that I mean he read like a violinist, not like a guitarist!
  
  But he was also blessed with an amazing ear.
  
  So what you hear when you hear Lang play rhythm guitar is generally that he's actually reading all the correct changes from the written score, but just as in this tune, he will occasionally replace what's written with his own hipper version of the chords.
  
  2) According to Joe Venuti, Lang also had a phenomenal memory... the quote was something to the effect that "Eddie remembered every single note he ever played."
  
  So I think when we hear Lang play some of his best passages, chances are that he's not really improvising like Django would've done--- he's got something carefully worked out that he's playing from memory.
  
  That's very apparent in this arrangement, too, especially the lovely semi-tone effects he gets. You'll find that doing them requires a bit of practice!
  
  3) Speaking of practice, this arrangement seems to me to have been carefully worked out and practiced quite a bit.
  
  Unlike Django, Lang seems to have been the conscientious type of studio musician who liked to get hold of his part before the session and work it over a lot.
  
  And judging by the type of music Lang played and the musicians he played with, he doesn't seem to have been unique in that attitude.
  
  The more you listen to some of the spectacular phrases created by Venuti, Rollini, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Frank Trumbauer, etc. the more you understand that these sounds were carefully planned, and not just made up on the spot. (With Bix perhaps being the exception that proves the rule!)
  
  4) Lang didn't seem to mind playing in first position, unlike most of us 21st century cats, and this occasionally gives his playing a sort of rustic folky sound.
  
  And, oh yes... in order to have those open strings available, he either used a capo or tuned his guitar up half a tone. Check out "Singing' the Blues" and "I'm Comin' Virginia" for just two examples.
  
  5) Lang used his E string and A string very sparingly. We get so used to their absence that when he does finally use them, it always comes as a nice surprise.
  
  My theory is that Eddie switched to guitar sometime after learning violin and mandolin, and those lower strings must've seemed REALLY deep to him.
  
  In fact, one of his occasional novelty effects is to play staccato and deliberately emphasize their bassy-ness, as if he's imitating a double bass.
  
  From what I've read, Eddie used extremely heavy gauge strings--- including a wound B string and an E string that was .80"--- wowser!
  
  I once tried stringing up my old archtop Epiphone with Eddie's exact gauges, which had been revealed in a "Guitar Player" magazine back in the 1980's.
  
  It did sound nice but it just about crippled my left hand! So maybe the playability factor had something to do with Eddie's choice of chord voicings as well...
  
  Will

  

  Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."
  
  Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
  
  Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  
• BillDaCostaWilliams Barreiro, Portugal✭✭✭ Mateos, Altamira M01F, Huttl

  September 2015 Posts: 636

  I for one follow your posts on Lang with great interest.
• sadow ✭✭ Altamira M30 Antique

  September 2015 Posts: 57

  I too appreciate your thoughtful analysis on this early jazz master.
• Bones Moderator

  September 2015 Posts: 3,319

  Wow, nice analysis Will! Thanks!
• Jazzaferri Victoria B.C.Moderator Dunn Ultrafox, DuPont MDC20 Gretsch Chet Atkins CG

  September 2015 Posts: 3,707

  Yikes.....that heavy a guage string set would destroy a lot of guitars from the string tension through the neck bend and resulting top compression from the downforce.

  The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
• Lango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator

  September 2015 Posts: 1,855

  Yeah, those strings were a real bitch to play.
  
  But it's funny the memories of using them... it just happened that late one night in Toronto in the 1980's after playing a gig with those heavy strings, I went over to my friend Steve B's house and Jeff Healey was there.
  
  Now Steve was a record collector, or rather a record hoarder, and you had to edge your way through stacked-up milk crates of 78's all over his house.
  
  So we started drinking and listening to compilation cassette tapes of Steve's records and soon I discovered how Jeff Healey liked to practice guitar... by staying up all night, drinking, and playing along with whatever 78 record happened to be on hand!
  
  Jeff borrowed my Epiphone archtop, since he didn't have his own guitar with him, and soon he, too, was cursing at those heavy strings, even though he played with the instrument on his lap.
  
  Meanwhile I was playing my banjo and having a good laugh, because it was the only time I ever out-played Jeff Healey!

  

  Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."
  
  Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
  
  Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  
• Russell Letson Prodigy

  September 2015 Posts: 355

  On Lang's guitars and strings, here's a presumably authoritative post by the guy who bought one with strings intact:
  
  http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?24950-Eddie-Lang-s-100th-Celebration-this-Tuesday
  
  I string my archtops with what are now considered heavies (014-056), which are a lot lighter than what big-band guys would have used in pre-amplification days. And I've tried even heavier sets (058 or 060 bottom) on my '46 Epiphone with no structural or playing problems. (Though one doesn't bend those strings much. Definitely optimal for rhythm chunking.)
• Jazzaferri Victoria B.C.Moderator Dunn Ultrafox, DuPont MDC20 Gretsch Chet Atkins CG

  September 2015 Posts: 3,707

  Easy enough to build a guitar to take such pressure. Really heavy strings would really emphasize the fundamentals and the first few overtones I suspect. Probably a pretty cool sound.

  The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
• sadow ✭✭ Altamira M30 Antique

  September 2015 Posts: 57

  Some classic Lang on this powerhouse recording: