Transcription: Blue Lou

Tune: Blue Lou
Composer: Edgar Sampson
From the album: Old Manuscripts - Broadcast Transcriptions 1944/45
Leader of the session: Count Basie
Recorded: May 29, 1944
CD: Music & Arts Programs of America CD-884
Transcription: starts at 2'13"; ends at 2'23"
Tempo: 192 beats per minute

This eight measure transcription illustrates Freddie playing "one note chords" in the mid-Forties. The guitar is quite audible in this ten second passage as Rodney Richardson takes a bass solo. Characteristically, Freddie places the majority of the clearly sounded notes on the 4th string and the 3rd string. The transcribed notes show only the pitches that can be definitely discerned.

Note how he moves the tritone fingering up and down the fingerboard, often very quickly. Of particular interest is the tritone on the third beat of measure seven. The Gb does not "fit" within the Bb7 harmony, but it passes so quickly the dissonance is hardly noticed.

Important: The chord diagrams illustrate probable fingering forms used by Freddie Green based on extensive research conducted by the primary contributors to this web site. As there is no video record of this recording session, Freddie's exact fingerings will never be known.

An "x" indicates that a finger is placed on the string, but the string is not fully pushed down to make contact with the fret.

A "black dot" indicates that a finger is placed on the string, and the string is pushed down to make contact with the fret.

A "white dot" indicates that a finger is placed on the string, and the string is pushed down to make contact with the fret. A white dot also indicates that the note is added to the chord form on the previous beat. Adding an upper note on beat 2 or 4 is a typical Freddie Green technique.

If there is no "x", "black dot", or "white dot", the string is fully damped by a finger of the left hand.

Left hand fingerings are not included; experiment to find fingerings that work for your technique. Note that Freddie often used his left thumb on the sixth string.

Transcribed by Michael Pettersen
March 2004

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