Gitarre & Bass
Toby Walker - Fingerstyle Blues & Stand-Up Comedy

by Andi Saitenheib

Feature in 'Gitarre & Bass', issue May 2015.
'Gitarre & Bass' is Germany's biggest selling music mag.

Fingerstyle Blues & Stand-Up Comedy

In March 2014 I saw the in any account best concert of my life so far - or rather, I was allowed to experience it! After I already brought Steve James - another absolute exceptional blues musician from America - to Germany to play a concert, this time it was Toby Walker who visited our little village Ockstadt. Until that day I couldn't image it would be possible that an individual man, armed only with an acoustic guitar, could burn down a concert room and make an audience go crazy like this!

Without any backing band or technical effects, solely with his personality, his songs and his incredible musical abilities! Today I want to introduce you to Toby Walker and in the subsequent workshop I want to pass on some of the stuff I learned from him.

The musician

Among connoisseurs Toby Walker is highly revered, and at least in his home region he enjoys cult status. Walker not only graced the cover of the February 2014 issue of 'Blues Blast' Magazine, in May 2014 he was also introduced into the New York 'Blues Hall of Fame'. But these honors and distinctions are not surprising, in addition to various other awards Walker already won the prestigious 'International Blues Challenge' in the most difficult section 'solo artist' in 2002.

Toby Walker is so well-versed and versatile that the term 'blues guitarist' actually is almost an insult. Of course he has mastered the old Delta Blues, Country Blues and Ragtime like no other on the planet, but he is at the same time so much more: He has the versatility of a Leo Kottke, is able to sound jazzy like Charlie Christian and can play roots music in the style of Doc Watson. Of course these skills didn't come out of thin air: Walker has learned from legendary blues musicians like RL Burnside, James Son Thomas, Jack Owens and Eugene Powell. Numerous trips to the south of the United States also ensured that Walker not only learned from these musicians, but also made friends with them. And he has learned something else from these legends: How to entertain and excite an audience! In addition to his outstanding musical abilities Walker is also a great storyteller and entertainer so that his concerts are a real experience - even for music lovers who would not necessarily described themselves as hardcore blues fans. Toby told me that he would bore his audience to death if he played for example six Delta Blues songs in a row. But if he told an interesting story to each of these songs before he played them the audience could be enthused for each of these songs and they would listen carefully ... would you leave out all the songs of his performance, left would be a prime stand up comedy on the Blues and it's old heroes, which makes about one-third of the show.

Important for studious guitarists: Toby is also a passionate and extremely good teacher! He is one of only a few persons who are not only able to PLAY outstanding music, but also to TEACH this knowledge. During the three days that he spent in Ockstadt, we jammed several times - and time and time again he said, 'Turn on your camera, I'll show you something!' During his trips to the

aforementioned Blues musicians he also had his tape recorder and his camera with him and therefore he knows how great it is if one can learn from these recordings later.

The Teacher

Toby made several very good instructional DVDs for Happy Traum's Homespun label (www.ho- mespun.com): 'Blues Fingerpicking Freedom 1 & 2 'and 'Fingerpicking Hank Williams'. Before long his new DVD on improvisation will be available.
In addition to these DVDs on his website Toby also offers download videos with tabs from many of his arrangements at a very fair price. And of course you also can buy his great CDs via his website, on request with dedication.

I recommend taking a listen to Toby's Youtube videos 'Boogie Woogie Dance', ' Blame It On The Bass Player' and 'Spoonful'. On my YouTube channel I have a couple of videos of Toby from his concert in Ockstadt which will give you an impression of his live qualities. In November Toby will be back to Germany, this time for several concerts. If you subscribe to my newsletter (email to [email protected]), I will give you the details timely. Toby Walker's site is www.littletobywalker.com

Workshop

If you just listen to Toby's music, from time to time you will wonder if there really is only one guitarist playing (and in case of his CDs, you wonder if he perhaps cheated with overdubs). If you then see him actually play, the doubts quickly make place for sheer enthusiasm. The particular strength of Toby Walker is improvising while at the same time he accompanies himself with his thumb on the low strings. And this technique is what I would like to show you in this workshop. Due to space limitations, I keep the explanations in the text very short and show mainly the notes / tabs. As always you'll find audio files you can download at www.gitarrebass.de – and on these I demonstrate all examples with detailed explanations. (In this workshop, I can only demonstrate the endless possibilities very briefly. In my new book 'Garantiert Akustik Bluesgitarre lernen' I show these techniques in a dedicated chapter, with even more detailed step by step instructions.)

• Steady Bass
After initial problems with the coordination between thumb and fingers this technique quickly goes into flesh and blood. The important thing here is that you first train your thumb to do what it should do, and then gradually add different sounds and playing techniques. Check carefully which notes are played at the same time (in the tablature written one above each other) and which are played consecutively. This is also recommended for the other featured bass variations.

• Shuffle Bass (without notes) The same exercises can be done while the thumb plays a continuous shuffle bass. That's much more difficult! But you have another timbre in your Blues tool box.

• Alternating bass (without notes) Another popular variant for the thumb is the alternating bass. It's possible to improvise lead lines while playing an alternating bass also! In order to simplify

your life a little, you can lower the low E string two semitones to D (Dropped-D tuning) and play in the key of D. This way you can concentrate entirely on the improvisation and the alternating thumb, that jumps back and forth between the two D-strings - without the need to fret any bass notes. (Note: This mainly works on the I chord, because for the IV and V we would need to fret bass notes. But because in Blues music usually there are vocals on the IV and the V and therefore guitar fills are played only on the I, you can use this technique at least in the chorus' with vocals. The next step would be to go back to standard tuning. Here you play melodies and fills mainly from within the various chord shapes. See also the two Homespun DVDs 'Blues Fingerpicking Freedom 1 & 2' by Toby.)

• Bass Riffs
The supreme discipline is to play a melody while accompanying yourself with bass lines. These things are no longer improvised but rather arranged and practised measure by measure beforehand, because you have to think carefully about when and where to use each finger of the frettng hand. This is a pretty advanced technique that is a real eye-catcher and will surely excite the audience!

To get a little taste of Toby's playing I recommend 'Toby's Boogie Woogie' on Youtube. This arrangement can also be purchased as a download lesson with videos and tabs on Toby's website. Now you have a lot of suggestions and exercises that will take some time untill you can play them easily and integrate them in your playing style. The reward for this effort is the ability to accompany yourself at any time while you play a little solo. Good luck & endurance!

Do it yourself

Toby Walker, Steve James and the other musicians of that generation had a chance to visit the last survivors of a long bygone era and learn the old school Blues firsthand. These original blues legends are now long gone, but the tradition lives on in musicians like Steve James, Toby Walker, Roy Bookbinder, David Evans, John Hammond Jr., Paul Geremia, Rory Block, Al Cook, Willie Solomon and others. The last sentence is meant as a listening recommandation - your task is now to check out their recordings on YouTube and your favourite download stores!
Those of you that - like me – are not able to or do not want to travel to the US to learn from the modern masters have a great alternative: The organizing of concerts with these artists in your hometown - see also my workshop "How to organize a concert" in Gitarre & Bass issue 01/2014! You will not only learn an incredible amount musically, these concerts may also result in very nice contacts or even real friendships. I really want to encourage anyone interested in organizing a concert to try it out. Do it!!!

Questions, suggestions or comments are welcome. You can contact me through my website:

www.andisaitenhieb.de