[dluxrvrb]

Now that I have my Clarence Copy-catster completed (well enough to play anyway, there are still a few things I want to do to it, but anyhow...) I need to know where is a good place to start learning his style. Whats the first Clarence song you all learned when you got your b bender? I listened through a slew of 'em and WOW! I have been listening to Clarence since Marty Stuart turned me on to him a few years back and thought "I could play that if I had a bender." My mistake! Although it is my first night with the guitar, I don't think I'll be mastering it any time soon. I really like his sound on the Gosdin Brothers "Tell Me." Hearing that song almost caused me to flunk out of school last semester.

Share what you know, or point me in the right direction. I know they're a slew of B Bender instructional DVDs out there, but I haven't seen anything that teachers Clarence's style.

Thanks
Chris Parris

[Don Miller]

I think a good place to start would be to learn the break on "Deportee", off the Easy Rider LP.There is accurate tab for it buried somewhere in this site...Brian did it...the tune has all the benderisms...arrpegiated chords. single note lines, chimed harmonics, and its done slowly and directly...no before-after the beat stuff...no off kilter harmonies that might take a bit to get your ear around...no tricky hybrid picking...but a good clear intro to the fundementals...nail this stuff and you can move into the more complex stuff... Bob Warfords break on Willin' would be a good lesson #2

The warmup recrding...which is included in part on the recent Sierra CD is also a gold mine of tricks, licks and techniques...

Use a metronome, click track, or solid rhythm...timing is extremely critical and the difference between a cool lick and a mess is milliseconds...

[dluxrvrb]

Thanks Don, I just got the easy rider the other day. I'll check that out. I also have the Sierra White Lightning CD and had forgot about the little snippets of stripped down playing at the end of some of the tracks. When the semester is over at school I'm gonna dig in on this thing and see what I can learn before student teaching starts in January.
Chris

[jimmydeluxe]

Although Clarence used behind the nut bends rather than bender here, I found that learning "Time Between" (from Brians tab!) was a pretty good start. Quite a few of the licks he uses you'll here again in other songs and eventually, after lots and lots of practice they've found their way into my playing (a bit). Especially the opening gambit on the B. From there, the version of "Time Between" on the Byrds Live At The Fillmore 1969, Clarence plays it quite a bit differently and it's full of mind blowing bender! That's how I started and it helped me understand his playing a lot more - well, I say understand, I still don't understand at all! I tiny insight into it anyway...

[dluxrvrb]

Wow I never noticed the tab section here because it is under books, I finally read the fine print (lol!) I was wondering where all these tabs were. I'll be spending some time over there in the coming weeks. I also have a grounding issue to work out as well, but that's another topic (picture head in hands shaking) I've named this guitar "TROUBLE!" because that is all it has caused since I started building it! (HAHA!) Its all good and I appreciate everyone's input.
Thanks
Chris Parris

[Murr]

[Garth]