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Merle
in the Movies
Q In
the classic film From Here to Eternity several scenes depict
soldiers having a sing-along. The guy playing guitar puts down a
pretty good groove, and his guitar looks like Merle Travis’ Martin
dreadnought with a Bigsby-style peghead. Is that Merle?
Al Drewes
Darien, Connecticut
A That was indeed Merle
Travis, and the song he sang was "Reenlistment Blues," which appears
on a number of anthologies, including The Best of Merle Travis:
Sweet Temptation (1946–1953) (Razor and Tie). He played a herringbone
Martin D-28 he acquired in 1946 and fitted with a neck by Paul Bigsby.
The slim neck was particularly well suited to Travis’ unusual chord
fingerings—he often used his left-hand thumb to fret several bass
strings at once. Travis once likened his grip on the neck to grabbing
a hoe handle. He made virtually all of his acoustic recordings with
this guitar, which he played until his death in 1983. There are
several good Web sites with more information about the phenomenal
thumbpicker. A good place to begin is the entry for Travis at the
All Music Guide’s site: www.allmusic.com.
—Paul Kotapish
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Fret
Wear
Q One
of my guitar instructors recommended applying a thin coat of Vaseline
to the tops of my frets to protect them from wear. Won’t the Vaseline
attract dirt and contaminants?
Jeffrey L. Greer
Suffield, Connecticut
A I have
only one word for your instructor’s suggestion: yuck! Frets
do wear out as you play your guitar, but that’s to be expected.
If you’re wearing out your frets, you’re getting real value out
of owning your guitar. Show off that fret wear with pride! The only
way that lubricating the frets is likely to slow down the wear is
by discouraging you from playing on a greasy guitar neck.
—Richard Johnston
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Understanding
Modes
Q
Each scale in a mode has a relative major or minor scale.
E Locrian, for example, is the same scale as the F-major scale,
and the F Mixolydian scale is the same as the G-minor scale. However,
I cannot find a relative scale for C Locrian or B Lydian. What gives?
Mike McLaren
Eureka, California
A
Let me start by explaining to everyone how all the scales
are related. If you play the notes of a C-major scale from C to
C, you’ve got the major scale (also called the Ionian mode). Playing
the same scale from D to D (the second degree) gives you the Dorian
mode, from E to E (the third degree) gives you the Phrygian mode,
from F to F (the fourth degree) gives you the Lydian mode, from
G to G (the fifth degree) gives you the Mixolydian mode, from A
to A (the sixth degree) gives you the natural-minor scale (also
called the Aeolian mode), and from B to B (the seventh degree) gives
you the Locrian mode.
E is the seventh degree of the F-major scale, so playing that scale
from E to E would indeed give you the E Locrian mode. F is the fifth
degree of the Bb-major scale, and G is the sixth degree. So, as
you said, a scale starting on the fifth degree (F) of Bb major will
be Mixolydian and a scale starting on the sixth degree (G) of Bb
major will be minor (Aeolian).
Now let’s find the other two you’re asking about. The Locrian mode
is built on the seventh degree of a major scale. What major scale
has C as the seventh degree? If you guessed Db, you’re right. So
the relative major for C Locrian is Db major. The Lydian mode is
built on the fourth degree of a major scale. Which major scale has
B as the fourth degree? That’s right, F#. So F# is the relative
major for B Lydian.
—Andrew DuBrock
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Beginners'
Tip: Tuning
When starting out, use your electronic tuner whenever you sit down
to play. Chances are, your guitar strings will always need at least
some fine-tuning. New strings will be stretching and going out of
tune for a day or two (or longer, for nylon strings) even when you
aren’t playing. It’s critical to get used to what your guitar sounds
like in tune so that down the road you’ll immediately notice when
you’re out of tune. Train your ears by using them at the same time
you are looking at the tuner’s lights or needle. Try listening before
you turn the tuner on, deciding if the string is sharp or flat,
and then checking your assessment with the tuner.
—Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
Send Questions, tips, or observations to Acoustic Guitar’s
online discussion forums at www.acousticguitar.com
or write to Dear A.G., Acoustic Guitar, PO Box 767, San Anselmo,
CA 94979-0767.
Excerpted
from
Acoustic
Guitar
magazine, September 2001, No. 105.
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