QA friend and I need your help. We have been listening to various tunes: blues, slack-key, ragtime, and other fingerstyle pieces. We think we have a reasonable understanding of what musical elements make the first two genres sound the way they do. But we can't for the life of us figure out why it is that when we hear a ragtime piece, we know it's ragtime.
Paul McCurdy
Honolulu, Hawaii
ARagtime can mean different things to different people. On one end of the spectrum, ragtime is defined simply as any music where the time is "ragged" or syncopated. Under this definition John Fahey turns the Episcopal hymn "In Christ There Is No East or West" into ragtime with a great syncopated arrangement.
On the other end of the spectrum, ragtime refers only to the classically structured four-movement compositions created by Scott Joplin and his followers beginning in the 1890s. A few guitarists, starting with Dave Laibman in the late 1950s, have arranged some of these for guitar, usually limiting themselves to one or two movements.
Most guitarists, however, think of ragtime as the fingerpicking style first recorded in the late 1920s and early 1930s by folks like Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, and Blind Boy Fuller and carried on today by pickers such as Ton Van Bergeyk and Del Rey. Guitar rags are played in 4/4 time in a very rhythmic style with tons of syncopation. The right-hand thumb plays a steady and often contrapuntal bass line while the other fingers play clusters of arpeggiated eighth notes that closely follow the chord changes. Rags sometimes follow a slightly altered blues chord progression:
| I | IV V7 | I V7 | I I7 | | IV | VIdim | I V7 | I VI7 | | II7 | V7 | I I7 IV iv | I V7 |
Even more common is this chord progression:
| I | VI7 | II7 V7 | I V7 | | I | VI7 | II7 | V7 | | I | VI7 | II7 V7 | I |
No matter what the progression, the changes are usually made just before the beat.
--Dale Miller
QI just bought the album The Pahinui Brothers and am stunned by the beauty of the guitar playing. Is any tab or instructional material available?
Mike Wallbridge
Aberystwyth, Dyfed, United Kingdom
AThere is a new book-and-cassette instructional method called Guitar Playing Hawaiian Style, by Ozzie Kotani. It is in tablature and is distributed by Native Books, 1224 N. School, Honolulu, HI 96817; (808) 845-8949. There is also a fine video method from Homespun Tapes by Keola Beamer called The Art of Hawaiian Slack-Key Guitar. The video includes a tab booklet. And stay tuned to Acoustic Guitar's Reviews department; slack-key book/cassette packages and videos will be featured in an upcoming issue.
--Michael Simmons
QIn "Vintage Bargains" (January), Richard Johnston said that it's hard to lay hands on one of the 27,558 D-18s or one of the 14,776 D-28s made between 1940 and 1969. What then are the chances of finding a D-21, of which less than 3,000 were made? Doesn't scarcity determine collectibility?
Herb Key
Wilkesboro, North Carolina
AMy article didn't say that postwar D-18s or D-28s are hard to find, only that most of them have become expensive in recent years. As I mentioned, early 1960s D-18s are still a bargain. The high number of D-28s made, as compared to D-21 models, proves that demand, not rarity, creates price inflation. Utter the magic code "D-28" among most any group of acoustic guitarists (well, OK, male guitarists), and names of famous people start flying--Hank Williams, Tony Rice, Steve Stills, Michael Hedges . . . the list goes on and on. Mention "D-21" and the response will likely be, "Huh?" Did anyone famous play a D-21? Has any other company copied the model? Martin D-21s--especially those from the first ten years or so of the model's life span--are great guitars, but they didn't catch on then, and they haven't since. The low production makes it harder to lay hands on a D-21, but you'll also need to hand over less money to buy one, at least when compared to a D-28 of similar vintage.
--Richard Johnston
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