Learn Dida Pelled’s Playful, Jazzy Take on “Hesitation Blues”

I’ve always wanted to play guitar like a ragtime pianist, with melody, chords, and bass all together—the rhythm snapping just right, effortless. Years ago, a friend played Elizabeth Cotten for me for the first time, and it hit me: this is possible on guitar. Her songs taught me how to make the instrument sing on its own. Cotten’s “Freight Train” is still my favorite thing to play. It’s the first piece most of my students learn—a perfect little thing: full, self-contained, satisfying. You don’t need a band, you don’t need anything. If you find yourself playing alone a lot, you might as well learn to play all the parts yourself.

When I arranged the old tune “Hesitation Blues ” for my latest album, I Wish You Would, I went back to that same idea. I wanted to be able to play it all together, so I could hear it like a song. I worked the chords and wove in melody and bass. I’ve heard countless versions of “Hesitation Blues” over the years, but it was Jelly Roll Morton who made me want to sing and play it—his voicings, his phrasing, his singing, the feel. It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.

The intro is simply that: melody, chords, bass. Once I start singing, I don’t usually want to double the melody, so the voice has its own space. On the studio recording, I’m joined by Sullivan Fortner on piano, Tony Scherr on bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums, so after the intro, once the band comes in, I wanted to leave space and let them do their thing.

Two-note voicings became my secret weapon. Less is more when you sing and play, especially in a quartet with piano and guitar. These voicings add color and lift, and are expressive without crowding the arrangement. The concept is straightforward. For example, on the E6 chord, I might play E–C#, G#–E, B–G#, C#–B. Whichever note in the arpeggio I start from, the second voice skips two notes from there. I worked on this quite a bit. Once you get comfortable with it and can move through chords using these shapes, it makes something simple sound pretty fancy.

The transcription here reflects how I play the tune in the accompanying video, in
a stripped-down setting. When I first posted a video of myself playing it on Instagram using these two-note voicings, people asked for a lesson on how I accompanied it. That’s when I realized that it’s the “missing” notes in the voicings that make room for imagination. It’s perfect for “Hesitation Blues,” full of waiting, of breathing, of possibilities.

Waiting has been a theme in my life. I used to wait anxiously by the window for my parents to come back from work. I can’t get rid of the waiting, but I can change the way I greet it. This version of “Hesitation Blues” is my way of making that space feel flirtatious, playful, and full of possibilities.

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