A Word About Scott Joplin, Ragtime Piano Genius
Every one knows the name Scott Joplin, Afro-American born in Texas, United States Of America in 1868. For many of us his name is synonymous with ragtime, as a musical style, and particularly ragtime piano. If he were around nowadays, he’d be a rich for sure, now that his music is played everywhere for film sound tracks and numerous other purposes (how can we forget the melody of ‘The Entertainer’ throughout that great film ‘The Sting’ with Paul Newman and Robert Redford?)
Before taking a look at ragtime guitar, we should explore the origins of ragtime.
Scott Joplin – Brothel Piano Player And Genius
He trained to play piano at an early age and left home to earn his living playing his chosen instrument. For a negro man, this usually meant playing any places that would earn him some money. During the early years, he played in mostly houses of ill-repute and bars. Deep down inside, being classically trained, he longed to create his own music and then have his music recognized as serious work.
Combining his training in European classical piano with his innate instincts, and proud African ancestry, he created a way of playing that was intricate, but very rhythmic with a complicated beat. This rhythmic feel was named ‘syncopation’ and became ragtime, possibly after a popular dance amongst the African-American community at that time, called simply, the ‘rag’. In this way the ragtime style was born from two cultures.
Ragtime Blues Guitar
At that time, bands of wandering performers moved rural areas to entertain in small communities, often incorporating banjo and guitar. Although quite diverse, the opposite side of blues music could be identified as the dark, intense blues guitar of the delta, and the happy guitar sound known as the Piedmont style.
Piedmont style of picking was perfect for dancing, had a generally faster rhythm, syncopated tempo and came from the style of playing piano called ragtime. Guitarists at that time attempted to mimic the complicated piano runs, which was tough, as the guitar had a limited number of strings! (Later on, in the early electric era, the guitar tried to copy the sound of the saxophone.)
Some early guitarists found that that the right hand thumb might move between two or more bass strings, as the fingers play the melody – ragtime blues, often called the ‘happy blues’ was created.
Quite a few artists extended this way of playing and were quite successful, notably Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie McTell and several others. Other guitarists incorporated the style into their list of songs in order to vary their appeal. In general, none of these were as skilled as Blake, Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Willie Walker. Guitarists wishing to play blues guitar would be well advised to study these artists extensively. Find more details on how to play blues guitar and play the blues.
Gather more information on how to play the blues and how to play blues guitar.
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