52 weeks of blues

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, Jr was born on May 17, 1942, in Harlem, New York. His parents were a Caribbean jazz arranger and an African American gospel singer who grew up during the “Harlem Renaissance”, a cultural movement spanning the 1920’s to 40’s characterised by a feeling of racial pride and the exploration of folk traditions on African American and ‘coloured’ identity.
His father was a well known jazz pianist and arranger – labelled “the Genius” by none other than Ella Fitzgerald – and got Taj started on the piano, clarinet, trombone and harmonica. His house was constantly visited by Caribbean, African and American musicians, giving the young Taj a love of African and Caribbean rhythms. The family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts before Taj turned 10 and his father was killed in a workplace accident soon after, deeply affecting the young musician.
A new neighbour – nephew of bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Cruddup – introduced Taj to the acoustic guitar at age 13 or 14. At 17 he adopted the name Taj Mahal inspired by a social conscious, the civil rights movement and the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi to promote freedom and civil rights in India. Taj’s first job was as a farmer and it remains a love of his, inspiring a lot of his work.
Moving to Santa Monica, California in 1964, he formed a band with Ry Cooder and was signed to Columbia Records. The mixed race band didn’t receive much airplay and broke up, and Taj turned to a solo career, releasing a self titled debut in 1968. In the same year, he released the hugely influential “The Natch’l Blues”, introducing “she caught the katy” to the blues lexicon.
Taj released a string of albums in the late 60s and 70s, before relocating to Hawaii in 1981 and taking a short hiatus. Taj Mahal is recognized as a pioneer of “world music”, incorporating reggae, calypso, jump, zydeco, jazz and gospel themes and rhythms into what essentially is country blues. He has won two Grammy’s for best blues album, and his music continues to explore the diversity of the folk traditions inherent in the blues.

“Fishin’ Blues” is an old song the origins of which are unknown. It’s likely it was a traditional tune, but nothing about it appears in literature before Henry Thomas recorded it in 1928. Thomas was 54 when he recorded it, had been a hobo and travelling musician for 30 years and is regarded as the father of Texas Blues. Taj’s version was recorded for his “De Old Folks at Home” album in 1968 and keeps the same progression and vocal hook, but reworks the lyrics significantly.
It has a ragtime structure – an 18 bar progression – and is played in the key of D in dropped D tuning – tune your low E string down to a D. This gives you 2 D strings that are used to alternate the bass. The lower E string means the E and G chords are fingered differently, using the 2nd and 5th frets on the low E as the bass notes respectively. With the G, you really only need to fret two notes – the G at 5th fret low E (D) string and 3rd fret B string. The E is a standard E chord with the 2nd fret low E string fretted – you don’t need the B on the A string, so just move that finger up a string.
The key to this song is the consistent alternating bass line all throughout the song. The thumb hits the beat on the beat every beat, it creates the drive and the background for the melody to harmonise with. It’s really a bouncy feel, so try to ‘snap’ it a little with your thumb, not much, but just enough to make it sound happy. For the most part it’s the same as the bassline in Willie McTell’s Statesboro blues, but McTell makes it sad and morose, here you have to keep it upbeat and somewhat bright.
The melodies, and to a large extent the solo, are all based around chord shapes – standard D, A and the altered E and G shapes. Keep the main melody notes string and bright, and the lesser notes quiet and subdued. You really want to have some of them complementing the bassline and others sounding like a different instrument over the top.

D                                                                     A          D
Betcha goin' fishin' all of the time, baby goin' fishing too
D                                               E               A                D
Bet your life, your sweet wife, catch more fish than you
D                                D7
Many fish bites if you got good bait
G                                D
Here's a little tip I would like to relate
D
Many fish bite if you got good bait
D            G              D               G
I'm a-goin' fishin', Yes, I'm goin' fishin'
D                             A          D
And my baby's goin' fishin' too

I went on down to my favourite fishin' hole, baby, grabbed me a pole and line
Throw my pole on in, caught a nine pound catfish, now you know I brought him on home for supper time
Proving any fish bites if you got good bait
Here's a little tip I would like to relate
Many fish bites if you got a good bait
I'm a-goin' fishin', Yes, I'm goin' fishin'
And my baby's goin' fishin' too

Baby brother 'bout to run me outta my mind say can I go fishin' wit' you?
I took him on down to the fishin' hole now what do you think that he did do?
Pulled a great big fish outta the bottom of the pond
And he laughed and jumped 'cause he was real gone
Many fish bites if you got good bait
I'm a-goin' fishin', Yes, I'm goin' fishin'
And my baby's goin' fishin' too

Put 'em in the pot baby, put 'em in the pan honey, cook 'em till' they're nice and brown
Make a batch of buttermilk cold cakes mama, and you chew them things and you chomp 'em on down
Singing any fish bites if you got good bait
Here's a little tip I would like to relate
Many fish bites if you got a good bait
I'm a-goin' fishin', Yes, I'm goin' fishin'
And my baby's goin' fishin' too

Play the blues
Solo

Betcha goin' fishin' all of your time, baby goin' fishing too
Bet your life, your sweet wife, she'd gunna catch more fish than you
Many fish bites if ya got good bait
Here's a little tip I would like to relate
Many fish bites if ya got a good bait
I'm a-goin' fishin', Mama's  goin' fishin'
And the baby's goin' fishin' too

The intro starts with the main melodic theme of the song. He drops the alternating bass in bars 1 and 2 for dramtic effect, but then it’s steady for the rest of the song. Bars 3 & 4 have a D to G chord change used at the end of all verses – I suggest just repeating bar 3 until you get the hang of it, then improvising with it as Taj does.

The progression is really rag timey – it stays in D with quick chord changes to add tension. The alternating bass is the key here, keep your thumb consistent over the changes. The structure is consistent over the entire song, but Taj improvises around the chord shapes in subsequent verses. This is Verse 1, get it down then let your creativity take over.

The solo starts with a riff based around a 5th fret D minor chord. The F at 6th fret B string is bent a half step up to the major 3rd every tiume it is played, and is held over the other notes. The measure in bar 3 where he drops the bass for two beats is tricky to time right, as is the measure in bar 9. Practise it slowly, and build up your speed. The last 4 bars are similar to the progression – improvise your own version rather than staying 100% true to what I’ve tabbed out.

A quick repetition of the last 4 bars to take us out.