Hey Corey, I know you may not stop everywhere on this site so I wanted to invite you to hear my rendition of Catfish Blues.  It has been a blues favorite of mine forever, but just now adapting your style to it.  And the way you play it is so pure and just good to my ears.  I love your playing.  And it is so nice that you would take the time for guys like myself looking to communicate with a great well respected musician (as you are).  It is an honor to be here with you.

Now for the music...let's get into it.  I would like to know how you feel I am doing.  I am playing with my fingers (I usually use a pick for electric guitar), and I am playing a $250 Fender dobro.  I really like the guitar, and I think it gives good tone for delta blues styles.  So take a listen, I kind of stretched it out a bit i my own way to by maybe phrasing some things slightly different.  But you know, at the end of the day you always end up with something that is yours.  Influence is the key however, and you are influencing me in a big way right now.  I plan to move on to some of your other stuff soon.  But Catfish for right now.

Thanks so much for listening and for your feedback.

Brian Kinder

Brian thanks for posting the song.  I would suggest that you stick to a constant form in the song instead of stretching out too much.  I feel that songs like catfish work best when there is a recognizeable form to the song.  I like a lot of the chords you are using but I think the song would sound better with a lighter touch on the strings (right hand).   This might help with some of the string noise that I hear.  In the beginning there were some parts where your rhythm was a little uneven but it smoothed out later on.  Thanks again for taking the time to post the music and I look forward to hearing more from you. 

Thanks Corey, I am still working from your lesson and listening and studying and applying the technique to my own playing.  I will post something again later when I am ready.  The singing while playing is a bit challenging, however I do realize what your singing is actually doing is mimicking the guitar notes so with that said, it should become easier for me.  Thanks

Hi Corey I did another try at this.  I like it however because of where the mic was placed, the vocals came thru very soft.  Tha is okay though, can always do another one later.

Hy Brian...

nice video...I've never seen before the way how you use your right hand...it's very original!!!

I'd like to hear your version with an acoustic guitar as the sounds it's even warmer!!!

Take care and great job

Alex (Italy)

Thank you Alex.  My technique is not something that I tried to do on purpose, but it is just the natural technique that I ende up with when I play with my hands instead of a pick.  It is also probably wrong...Corey will tell us.

One more, this time with my Epiphone Texan.  This is me, live from the bathroom.  Enjoy.  Comments welcome from Corey or anyone.  I am just trying to get this so that it is felt from the soul.  My tempo increases as the song moves along, I guess because I am not using a metronome.

Peace

@Brian...how are you? I think you have a pretty solid rhythm going and I dig how you use your index finger to do so much.  I would suggest using your thumb more, definitely for the top three strings. I would suggest overall that you shorten the song length.  I think most solo blues songs should be no more than four minutes long.  I usually shoot for three minutes.  I like the different riffs thatyou have thrown in the song.  I think that you should use them more sparingly because at times it is too much.  I think that you should also look to arranging the parts of the song so that there is an order to it.  This would makje it less like a jam and more like a song unto itself. You have a nice touch on the guitar.  Thanks for posting.

@Brian...I also wanted to say that you should try and sing more.  Listening to the video, the guitar is louder than your voice.  As you know. the tradition is built on singers who accompany themselves on the instrument.  So try and work on your singing by making your guitar playing simpler so that the voice shines through more.  Also try singing accapella as much as you can.  You might also want to record you playing the groove in a simple, less complex way and then sing along with it.  You might come up with some more vocal ideas when you mind is free from playing guitar.  Don't do this too much though, becuase then you will become used to it.  Just do it once, if you want to and it might help you to hear more objectively where you stand in the development of your voice.  Thanks again.

Thank you Corey for taking the time to review this work and write about it in such a helpful way.  You are really a good guy and a great bluesman.