Become a One String Virtuoso
Music should always be fun. Anybody with an inclination to make music should be able to. Unfortunately we are taught that, in order to make music, you need to study music tablature, learn scales and chords, spend money on expensive musical instruments and practice loads. But this isn’t true.
Have you ever see any African tribes people dancing to drums? The drummers have never studied at music college. They obviously can’t read music and wouldn’t know a scale or chord if it hit them on the head. But they know how to have a good time. Making music with the simplest of instruments, often nothing more than a hollow log or a an empty gourd with some lose seeds used as a rattle, is great fun and that is what music is all about.
There is a one stringed Brasilian instrument called a Berimbau that has African roots. Its not surprising to note that the instrument looks like a bow that might be used for hunting. Now this simple instrument is the precursor to pretty much all forms of stringed instrument including guitars, harps and even pianos.
You may have heard of the Diddley Bow. This is an easy to make African American one stringed folk instrument. These might typically be made by stretching a piece of wire along a length of wood. The string is made taught with a bridge of some kind, maybe a can, and then fretted with a slide, often a knife, piece of bone or bottleneck.
Lonnie Pitchford is one well known Diddley Bow player who would make his Diddley Bows by attaching a wire to an upright on his front porch. Making simple diddley bows by attaching a wire to the side of a house or shack was a common way that poor share croppers and field workers would make instruments in the Mississippi Delta region.
The sound of the slide and the Diddley bow is very much the sound of the blues. Many of the early blues orginators from the 1920s and 1930s got their start by twanging Diddley Bows. One popular modern day Diddly bow player is Seasick Steve. So why not make yourself a simple one string Diddley Bow today and make some music.
