Transcription: Every Day I Have The Blues

Composer: Memphis Slim
Transcription starts at 0'13"; ends at 5'25"
From the album: Count Basie Swings - Joe Williams Sings
Leader of the session: Count Basie
Recording date: May 17, 1955
CD: Verve 314 519 852-2
Tempo: 115 beats per minute

"Every Day I Have The Blues" was the biggest hit of Count Basie's and Joe Williams' careers. It is a superb arrangement by Ernie Wilkins, Joe Williams is in top form, and the band is swinging hard....quintessential Basie.

The complete guitar part is transcribed here. In bars 113 and 114, the guitar is masked by the band. I notated probable note choices based on what was played previously in the arrangement when the chord was Db7.

Freddie's guitar style was unlike most rhythm guitarists. Instead of playing a series of chord changes, Freddie would create a countermelody in quarter notes that fit the chord changes. In this transcription, note how his countermelody is varied each time the twelve bar blues form is repeated. Freddie liked to play the blues because he "got to move around a lot."

The tessitura of Freddie's part is one octave: the lowest note is an F (4th string, 3rd fret); the highest note is an F (3rd string, 10th fret). This limited tessitura kept his guitar apart above the bass part and below the piano part. Basie's rhythm section members were careful to avoid each other's tessitura; not doing so would blur the distinct lines of each player.

In this recording, here are Freddie's note choices for an Ab chord:

94% of the notes sounded are the root of the chord (Ab).
5% of the notes sounded are a passing tone (G).
1% of the notes sounded is the sixth of the chord (F).

Here are Freddie's note choices for an Ab7 chord:

44% of the notes sounded are the seventh of the chord (Gb).
25% of the notes sounded are the root of the chord (Ab).
18% of the notes sounded are the ninth of the chord (Bb).
12% of the notes sounded are the third of the chord (C).
1% of the notes sounded is a passing tone (Db).

Here are Freddie's note choices for a Db7:

36% of the notes sounded are the third of the chord (F).
33% of the notes sounded are seventh of the chord (Cb).
20% of the notes sounded are the fifth of the chord (Ab).
11% of the notes sounded are passing tones (G, Gb, Bb).

For instruction on how to play one note and two note voicings in the manner of Freddie Green, see: http://www.freddiegreen.org/technique.html

Transcribed by Michael Pettersen, April 2006