Scrapper Blackwell: The Legend, The Liquor, The Licks

Scrapper Blackwell is one of the most stylish blues guitar players to come out of the classic period of the late 1920s and early ‘30s. Yet, few modern fans even know his name, despite its romantic swagger. He was a true lead guitarist and played on over a hundred sides with Leroy Carr, one of the most influential blues artists. Carr sang, played piano and wrote songs, and Blackwell provided stinging single-note licks and chordal textures. They held a rapt audience, most notably on their biggest hit, “How Long Blues.”

There are many surprising facts in the Carr-Blackwell story, including that they met in Indianapolis, Indiana instead of Mississippi or Chicago. And although they may have cut their teeth in the wild scene that gave their music its bawdy house aura, they played formal concerts and cut many of their sides in studios in New York City.

A rumor persists that Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr met in the bootlegging business (they both worked as bootleggers!) but it’s also possible that they were introduced by their record company, Vocalion. Little is known about the duo with much of the detail we have coming from an interview of Scrapper Blackwell by Theodore F. Watts that was published in Jazz Monthly in 1960. Leroy Carr died of complications of alcoholism in 1935 and one can almost hear the glasses clinking as they play, even if the tune is not “Straight Alky Parts I and II.” Legend has it that Carr spent his last advance on a party the night he died, and Scrapper recalls rolling around drunk on the train tracks in the aftermath of Carr’s departure from this mortal coil. Scrapper survived Carr’s death and continued to record. He died tragically in a mugging in 1959, right before a last hurrah was well due in the sixties blues boom. The interview, given right before his death, is essential reading for any fan.

The relative obscurity of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell makes the study of their style, tunes and licks difficult but in ways, even more rewarding. The sound quality of their sides is relatively good, compared to say, Charlie Patton. I’ve transcribed a number of Scrapper’s licks for this article and made a video, below. The biggest challenge was deciding which licks to focus on. There are so many good ones!

 

The first thing the intrepid lick thief will notice is that the duo does not play in typical guitar keys. Although an occasional sharp key will surface, the majority of the keys benefit Carr’s seductive blues croon and are therefore on the flat side: Eb, Bb, Ab, Db and C.

Scrapper uses a capo a lot of the time and you can see him with one on the fourth fret in the picture above with Carr. I found that many of the licks can be played well with the capo on the first fret, allowing Eb, Bb and Ab to ring nicely. Scrapper uses the whole guitar but single notes on the low E string are few and far between, escaping obliteration by Carr’s heavy left hand.

Scrapper uses the major pentatonic as well as the minor, and mixes them up liberally. His sense of rhythm and form is inspiring and all the licks swing. He seems to favor A form patterns for many scenarios. Let’s examine the licks themselves for more information about the style and content of this ingenious and prolific guitar picker, Scrapper Blackwell.

The Licks

The first lick, from “Midnight Hour Blues,” is chromatic and occupies an unusual space with three notes on each of two strings at the same frets. If you were going to identify this lick with a blues scale pattern, it would be Form IV but that still leaves a couple of notes that come from the V chord, Bb7, and sharp three of the I chord.

The next lick is from the same tune. Scrapper does many variations on this one. I call them the “Rod Stewart” licks because one appears to great effect in “All In The Name Of Rock And Roll” from Rod's Atlantic Crossing album. Says it all, right? It’s tricky to memorize several of these runs because they’re subtly different. The key is in the rhythm – where they fit in the shuffle pattern in terms of the long and short triplet notes and especially the bent notes.

The third lick is from “Tight Time Blues,” and he uses it multiple times. I couldn’t really get this one but what I got I still like. It’s a little complicated with double stops following his trademark train whistle bends.

The fourth lick from “Don’t Start No Stuff” is a great exercise using all four fingers. It’s important to understand that the lick starts on beat four, like many blues lines and fills. Otherwise, the repetitions can sound confusing if they appear to have started on the downbeat. Leroy Carr is singing on top of this. Pretty cool for a background line!

Number five, “You Left Me Crying” is a nice lick that runs to the top of blues Form V and then slides back into Form IV, a Scrapper trademark. Check out how he starts with a note and then slides into the same note a split second later – it can be hard to identify as the same note when you’re listening – pretty clever right? Two notes for the price of one!

Lick number six from “Mean Mistreater Mama” has some straight Form I riffage. The bends with vibrato take time to master. It really swings and sounds a bit horn-like. Note how he outlines the chord progression. He does this all the time but here it’s obvious.

Lick number seven is another Rod Steward riff, ha ha – in “Straight Alky Part II.” This time he does the run in Ab. If you can memorize this and the one from “Midnight Hour Blues” and play them at will, back to back, you’re onto something.

In lick number eight, “Eleven-Twenty-Nine Blues” we have an extended section with three main licks. The first is a Scrapper favorite – he also does it in the classic “Hustler’s Blues,” below. Gotta use all of them fingers! The middle part went straight to Jimmy Page for a number of Zeppelin I riffs (Scrapper does this all the time), and then we have a lovely descending turnaround lick which is interesting because it resolves to an A Form chord as opposed to an E Form chord.

“Evil Hearted Woman,” lick number nine, has this cool phrase that spans the IV and V forms again. Works great with a capo or in the key of A. The really cool parts are the quarter step bends on the seventh degree, coming and going, and then the tonic that descends chromatically – I had never quite heard it that way, simple as it is. This brief but complex lick has a world of melody and harmony in it – it suggests that we are going to the second line of a twelve bar blues – the IV chord.

I botched lick number ten a little bit, from “Hustler’s Blues.” This song has the line “Whiskey is my habit, good women is all I crave,” that became the title of the great Columbia compilation album released in 2004 (you can see pictures of it in many of the videos). I used it for all the musical research on this article. Notice how the lick is similar to number eight in the way it starts but totally different in terms of how it ends. Listen to the song and look closely at the tab for the exact way to play it.

In lick eleven we have a full verse from “Bobo Stomp,” one of the most rippin’ cuts from Carr and Blackwell. 172 to the quarter. Watch the picking in the arpeggios – you can accent the strong eighths using alternate picking. It was kind of Srapper to leave out an eighth at the end of each measure – makes it easier and more rhythmic. The last parts are tricky again utilizing a combination position of form IV and V.

Finally, “Good Woman Blues” – Yikes! The train whistle lick again but way up the neck. This lick will test the strength of your left hand. Mine starts to lock up if I don’t practice it regularly. Easy on an electric guitar. Anyone for tennis elbow?

I hope you have enjoyed this article on one of the greatest unsung guitar heroes. It was a blast for me to work on and became an obsession of sorts. I’ve already started to work on the next batch of licks. -Christian Botta

Comments

[Jim Hannigan]

Superb research and analysis Chris.

[On Practicing Guitar]

Thanks Jim! It was a long time in the making. The hardest part was figuring out which licks to transcribe. And the keys! Like, should I transpose them, etc? But I'm really happy with it. Thanks for your support! -Chris

[Bob Perfetto]

Thanks for sharing this, very informative!

[On Practicing Guitar]

Thanks, Bob! Since I published the article, I discovered that a great source for Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell is the complete box set on Document Records. Many amazing cuts released and unreleased plus excellent liner notes. -Chris

[Evan K]

Great stuff, thank you. I'm more a pianist than a guitar player, but a huge fan of Leroy Carr, so I've been tempted to learn some of Scrapper's licks too. Thanks again!

[On Practicing Guitar]

Thanks for writing, Evan! I've been trying to adapt Scrapper's licks for my own stuff but it's easier said than done. They are so distinctive. One of the things about Leroy Carr is, he's such a great singer. The music is incredibly well balanced. -Chris

[eifion]

After looking for Blackwell licks online - and being disappointed by the results, many of which sounded like pretty folk melodies and not hard driving blues - this is wonderful stuff. Thanks so much!

[On Practicing Guitar]

Hi Eifion,
Thanks for writing. I'm glad the Scrapper article was helpful. I've spent so much time trying to grab some of Scrapper's mojo. Maybe I will post my electric cover of Sloppy Drunk Blues. I made a new video of it last night with my band, Saints & Sinners. Yet, I still have work to do with my Scrapper licks. He's an unheralded master.
-Chris