Poor Boy - Leo Kottke Version - Tutorial and Tab

 


This is my version of Leo Kottke's version of the traditional song Poor Boy. The music is played at a very fast tempo in this piece and requires a slide to be used across all 6 strings, which is quite common in Kottke's music. It is an instrumental piece and all the parts of the music are included here but I don't play all of the repeats. If you listen to the original, you will hear which sections are repeated for the full music.

It is in 4/4 time and it is played on a guitar in Open D tuning, however in Kottke's recorded version he tunes this down a futher 3 half steps. It also requires a full length slide to play it.

Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab.

Poor Boy Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT
 
  • Sliding Over 6 Strings - This music requires you to use a slide across all six strings of the guitar whilst playing a travis picking pattern at a fast tempo. Because of this, when using the slide you must make sure all six strings are getting suitable contact with the slide or you will get buzzing. If you haven't played like this before you will have to practise using the slide in this way first. Maybe try just using it across the six strings and strumming the strings whilst moving the slide. Once you can do this without too much buzzing, you will have the hang of this technique and can progress to learning this tune. It also may be beneficial to use a curved slide like I do which is similar to the radius of the fretboard. This makes it less likely the strings will catch the frets when using it across all six strings.

  • Tuning Down - In Kottke's recorded version he uses a guitar in Open D tuning tuned down a further 3 half steps. This means his tuning is B F# B Eb F# B. In the video, I play it in Open D tuning without the further detuning. The reason I do this is beacuse when you detune the strings this much, as Kottke does, they become very slack. My guitar has quite a low action for playing slide and the slack strings make it almost impossible to play this piece without lots of ringing on the strings as they vibrate against the frets. If you have a guitar with a low action, I recommend keeping the tuning in Open D (D A D F# A D) to keep tension on the strings. If you want to play it tuned down further you will need an acoustic guitar where the action has been raised quite significantly.
  • Hammering and not Sliding - The majority of this music is played using the slide. However, you will notice in the music there are certain sections where you have to hammer on notes. These notes are played by fretting the notes with your finger rather than using the slide. The reason the slide isn't used is because the speed of the notes is too fast to play with the slide, and also because it sounds better without using it. Bars 1-4, 19, 20, 36 and 37 are all played without the slide. Because of this it is maybe best to use the slide on your pinky finger and fret the notes with your index finger, so you you can get the slide clear out of the way when fretting these notes.
  • Speeding Up - The music is played at a very fast tempo. I play it slightly faster than Kottke's recorded version, so you can slow it down a bit if you want. Just find a tempo which you prefer. Regardless, it is still going to have a fast tempo. As such, you really must learn to play this tune at a much slower tempo. Once you have learned it and can play it comfortably at this slower tempo, gradually pick up the speed until you have reached your desired tempo.
 
This is about all I need to say about this piece. It is a tricky piece to play as it requires using the slide over all 6 strings and it has a fast tempo. But if you are comfortable using a slide and are skilled at travis picking then you should be able to learn this piece quite quickly.

Thanks for Reading,
Neil

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