Mr Conductor Man - Big Bill Broonzy - With Free Tab

 

In this video I want to share with you my version of Big Bill Broonzy's song 'Mr Conductor Man'. It is very typical of Broonzy's music and it is a fingerstyle guitar piece using a travis picking pattern. As is common with Broonzy's music, it has a quick tempo and is quite tricky to play at the correct speed. 

What i have given you in this tab is the intro section for the first 11 bars, the main section of the song which is 12 bars, then the outro section. In Broonzy's recorded version, he repaets the main section throughout the song but does vary it each time, sometimes quite a lot, but I would imagine he did most of them ad lib when he played through it. If you want, you can listen to the recorded version and maybe pull out a few of these variations, but the version I have given you here has all the components required and can just be repeated.

The music is in the Key of A, it is in 4/4 time and is played on a guitar in Standard Tuning.

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

Mr Conductor Man Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT

 

• Triplets The tempo of this music is fast and there is a lot going on when you're playing it. The majority of the notes in this piece are 1/4 notes or 8th notes, and these shouldn't be too problematic at this tempo. However, there are also quite a few 8th note triplets in here as well, and you have to pick these very fast to keep up with the tempo of the music. The best way to play these is only using your index and middle finger because you can get more speed when playing the notes with these two fingers. If you're used to using your ring finger when playing finger style guitar, I would recommend you don't use this when playing the triplets as you won't be able to get the necessary speed. If you're still having trouble playing these triplets. just leave the middle notes of the triplets out and play them as 8th notes. It won't sound as good, but at least you'll be able to play the piece at the correct tempo.

• Slides - Slides Are used at the start of the music and also at the end and in both cases they can be quite tricky to play. The slides at the start of the first 3 bars have to be played exceptionally quickly to get them right, as it's very easy to drop the tempo when you're playing them admist all those triplets. If these are causing you problems, just leave them out, they're not greatly necessary. The slides at the end can be difficult to time correctly and keep within the correct tempo of the bar. However, these slides are played at the end of the music and the music is slowing down and has a slightly free time feel of it. So if you don't nail the slides correctly, it's no big deal. However, if you having problems with them, just leave them out and just play the notes without sliding between them, which will make it easier.

• 1/8th Bass Notes - The music has a standard bass picking pattern with the bass notes being played as quarter notes on each beat of the bar. However, at the end of a lot of the bars, Broonzy likes to throw in a cheeky couple of 8th notes and this can be tricky to play especially with the 8th notes being played as split triplets, and it is easy to loose the regular timing. If these are causing you problems, just leave them out and just play all the bass notes as 1/4 notes. 

This is about all I need to say about this piece. It is quite a tricky piece with a fast tempo and some tricky sections within the music. However, if you learn it slowly and work up the tempo and it shouldn't be too difficult.

Thanks for Reading,
Neil