Become a Blues Diddley Bow Player Today
Music is meant to be fun. Really, anybody who wants to make music should be capable of doing so. 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? These drummers will never have studied drumming at 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. Using simple instruments to make music, maybe a home made drum or rattle, is really great fun and what music should be all about.
There is a one stringed Brazilian instrument with African roots called a Berimbau. 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. Typically these are a simple plank of wood with a piece of wire stretched from end to end. The string is tensioned with something uses as a bridge and the pitch is varied by fretting the string with a piece of bone, glass or maybe a knife or some other form of slide.
Lonnie Pitchford, a well known exponent of the Diddley Bow would make his one stringed instruments by attaching a wire to the vertical support of 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 Diddley Bow is very much the sound of the blues. Many of the early blues greats got their start in the 1920s and 1930s by playing Diddley Bows. One popular modern day Diddly bow player is Seasick Steve. So if you want a bit of fun with a simple one string folk instrument why not make yourself a Diddley Bow today.
