Week 7: One Dime Blues



Etta Baker

The Song

One Dime Blues was Etta’s signature piece, a great example of the Piedmont style in standard tuning (though it’s a half step down in the 1956 recording) mainly using open chords. Like nearly all of her recordings it is an instrumental – she said her guitar would speak for her. She played it using the usual Piedmont style of thumb and index finger, and she plays the open E chord with just two fingers like a lot of early blues players do – using the ring finger to fret the A and D strings on the 2nd fret.

Typical of the Piedmont blues, it features a strong alternating bassline on the beat played with a bouncy feel and clean, quick melody lines. The melody features a lot of notes, and the key is to pick them cleanly and concentrate on the volume of each of them.

The structure of the song is straight forward – a 14 bar progression in A and E, with a repeated turnaround including B and C#7, repeated with a few licks thrown in in the last few bars of every repetition after the first. The turn around is unusual in that it drops half a bar – a six beat measure consisting of a quick sequence of 3 chords. The timing can throw you off at first.

Etta is a master of this style, and the song is really quite difficult to play. It’s quite fast, but she is so clean that each note rings out. The hammeroned minor to major 3rd in the E section adds drive to the rhythm. Practice, practice, practice!

The Intro



$6.0.$5.2.$4.2.$3.1.$2.0.$1.0 3/4 $3.4 | $5.2 $1.4 $3.4 $5.4.$1.0 $3.4 $5.0.$1.2 $3.0 $1.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.1.$2.0.$1.0 $6.0 $2.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $2.3 $6.0 $4.2 | The intro jumps straight into the turnaround:

The Progression



A / / E / E7 / $5.0 $2.1/2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $1.3 | $5.0 $1.2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $2.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $2.3 $6.0 $4.2 | A / / E / E7 / $5.0 $2.1/2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $1.3 | $5.0 $1.2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $2.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $1.3/4 $6.0 $2.0 $3.4 | B C#7 / A / E / E / $5.2 $1.4 $3.4 $5.4.$1.0 $3.4 | $5.0.$1.2 $3.0 $1.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.1.$2.0.$1.0 $6.0 $2.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $1.3/4 $6.0 $2.0 $3.4 | B C#7 / A / E / E / $5.2 $1.4 $3.4 $5.4.$1.0 $3.4 | $5.0.$1.2 $3.0 $1.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 $6.0 $2.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $2.3 $6.0 $4.2 | The turnaround is played twice, and the second bar of it only contains two beats. The C#7 is played like an open position B7 moved up to the 4th fret, with the high E played open.

The Licks



$6.0.$2./5 $1.4 $2.5 $1.4 $2.5 | $2.5 $1.7 $2.5 $1.4 $2.5 $2.5 | In the next repetition, she changes the second turn around with a nice three note chromatic run in the bass:

$6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $1.3/4 $6.0 $2.0 $3.4 | $5.2 $1.4 $3.4 $5.4 5 6 | $6.0 $4.2 $2.2 $6.0.$2.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $2.3 $6.0 $4.2 | The next time around, she does a longer variant of the first lick:

$6.0.$1.0 $2./5 $1.4 $2.5 $1.4 $2.5 | $2.5 $1.7 $2.5 $1.4 $2.5 | $2./7 $1.5 $2.7 $1.5 $2.7 | $2.7 $1.7 $2.7 $1.5 $2.7 | $2./9 $1.7 $2.9 $1.7 $2.9 | $2.9 $1.9 $2.9 $1.7 $2.9 | Next time, it’s a quick variation:

$6.0.$1.0 $2./9 $1.7 | $2.9 $1.9 $2.9 $1.7 $2.9 | Then it’s similar to the chromatic bass mini run, but she does it in the first turn around:

$6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $1.3/4 $6.0 $2.0 $3.4 | $5.2 $1.4 $3.4 $5.4 5 6 | $6.0 $4.2 $2.2 $6.0.$2.0 $3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $1.3/4 $6.0 $2.0 $3.4 | $5.2 $1.4 $3.4 $5.4.$1.0 $3.4 $5.0.$1.2 $3.0 $1.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 $6.0 $2.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $2.3 $6.0 $4.2 | Back to a longer variation of the first again to lead into the outro:

$2./9 $1.7 $2.9 $1.9 $2.9 $1.7 $1.0 $2.0 | $2./7 $1.5 $2.7 $1.7 $2.7 $1.5 $1.0 $2.0 | $2./5 $1.4 $2.5 $1.7 $2.5 $1.4 $1.0 $2.0 | At the end of the second repetition of the progression, Etta does this lick instead of the second turnaround in bars 11 and 12, then goes straight back to the start of the progression:In the next repetition, she changes the second turn around with a nice three note chromatic run in the bass:The next time around, she does a longer variant of the first lick:Next time, it’s a quick variation:Then it’s similar to the chromatic bass mini run, but she does it in the first turn around:Back to a longer variation of the first again to lead into the outro:

The Outro



$5.0 $2.1/2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $1.3 | $5.0 $1.2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $2.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $2.3 $6.0 $4.2 | $5.0 $2.1/2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $1.3 | $5.0 $1.2 $3.2 $1.0 $5.0 $2.2 $3.2 $2.0 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 | $6.0.$1.0 $4.2 $1.3/4 $6.0 $2.0 $3.4 | $5.2 $3.4 $5.4 5 6 | $6.0 $4.2.$3.0h1 $6.0.$2.2 $4.2.$2.0 | $6.0.$3.0h1 $4.2.$3.1.$1.0 || The outro is pretty similar to the standard progression: