Week 31: Happy Blues



Tom Dickson

The Man

Tom Dickson is an absolutely mystery of the blues. The only thing we know about him is on February 27, 1928, a man recorded 6 tracks in Okeh Record’s studio in Memphis Tennessee under the name “Tom Dickson”. That’s it. That’s everything we know.

Joe Callicott recorded in Memphis the same time as Tom Dickson, remembers him as a Memphis native. His guitar work speaks of a very organised and accomplished guitar player with a really good right hand. His 4 surviving recordings are all in different keys and in different positions on the guitar. His lyrics are a bit more refined than most blues of the era, perhaps Tom wasn’t the stereotypical 1920’s hard drinking blues man travelling from town to town and bed to bed?

It is very unlikely we will ever know anything more about Tom Dickson, another bluesman lost to history.



The Song

“Happy Blues” is a 12 bar played in the key of D# – capo your guitar on the first fret to get the same pitch as the recording. It seems simple, but is actually quite difficult to execute properly.

Tom’s thumb work is what really makes this song. It is based around open chord shapes – D, A7 and G7 – and his thumb provides great momentum in every bar. Not only does he hit on the beat, but he usually adds a thumb stroke on the ‘four and’ shuffle beat, especially in the D sections. This not only adds the momentum, but it also adds a sense of control to the piece. you want to play everything relative to the bass – make it the primary focus, and play melodies around it.

The melodies themselves have perfect phrasing, they seem to glide and melt into the bass. For the D sections, just use your index on the B and middle finger on the high E, and place more emphasis on the high E notes. In the A7 and G7 sections, he improvises around the basic chord shapes in every progression, either using a different rhythms on the bass and melodies; or creating small melodic riffs over the bass.

All up “Happy Blues” shows how you can create a really effective sound out of 3 of the first chords you learn – really demonstrating the effectiveness of the “less is more” approach to music. Tom’s creativity with his thumb and melodic sense make this piece a lot greater than the sum of its parts. 5 minutes to learn, a lot longer to master.



The Lyrics

D Just as happy, mama as I can be G7 D I'm just as happy, mama as I can be A7 G7 D 'Cause the woman I love has gone back to Kankokee Solo Woman I'm loving done mistreated me And the woman I'm loving done mistreated me Well I love you mama but I need your friend again Treat me like someone you never seen Well, you treat me like someone you never seen Well, you treat me like someone you never seen Blues ain't nothing good man on your mind Woman the blues ain't nothing but a good man on your mind Well it'll keep you worried bothered all the time When you see me with my head hung down Well, that's when you see me with my head hung down I ain't got no blues but another girl on my mind I'm going away see what you would do I'm going away see what you would do I've done all I could can't get along with you I went to the station I looked upon the board I went to the station I looked upon the board Well my train ain't there but it's somewhere on the road

The Intro



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The Progression



Tom sometimes adds a bar of D here and there at the end of the progression to go into the next repetition. The shape displayed above the tabs as the A7 is slightly wrong – check the tab in the intro for the correct shape.

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The Solo