Make Some Noise with Only One String
Music should always be fun. Anybody with an inclination to make music should be able to. 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 is far from the truth.
Have you ever see any African tribes people dancing to drums? The drummers have never studied at music college. They can’t read music and wouldn’t know a paradiddle if it bit them. But they know how to have a good time. Making music on simple, home made instruments like drums and rattles is what music making is all about.
The Berimbau is a Brazilian instrument that uses only one string that has African roots. 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 make have heard of an instrument called a Diddley Bow. This is an easy to make African American one stringed folk instrument. These might be made from nothing more than a plank of wood with a length of wire stretched from end to end. The string is made taught with a bridge of some kind, maybe a can, and then fretted with a slide, often a knife, piece of bone or bottleneck.
One notable Diddley bow player, Lonnie Pitchford, would make his Diddley Bows by attaching a wire to a vertical support beam on the front porch of his house. Diddley bows were commonly made by poor field workers and share croppers in the Mississippi Delta region.
The sound of the slide and 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 modern day exponent of this simple instrument is Seasick Steve. So why not make yourself a simple one string Diddley Bow today and make some music.
Tags:diddley bow, diddly bo, learning to play, musical instruments