The Diddley Bow One String Noise Machine
Music should 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 isn’t true.
Have you ever see any African tribes people dancing to drums? These talented drummers will have never been to music college. They obviously can’t read music and wouldn’t know a scale or chord if it hit them on the head. But they’re having a good time. Making music on simple, home made instruments like drums and rattles is what music making is all about.
There is a one stringed Brasilian instrument called a Berimbau that has African roots. Not surprisingly it looks a bit like a bow that could 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 already heard or seen a Diddley Bow. This is an African American folk instrument that uses only one string or wire. These might typically be made by stretching a piece of wire along a length of wood. 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 Diddley Bow is very much the sound of the blues. Many of the early blues orginators from the 1920s and 1930s got their start by twanging 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.
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