Level: 2/3
Tuning: Standard

This is one of Rev. Davis' instrumental show pieces that he loved to embellish, improvise and decorate with a repertoire of grunts, whistles, moans, squeals, claps, slaps, thumps, stories and jokes. He worked around a core form that allowed him to open up his imagination and express his creativity. It starts with his patented first position C7 chord, played with his left thumb covering the two base strings on the third fret which enabled him to play the high fifth on the high E string, third fret, while playing the seventh, the Bb, on the third string, third fret.

From there he moved to the first position F, left thumb on the first fret, low E. Then he jumps to the A diminished, fifth fret, and the G form C, also fifth fret. He's doing this while syncopating the beat with his right hand, characteristically using his typical right hand roll: thumb, finger, thumb, thumb, finger, finger, thumb. (Bear in mind that he always only used his right thumb and forefinger.)

The second time through he plays the C7, the F, then Ab7 to G7. After repeating the first four chords he often played a descending, syncopated sequence: C, Bb, F with an A base, Ab with his little finger, left hand on the fourth fret, lo E string, C, D7, with his thumb on the seconds fret, low E, G7, C. The bases descended: C, Bb, A, Ab, G, F#.

He picked up that F# base, low E and repeated it on the D string, fourth fret, played with his little finger, and kept moving down on the string to the seventh, on the third fret, to the E note, second fret, the third note of the resolving C chord. He makes this very complex sequence sound smooth, simple and natural. Often instead of this first position turn around, he plays it up the neck out of the G form C chord, descending on the fourth string on the eighth, seventh, sixth frets, using a standard blues turnaround.

For a second part of the song, he walks up connecting chords from the C form C to The A form, on the second and fourth strings. He starts in C, first fret second string and second fret fourth string, to the third frets and fourth frets both strings to the first and third strings open. Here he is basically harmonizing the run: C, D, Eb, E, Eb, C, A. This is a move that he really exploits beautifully in Fast Fox Trot.