{"id":145766,"date":"2024-11-13T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=145766"},"modified":"2024-11-13T08:09:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T16:09:30","slug":"learn-happy-traums-bluesy-take-on-the-traditional-song-he-was-a-friend-of-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/learn-happy-traums-bluesy-take-on-the-traditional-song-he-was-a-friend-of-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn Happy Traum\u2019s Bluesy Take on the Traditional Song \u201cHe Was a Friend of Mine\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Learn to Play Happy Traum\u2018s Take on \u201cHe Was a Friend of Mine\u201c with Adam Traum\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bSylOcfBkM4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In a remembrance of Happy Traum that he wrote for the <em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em> website, David Lusterman recalls receiving Traum\u2019s last album, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4erXKdW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">There\u2019s a Bright Side Somewhere<\/a> <\/em>(2022), and being struck by how strong and vital the guitarist sounded at 84. Listening to a take on the traditional song \u201cHe Was a Friend of Mine\u201d from the record, it is easy to understand what Lusterman heard. Traum\u2019s guitar and voice are both in top form, and the beloved roots musician is as nimble as ever in his semi-improvised accompaniment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The transcription here\u2014accompanied by a video in which Traum\u2019s son, Adam Traum, teaches his father\u2019s approach\u2014should give you a good sense of how the elder Traum played the piece and how you can borrow some of his ideas in working out your own bluesy accompaniments on a classic song like this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When learning the guitar part, keep in mind that while there are a lot of notes on these pages\u2014and some trickier parts, like the contrary motion idea introduced in the first measure\u2014more important than playing it exactly as written is to strive for a confident and insistent time feel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDad\u2019s style seems simple, but there is a lot of complexity to his picking. One of the things that he did so well was keep a steady groove going with his thumb, and that was the underpinning of his sound,\u201d the younger Traum says. \u201cSo if I had to recommend anything to people who like his style, I would say to get the fundamental groove and pocket going so it is rock solid. Then start to build a vocabulary of voicings around the neck.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See Happy Traum&#8217;s Homespun video for \u201cHe Was a Friend of Mine\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/homespun.com\/shop\/cFsXmN5hkVk8caTM\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"602\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-1.png?resize=1024%2C602&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-145769\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-1.png?resize=1024%2C602&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-1.png?resize=500%2C294&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-1.png?resize=768%2C452&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-1.png?resize=300%2C176&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-1.png?w=1083&amp;ssl=1 1083w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"762\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-2.png?resize=762%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-145770\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-2.png?resize=762%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 762w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-2.png?resize=372%2C500&amp;ssl=1 372w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-2.png?resize=768%2C1032&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-2.png?resize=223%2C300&amp;ssl=1 223w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-2.png?w=1079&amp;ssl=1 1079w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 762px) 100vw, 762px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"756\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-3.png?resize=756%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-145771\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-3.png?resize=756%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 756w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-3.png?resize=369%2C500&amp;ssl=1 369w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-3.png?resize=768%2C1041&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-3.png?resize=221%2C300&amp;ssl=1 221w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/AG349-HE-WAS-A-FRIEND-NOTATION-3.png?w=1079&amp;ssl=1 1079w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-349-nov-dec-2024\" name=\"magazine\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 198px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/001_349_Cover-150px.jpg?w=1290&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Acoustic Guitar magazine cover for issue 348\"><\/a>\n<p style=\"font-family: sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15px 0px;\">This article originally appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-349-nov-dec-2024\">November\/December 2024<\/a> issue of <em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This tune from Traum&#8217;s last album exemplifies the late guitarist&#8217;s signature steady bass groove and complex picking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":145767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"This tune from Traum's last album exemplifies the late guitarist's signature steady bass groove and complex picking.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1658,2],"tags":[1954],"ppma_author":[1541],"class_list":["post-145766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folk","category-lessons","tag-november-december-2024"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Happy-Traum-Theres-a-Bright-Side-Somewhere-e1731514157256.jpg?fit=1200%2C894&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":1541,"user_id":24,"is_guest":0,"slug":"adam-perlmutterstringletter-com","display_name":"Adam Perlmutter","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Adam-Perlmutter.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Adam-Perlmutter.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"Perlmutter","first_name":"Adam","job_title":"","description":"Adam Perlmutter holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and a master's degree in Contemporary Improvisation from the New England Conservatory. He is the editor of <i>Acoustic Guitar<\/i>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145766"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146492,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145766\/revisions\/146492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145766"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=145766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}