The Diddly Bo
Before the slide guitar the diddly bo carried the blues. This instrument, common across the south-eastern US, is an example of the general instrument type called a 'bow' - that's probably the origin of 'bo' in the name.
"Diddly" probably refers to the playing method which involves striking the string with a stick.
Physically, the diddly bo consists of a wire stretched along a board, usually between two nails. Since it was often used for front porch music, the diddly bo was sometimes actually strung on nails driven into the outside wall of the house - using the whole house as a sound board.
To play it, the diddly bo player strikes the string with a stick while sliding a stone - or a bottle neck or pocket knife - along the string to control the pitch.
As played in the precursor to delta blues, the diddly bo would play a rhythmic pattern, mostly on the open string, while the singer sang a line, and then answer with a slide riff. This mimicked the call and response of the older field hollers.
Update 8/18/03: Partly in response to Jason's comment below... I found a great website about cigar box guitars, including some instructions on how to build one. Many of these guitars have only 1 string and are essentially diddly bos. Check it out.
Update 4/7/04: More on cigar box guitars - cigarboxguitars.com
Also, there's a cigarbox guitar festival - live music to include some modern diddley bo players - May 14-16, 04. Info at cigarboxguitarfest.com. I'll be playing there too - but my cigarbox guitars have 6 and 7 strings respectively, so they're not diddley bos. IAC, hope to see you there.
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Reader Responses:
Response from: Robert G McGrew
Your stories about music in the south are wonderful.
They would make a great book. I am gkad to be related to the
Smith family.
Post #: 2 |
Response from: David B McGrew
Also a relative. Cheers. The diddly bow's precipitation of the slide guitar carries a heavy implication for trends set in the 20th century. As the booming recording industry was joined with musicological interest in the "home-grown" music making from the south, harmonic implications were carried faster than ever before in world history. Interestingly enough, this may be why Led Zeppelin goes through a natural seven instead of a leading tone seven when descending harmonically. The Beatles were more based in European Classical tradition. Their root movement has more counterpoint to their melodies. If this can be followed thoroughly, I would venture to guess that this is why the harmonic language of popular music is consistently more interested in whole-step relationships between teading-tone and tonic rather than half step relationships. I believe that this accounts for the upsurge in Celtic music over the past decade or so. Also interesting is the possibility of a heretofore uncharted musical culture-bridge between Africa and Asia. Consider the Chinese "fiddle." It is played with a bow, but with a smoth glissando between pitches - just like the diddly bo. It is made to be flexible melodically (implication of quarter-tones). This is like Indian singing. African melodies, while largely pentatonic (like native South American, North American, and Chinese folk music) have a quality of melodic indeterminacy. Actual pitch is somewhat obscured. This could be a stretch... but it certaily is worth pondering. The "field calling" is certainly an African cultural anomaly directly rooted in much of Afican percussion usage.
Post #: 4 |
Response from: Doctor Oakroot
Hi McGrews! Nice to meet some relatives I didn't know about, lol. I guess you're related to Eliza Jane McGrew, maternal grandmother of my paternal grandmother. Thanks for the visit and the comments.
Post #: 5 |
Response from: Bonita
Does this David B McGrew know a Bonita? If so, she says hi! Great comments on the diddly bo!
Post #: 6 |
Response from: Jason
I'm gonna make a diddly bo and play it for my school science project. Thanks for some background
Post #: 7 |
Response from: Doctor Oakroot
Thanks for dropping by Bonita. Jason, let me know how your school project came out. If you send me a picture of your diddly bo, I'll post it on this page. (You can send the picture to david@doctoroakroot.com)
Post #: 10 |
Response from: kelley
I heard about the diddly bow recently and immediately wondered if there was a direct link to the berimbao--instrument used it the Brazilian martial art form Capoeira (lots of information on this by the web. . .)
Post #: 15 |
Response from: Doctor Oakroot
Hi Kelley. I don't think there's a direct link to the berimbao. There are really fundamental differences in both the playing technique and the musical style - not to mention construction details of the instruments. So my guess is they are independent developments, but it's just a guess.
Post #: 17 |
Response from: mitchshrader
if you ever make it to tulsa, i'll loan you a couch and feed you dinner. nice tunes..
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Response from: MeGaN
We r making diddly bo's in class!
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Response from: -AbBeY-
DUDE I know, we're in the same class, Megan!!
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Response from: .:*MeGaN*:.
I'm very excited it is a very inspirational experience to learn about instruments from other times and how they were made.
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