In my spare time, I sometimes breakdown solos because I love this band. However, I can’t differentiate Warren & Dickey’s solos on “Mean Woman Blues”, “Change My Way of Living”, and “True Gravity”. Maybe it’s cause I’m thinking too hard to truly listen to it hahaha. I honestly don’t know, but can anybody lend a hand?
On "Mean Woman Blues" Warren does the first solo and Dickey the second and solos at the end. Plus it sounds as if Dickey is using a petal. "Change My Way of Living" Dickey plays first solo and Warren the second. Warren is playing slide guitar also so that really shows it. Anyway Dickey's style is unlike Warren's and any other guitar player. I do remember on the albums Dan Toler was on having some trouble telling Dickey from Dan and that Toler's style and tone was similar to Dickey was a negative of several for that lineup. On True Gravity Warren is on slide again and goes first Dickey second playing some of his familiar licks.
Could somebody please help me with "Hoochie Coochie Man?" I know which solo belongs to which guitarist on Play All Night and Fox Box. However, I'm having severe difficulty determining the solos on the studio version as well as Ludlow Garage. Please help if you can.
Pretty sure it's Dickey first solo, then Duane. If you listen to Ludlow, Duane is always mixed to one side, Dickey to the other. If you check which speaker the slide is on for "Dreams" and "Statesboro", etc, that's Duane throughout.
Dimples!! Ludlow Garage.
When Duane says "Play it John" Duane solos then Dickey.
At the big long solo at the end Duane Allman plays first on a Les Paul. At 3:30 into it Dickey Betts begins and Dickey was playing a Stratocaster at this period in the band. Love that "CLANK" Dickey hits on that old Strat. It could be a mistake. But Eric Clapton hit a CLANK on Key To The Highway so maybe it's a lick.
I began seeing the band in early 1970 and Dickey Betts was playing a Strat at the first 4 or 5 shows I saw and by summer Dickey was on a SG. Then that fall Dickey got into Les Pauls. Went through about 5 before he stuck with Goldie. Goldie is one of the best tones I've ever heard. It's a 1957.
@porkchopbob Yeah that is Dickey on the first solo. Duane doing most of the fills too.
Funny thing here it always sounds as if Dickey is on Jaimoe's side and Duane is on Butch's side to me.
Additionally I thought Dickey had begun using an SG by the time they got to recording Idlewild South but this sounds more like the Strat Dickey was on from late 1969 to late spring 1970. It absolutely sounds like the SG on Liz Reed. But Duan's tone doesn't sound like a Les Paul here. Duane used a Strat most of the time at Muscle Shoals. I'm baffled by these guitar tones on this track by both guitars. I imagine Duane is on his Goldtop but not sure.
Idlewild South didn't have a real recording session. Apparently with 305 show in 1970 they were in and out several times getting this album finished. Miami, Macon and Please Call Home in New York City.
In Gregg's book he says Dickey doesn't play on Dreams on the first album. But I'm rather certain Dickey doesn't play on Please Call Home and Gregg is mistaken. Apparently Joel Doren produced that one track in Manhattan and there was no window and Dickey sat it out.
In an interview about 2010 Gregg says the first time he heard Derek Trucks play it was Butch who talked him into going over to a little club to see Derek play while they were in Miami recording Enlightened Rouges in 1979!! Derek was born in June of 1979 so man he really began playing early. He must have been in a stroller on stage when Gregg saw him the first time!!
1) I don't really know a specific guitar brand's sound; I usually just know their respected sound & match it with who I know is playing. But this makes sense since Dickey's sound totally changes throughout his tenure with the band.
2) I'm just bamboozled that they change up the solos in the later renditions of the band. Play All Night has Warren on first solo instead of Dickey playing first (IMO the best version of this song). Also, End of the Line (underrated IMO) has Dickey first then Warren....then Derek gets the second solo in the later years...is this because Derek only plays slide?
Also, End of the Line (underrated IMO) has Dickey first then Warren....then Derek gets the second solo in the later years...is this because Derek only plays slide?
Yes, sort of, but Derek doesn't only play slide. The solos on "End of the Line" aren't over the same chord changes, so one is the "slide" solo and the other is the standard solo. Since both Warren and Derek played the "Duane" role while in the band with Dickey, they had to shift things around after he left and Warren ended up playing a lot more of Dickey's parts. Warren and Derek would trade off the slide role on "Statesboro" and "Done Somebody Wrong".
For instance, here's "Statesboro Blues" from the Fox Box with Warren playing slide and Derek playing the standard 2nd solo
Here's Derek on slide with Warren playing the 2nd solo
@action_jackson96 Are you referring to Hoochie Coochie Man? As far as I know they quit playing Hoochie Coochie Man when Berry Oakley died. It was brought back when Warren joined the band so it must simply be how Warren and Dickey decided to do it. Plus the original band didn't have a slide guitar on the song as far as I know.
Dimples was discontinued when Duane died and brought back when Jack Pearson was in the band.
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed had Dickey first and Duane second then Dickey did both solos in the 5 man band. Chuck took the first solo when he joined and Dickey was then after the organ solo and later when they had other lead players, Dickey stayed on the last solo, the one Duane used to do. Some years ago in an interview Dickey was asked about the solos on At Fillmore East and he said he thought Duane always soloed first on Liz Reed and Dickey was after Gregg's solo but that is wrong. I'm occasionally surprised at little mistakes Dickey and Gregg make in some of their interviews and recollections. Us hard core fans are paying more attention!! Then the guy asked Dickey about how he got came up with that note progression and killer tone on One Way Out on Eat A Peach and Dickey said he couldn't remember what he did on that version. But WE know EVERY note on that solo. Jimmy Herring said it's one of his favorite solos of all time and the tone is fantastic!! And most likely Dickey didn't plan and layout any of it! He just did it on the fly and probably never played it exactly that way again. But it's on Eat A Peach so we have heard it thousands of times so it as become how many think it was written.
Yeah Dickey's sound and tone changed over the years. Dickey said his first electric was a Gretsch guitar of some type and after awhile he got a Fender Jazz master is what he though it was. Next he moved to a Gibson ES-335 and Dickey said it was his number one for years and was still playing it when the ABB formed. Next he switched to a Stratocaster, then a SG. Later in 1970 Dickey decided to go to a Les Paul and bought one in Detroit but Dickey didn't like it and got another LP. Dickey went through about five Les Pauls before he was completely happy with a Les Paul which was Goldie, a 1957 Goldtop Dickey found in 1974 at a Pawn Shop in Manhattan.
The tones of those Les Pauls were all different for some reason. Listen to the tone on the one he plays on At Fillmore East. A sharper more metallic tone if I can describe it properly than the Goldtop he got before Duane died and is on One Way Out. Dickey gave Dan Toler the Fillmore East LP in 1979 and Danny played it for years even in Gregg's 1980's band.
Then in 1994 Dickey began jumping around again supposedly because he was mad at Gibson. Paul Reed Smith, then an ES-335 dot neck and became mad at Gibson again ( he wasn't getting one of the signature LPs in the 90's?? Dickey said Gibson ignored him so maybe that is it) so he had hot rail pickups put in the neck position of a couple of Strats he owned to make them sound more like a Gibson from 1997 to 2000. One was a Mary Kay Strat which was not as old as the other one which is a 1956. In 2001 Gibson finally came out with a Dickey signature custom LP!!!! Duane Betts has the 2001 signature LP as his number one now. It has a great tone and is a fine guitar! Gibson did good.
As far as I know Derek Trucks latest number one is one of the Brother to Brother custom SGs that is modeled after the SG Dickey played in the summer of 1970 then gave to Duane for a slide guitar after Dickey switched to Les Pauls.
That SG should have a few holes in the body past the bridge which is where it use to have a whammy bar. I'll have to look carefully at Derek's guitar in recent shots.
Yep just found a picture of Derek Trucks playing in 2021 and his SG he is playing now has those holes in the body out beyond the bridge. That particular guitar never had a whammy but the 1961 SG that the brother to brother custom SGs were patterned after had a whammy and Dickey had it removed leaving those holes in the bodym
