Andrew Lardner
patreon
Theme From "The Rick and Bob Report"
🕑 Added 2023-02-01 15:00:09 +0000 UTCFriends:
Happy February. I'm incredibly excited to share this lesson with you. I would say this is the most I've looked forward to a post in recent memory, but I feel like I could say that with every new post. I get such joy from transcribing these pieces, discovering all of the subtleties, and there's something nostalgic about opening up the software and working on these every month.
Kottke would have likely first composed this piece some time in 1984. It took me a long time to figure out what the "Rick and Bob Report" was, but I've recently come across some information that sheds some light on the subject. I found an article from the New York Times, 1984, that reported the following:
"A third comedy series for Showtime is in production at Lorimar, one of the first of the major network program suppliers to expand into cable. Lorimar's entry, entitled "The Rick and Bob Report," deals with, in the production house's words, "a pair of unconventional and outrageous broadcast journalists."
The article goes on to describe how 6 episodes were ordered. I still have yet to find any more documentation on the series but if anyone out there has an old VHS with the show taped on it, that's likely the only place where we'll be able to hear his original recorded take.
The earliest recording I have of him performing the piece is from October of 1984, he includes it as part of the "Stealing" medley then revisits the piece later in the show, first explaining the guitar he is using then talking about the tune. I'm attaching a copy of the latter to this post. He is performing it on his Knut-Koupee mini Stratocaster that I will be using for the YouTube performance.
The first commercial recording is from My Father's Face, and this is the recording that was used as the basis for the transcription. Here he is playing it on a more traditional acoustic guitar, capo'd at the 5th fret. This is interesting because it is necessary to tune his Stratocaster up to this same pitch because of the scale length.
He appears to have revisited performing this piece live for several months in 1994. There were some minor revisions to the piece at this time, though I feel they were the likely result of not remembering how he originally played the piece.
If my memory is correct, this is the first Kottke transcription I will be including with string-stopping indications in the notation. This is such an important aspect of capturing Kottke's sound, and one I will describe in greater depth in the lesson video which will hopefully be posted a little later today. The muted notes, indicated by a number in a box, are an element of flexibility that are also important to understand and I will explain these in depth too.
You can find the YouTube recording here
Link to Patreon lesson: https://youtu.be/3FthxdxxORg
The score is attached below. Thanks everyone!
Comments
Steve Grodis
I would also be interested in learning more about his thumb damping.
Andrew Lardner
Not yet. His damping didn’t really fully take effect until the 90s and we’ve mostly looked at fingerpick era tunes with the exception of Little Martha and Rick and Bob, but there’s not really any damping to mention in these pieces.
Vincenzo
Hi Andy, excuse me for the question. Is there another Kottke's song in your Patreon channel where you explain his thumb technique?
