A couple of weeks ago I found myself listening to a Roy Eldridge playlist on Spotify, in the course of which I was effectively stopped in my tracks by the guitar solo on an item called "Fish Market." Charlie Christian maybe? No, I think I would have known if Charlie Christian had ever played on a Roy Eldridge session.

Upon further investigation, the solo turns out to the be the work of one Snags Allen. But wait, it gets better – "Snags," you'll be interested to learn, is not the name Mama Allen gave her boy at birth. No, that would be "Napoleon" – Napoleon Allen, just so we're all clear.

I for one would be greatly interested to learn just how young master Allen's friends came to abbreviate "Napoleon" with the much pithier yet hardly more colorful "Snags" in time for the launch of his recording career.
 

I already mentioned some of this in a missive last week about my then-upcoming show in Austin, so if through some quirk of fate you are among that readership as well, this part has been old news.

But I have learned, since then, that Snags was so admired for his rhythm chops in particular that he continued working as a session musician well into the 1970s, rubbing shoulders with some of the most esteemed studio players in New York and recording all kinds of music, much of it far removed from the blazing swing Roy Eldridge made his mark with.

I, too, received a profoundly quirky handle at birth, though "Hamburger" clearly lacks some of the gravitas a name like "Napoleon" inherently possesses. It's not exactly fair, but people tend to think "world domination" first and "flaky yet custardy layered delicacy" second when they hear "Napoleon," and – well, you see where I'm going with this.

All of which is more or less moot, as is the fact that my own trajectory has been somewhat the reverse of Snags' – over time, I have gone from generalist to specialist rather than the other way around.

Which is why in today's Youtube video I return, once again, to that most worthwhile of topics, adding chord substitutions to the blues in E. You can find the lesson at the link below:

Chord Substitutions On The Blues In E

For a more thorough look at chord substitutions on the blues, including exercises, live streamed lessons and a complete version of my tune "Ides Of March," join me this summer in the Fingerstyle Five membership. You can learn more and sign up here:

The Fingerstyle Five

More soon,

David