Chords for David Holt: How to Play the Spoons

_ _ _ You know, I started playing music as a drummer when I was a kid, and I make most of my living
playing banjo and other stringed instruments, but folk rhythm is the basis of what I do.
I think you're going to enjoy learning some of these old rhythms.
Let's start with the spoons.
Let's start with the kind of spoon you need.
Really, a heavier spoon is the best, and your best bet is to get a spoon that gets wider
at the bottom, so you can get a good grip on it.
Let me get another pair so you can see what they look like.
This one has the same kind of bulbous end.
That will allow you to get a good grip on them.
They don't have to be a soup spoon like this, but they always have a nice, warm sound.
Don't go for those silver spoons either, because not only do they not sound very good, they're
too high-pitched and ringy, but they dent really easily.
This is what you don't want, a spoon that gets smaller at the end.
You really want it to get wider.
Here's a very nice set of spoons, just an old piece of Army surplus kind of spoons.
Get wider down here at the bottom.
Now, go find those spoons, come back, and I want to show you how to do the rhythm.
I want to show you how to do this with your hands before you actually hold the spoons,
because you have to learn how to hold the spoons, but you can learn the rhythm right now.
Put one hand a little ways above your leg.
This is your left hand if you're right-handed.
This hand isn't going to move.
It's just going to sit there.
Put your right hand in between.
It hits down on your leg and up on your hand.
Down on your leg and up on your hand.
You're getting a little rhythm right there.
You hear a slap when you go down?
A slap when you go up.
If I speed that up, try that about like that with me.
That sounds good.
_ _ Now try playing just a little bit of a tune while I play the banjo and you play the rhythm.
We'll get a rhythm about like that.
_ Here we go.
It's going to sound like this.
Stay with me with your hands.
Here we go. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ [Eb] _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ _ Okay, that's the rhythm we're going to [N] make.
Now let's look and see how you hold the spoons, because that's the key part, and that'll take
a little practice.
Now remember, all these are folk rhythms.
They were made by your forefathers and your foremothers who didn't have a whole lot of
time to sit around and practice.
They just did this a little bit each day and learned it over a period of time, and that's
why I want you to do it too.
Okay, we're going to take the first spoon and we're going to put it over that middle
knuckle so that it goes in your hand like this.
Your index finger wraps around and holds the back end of that spoon.
You see, that's why I want them to be wider like that.
It's going across the middle knuckle right there.
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