Chords for Justin Johnson on the One-String Diddley Bow | Antique Archaeology, Nashville, TN

Where you go back to the roots of roots instruments, [Db] you always find an instrument like this.
This is a one-string diddly bow.
[Eb] This was built by Andrew Cook,
a friend that I met in Ireland, and he built this whole thing, every part of it basically, [Gb] by hand out of either found objects or
wood that was around his property.
This clay,
the body of this is actually made out of clay and it's molded after an old [Eb] BSA motorcycle gas tank.
The clay [Gbm] he dug out of his own yard,
[Bm] fired it in the kiln he made out of [C] his own yard, basically.
Even [G] the pickup, the
[Eb] electric guitar pickup, it's a one pole pickup, has one magnet on it.
He wound that [D] by hand,
carved every part of it,
[B] burnt this wood right here to turn it black.
[G] So,
you know, even though it looks, you know, looks amazingly [Eb] beautiful just as a piece of art,
[G] it really is part of that tradition [B] that all these instruments are part of, [Bb] which is finding what's [Ab] around you and turning that into music.
[D] And I just love the [E] history [Bb] and the stories behind [G] instruments like that. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] And if you look too, there's no fretboard on this instrument.
[E] There's no fret markers.
There's nothing to tell [Eb] you where you are as far as the melody notes.
So you [D] have to do [G] it the way a lot of those old blind [Ab] blues musicians did it.
You just have to listen to it
_ [Db] and use the slide, use the slide like it's [G] your voice, basically.
And so [Eb] much of those old blues [G] inflections, you know, blues music in general,
[E] came from those kinds of [Abm] styles and a lot of homemade instruments like [A] this.
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_ If you want to play the diddly [Db] bow, I think the best place to start is always with a rhythm.
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_ _ You can do that with just one hand. _ _
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And since there are no frets and no fretboard on this thing,
you have to use a guitar slide or a pocket knife, a pipe, anything resonant you can slide against that string. _ _ _ _ _
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So
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[G] _ [Gb] Hmm
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