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In Search For The Missing Component

Good morning folks:

The diddley bow is the first musical instrument I've ever picked up and felt good about noodling with. I spent a fair chunk of my childhood in New Orleans, and my weekends were occupied with listening to Jazz concerts, funerals and pickup bands in Jackson Square, when I wasn't listening to Cajun music on the radio. Creole French was a required language in elementary school, at least in that era. So I had a nodding understanding of blues, jazz and their deep history. My time in the Service gave me two and a half years to listen to Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, West African and Turkish music in my off time, and the diddley bow is probably suited to those traditions, as well as Finnish folk music.

I've never been able to study Western music-something like dyslexia makes trying to look at musical notation headache inducing, so I am delighted to find canjo notation readable!

There is one question I keep asking myself-where's the "bow" in the diddley bow? Just a figure of speech, or are/were there musicians in the community who use a violin bow or similar with their one or two string stick and cigar box instrument?

Thanks for being here, one and all

Gordon Cooper
Bremerton WA (West of Seattle)

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on December 26, 2015 at 7:11am

while some ideas for the name origin resemble this popular statement ;

"The musical instrument "Diddley Bow" probably got its name from the verb "diddle" combined with the noun "bow" (with its meaning of "a part of a stringed instrument")."

i submit my personal thoughts of the originals mostly being a broomstick or a thin board , with a string , thus resembling a "bow " as in bow and arrow ." in-fact folks have been known to play a bow(weapon) pressed up against a crate etc . combine that with diddly meaning "cheat / falsified , and "playing around with". a homemade "bow/ guitar makes sense "

diddly bows are not well known for being played with a bow . altho some folks have, and do play it with one .

that's my 2 and a half cents , and probably worth every penny ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on December 26, 2015 at 8:02am

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/the-first-string-instrument-mou...

Here's my take on this.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on December 26, 2015 at 2:44pm

Could look at it threw physics. If you take an unseasoned piece of wood. Attach it to a box. Then attach a taunt string to it. The wood would bow. Probably the reason it's known that players used a slide to create the notes. And a striking tool or hard plucking action to create the vibrations. Just a guess.