"If You Don't Get It The First Time, Back Up And Try It Again" - Fred Wesley

"If You Don't Get It The First Time, Back Up And Try It Again" (PDF) from the Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s album, Damn Right I Am Somebody, and compilation, Funky Good Time: The Anthology.

Well, it's been a while since I have last worked on the Funky Good Time album (almost a full year).  This tune, "IYDGITFTBUATIA" (for short) is a shuffle that swings as much as "Doing It To Death" from the first disc of the album.  I have not checked the recording history, but it sounds like these two tunes could have been recorded in the same session.

I transcribed this solo in the standard 4/4 time signature, although, I debated changing it to a 12/8 notation since Fred Wesley is a machine when it comes to the triplets.  But I felt that there were enough instances of duple patterns (although heavily swung) to keep the common time.  If there are too many "3's" on the page for you, oh well...

Fred's solo is based almost entirely in the F blues scale, although he sneaks some D's and G's in there on occasion.  Notice how he will accent the first and third notes of a triplet.  This pattern is great for developing your sense of a heavy swing.  If repeated, it also aligns itself with a quarter-note triplet pattern, which creates the 3 over 2 hemiola effect.  When you break it down, the essence of funk music is syncopation.  So get off the beat whenever you possibly can.

I couldn’t find a video of this tune, but here’s a YouTube video of Fred hanging out a music store playing "All The Things You Are"

Recommended Reading: Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman. Written by Fred Wesley Jr. Published by Duke University Press.