Duane Allman - Part 3 - I Am Yours

For the next installment in our continuing series on the late Duane Allman, we’re going to step away from the blues for a moment to focus on Duane’s melodic sensibilities. By September of 1970, Duane Allman was a seasoned studio ace having played on dozens of sides by a diverse roster of artists. A quick listen to most of his work up 'til that point reveals Duane’s familiarity with the blues and his ability to cut loose over minor key vamps. But when Eric Clapton asked the 23 year old Allman to sit in with his new band Derek and the Dominos, Duane would be faced with learning some of the most challenging material he had ever played. “I Am Yours” is a haunting up-tempo rhumba ballad that, with the exception of the Robert Johnson intro lick, is well outside the 12-bar blues idiom. Despite not being able to draw from his usual arsenal of licks, Duane called on his experience as a session player and rose to the occasion with one of the most brilliant performances of his career.

Though the song resolves to C major, the melody is in A minor. This presented a unique challenge to Duane who preferred to play slide in open E tuning (low to high E-B-E-G#-B-E.) Given the jazz-like chord structure of this piece, I think it’s likely that Duane probably sat down and deliberately composed a part that he felt would work over the song. Note the ascending line that follows the melody perfectly and answers the lyrics with a breathtaking response on the high E and B strings. In fact, much of Duane’s part is played in the very highest register of the guitar which is extremely challenging to do with a slide; even the most subtle movements can cause the notes to go wildly sharp or flat. Duane’s uncanny delicacy and expressiveness when playing in this register are on display throughout. But what I find most amazing is the note selection. Though a decidedly non-blues composition, the lead guitar is instantly recognizable as Duane Allman by his accent of chord tones. This is especially evident on the non-diatonic 2 chord (D major) and the turnaround chords of the song (Bmin7b5 to E7.) Combine all this with Duane’s vocal-like tone and you’ve got a slide guitar piece for the ages.

It’s well known that the guitars on the Layla album were mostly played through Fender Champ amps. So for this recording I used the “small tweed combo” model in Garageband with a little bit of slapback delay and dialed it in to get as close to Duane’s sound as I could. Duane’s part is on the left and mine is on the right for comparison purposes. Please comment, I’d love to hear from other slide geeks out there. Wail on!

[stratfanstl]

MASTERFUL. A great illustration of how even a millimeter of difference in position of the slide throws off the pitch. Tremendous synchronization between your picking and slide position to match the phrasing of the original.

[johnpandolfino]

Duane would be proud of you keeping his work brilliant and beautifly

[jonpaulperry]

Duane Allman 'masterwork', absolutely. I am so grateful you've brought it to my attention. I am loving all your work, can't believe your talent, the sensitivity and beauty. Really appreciate you writing about it too, it is fascinating - the whole A minor C major resolve and tuning and how young he was. Duane has been number one for me since my teens, I'm talking around 1970. Not enough people know about him in the UK!

[mattm]

One of Duane's most beautiful solos... very nice work.

[burgersoft]

Wonderful. Like most great guitarist this appears simple and effortless.

[mikikomurdoch]

Thanks for posting this! Beautiful! Your write up on this tune is so great, I'm quoting you in my blog post.

[dominicturner]

Absolutely stunning; I'll have goosepimples for the next 3 days!

[DeeTee]

Brilliant. Stumbled upon this while looking for the song, and because I saw a les Paul I knew it would disappoint.
Great cover

[milesfrommission]

This is one of my favorite Clapton songs. It's one thing to mimic or copy DA's style, which you do very well, but to compose it - to create this riff in one's head and make it happen on a guitar...

[scottsloan]

Excellent job on this! Such a great song!

[mr.bluzhound]

You’ve already demonstrated your slide ability, but now have shown off your musical ear too!

[Skykingsound]

Props to setting your pole pieces right. 45 degrees baby!

[johnpandolfino]

One of the things I noticed about playing along to the Layla record is that it seems that some songs were sped up and slightly out of

[tsj]

Great work! Really enjoyed that. What gauge strings do you use? I know heaviee the better, but i have a tele that I'd like to use with 9s in standard but also be able to put it in open tunings for genersl open tuning playing and also slide. Can this be done or are 9s not suitable at all? Thanks!

[roderickbalt]

Ok the ass kissing is going to stop after this, but you got really got the sensitivity right, which to me means it's got original creativity in it.