I recently heard an older rock song by the band Blackfoot that opened with an interesting train-sound technique. The song was “Train, Train,” written by Shorty Medlocke, the grandfather of Blackfoot frontman/guitarist Rickey Medlocke, Shorty played the harmonica part on the song, too.
Here’s the song. It starts like a typical train sound, but at the end of some of the phrases, it goes into a really fast part that makes the train sound like it’s going 100 miles an hour!
Question: How did Shorty play that incredibly fast part of the opening solo? I’ve never heard anything like it before (though I expect the specific technique is well-known).
Any advice on how to make the train sound like Shorty’s is appreciated! I expect it’s an advanced technique, and I may not be ready to do it successfully yet, but I am curious! Thanks!!
This is a really cool recording. He is using a combination of things. Starts out with a breathing pattern that is not two breaths in and two breaths out like the standard train limitation.. It is a different pattern. He then does some pallet grinding to create that extremely fast sound. It’s almost a snoring sound or rolling of the back of the throat.He then starts playing quieter and usees a shallow breathing to create a superfast rhythm. I highly suggest working on your train every day and keeping it two breaths and two breaths out, always accentuating the exhale. Hope this helps.
One thing that confused me was all the talk about the first three gears, I am a train nerd and try to replicate what I have heard, I started slow and buil.t up from there. I have no idea the beats per minute is good but lie a steam train start slow and build up. What I really focused on was slowing down to a stop as this can be a challenge to do right done correctly. U Pacific just rebuilt a huge, largest ever, steam engine and its now on U Tube starting off. Keep in mind the large engines like the U Pacific one is rally two steam engines under one boiler. It is joined in the center by a huge pin so turns can be made, Starting off you can hear it but once the speed gets up it sounds more like one large one. I walk up a steep hill and about the third trip up I breath the same rhythm the train does.
Thanks, @scott4! I’ve always thought trains are fun but haven’t gotten into them at a deep level. Your point about sounding like a a train when you go up a steep hill is interesting! I will check that out next time I walk up a hill (though we don’t really have “hills” where I live!).
Yes That is 4014. Has not been operative long, just rebuilt. Biggest steam engine ever built made,
The chuffs cannot be heard because it has to start slow low the drive wheels will spin. There are a couple of post that you can hear the the HA HA Ho HO until it gets going faster. I think that is first gear, used for the harp is the above riff . Second gear the chuffs sound much like one engine and third you cannot hear and difference. If there is a harp player that can confirm the 1,2 and 3 ear difference please do so. I will say when I walk up my drive and it is steep and long my breathing is the please is like first gear i.e. HA ha Ho ho. I am woreslpapazzout. When you factor in I am only about 15 years younger than this steam engine my breathing defaults into what is most efficient, If there are any harp experts that play the train please confirm my thought on the different gear patterns. What I work on just as much accelerating is slowing down the engine to a stop correctly. It takes some time to get the rhythm right on both ends and each helps me play. I have hopped a ride in a steam engine but it was smaller.
U P has a slightly smaller one 3985 U Tune that will provide the same sound as the 4014.
Thanks very much for the post. I really enjoyed it and hopefully I can get the official definition for the three gears.
Great Job
Scott AKA the train nerd.
What you hear it the steam coming out of the large chuffs just ahead of the large driver up front. Look closely at the chuffs in the middle that are expelling steam. This is the second engine and the steam release not coordinated. That is why the HA HA HO HO pattern is what I hear I think I will stick with the gear pattern I learned last year at SPAH. Slowing down the pattern correctly is great rhythm practice as is accelerating. I/M/O.
Just saw your reply. Thanks very much. First gear much slower with a gradual increase and harder blows, especially Out? Then in second faster with a more consistent amount of pressure on each side? I see the pattern when I play it and it sounds like the first portion or gear is very distinct. Second you still can hear it but a faster beat and third faster to the point it sounds like a single engine. How many BPM do you play in third? Do you put much whistle in your riff, especially first gear?
Finally are the first gear notes played harder to simulate a engine having to put much more power to get it going? Do you bother with the deceleration part or stick with what Charlie McCoy plays with the whistle primarly used at the onset?
Yes, first gear is used for the slowest speed. That’s the gear I use when just starting the trains rhythm and when I’m ending the rhythm. Gear one is one breath per sway. Gear two is two breaths per sway. Third gear is four breaths per sway. By using the gears to accelerate, and then reversing them to decrease , we spend much more time gradually changing speed. The tension is built and released much more smoothly, and the train imitation has a greater impact remember to always emphasize the excel breaths and get quieter as you speed up. The loud part is the beginning in the end. Hope this helps.
Just a quick +1 for doing the train as part of your daily/regular practice.
Was just the other day after I’d been doing that for a while I noticed my playing just sounding a bit overall “nicer” and one of my “should’ve been doing that all along” moments.
@Luke I followed your method yesterday—really helpful! I started at 40 bpm (I’’m up to 90 on your Big Tone Train exercise) to make sure I didn’t overdo it. I eventually got 3rd gear up to 65 without mistakes! Your method is excellent and I plan to use it every time I play.. Thanks very much!
I need to remember to do the sway! I was practicing the gears yesterday and was doing okay to about 65 bpm. I wasn’t swaying, though! I will remember that now—thanks!
