Mance Lipscomb

Mance Lipscomb (1895-1976) - Along with Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb was one of the kings of Texas blues guitar. Many of his songs feature the pulsating monotonic bass that both he and Hopkins are famous for. Like Hopkins, a great many of Lipscomb's performances have been preserved on video -- making it possible to appreciate and study his playing and singing styles.

Lipscomb, like many acoustic bluesmen, tuned his guitar to match his voice. You may notice this when you try to play along with his recordings. He also played in Dropped-D tuning on many songs. Wearing a thumbpick, Mance pounded the bass strings while muting them with his right-hand palm. He picked out the melody with his index finger. Most of his tunes are in E or A, but he performed in every key - including F!

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