It's no surprise why we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. each year - the peaceful civil rights movement he led 60 years ago gave way to a whole new approach to standing up for what is right without violence.
But what about when Dr. King was himself discouraged?
Where would he turn?
It has been noted how, as a preacher, King was often quoting or humming or requesting a hymn or negro spiritual.
But what about the guitar? Was Dr. King lifted up only by the sung word or was he also moved by the smooth steel of a hollow-bodied six string?
Turns out Dr. King did dig the guitar.
One guitar lick in particular.
A very simple blues riff.
A guitar lick that carried on it's back one simple question, "why?"
Why? (Am I Treated So Bad) sung by the Staple Singers out of Chicago and released in 1966 - two years before Dr. King was assissinated.
It's an easy chord progression that, like many blues songs, repeats over and over. Anyone can play it.
But only the Staple Singers played it with the ache and the pain of the injustices their people had suffered for centuries.
Go give it a listen today.
Meditate on the words.
Give the guitar lick a try.
And ask yourself, "Why were they treated so bad?"
- JB
Stupid Simple Guitar Newsletter
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