I’m a mediocre bass player at best and a terrible guitar player at worst. I really don’t have time to practice much these days and it’s not like I’m getting any younger so I’ve decided to take the easy way out and sell my soul to the devil ala Robert Johnson to get good and famous in one fell swoop. The problem is that I’m only vaguely aware of the right way to do it and selling your soul just to be able to be a better musician, hey, that’s one thing you don’t want to screw up. Here’s how it goes, IIRC:
Step 1. Find a crossroads.
Step 2. Take your instrument there and wait. Around midnight a man will walk up, tune your instrument, play it a little bit and then hand it back to you.
Step 3. Profit.
Let’s take a little Google trip to see how I’ve done. Hmm… Here’s a guy that wants to sell me the answer. No way!. More googling. . . Huh? This guy says it wasn’t RJ at all!
I’ve never even heard of Tommy Johnson, but that version jives with mine. Except it’s a big black man. Got it. I always thought the devil was red. :shrugs: More on that page:
Wow, this is getting complicated! There are too many on that page, involving chickens and roosters and things like that. Ta hell (snort!) wit dat!
Let’s go back to more googling. . Well shit. Here’s the same story again.
I give up. I’m too lazy for all this googling, if I weren’t I’d just practice. So what do you guys think? What’s the right way to do it? I don’t want to end up standing by some crossroads out in the middle of the country at midnight for nothing, looking like a fool! How do I properly sell my soul to the devil for fame and musical ability?
Step 2. Take your instrument there and wait. Around midnight a man will walk up, tune your instrument, play it a little bit and then hand it back to you
Step 3. …
Step 4. Profit.
Skip directly to profit, and the Devil Prophet will skip you for sure!!
You’re too old, Jack Butler doesn’t want your soul. According to the third link you provided, the four people who allegedly sold their souls had died by the time they were 28. Doing some backwards math, figuring in the course of their success, they’d have had to have sold their souls in their late teens or early twenties.
Maybe you can pledge the souls of one of your future offspring, perhaps? The devil seems like a reasonable man, I’m sure you can work something out.
Everett: What’d the devil give you for your soul, Tommy?
Tommy Johnson: Well, he taught me how to play this here guitar real good.
Delmar: Oh, son, for that you traded your everlasting soul?
Tommy Johnson: Well, I wasn’t usin’ it.
Oh Lord, I can see the post 40 years from now where you’re hiding out in a nursing home & this young kid studying Blues Guitar tracks you down & decides he’s gonna challange the Devil on your behalf… then Steve Vai comes out of retirement & the show is on!
Well rather than this soul-selling lark just mime and get Steve Vai and Ry Cooder to ghost for you?
You do know this practicing lark works don’t you? Trouble is if you don’t keep it up - while your brain doesn’t forget how to play a three octave harmonic minor - your fingers do
I was thinking of starting a Help! I’ve lost my chops thread for suggestions of cute exercises to get me back up to speed. Not believing in a soul as such I’m not sure I’ve got much to offer Old Nick.
