‘She Caught the Katy’ is an old blues song written by Taj Mahal and James Rachell. It has been covered by many different artists, but the best-known version is probably this one, which comes from the soundtrack to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. This song features Stax legend Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn on bass and is one of his finest recorded performances.
Be sure to hit the Download Resources button above to download the PDF transcription for this piece (available to subscribers only). The transcription is available WITH TAB and WITHOUT. Please note that a backing track is NOT included with this course.
This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
In this video I’ll be playing through the song using a Fender Precision bass.
In this video I’ll be discussing the background of the song, as well as giving advice on how to replicate Duck Dunn’s recorded bass tone.
This video will cover the song’s eight-bar intro. The bass plays sustained notes during this part of the song.
This video will cover Duck’s bassline from the first verse of the song. The line that is established here is reused throughout many further sections of the track, so getting this part down is an important part of learning this song. This line features some of the hallmarks of Duck’s playing, as well as some very tasty fills.
This lesson covers the second verse. The bass part here is largely the same as it was in the first verse, although there are some variations to consider, as well as the phrase that connects this section to the middle 8.
In this video I’ll be demonstrating how to play Duck’s line from the middle 8 section. This is a simple part to play, although it is quite syncopated.
This lesson covers the solo section. The bassline here is based on the part from the Verse, so we’ll just be covering any variations that occur.
In this lesson we’ll be working through the third verse of the song. This part is once again based on the earlier verse sections, so we’ll be looking at variations and the closing unison line.
In this final video we’ll be looking at the outro of the song. This section re-uses the main bass groove from the Verse, although with some nice variations.