Dust My Broom

Elmore James, 1951, from Single. Solo by Elmore James.

The triplet slide riff that opens this record became one of the most copied figures in all of blues.

Elmore James took a Robert Johnson song and turned its opening into a declaration. That slashing triplet slide figure, played with a raw, overdriven electric tone, announces the record before a word is sung, and it returns between verses like a rallying cry. James plays with a heavy, percussive attack, hitting the strings hard and letting the slide ring and buzz rather than smoothing it out. Countless players, from Chicago bar bands to British blues rockers, learned that riff as a rite of passage, and it is still the first thing many people think of when they hear slide guitar. Listen for the slight roughness in the slide's intonation, which gives the figure its urgency and its human edge.

Dust My Broom by Elmore James is ranked #287 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Elmore James and the song was released in 1951.

In our lists

• The Greatest Solo of Every Year — #8
• The 25 Greatest Blues Guitar Solos — #13
• Slide Guitar — #13
• The Best Elmore James Guitar Solos — #1

Sources

• Guitar Player: The 40 Most Important Guitar Solos of the 20th Century