Guitar Lesson
Barnyard Noises and How to Make Them
Lesson 2: The Kicking Mule
Sometimes fowl sounds aren't enough and you have to make noises from other areas of the animal kingdom. So, in the ongoing saga of the barnyard noises tradition, here's how to make the kicking mule sound. (For reference, listen to the The Rads song Kicking Mule...)
Use a slide. The position will be E at the 12th fret. Second string, 15th fret, D note. Slide up to the note from slightly flat, muting the other strings. Immediately, slide down on the G string from the 14th to the 12th fret (notes A to G) and let the G note ring, as in "hee haw, hee haw." It's sometimes effective after playing this lick three or four times to pinch the low E-string between your thumb and first finger and pull it and let it slam into the frets and then immediately mute it. It's an Ornery Mule Staccato end to the lick. Click on the mule for an example.
Lesson Number One: Clucking Like a Chicken
(Or Making Fowl Sounds)
I do this on the high E string. It squawks best up past the 12th fret - the higher you go, the younger the chick(en) sounds. On the high E string, fret the G note at the 15th position. Pick the notes here while muting the strings with the right hand.
If each note is a cluck, the last note is the squawk, and the last note is not muted. That last squawk is the fretted A note bent up to between A# and B - it's one of those pesky quarter tone things. Let it ring for as long as you want the bird to live. Click on the chicken to hear an example.
