Albert Collins is a blues guitar legend.
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Nicknamed the Ice Man, the Houston, Texas, ax slinger employed the “chilly” theme for the titles
Albert Collins is a blues guitar legend.
Nicknamed the Ice Man, the Houston, Texas, ax slinger employed the “chilly” theme for the titles of many of his most celebrated songs, such as “The Freeze,” “Frosty,” “Thaw Out,” “Snow Cone,” “Don’t Lose Your Cool” and “Ice Pick,” and the album titles Ice Pickin’ and Frostbite.
I had the great fortune and honor to get to know Albert and perform with him on one very memorable occasion. He was a warm and wonderful man who was well loved by his band and always deeply engaged with his fans.
Born Albert Gene Drewery on October 1, 1932, Collins—who died of cancer at the age of 61 on November 24, 1993—was introduced to the guitar by his cousin Lightnin’ Hopkins and taught to play by another cousin, Willow Young, using an unconventional open F minor tuning in conjunction with a capo.
An early influence was Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, who also employed a capo. Albert adopted the same instrument as Gatemouth, a Fender Esquire, with which he cut his early records. He later switched to his signature "maple cap"–necked, natural ash body 1966 Fender Telecaster, equipped with a Gibson humbucking pickup in the neck position, though he utilized the bridge pickup most of the time.
FIGURE 1 illustrates a first-position Fm chord. To attain an open tuning that replicates this sound, the sixth, third, second and first strings are raised one half step, and the fifth and fourth strings are raised one and a half steps. For this lesson, I’m using open E minor tuning instead of F minor. The structure of both tunings is the same, but it’s easier and more convenient to get in and out of open E minor tuning.