No Road Home - High Chords Up the Neck

Here is a song in standard tuning that I strum with my fingers while adding some bass with my thumb pick, but it also works well with a flat pick.  I like the opportunity to add some thumb picked bass.

 The opening descent is also used for the even numbered verses.  It is done from way up the neck on the 10th fret starting with three string chords (h), using fingers and the palm to dampen the other strings. The fretting hand fingering is arranged so that the 3rd finger stays on the 3rd string and can achieve a slide effect.  Some of these high chords are used elsewhere in the song as indicated by (h).  I usually slide up from Am/F to G(h).  The Am/F would be an F if just the three fretted strings were being played, but I generally involve other strings at this point for a fuller sound.

The guitar technique was not always easy to hear on the version of this song recorded with the Wetband, so the above demo was newly recorded to highlight the guitar work.  Here is the Wetband recording done with lots of great vocals, guitar and bass added by the band:  

Digging a Well

Here is a version done on my classical guitar.  I composed a new intro for this version which I will notate here at some later date.  This track is just guitar and vocal with no overdubbing:

Here are the chords used, though I usually pick notes from these rather than strum.  

The F#m and E are full barr chords while the D is played open with notes sometime added:

Here are the notes, tablature and slowed down music for the picking pattern used throughout.  The indicated slides up and down are optional.  I usually include them now, but you will notice for this recording I do them with a quiet vocal:

Putting it all together, here are the notes, tab, chords and vocal in the key of F#m:

This tablature was created using a great freeware program:  

Musescore

Musescore is completely free with no limitations and has developed an amazing online community of musicians.  Once you have entered your tablature or sheet music, you can experiment with different sounds.  Here is one of my favorites:  Digging a Well on Trumpet:

Here is the  lone guitar and lead vocal track for the song Digging a Well as recorded for the Wetband CD of that name.  We had four people on a four track recorder, so my guitar and vocal track were mixed through my Yorkville Amp as we were recording.  This is the reason that the acoustic guitar seems so amped up and the thumb picked bass line so strong.  A lot of barr chords were used and this led to some string buzzing that gave a kind of vibraslap effect. This song is in the key of F#m (A for harmonica) and was done in the Dropped D tuning where the low E string is tuned down to D and yields some heavy duty bass:

The song rolls along grim and relentless, but was given an added spark by the background vocal and excellent guitar of Eric Dennis on the version released on the Wetband Digging a Well CD.  Ted added some great bass guitar as well.  Later on our musical friend Squeeler Jake added some amazing lead guitar:

Into the Rhythm of Love - FingerpIcking in Dropped D

The song Into the Rhythm of Love has an interesting fingerpicking guitar part to look at.  It is in standard tuning and the picking is done with a thumb pick and the 2nd and 3rd fingers. 

 Here are the basic chords and left hand fingerings for the verses.  Note that these are the chord shapes used for picking.  There is no strumming in this song.  Sometimes I do add an index finger strum when I am doing the bass with my thumb and picking with the 2nd and 3rd fingers.  The left hand fingerings are shown below the lyrics:

Note that I play the Bm7 up on the 7th fret.  The second and third fingers are slid up and down the fretboard in the same position on the third and fourth strings. The sliding action is used as an effect, particularly when going from Bsus2 up to Bm7.

Note in red that after the A/F# the fourth finger adds a note as a transitional effect.

The picking is done with a thumb pick and the second and third fingers.  Here it is for the Bsus2 chord with left hand fingers on the 2nd and 4th frets:

 
In the above, the thumb picks out a steady bass on the 5th or A string.  The following music demo separates the four chords of the verse so they can each be heard more clearly:



Here are the chords for the chorus.  As with the verses these are the chord shapes used for picking.  There is no strumming in this piece:

And here is the classical guitar solo based on this song, recorded on my telephone but should give a feel for how this song can become a classical guitar piece:

Now is the Time - Finger Picking Good

Here is another song from the Yesterday's Dust CD released by Eric Dennis and myself:  Now is the Time.  Have always enjoyed the finger picking in this one.  For emphasis I occasionally add a strum with the index finger while picking with the 2nd and 3rd fingers.  Note:  This is played in Dropped D Tuning with the low E string tuned down to D.  Here is a version with just guitar, vocal and no overdubbing:

Here are the tab and notes for the first part of the Intro.  Note:  The H indicates a Hammer-on effect where you play the first notes and get the second ones by hammering down on the indicated frets.  The vertical line between some notes indicates that they are "pinched" with the thumb and 2nd finger:

And here is the above section slowed down so it is easier to follow the tab:



Here is the second part of the Intro which is also used as a break between verses:

Here are the tab and notes for the final line of each verse:

During the chorus sections I tend to strum the chords for emphasis with the index finger while picking with the 2nd and 3rd fingers, so here are the chord diagrams which go along with the above tablature as well as the final G(+1.3) which ends the song.  Note:  +1.3 merely indicates you are adding the 1st string 3rd fret note:

And here are the rising chords used for the last line of each verse:

 Eric Dennis added some excellent harmonica and harmony vocals to this one for the Yesterday's Dust CD.  Click on the CD cover to listen to this and other songs from the CD:




I like to think of this song as my version of the ancient Greek Seikolos Epitaph which is considered to be the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world.  The lyrics are:  

 As long as you live, shine, 
 Let nothing grieve you beyond measure. 
 For your life is short, 
 And time will claim its toll.

A beautiful rendition from the Atrium Musicae de Madrid directed by Gregorio Paniagua, recorded in 1979:

Equilibrium: Further explorations into the Dropped D tuning

Uncredited picture from gomerblog.com

Equilibrium:  This song is once again in the Dropped D Tuning where the 6th or low E string is tuned down to a D.  The song is mainly strummed with some bass notes sometimes thumbpicked for emphasis.  This track just features the Solo Guitar and Lead Vocal tracks so that the guitar technique is easier to hear:  

Here is the first set of chords.  For convenience I decided to keep some of the names from standard tuning chords, although this is not strictly accurate.  The Fmaj7 is actually probably closer to Dm7 in this tuning:

And here is the next set of chords.  In the Dm7/F the first finger position is not used at first, but does come in useful in the chorus when the 4th finger is lifted and the Dm6 is played.  The G chord is the standard one I use for G in Dropped D Tuning:

This song appears on the Yesterday's Dust CD released by Eric Dennis and myself.  Eric added some great harmony vocals.  Click on the CD cover to listen to this and other songs from the CD: