acoustic guitar
TRANSCRIPT
FOR EVERY PL AYER IN ANY ST YLE
ACOUSTICGUITAR.COM
OCTOBER 2012
PAUL REED SMITHAcoustic Adventures
A SONGWRITER’SGUIDE TO
CHORD PROGRESSIONS
ANAÏS MITCHELL
LESSONSFingerstyle Accompaniment
Blues Harmony
Artificial Harmonics
Weekly Workout
Rodney CrowellOn Collaborating with
Author MARY KARR
GEAR REVIEWS COMPOSITE ACOUSTICS
OX Raw
DIMARZIO Angel
Pickup
FLEETWOOD MAC “Landslide”
RICHARD THOMPSON “Dimming of the Day”
RODNEY CROWELL “Hungry for Home”
TRADITIONAL “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
4 SONGS TO PLAY
Win a RainSong
Guitarpage 37
Serious Mandolins | www.collingsguitars.com
Collings M
F5 Deluxe Varnish #1191
Practice until your fingers bleed.
Go where you’ve never been before.
Write it down before you forget.
Then take a moment to reflect on it all.
JonathanSchneckGuitarist, relient K
waldenguitars.com
WLD_ADV_JonathanSchneck_8.25x10.875_AG.indd 1 5/21/12 5:31 PM
Serious Mandolins | www.collingsguitars.com
Collings M
F5 Deluxe Varnish #1191
Practice until your fingers bleed.
Go where you’ve never been before.
Write it down before you forget.
Then take a moment to reflect on it all.
JonathanSchneckGuitarist, relient K
waldenguitars.com
WLD_ADV_JonathanSchneck_8.25x10.875_AG.indd 1 5/21/12 5:31 PM
Photo by : Brian McClisterPhoto by : Brian McClister
Photo by : Brian McClister
Photo by : Brian McClisterPhoto by : Brian McClister
Photo by : Brian McClister
Photo by : Brian McClisterPhoto by : Brian McClister
Attention ad production at publication - This ad was designed to accommodate trim sizes from 8” x 10.5” (dotted line) to 8.75” x 11.25” (solid line).
800.388.4447 ghsstrings.com GHS Corp. 2813 Wilbur Ave. Battle Creek, MI 49037
phot
o —
Max
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ce
puretone
“My GHS Signature Bronze strings are dynamic andarticulate with pure intonation and singing tone.
Their longevity and integrity make themindispensable on stage and in the studio.”
Laurence Juber
laurencejuber.com
songs to play
12 “Landslide” Fleetwood Mac
14 “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
Traditional, arr. by Peter Penhallow
50 “Hungry for Home” Rodney Crowell and Mary Karr
74 “Dimming of the Day” Richard Thompson
34 Ring Some Changes
A songwriter’s guide to chord progressions.
By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
44 The Craftsman
Rodney Crowell on his rhythm-heavy guitar style and
continuing evolution as a songwriter. By Derk Richardson
54 Paul Reed Smith
How one of America’s most successful electric guitar companies
became a top maker of high-end acoustics. By Teja Gerken
= video at AcousticGuitar.com
departments
16 PRIVATE LESSON Fingerstyle Accompaniment: Rick Ruskin
on creating pop grooves for backing up singers
and instrumental soloists. By Scott Nygaard
NEW GEAR
22 Composite Acoustics OX Raw: A thin-body
acoustic-electric made with carbon-fiber
materials. By Adam Perlmutter
24 DiMarzio Angel System: Dual-source system
combines DiMarzio magnetic and Shadow
undersaddle pickups for a flexible sound.
By Teja Gerken
26 IN THE STORES
28 PLAYER SPOTLIGHT Anais Mitchell: How a vintage Gibson
Kalamazoo changed the way the singer-
songwriter plays and composes.
By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
THE BASICS 30 Blues Harmony and Chord Substitutions:
Learn to use dominant-seventh, ninth, and
diminished chords in your blues progressions.
By Orville Johnson
SHOPTALK 61 Laurent Brondel Guitars: New England–based
luthier fuses original designs with vintage
American tone. By Teja Gerken
64 PLAYLIST
WEEKLY WORKOUT 66 Harmonized Major Scale: These exercises
will get your fretting-hand fingers moving in
new ways and help you learn the fingerboard.
By Scott Nygaard
WOODSHED 70 Artificial Harmonics: How to play any melody
or chord with harmonics to add flair to your
guitar arrangements. By Sean McGowan
82 GREAT ACOUSTICS 1930 Martin 000-45. By Steven Dembroski
AcousticGuitar.com 7October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
in every issue 8 Editor’s Note 10 Music Notation Key 73 Essential Gear 78 Marketplace
OCTOBER 2012 VOL. 23, NO. 4, ISSUE 238
44
RainSong Giveaway page 37
ON THE COVER: PRS Martin Simpson. Photo by Barbara Summer.
ABOVE: Rodney Crowell at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee,
in June 2012. Photo by Larry Crowell.
Attention ad production at publication - This ad was designed to accommodate trim sizes from 8” x 10.5” (dotted line) to 8.75” x 11.25” (solid line).
800.388.4447 ghsstrings.com GHS Corp. 2813 Wilbur Ave. Battle Creek, MI 49037
phot
o —
Max
Cra
ce
puretone
“My GHS Signature Bronze strings are dynamic andarticulate with pure intonation and singing tone.
Their longevity and integrity make themindispensable on stage and in the studio.”
Laurence Juber
laurencejuber.com
8 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
EDITOR’S NOTE
GOT A QUESTION or comment for Acoustic Guitar’s editors? Please send an e-mail at [email protected] or snail-mail Acoustic Guitar Editorial, PO Box 767, San Anselmo, CA 94979.
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Except where otherwise noted, all contents © 2012 Stringletter, David A. Lusterman, Publisher.
THIS MONTH WE ARE EXCITED TO DEBUT
digital editions of both Acoustic Guitar and a new
Acoustic Guitar supplement, called, with appro-
priate simplicity: Ukulele. Both can be read for
free at AcousticGuitar.com. (Subsequent month’s
digital editions of Acoustic Guitar will be avail-
able free online for digital subscribers and Club
members only.) Of course, we’ve been providing
much of our content to online readers for years,
along with additional audio and video for
lessons and gear reviews. The digital replica of
the October issue includes all the embedded
video clips you’ve been used to seeing online.
Our new publication, Ukulele, acknowl-
edges the growing popularity of the charming
little four-string instrument. We’ve got a “Uke
for Guitarists” lesson from Marcy Marxer, a profile of ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, a
guide to shopping for a uke, a vintage uke gallery, and much more. This is the first edition of
Ukulele, but if the response from the members of the ukulele community to the news that we
were putting out a magazine devoted to their favorite instrument is any indication, it won’t be
our last. We’d like to hear from you, too, about how we did with the debut and how interested
you are in seeing more issues of Ukulele. So go to AcousticGuitar.com/UkeMagazine and weigh
in with our quick survey.
Meanwhile, in the issue you have in your hands, check out our look at Paul Reed Smith’s
acoustic guitar adventure (page 54), an interview with Rodney Crowell about his new recording
with author Mary Karr (page 44), a guide to chord progressions for songwriters (page 34), a
lesson with fingerstyle guitarist Rick Ruskin on coming up with cool accompaniment parts for
backing up singers (page 16), a new department (Weekly Workout, page 66) for those of you
looking for some regular exercises to help you learn the fingerboard, and a quartet of great
songs to play, including the classic Fleetwood Mac heartbreaker “Landslide” (page 12) and
Richard Thompson’s stunner “Dimming of the Day” (page 74).
Enjoy (all) the new issues,
SCOTT NYGAARD
AcousticGuitar.com
PRINTED IN USA
EDITORIAL
Group Publisher and Editorial Director Dan Gabel
Editor Scott Nygaard
Managing Editor Mark Smith
Senior Editor Teja Gerken
Digital Content Developer Dan Apczynski
Copy Editor Jan Perry
Editorial Assistant Amber von Nagel
Contributing Editors Kenny Berkowitz, Andrew
DuBrock, David Hamburger,
Steve James, Orville Johnson,
Richard Johnston, Sean
McGowan, Adam Perlmutter,
Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers,
Rick Turner, Doug Young
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10 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
NOTATION
music notation key
Guitar tunings are given from the lowest (sixth) string to the highest (first) string; standard tun-ing is written as E A D G B E. Arrows underneath tuning notes indicate strings that are altered from standard tuning and whether they are tuned up or down.
In standard notation, small symbols next to notes refer to fretting-hand fingers: 1 for the index finger, 2 the middle, 3 the ring, 4 the little finger, and T the thumb. Picking-hand fingering is indicated by i for the index finger, m the middle, a the ring, c the little finger, and p the thumb.
In tablature, the horizontal lines represent the six strings, with the first string on top and the sixth on the bottom. The numbers refer to frets on the given string. Slur markings indicate hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides;
1/2
indicates a bend. The number next to the bend symbol shows how much the bend raises the pitch: 1⁄4 for a slight bend, 1⁄2 for a half step, 1 for a whole step. Pick and strum direction are shown below the staff (≥=downstroke, ≤=upstroke), and slashes in the notation and tablature (!) in dicate a strum through the previously played chord.
Chord diagrams show where the fingers go on the fretboard. Frets are shown horizontally. The top horizontal line represents the nut, unless a numeral to the right of the diagram marks a higher position (“5 fr.” means fifth fret). Strings are shown as vertical lines. The line on the far left represents the sixth (lowest) string, and the line on the far right represents the first (highest) string. Dots show where the fingers go, and thick horizontal lines indicate barres. Num-bers above the diagram are fretting-hand finger numbers. X indicates a string that should be muted or not played; 0 indicates an open string.
Vocal tunes are sometimes written with a fully tabbed-out introduction and a vocal melody with chord diagrams for the rest of the piece. The tab intro is usually your indication of which strum or fingerpicking pattern to use in the rest of the piece. ag
&
B
# # 44
œ2
œ œ3 œ3 œ
m i m m
œœ œ œ
2 03
3 3
p p p p
0
00
2
D A7
C32 1x 0 0
G3 4002 0
A71 1 1123
5 fr.
Dropped-D Tuning: D A D G B Eˇ
œœœœœÛ Û Û Û Û Û Û
02020
≥
À
≤
À
≥
À
≤
À
≥
À
≤
À
≥
À
≤
Dm7x1 1 123
5 fr.
1/4 1/4
1/4 1/4
&
B
# # 44
œ2
œ œ3 œ3 œ
m i m m
œœ œ œ
2 03
3 3
p p p p
0
00
2
D A7
C32 1x 0 0
G3 4002 0
A71 1 1123
5 fr.
Dropped-D Tuning: D A D G B Eˇ
œœœœœÛ Û Û Û Û Û Û
02020
≥
À
≤
À
≥
À
≤
À
≥
À
≤
À
≥
À
≤
Dm7x1 1 123
5 fr.
1/4 1/4
1/4 1/4
Want to Know More About Acoustic Guitar Notation?
To receive a complete guide to Acoustic Guitar music by mail, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Music Editor, Acoustic Guitar, PO Box 767, San Anselmo, CA 94979-0767. The complete guide can also be found online at AcousticGuitar.com/notationguide.
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12 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
ACOUSTIC CLASSIC
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Landslide
Words and music by Stevie Nicks
The members of Fleetwood Mac famously lived out the ups and downs
of their tumultuous internal relationships through their songs, and
“Landslide” was one of the first to appear on record. Written by Stevie
Nicks about Lindsey Buckingham, “Landslide” appeared on the duo’s first
record with Fleetwood Mac, 1975’s self-titled release.
Buckingham plays “Landslide” with a capo on the third fret, picking
out the repeating C–G/B–Am–G/B chord progression with the pattern
shown below, left. Two guitars panned hard left and right on the record-
ing play this general picking pattern throughout
the song, occasionally hammering onto an extra
note to briefly change a chord’s color and some-
times diverging to highlight different chordal
notes. On the verses, Buckingham alternates
his thumb between the fifth and fourth strings,
as shown, but when he reaches the chorus, he
shifts his thumb down to alternate between the
sixth and fourth strings for the G, Em, and D
chord variations. Midway through the first and
third lines of the chorus, Buckingham quickly
moves from D/F# through D7/F
# on his way
down to Em, creating a brief melody on the
second string, as shown below, right. —ANDREW DUBROCK
C32 10x x
G/B2 400x x
Am70 02 1x x
D7/F#2 310x x
Chords, Capo III
G002 43 0
D/F #2 340x x
Em230 000
C G/B Am7 G/B C G/B Am7 G/B
C G/B Am7 G/B 1. I took my love, took it down
C G/B Am7 G/B
I climbed a mountain and I turned around
C G/B Am7 G/B
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills
C G/B Am7
Till the landslide brought me down
G/B C G/B Am7 G/B 2. Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
C G/B Am7 G/B
Can the child within my heart rise above?
C G/B Am7 G/B
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
C G/B Am7 G/B C G/B Am7 G/B
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
C G/B Am7 D7/F#
Mm
Chorus
G D/F# D7/F# Em Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
C G/B Am7 D7/F#
Cause I’ve built my life around you
&
B
#44
‰ œjœ jœ .œœ œ œ œ
01
0
32
32
CPicking Pattern
‰ œjœ jœ .œœ œ œ œ
03
0
20
20
G/B
G D/F# D7/F# Em
But time makes you bolder, even children get older
C G/B Am7 G/B
And I’m getting older too
Guitar solo over Verse progression
Repeat Chorus
C G/B Am7 G/B
Oh I’m getting older too
C G/B Am7 G/B 3. Ah, take my love, take it down
C G/B Am7 G/B
Ah, climb a mountain and turn around
C G/B Am7 G/B
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
C G/B Am7 G/B
Well the landslide will bring it down
C G/B Am7 G/B
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
C G/B Am7 G/B
Well the landslide will bring it down, oh
C G/B Am7
The landslide will bring it down
‰ œjœ jœ .œ
œ œ œ œ
01
0
02
02
Am7
‰ œjœ jœ .œœ œ œ œ
03
0
20
20
G/B
D/F# Move
jœ œ jœjœ œ jœ
œ œ œ œ
32 2
12 2
2
0
2
0
D/F # D7/F#
14 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
ACOUSTIC CLASSIC
© 2
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Sometimes I Feel Like
a Motherless Child
Traditional, arranged by Peter Penhallow
This traditional spiritual comes from a time before the Civil War, when
slave children were often separated from their parents. The lyrics can
be interpreted literally or metaphorically, with “home” seen in the gos-
pel sense as “heaven” or, as implied in the second and fourth verses, as
“freedom” in any sense of the word. Sometimes referred to simply
as “Motherless Child,” this great tune has a feel and mood similar to
George Gershwin’s “Summertime”—both are
covered as a medley in a very soulful version
by Mahalia Jackson (Bless This House). Other
recorded versions include those by Pete
Seeger (on American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 3),
Van Morrison (on Poetic Champions Compose),
Odetta (Odetta at Carnegie Hall), and Louis
Armstrong (Louis and the Good Book).
“Motherless Child” is often referred to as a
minor blues, in this case a 16-bar blues, with
the first line sung three times instead of twice,
as in a standard 12-bar blues. Take it slowly
and play the chords simply with the strum
pattern indicated (or whatever variations you
choose). —SCOTT NYGAARD
Am0 0231x
Dm0231xx
E70 002 10
*Strum:
Chords
Am Dm Am1. Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Dm Am Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Dm Am Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
E7 Am E7 Just a long way from home
Am Dm Am2. Wish I could fly like a bird in the sky
Dm Am Wish I could fly like a bird in the sky
Dm Am Wish I could fly like a bird in the sky
E7 Am E7 Little closer to home
Am Dm Am3. Motherless children have a real hard time
Dm Am Motherless children have a real hard time
Dm Am Motherless children have a real hard time
E7 Am E7 So long, so long, so long
* ≥ = down; ≤ = up
Am Dm Am4. Sometimes I feel like freedom is near
Dm Am Sometimes I feel like freedom is near
Dm Am Sometimes I feel like freedom is near
E7 Am E7 But we’re so far away
Am Dm Am5. Sometimes I feel like it’s close at hand
Dm Am Sometimes I feel like it’s close at hand
Dm Am Sometimes I feel like it’s close at hand
E7 Am E7 But we’re so far from home
&
B
44
ϳ
œœœœ≥
ϳ
œœœœ≥
0
0122
0
0122
Am
Strum Pattern
ϳ
œœœ
≥
ϳ
œ
≤
œœ
≥
0
132
02
13
Dm
œœœœœ œ
œœœœ
0
0122
0
0122
Am
œœœœœ œ œ
œœœ
0
0122
02
012
Peter Penhallow’s Traditional Songs for Beginning Guitar guide is
available at store.AcousticGuitar.com
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16 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
WITH HIS THREE MID-1970S Takoma Records
albums (Richard Ruskin, Microphone Fever, and
Six-String Conspiracy) Rick Ruskin seemed
poised to join Leo Kottke and John Fahey in the
first generation of fingerpicking stars. But his
melodic, groove-based playing found admirers
primarily among fellow guitarists and the sing-
ers he found himself working with in LA stu-
dios, and since moving to the Pacific Northwest
in the 1980s, Ruskin has been content to live
the quiet life of a studio musician/producer,
while recording and performing original pieces
and grooving solo arrangements of pop classics
like “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” “Love
Potion No. 9,” “Georgia on My Mind,” and
“Here Comes the Sun.” Ruskin, who grew up in
Detroit, Michigan, started his guitar education
learning standard fingerpicking styles and tak-
ing lessons from Reverend Gary Davis while a
teenager, but he went on to develop a style that
emulates a pop or rock ensemble, combining
grooving bass lines with complex chords, a
natural backbeat, and a lyrical melodic sense.
Fingerstyle Accompaniment
Rick Ruskin on creating pop grooves for
backing up singers and instrumental soloists.
By Scott Nygaard
At times he sounds like a one-man Motown or
LA studio band. Although he’s an adept ar-
ranger of solo instrumentals, Ruskin spoke to
us about how he creates accompaniment
parts, whether for his own voice, another
singer, or an instrumental soloist.
You’re known for your fingerstyle arrange-ments of songs that combine a lot of different parts, bass lines, melodies, riffs, etc. When you’re accompanying someone, do you think of creating a backup part in the same way? Essentially. The idea is to leave room for who-
ever the soloist might be, whether it’s a singer
or another instrument. With a solo piece, es-
pecially a cover tune, the idea is to capture
the essence of what the original track was
like, including the melody and whatever har-
monies might have been there. With an ac-
companiment situation, it’s considerably
easier because I don’t have to worry about
being the soloist, I can just be the band.
It depends on the basic feel of the piece,
but, for example, on one of my pieces
[“Walkin’ Down the Tracks” from Turn the
Page] where I knew I was going to overdub an
electric guitar, the basic track went like [Ex-
ample 1]. In my head, these upper chords
were emulating a horn section. And my
thumb, which was holding the lower end,
would be like the bass guitar. That was enough
to create the basic atmosphere I needed.
Then, when it went to the B section and the IV
chord, the motif changed [Example 2]. The
register went all the way down to the bass
and worked its way back up to the treble.
When it resolved it came right back to the A
section. It’s what I call the “rock ’n’ roll in-
evitable” [laughs]. That has a really solid 4/4
feel with a backbeat, so even without drums
you get a percussive feel, and it’s not so busy
that if a bass player and drummer were part
of the ensemble, I wouldn’t have to change
anything because I wouldn’t be getting in the
way. It’s very much a “less is more” approach
to things. See video of the music examples at AcousticGuitar.com
In this four-bar phrase, Ruskin uses country electric guitar–inspired licks to create
an accompaniment phrase that moves from A to Am/D7 to G. lick of the month
&
B
# # #44
Œ3
œœ œ œ œœ œ œ œ˙ ˙
0
6 4 2
0
4 24
2
00
[Lick of the Month]
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16 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
PETE
R T
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“SOMETHING SPECIAL”
“I tried the acoustics first and loved the tone and feel. Now, the whole band playsDragon Skin... electrics, bass and mandolin.They’re really something special.”
Roy Clark
DRstrings.com
18 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
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See video of the music examples at AcousticGuitar.com
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PRIVATE LESSON
This is not
an electric guitar maker’s acoustic;
this is one of the bestacoustic guitars ever.
”
”- Martin Simpson
“ I just played 60 gigs with my PRS acoustic guitar - from solo shows to loud 5-piece band concerts. It’s a beautiful sounding versatile tool made with absolute a� ention to detail.”
Visit a PRS Acoustic Dealer toexperience the Martin SimpsonPrivate Stock Model.
more from martin...
20 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
How would you approach a song with a more basic I–IV–V chord progression?To follow the “less is more” philosophy, if you
want something somewhat gospel-y you could
start with less even than what I just played,
which is more effective than filling everything
up [Example 3]. You choose the voicing you
want and give it lots of room to breathe, like a
Hammond B-3 might do, where it just holds
the chords and sustains. Often there’s a com-
mon tone [plays A note] that’s held as the
voices around it change. So you could do
[Example 4a] and there it is again, right in
the middle [Example 4b], and again
[Example 4c], and there it’s also doubled in
the octave. Then you just put in little kicker
notes [Example 5] that don’t disturb what
you’ve already got going. The minute you lift
off of this [first position chord] to play some-
thing fancy up the neck, the bottom drops out.
The idea is to hold things together for the
soloist. What is hard for a lot of fingerpickers
to learn is if you are backing somebody up,
you are not the star. You’ve got to make who-
ever is stage front look really good. And if you
make that person look good, you look that
much better. If you have notes flying all over
the place and you’re stepping on the soloist,
you will not get asked back to that gig again.
Do you ever think about the voicing of the chords you’re playing in terms of the register of the singer’s voice you’re accompanying?Well, the guitar is one of those instruments
where the sound of what you do is very key
dependent. Unless you’re using all closed posi-
tions. And I’m not that kind of a player. I’m
always looking for a combination of open and
closed notes. So for me, it’s not so much that
the voicings would change, it’s more what I
can do around them. For example if this is the
key starting point [Example 6], I would do
something different than if the key starting
point was [Example 7]. Because [Example 6]
is as low as I can go, so everything else I’m
going to do would have to be up from that.
With [Example 7] I can do stuff up and down
if I have to fill up space.
The voicings you choose have a very distinct sound. You’re not playing more than three or four notes but it sounds like you really think about how the voices are moving within the progressions.I am not a master theoretician, but when I was
younger and I would try to find a chord in an
arrangement that eluded me, I would often
get to the point where I was thinking, “It
sounds like this, but when I play that chord it’s
not right.” So I would stop looking at what the
theory says it should be, and I would try to
pick out any note from that cluster that I knew
was right, and then I would go looking for the
next note, and the next note. And when I fi-
nally had the right combination of notes, I
would then figure out the most convenient
way to finger it, given the context I was going
to use it in. And the last thing I would figure
out was, “What the hell is this anyway?”
Certain things would elude me. I would hear
things like this [Example 8] and I would
think, “That’s four different chords” when ac-
tually it’s only two, but each is done two dif-
ferent ways. It took me a long time to get to
the point where I could see that all they did
was rearrange how the notes were stacked.
So clearly you’re thinking about voice leading within the chords. But your bass lines also move much differently than the chords you’re playing. When I was younger and I would put together
certain ragtime arrangements, I began to real-
ize that the bass notes don’t always have to be
part of the chord; they can move around, as
long as they make sense with what’s happen-
ing on top. I would do a lot of stuff like
[Example 9]. I didn’t know that was called
PRIVATE LESSON
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AcousticGuitar.com 21October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
WHAT HE PLAYSACOUSTIC GUITAR: McAlister Lucas-13 (13-frets to the body) with Honduras mahogany back, sides, and neck; a German spruce top; ebony fingerboard, and rosewood bridge. “It’s built extremely lightly, specifically for me, because I play with very light strings,” Ruskin says. “The body is deeper than Roy’s usual L body, but he built it deeper for me because I had a 13-fret Santa Cruz H and I told him that I wanted to be able to pick them up and have them feel the same. The 13-fret configuration is the most comfortable for me.” Prototype of McAlister Rick Ruskin model. Larson Bros. Stahl Style 6.
AMPLIFICATION: House mic and PA. “I generally trust the house because they know their system better than I do,” Ruskin says. “If they tell me that they would like me to bring a microphone, for road use I would bring an Electro-Voice CS-15E, which is no longer made, but it’s a very good microphone. They made them up until the mid- to late-’80s, and I like them so much that I keep four of them in my studio.”
STRINGS: 80/20 bronze in custom gauges: .010, .014, .022, .030, .036, .048.
NAILS: Natural nails. “I use Super Glue when I break them, but I have very strong nails. I’m lucky that way. I rarely break them playing guitar.”
voice leading. But eventually, thanks to Ted
Greene’s Chord Chemistry, I did understand
that what I had been doing is voicing these
chords differently, and I had been learning
how to voice lead without realizing that I had
been learning how to voice lead. That gave me
a much better look at what I was actually
doing. So then I’d put together pieces like
“Satchel” [from Words Fail Me], where I had
two voices [Example 10].
And then I’d put in the percussive aspects
of it, because I always liked that kind of stuff
that you hear on pop records, and stuff that I
was hearing from other fingerstyle players
just lacked that. There was a lot of technique,
there were a lot of notes, but it didn’t have
that Motown “pop,” the things that really
made you pay attention. There are a lot of
little things in Motown stuff and pop stuff
from the ’50s and ’60s that I didn’t notice at
the time. But there are a lot of little subtleties
that actually drive those tunes along.
“Be the band” seems to be your motto. Well, if you’re a one-man band you really
don’t have to worry about the rest of the play-
ers showing up to the gig on time [laughs].
And if a rehearsal is blown, you know who to
yell at. ag
• Private Lessons andMaster Classes
• Chamber Music Performance
• Guitar History and Literature
• Fretboard Harmony
Scholarship and cost-of-livingassistance availableJuilliard.edu/guitar
Classical GuitarStudies at JuilliardSharon IsbinDepartment Chair
Joseph W. Polisi, President
Apply by December 1
Juilliard.edu/apply
Pho
to: J
Hen
ry F
air
22 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
NEW GEAR
AS PRIZED TONEWOODS BECOME SCARCER, some guitar makers have been looking for alternative construc-
tion materials, either nontraditional timbers or man-made composites. Composite Acoustics takes the latter approach, using carbon fiber to build guitars that are as musical as their wooden counterparts but require a great deal less maintenance. The company was started in the late 1990s by a former Lockheed Martin engineer. Though Composite Acoustics acquired more than a few devotees, the company struggled financially, shut down its operations in 2010, and was purchased and revived by audio inno-vator Peavey Electronics that same year. After moving the Composite Acoustic operations from its previous factory in Louisiana to Peavey’s headquarters in Meridian, Missis-sippi, the company resumed production with the same line of models it was building before it was acquired by Peavey. We auditioned the most affordable full-size option, the OX Raw (The “Raw” refers to the model’s satin finish option), an orchestra-size cutaway with L.R. Baggs electronics.
An Absence of WoodThere is not a trace of wood to be
found on the Composite Acous-tics OX. Instead, the guitar is
made mostly from carbon fiber, a composite material woven from carbon
thread, layered with proprietary mate-
rials, and fused with epoxies in a vacuum,
then oven-cured. While the neck,
back, and sides are all one
rigid piece, the reinforced-polymer fingerboard and carbon-fiber top are attached to the body and neck in the traditional manner. The top’s thin X-bracing isn’t a means of support but is used to control
the guitar’s timbre. Unlike most modern guitars, the
OX does not have a truss rod. That’s because the carbon-fiber construction
makes the OX impervious to the changes in climate that cause the components of a
traditional wood guitar to expand and contract and therefore require neck adjust-ments; the body is also less likely to distort and require a neck reset. Further, carbon fiber’s stability means that the guitar won’t require a humidifier in dry conditions and will not be subject to the
cracking that can afflict a wood instrument. And it’s much less likely to get damaged by extreme temperatures like those inside a
car trunk on a blazing summer day.
With its smoothly sloped cutaway and heel-less neck joint, the OX is elegantly sculptural. Our review model has a raw carbon-fiber finish with a woven dark gray-and-char-coal pattern on the soundboard and headstock and a uniform charcoal surface elsewhere. (The guitar is also available in high-gloss solid red, blue, white, or char-
coal.) The rosette mimics brushed stain-less steel and is subtly echoed in microdot position markers on the top and bass side of the fingerboard. Completing the clean modern appearance is a set of hardware—bridge, tuners, nut, and saddle—that is entirely solid black.
While it isn’t possible to assess the craftsmanship of a carbon-fiber guitar in the same way as a wood instrument, the OX appears to be very well built. The body has been formed to geometric perfection
Composite Acoustics OX Raw
A thin-body acoustic-electric made with carbon-fiber materials.
By Adam Perlmutter
at a glance
SPECS: Orchestra body. Carbon-fiber top, back,
sides, and neck. Proprietary reinforced-polymer
fingerboard. Carbon-fiber bridge and saddle.
Carbon-fiber X-bracing. 25.5-inch scale.
13⁄4-inch nut width. 21⁄4-inch string spacing at
saddle. Satin raw carbon finish (high-gloss
optional). Black 18:1 tuners. Elixir Nanoweb
strings (.012–.053). L.R. Baggs Stage Pro
Element electronics (optional). Made in USA.
PRICE: $1,949 list/$1,499 street as
reviewed ($1,799 list/$1,399 street without
electronics).
MAKER: Composite Acoustics:
(877) 860-5903; caguitars.com.
See video review at AcousticGuitar.com
There is not a trace of wood to be found on the
Composite Acoustics OX.
AcousticGuitar.com 23October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
and the 20 frets of stainless steel (another material chosen for durability) are smoothly polished and comfortable at the ends. The grooves in the nut and saddle have been addressed with similar meticulousness and the guitar has a low action unencumbered by buzzes.
Modern FeelWith its low mass and gently rounded back, the OX is extremely comfortable to cradle. The raw, or textured, finish on the neck and body, though, is a bit rough and initially distracting. It feels effortless to zip around the slim C-shape neck, which measures .81 of an inch at the first fret and .86 at the 12th fret, and the heelless design makes it possible to fully access fingerboard regions that would be less available even on a stan-dard cutaway guitar. But a strap button, which can, of course, be easily removed, does dig into the fretting hand when reaching for the highest frets.
Although initially skeptical of a nonwood guitar, I was immediately drawn to the OX’s sound when etching out a chordal figure up and down the neck. The guitar has a warmth that caught me by surprise and the chords sound dense and articulate—it is easy to hear each individual member of the most closely voiced harmonies. Natural harmonics are sparkling and vibrant throughout.
The guitar’s 13⁄4-inch nut width offers ample room for fingerpicking, so I tried some Travis picking, banjo-style rolls, and even bossa nova. The guitar responded dynami-cally to each setting, with a sweet overall voice and a notable amount of sustain and natural reverb. Thanks to the 18:1 tuners, I was able to quickly get into a series of nonstandard tunings—open G, D A D G A D, and C G D G C D—and it was pleasurable to wander through all, given the guitar’s consis-tently rich resonances.
When I grabbed a plectrum and impro-vised some jazzy lines on the OX, I was pleased by the clarity of attack and the thick-ness of the sound—the notes emerged full and round, even in the highest quarters of the guitar, where dead spots might be expected. Brisk strumming also felt and sounded great, with powerful fundamentals and shimmering overtones. When really driven the guitar did sound just a bit boxy, but overall it had a winning voice with all approaches in all styles—a very good thing considering that, unlike the sound of its wood counterpart, a carbon-fiber guitar will not blossom with age.
Onboard Baggs ElectronicsThe OX came complete with an L.R. Baggs Stage Pro Element system that includes an undersaddle pickup and a bass-side-mounted preamp/EQ. The preamp is powered by a nine-volt battery and includes volume, treble, midrange, and bass controls, as well as a notch filter, phase-inversion controls, and a chromatic tuner. Plugged into a Fender Acoustasonic series amplifier, the electronics sounded warm and lifelike when set flat, and the equalizer offers sound-shaping possibilities to suit a range of ensemble and live applications.
Carefree PerformerThere are many guitarists who shun onboard electronics and who will never play anything but wooden instruments. But in the Composite Acoustics OX, those willing to take the leap to carbon fiber will find a guitar with excellent sound and playability that is virtually maintenance-free, allowing its owner to focus on what’s most important: making music. ag
Contributing editor ADAM PERLMUTTER transcribes, engraves, and arranges music for numerous publications.
See video review at AcousticGuitar.com
TEJA GERKEN: The Composite
Acoustics OX Raw is a unique guitar.
I was surprised by the amount of
volume it was able to achieve with its thin
body—definitely more than most wooden gui-
tars with similar body styles I’ve experienced. I
also found the guitar very even in its response,
with notes having the same quality all the way
from the open sixth string to the first string
played at the 20th fret. I also really like how
the design takes advantage of the fact that
carbon fiber can be shaped in ways that would
be very difficult, if not impossible, to accom-
plish with wood, such as the cutaway/neck
joint area of the instrument.
SCOTT NYGAARD: I found the
Composite Acoustics OX Raw
particularly fun to play. The finish
on the slim neck makes it easy to get around
the fingerboard quickly and the heelless back
and cutaway make it easy to reach all of the
double-digit frets, more so than on any acoustic
I can remember playing. With the guitar’s tonal
consistency from bottom to top and access to
the highest treble notes, it’s like having a man-
dolin attached to your guitar.
editors’ impressions
24 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
NEW GEAR
WHEN LARRY DIMARZIO FOUNDED DIMARZIO PICKUPS in 1975, it was the first company dedicated entirely to making aftermarket guitar pickups, creating drop-in alternatives to the stock pickups used in Fender- and Gibson-style guitars. Other companies, such as Seymour
Duncan and EMG, followed, and today, not only has the replace-ment pickup market grown expo-nentially, many established guitar manufacturers choose pickups made by specialists for their instru-ments, rather than making their own. Pickups such as DiMarzio’s Super Distortion humbucker and FS-1 single-coil are legendary rock ’n’ roll tools, but even though the company has long offered acoustic pickups, it has never had the impact on acoustic players it’s had on solid-body slingers. However, with magnetic pickups for acous-tics increasing in popularity in recent years, DiMarzio has devel-oped a new model, the Angel,
which is available in three different configurations: Angel (passive pickup only), Angel Active (with an endpin-mounted preamp) and Angel System (with a preamp and additional undersaddle pickup). We checked out the full system, which DiMarzio supplied installed in a Martin D-16T dreadnought.
Tortoiseshell CoverWhile the Angel is similar in shape and size to some other magnetic soundhole pickups, its top cover is made of a distinctive tortoiseshell-
colored plastic—the same as many pick-guards and flatpicks. The pickup is about 1 inch wide and 1¼ inches deep and fits soundholes with a diameter of at least 3½ inches. Like most other magnetic pickups, the Angel is held in place by a clamping mechanism tightened with a Phillips-head screw on each end.
Inside its plastic enclosure, the Angel’s passive humbucking pickup has a somewhat unusual design: rather than pairing two coils in an upright position or stacking them on top of each other, DiMarzio lays the coils on their sides and places a row of adjustable pole pieces in between (Gibson used a similar design in some of its 1960s bass pickups). The pickup’s signal departs via a mono mini-jack on the treble side and connects to an
endpin jack with the basic passive Angel package or an endpin-mounted preamp with the Angel Active and Angel System.
Shadow SidekickRather than coming up with its own under-saddle pickup, DiMarzio chose Shadow’s Nanoflex pickup to pair with the Angel in this multisource system. An ultrathin and highly flexible pickup, the Nanoflex is sensitive along its entire length, and because it has a miniature circuit built into one end of the pickup itself, its signal is buffered without any signal loss.
The Angel System’s endpin-mounted preamp has mini-jack inputs for each pickup and two small pots for adjusting the output signal of each source (these
aren’t accessible once the preamp is in place, so it must be done during installa-tion). But the System has two small volume control dials (one for each pickup) that mount in the soundhole (DiMarzio suggests mounting one on the bass side and the other on the treble side, though other configurations are possible). A nine-volt battery mounted inside the guitars supplies power. Our review system arrived already installed in a guitar, but installation of the Shadow requires standard proce-dures for an undersaddle pickup (a small hole drilled through the saddle slot and lowering of the saddle) and an endpin jack (enlarging the endpin hole). Installation of the Angel pickup itself requires no modifi-cations to the instrument.
Flexible TonesI checked the Angel System out by plug-ging it into a Fishman Loudbox Artist amp. I began by listening to the Angel magnetic
DiMarzio Angel System
Dual-source system combines DiMarzio magnetic and Shadow
undersaddle pickups for a flexible sound.
By Teja Gerken
at a glance
SPECS: Dual pickup system. Soundhole-
mounted magnetic DiMarzio Angel humbucking
pickup with adjustable pole pieces. Shadow
Nanoflex undersaddle piezo pickup. Endpin-
mounted preamp with mono output. Volume
controls for each pickup. Nine-volt battery.
Made in USA (Angel pickup) and China
(Nanoflex pickup and preamp).
PRICE: $379 list/$250 street (the Angel
pickup only is available for $199 list/$160
street).
MAKER: DiMarzio: (800) 221-6468;
dimarzio.com.
See video review at AcousticGuitar.com
AcousticGuitar.com 25October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
pickup only and was greeted with a warm sound with strong bass response and smooth attack that is typical of a magnetic pickup. By itself, the Angel doesn’t sound particularly complex, though with a little reverb added at the amp it has a pleas-ingly round tone that would work well for players who find that some pickup systems accentuate their attack more than they like.
Adding the Nanoflex to the overall blend yields a considerable widening of the sonic spectrum. The sound’s high frequencies become more natural and musical, and there is an overall increase in clarity and sonic complexity. Because the Nanoflex is a relatively top-sensitive pickup, adding its signal to the Angel’s results in greater dimension in terms of amplifying percussive slaps, etc. More care could have been used in the installation of our review system; the internal wires weren’t secured very well, leading to some occasional noise when the sensitive Nanoflex pickup’s cable moved inside the guitar.
Besides trying the Angel System, I also tried the Angel by itself, passively, running a cable directly from its mini-jack output to the Fishman amp. While considerably lower in output, the pickup delivers plenty of gain to drive the amp without an external preamp. The tone places a bit more emphasis on the midrange and is less complex than when used with the endpin preamp, but players who are looking for an easy-to-install magnetic pickup will want to consider the passive Angel.
Magnetic/Undersaddle SolutionNo matter which of the three available Angel packages you’re interested in, you can expect solid performance. Combining magnetic and undersaddle pickups is a popular configuration for many custom setups, but few manufacturers offer ready-made solutions for this combination, making the Angel System an attractive option for players who want flexible tonality without having to cobble their own rig together. ag
I began by listening to the
Angel magnetic pickup only
and was greeted with a warm
sound with strong bass response
and smooth attack that is
typical of a magnetic pickup.
artistry
Escape the expected. Experience graphite.
www.rainsong.com1.800.788.5828
26 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
NEW GEAR IN THE STORES
2
3
4
Olympus LS-100 $399.99. getolympus.com.
The LS-100 is the latest handheld digital recorder from Olympus. With
features that include just about everything that could fit in a recorder
of this size (the LS-100 measures about 6¼ x 2¾ x 1¼ inches), it will
be of interest to those looking for something with capabilities beyond
basic stereo recording.
Here are some highlights: The LS-100 includes a pair of condenser
microphones, as well as combined ¼-inch/XLR stereo inputs with
phantom power. It includes 4 GB of built-in memory (plus it accepts
standard SD memory cards for additional storage) and has a
removable built-in rechargeable battery. Besides standard stereo
recording, the LS-100 can record up to eight tracks, which can be
mixed internally or exported to a DAW via a USB port.
In using the LS-100, I appreciated details like real record-level
dials (rather than a menu-based approach), dedicated peak LEDs, a
built-in speaker, and an easy-to use interface. Recordings made with the unit using its built-in mics
sounded great, and with proper placement in a good-sounding environment, I could see using the LS-
100 to record album-worthy tracks. —TEJA GERKEN
1 Huss and Dalton CrossroadsSolid Sitka spruce top. Solid mahogany back and
sides. Red spruce top bracing. 24.75-inch scale.
Vintage taper neck with 1¾-inch nut width.
Sunburst finish. $3,400. hussandalton.com.
2 Cooperstand DuroProGuitar stand. Folds compactly to fit in many
guitar cases. Made of industrial-grade ABS
composite. Fits acoustic and electric guitars,
ukuleles, mandolins, banjos, and other instru-
ments. Available in a variety of colors. Padding
safe for use with nitrocellulose finishes.
$34.95. cooperstand.com.
3 Levy’s Leathers CCG Gig BagsAvailable in acoustic and electric sizes. Durable
polyester material. One-inch multilayered triple-
density foam padding. Nylon lining. Leather han-
dles. Two-inch cotton webbing backpack straps.
Zippered accessory pouch. Starting at $243.92.
levysleathers.com.
4 Martin D-18E RetroDreadnought body. Solid Sitka spruce top.
Solid mahogany back and sides. Scalloped,
forward-shifted X-bracing. Ebony fingerboard
and bridge. 1¾-inch nut width. Fishman F1
Aura electronics with sound images derived
from recordings of vintage D-18s using vin-
tage microphones. $3,399. martinguitar.com.
1
REVIEW
ODAIR ASSADFri. Oct. 5, 2012, SF Conservatory of Music*
RAFAEL AGUIRRESat. Oct. 27, 2012, Green Room
BRASIL GUITAR DUOSat. Nov. 17, 2012 , Green Room
SHIN-ICHI FUKUDASat. Dec. 8, 2012, Herbst Theatre*
INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHTSat. Jan. 26, 2013, Brava Theater
TOmmy EmmANUEL CGPFrank Vignola with Vinnie RanioloFri. & Sat. Feb. 8 & 9, 2013Palace of Fine Arts Theater
DAVID RUSSELLSat. March 2, 2013Herbst Theatre*
mARCIN DyLLA Sat. March 16, 2013Green Room
BEIJING GUITAR DUOSun. March 31, 2013SF Conservatory of Music*
VLADImIR GORBACHSat. April 13, 2013Green Room
PEPE ROmERO Sun. April 28, 2013Herbst Theatre** Presented inassociation withSan FranciscoPerformances.
Pepe Romero
TommyEmmanuel
28 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
THE FACE ON THE COVER of Anaïs
Mitchell’s latest album, Young Man in
America, is not her own; it belongs to her
father, author Don Mitchell, photo-
graphed around age 30. Throughout the
songs, delivered in her childlike, crystal-
line voice, Anaïs weaves stories of driven
young men—a shepherd, a sailor, a
farmer—in vivid language that draws
from centuries-old ballads and the Bible.
“I come out like a cannonball / Come of
age of alcohol,” she sings in the title
track, “Raven in a field of rye / With a
black and roving eye.”
Clearly Mitchell’s latest songs are not
the typical confessions of a singer-song-
writer, but that doesn’t mean they are
not personal. “All the songs started from
a very personal place and feelings that I
wake up with,” says Mitchell, 31, in a
conversation while on tour in the Mid-
west. “It was almost like dressing them
up in other people’s clothes. I felt clear
to troll the depths without feeling like I
was spilling my guts. There was a free-
dom in these other voices, and maybe I
felt more able to be honest. I might have
been shy had I been the narrator.”
Thinking outside of the singer-song-
writer box is not new for Mitchell, a na-
tive of Vermont. Her previous album,
Hadestown, is a folk opera retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, featuring
such notable guest singers as Greg Brown, Ani DiFranco, and Justin Vernon (Bon
Iver). While Hadestown took inspiration from the Depression era and Young Man in
America at times suggests a 19th-century setting, Mitchell says these albums are
“meant to exist in a space that isn’t historically accurate. It’s a dreamscape kind of
place. I love when a story that might be contemporary or might be true for me can
be told in such a way that it feels like it might have come from another era.”
Musically, Young Man in America shows a distinct evolution from the sparse voice-
and-guitar sound of Mitchell’s early records Hymns for the Exiled and The Brightness.
Anaïs Mitchell
How a vintage Gibson Kalamazoo changed the
way the singer-songwriter plays and composes.
By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
ADAM
JAS
ON
“Anyone using a lesser tuner is making their life more difficult.” – Jorma Kaukonen
tuning machines
™
stewmac.com/waverly
Chosen by renowned guitarmakers for their nest instruments.
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“Oftentimes it’s the tiniest things, like one chord change or one chord, that will be like the grain of sand that gets under your skin. You can’t stop playing it, and you build this thing around it.”
AcousticGuitar.com 29October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
The Hadestown project, arranged and orches-
trated by Michael Chorney with a broad pal-
ate of instruments, “kind of blew out of the
water my concep-
tion of what could
happen with my
songs,” she says.
On Young Man in
America, arranger/
p roduce r Todd
Sickafoose, long-
time bassist for Ani
DiFranco and also producer of Hadestown,
built a beautifully atmospheric sound around
Mitchell’s guitar with prominent drums, lush
ensemble vocals, chimey electric guitar (Adam
Levy and others), mandolin (Chris Thile),
piano, and touches of strings and horns. The
result is reminiscent of artists like Sufjan Ste-
vens and Bon Iver—the latter recently cov-
ered Mitchell’s song “Coming Down,” an
emotionally powerful track on Young Man in
America.
Guitar OddityOne behind-the-scenes influence on these
songs is Mitchell’s discovery of a Kalamazoo
acoustic guitar, from Gibson’s short-lived bud-
get line from the Depression era, among the
oddities and rarities at Subway Guitars in
Berkeley, California. A no-frills flattop guitar
without a truss rod, the Kalamazoo has “an
idiosyncratic little voice,” she says, “kind of
loud and high—kind of like my own voice.”
For years she fingerpicked an Alvarez-Yairi,
and with the Kalamazoo she found herself
strumming for the first time (still with her fin-
gers), often capoed high up the neck, and cre-
ating a different type of rhythmic bed beneath
her songs. “I love the voice of the Kalamazoo
and the songs that it brought with it,” she
says, “which were quite different than what
might have come out of the Alvarez.” In all of
Mitchell’s songwriting, the guitar plays a cen-
tral role. “Oftentimes it’s the tiniest thing, like
one chord change or one chord, that will be
like the grain of sand that gets under your
skin,” she says. “You can’t stop playing it, and
you build this thing around it.”
With the release of the new album, Mitchell
is touring the United States and Europe with
the Young Man Band, which includes fellow
songwriter Rachel Ries—with whom Mitchell
released the seven-inch vinyl Country E.P.
in 2008. Mitchell also does a steady stream of
solo gigs as well as occasional Hadestown
shows, where she gathers a large cast of sing-
ers and musicians to play the characters of her
folk opera. Meanwhile, another project is per-
colating in the background: inspired in recent
years by artists such as Paul Brady, Martin
Carthy, and Dick Gaughan, Mitchell has been
arranging and recording a set of traditional
Child ballads with multi-instrumentalist
Jefferson Hamer, and a new album should be
out next year.
That’s an exceptionally wide range of in-
terests and projects—all feeding off of each
other, and all animated by Mitchell’s deep
love of language. “I came to music by way of
words,” she says, “by way of what could be
done with storytelling or poetry or stringing
words together to deliver the listener to some
other place.” ag
JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERS (jeffreypepperrodgers.com), a grand prize winner in the John Lennon Songwriting contest, is the founding editor of Acoustic Guitar.
WHAT SHE PLAYSACOUSTIC GUITAR: Late ’30s Gibson Kalamazoo KG-11 with a sunburst finish.
AMPLIFICATION: K&K Pure Mini pickups. Fishman Aura pedal.
STRINGS: Ernie Ball.
CAPOS: G7th or Paige.
30 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
THE BASICS
G is B. That’s the seventh note of the C scale so
the name of this new chord is C major seven
(Cmaj7). Most of you probably know that one
of the intervals in the major scale we change
to give it a bluesier sound is the seventh. Let’s
do that with this B note and lower it a half step
to Bb. This makes our chord a C dominant
seven, or just C7. The I, IV, and V chords in the
key of C are C, F, and G. Let’s play a short pro-
gression with these chords (Example 3a).
Listen to the sound. Now make all three of
these chords dominant-seventh chords: C7,
F7, and G7 (Example 3b). Play the pattern
again and listen. Much higher blues quotient,
right?
Notice that in a C7 chord the third, E, is a
major third while the seventh (Bb) is a minor
seventh. Try using these dominant-seventh
chords to play 12-bar blues progressions in
different keys. The major/minor sounds
bumping against each other in the chord
make it sound like blues even before you lay
any lead lines on top. These three chords have
powered a million blues tunes.
Ninth ChordsMusicians are a curious and creative bunch
and as soon as they’d established this founda-
tional harmony for the blues, some folks natu-
rally wanted to change or add to it. One of the
first steps they took was to further extend the
chord. Add a note a third above the seventh
and you have a ninth interval. In C this would
be a D note, making it a C ninth chord (C9).
This chord is spelled C, E, G, Bb, D. Example 4
shows a couple of ways to finger a ninth
chord. What do you think about the sound of
this chord? How does it compare to the C
major triad and C7? It’s still bluesy but adding
the ninth gives it a color we might call jazzy.
Try sliding the ninth chord up a step and back
down on a slow blues (Example 5) and you’re
in T-Bone Walker territory.
Chord SubstitutionsEarly-20th-century jazz was rooted in the
blues. But jazz musicians began to feel hemmed
in by the standard blues harmony and started
the search to expand the sound, even to the
point of adding different chords entirely. This is
where the idea of chord substitution comes in.
LOOKING BACK IN HISTORY to the time and place where the blues began
takes us to the Southeast United States just after the Civil War. The slaves
had gained their freedom but still put in a lot of time working the fields,
building levees, handling mules and horses. Music helped them endure.
The songs they sang as they worked were called “field hollers” and these
songs, along with religious spirituals, make up a lot of the melodic and
rhythmic motifs that eventually morphed into the blues. The music was
most often unaccompanied singing. Sometimes a song would be used to
maintain a work rhythm, sung in time with a swinging ax or scythe blade.
Chords and harmony didn’t enter the musical picture until a little later.
The Piedmont or East Coast style of blues was influenced by the rag-
time piano harmony that emerged around the turn of the 20th century,
while the Delta blues remained pretty primitive in comparison. On early
recordings we hear a lot of Delta blues songs that have only one chord. Check out
Charley Patton’s “Mississippi Bo Weevil Blues” or Son House’s “Preachin’ the Blues”
to hear how a strummed rhythm and melodic slide lick make up the entire accom-
paniment (Example 1). Here’s a bass line riff that propels Tommy Johnson’s “Big
Road Blues” and turns up in several other Delta tunes (Example 2). As blues har-
mony began to emerge, the I–IV–V chord changes we’re used to hearing today
became common. In this lesson we’ll examine blues harmony and touch on the idea
of chord substitutions.
Basic Chord TheoryOne great thing about the blues is that you don’t need a degree in music to be able to
play and communicate effectively. But it can help to know how chords are built. Let’s
start by looking at a major chord. Chords are built in thirds. We’ll start with a C note,
add an E (a third above C), and then a G (a third above E). This gives us a C-major
triad. If we want to extend the chord we keep adding thirds. The note a third above
Blues Harmony and
Chord Substitutions
Learn to use dominant-seventh, ninth, and diminished chords
in your blues progressions.
By Orville Johnson
See video of the music examples at AcousticGuitar.com
&
B
#
44
Ó ‰œœ
j
œÓ œ
œb
00 0
0 3
Ex. 1Tuning: D G D G B D (Ex. 1–2)
ˇˇ ˇj
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* Play with bottleneck/slide
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0 2 3 4
0 2 3 4
& 44
Û Û Û Û
C32 1x 0 0
Ex. 3a
Û Û Û Û
F1213T 4
Û Û Û Û
C32 1x 0 0
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G3 1T 42 1
& 44
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Ex. 3b
Û Û Û Û
F73121x x
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G7T 31 112
AcousticGuitar.com 31October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
Here’s a simple concept to start under-
standing chord substitutions: any two chords
that have two notes in common can be substi-
tuted for each other. Let’s analyze one of the
most common chord substitutions with this in
mind. In the last two bars of a 12-bar blues
(the section often referred to as the turn-
around) in C we would usually play a full bar
&
B
#
44
Ó ‰œœ
j
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œb
00 0
0 3
Ex. 1Tuning: D G D G B D (Ex. 1–2)
ˇˇ ˇj
œ..
œœ
œœœ
œœ œ
œb œœ
n
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J
œ Œ .
00
000
55
33
00
0 3 0
* Play with bottleneck/slide
* *
j
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.œœ
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n
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00
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0 3 0
* *
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.
.
.
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j
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0 2 3 4
Ex. 2
j
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j
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j
œ œn
j
œ#
œ œ œn œ#
0 2 3 4
0 2 3 4
& 44
Û Û Û Û
C32 1x 0 0
Ex. 3a
Û Û Û Û
F1213T 4
Û Û Û Û
C32 1x 0 0
Û Û Û Û
G3 1T 42 1
& 44
Û Û Û Û
C732 1x x4
Ex. 3b
Û Û Û Û
F73121x x
Û Û Û Û
C732 1x x4
Û Û Û Û
G7T 31 112
&
B
#
44
Ó ‰œœ
j
œÓ œ
œb
00 0
0 3
Ex. 1Tuning: D G D G B D (Ex. 1–2)
ˇˇ ˇj
œ..
œœ
œœœ
œœ œ
œb œœ
n
œœb
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J
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000
55
33
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0 3 0
* Play with bottleneck/slide
* *
j
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Ex. 2
j
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j
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j
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0 2 3 4
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& 44
Û Û Û Û
C32 1x 0 0
Ex. 3a
Û Û Û Û
F1213T 4
Û Û Û Û
C32 1x 0 0
Û Û Û Û
G3 1T 42 1
& 44
Û Û Û Û
C732 1x x4
Ex. 3b
Û Û Û Û
F73121x x
Û Û Û Û
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Û Û Û Û
G7T 31 112
&
B
44
˙˙˙˙
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Û Û Û Û
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Ex. 6a
Û Û Û Û
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Ex. 6b
Û Û Û Û
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Ex. 7
Û Û Û Û
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& 44
Û Û
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Ex. 8
Û Û Û Û
F1213T 4
F#dim2x1 13 x
Ex. 9
Û
C/G42 10 03
Û Û Û Û
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Ex. 10
Û Û Û Û
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5 fr.
Û Û Û Û
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C32 1x 0 0
of C and a full bar of G7 (Example 6a).
Instead, let’s make that measure of G7 two
beats of Dm and two beats of G7 before we go
back to the C (Example 6b). Spell out these
two chords and we get D, F, A (Dm) and G, B,
D, F (G7). We can also play a Dm7 (D, F, A, C)
instead of the Dm. Notice that the Dm and
Dm7 chords share D and F notes with the G7.
This is enough similarity for these chords to
fulfill the same function, and enough differ-
ence to alter the sound and give a soloist a
more interesting harmonic backdrop to play
against.
You have probably noticed how the sound
of the V7 seems to demand a resolution to the
I chord. This pattern is evident in every style
of Western music from folk to blues to classi-
cal. When we add the Dm7 to a measure of G7,
what we’re hearing is a harmonic motif known
as a ii–V–I progression. In the key of C this is
Dm7–G7–C. It definitely works as a chord sub-
stitution at the end of the 12-bar blues but do
you think we could use it anywhere else in the
progression? Try this—in measure 4 of the
12-bar blues, which would normally be four
beats of C7, change to two beats of Gm7 and
two beats of C7, leading to four beats of F7 in
the next measure (Example 7). We’re pre-
tending for a moment that the F isn’t the IV
chord of C but a I chord, and then we place
a ii7–V7 in front of it borrowed from the key
of F. What we end up with is a jazzy sound-
ing way of moving from the C to the F. You
32 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
THE BASICS
can experiment with putting this change in
front of other chords; just think of the chord
you want to resolve to as the I chord and then
calculate the right intervals to use for your ii7
and V7 chords’ roots.
Diminished Chords/Passing ChordsLet’s check out one more chord concept. A
chord progression is, by definition, a journey
through a particular set of chords. The main
chords are the big signposts of your trip, but
there are also chords you don’t linger on that
get you from one place to another. These are
often referred to as “passing chords.” A chord
type that often gets this tag is the diminished
chord. Example 8 shows a couple of voicings
for diminished chords. We can put these
chords in two places in the 12-bar blues. In
measure 6, swap out two beats of the F7 for an
F#dim (Example 9). Notice how this makes the
bass line move from F to F# to G, giving us a
smooth path from the root of the F chord to
the root of the F#dim to G, which is the fifth of
the C chord. If you spell out F7 and F#dim,
you’ll notice that F7 (F, A, C, Eb) and F
#dim (F
#
A, C, and Eb) share three notes: A, C, and E
b.
Let’s use a different diminished chord in
measure 8 of the blues. Instead of a full mea-
sure of C7, we’ll play two beats of C7 and two
beats of C#dim and make measure 9 a Dm7
(Example 10). Once again, like the F7 and
F#dim, the C7 and C
#dim share three notes,
allowing us to substitute the C#dim for the C7.
Notice that the Dm7 chord is the ii in a ii7–
V7–I progression that leads us back to C in
measure 10 of the blues. These passing chords
help form a well-connected bass line, giving a
nice flow to our trip through this progression
and creating a more interesting background for
a soloist. Let’s put all these ideas together in a
full blues progression in C (Example 11). ag
Contributing editor ORVILLE JOHNSON is a Seattle-based singer, guitarist, arranger, teacher, writer, and author of the Acoustic Guitar Guide: Acoustic Blues Basics. He has recorded several albums and instruc-tional DVDs (orvillejohnson.com).
&
B
44
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& 44
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34 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
© 2
012 J
EFFR
EY P
EPPE
R R
OD
GER
S. AL
L R
IGH
TS R
ESER
VED
. U
SED
BY
PER
MIS
SIO
N.
hord progressions are the engine of songwriting. The melodic or lyrical hook may
be what lodges in people’s heads, and an insistent beat may dominate the mix,
but the chord progression is what makes everything move. By itself, a chord is just
a static thing—a few notes stacked together—but a group of chords arranged artfully in a
progression creates a little harmonic journey. There’s a kind of magic in a great chord
progression, a mix of soothing familiarity and thrilling surprise that has emotional power
even without the melody and lyrics.
So every songwriter needs to be fluent with chord progressions, but the process of
figuring out which chords to use and how to sequence them can be mystifying. You can
create progressions by randomly trying chords, but with a basic theoretical understanding
of chords and keys, you can zero in much more quickly on good options to try in a pro-
gression—and become a more productive and versatile songwriter overall.
By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
See video of the musical examples at AcousticGuitar.com
RING SOME CHANGES
CA SONGWRITER’S GUIDE TO CHORD PROGRESSIONS.
AcousticGuitar.com 35October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
In this lesson, we’ll take a look under the
hood of some popular songs and explore how
chord progressions work. We’ll build a vocab-
ulary of chord moves in major and minor keys
that provide a great starting point for song-
writing. Along the way, we’ll check out com-
mon progressions used in many classic blues,
rock, folk, and country songs . . . and maybe
your next song, too.
SONGWRITING BY NUMBERThe secret to understanding chord progres-
sions is identifying chords in a progression
by number—not by the letter names of the
chords. This is the idea at work at a jam ses-
sion when someone kicking off a song says,
“It’s I–IV–V in G,” rather than, “The chords
are G, C, and D.” What these numbers do is
describe the function of the chords no matter
what key you’re in—a I–IV–V in D works
the same as a I–IV–V in G. When you’re
thinking of chords by number, you can
quickly change a song’s key, pinpoint what’s
happening in a cool chord sequence, or
make connections between songs. You un-
derstand the musical logic, which in turn al-
lows you to put that logic to work in your
own songwriting.
This numbering system is based on the
seven notes in the major scale, which are also
called scale degrees and numbered one
through seven. We can build a chord off each
scale degree by stacking two other notes in
the scale on top: moving up the scale, we skip
a note and use the next one, and then do the
same again. To build a C-major chord from a
C-major scale (C D E F G A B), we start with
C, skip a scale degree to add E, then skip an-
other scale degree to add G. To build a chord
rooted on D, we start with the second scale
degree and repeat the process, giving us a
D-minor chord: D–F–A. The same stacking
pattern holds for all the scale degrees and for
any major scale.
What we get by doing this are the diatonic
chords—a family of chords that occur natu-
rally in any major key. Even if you’re not fa-
miliar with any of this theory, your ears
recognize how diatonic chords fit together,
because you’ve heard them at work in songs
your whole life.
Take a look at the table “Diatonic Chords in
Major Keys” below. For the sake of simplicity,
I’ve listed just the five friendliest keys on gui-
tar. The Roman numerals indicate the scale
degree the chord is built on, as well as the type
of chord: major chords are uppercase, and
minor and diminished chords are lowercase
(diminished chords are indicated with ° or
dim). The I is the tonic or root chord and also
the name of the key. No matter what key we’re
in, the I, IV, and V chords are major; the ii, iii,
and vi are minor; and the vii° is diminished.
DIATONIC CHORDS IN MAJOR KEYS
In practice, what this table means is that a
straightforward song in the key of G, for in-
stance, often uses only the chords in the G
row: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, and (much less
commonly) F#dim. In fact, many popular
songs include only three or four of these dia-
tonic chords. Out of the universe of chords,
songwriters are often working with just a
handful of options.
Let’s use these numbers to run through a
few diatonic chord progressions in major
keys, starting with the most basic.
JUST THE I Some songs don’t change chords at all—they
simply hang out on the I (often, a bluesy I7
chord) and rely on the melody and groove to
maintain musical interest. One-chord songs like
John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” and Muddy
Waters’s “Mannish Boy” are a primal form of
blues. Other one-chord gems include Creedence
Clearwater Revival’s “Run Through the Jungle,”
“Chain of Fools” (written by Don Covay and im-
mortalized by Aretha Franklin), Steely Dan’s
“Show Biz Kids,” and Beck’s “Loser.”
Even though these songs don’t change
chords, the accompaniment still moves—often
with a bass line or riff. Example 1 shows one
idea in an R&B vein. Hold a D7 in third posi-
tion, and keep your fingers in place on the
fourth and third strings as you play the bass
line in measures 1–3.
I AND VIf a song adds just one more chord to the
I, chances are it’s the V. The move from V to I
is fundamental—once the home-base I chord
is established and a song goes to the V, our
ears want it to resolve to the I. Rocking be-
tween I and V is more than enough tension
and release on which to build a song, as
proven by classic examples such as Hank Wil-
liams’s “Jambalaya,” the Dixie Cups’ “Iko Iko,”
and Chuck Berry’s “Memphis, Tennessee.”
Example 2 lays down a I–V progression
in C, with a rock feel. On the C, mute the
fourth string by leaning your ring finger
against it, and mute the fifth string in the
same way for the G chord.
I, IV, V Add the IV chord to the I and V, and you’ve
got the chord trinity behind countless songs.
When people say all you need are three
chords and the truth, these are the chords
they mean. The I, IV, and V can appear in
any order. For instance, Ritchie Valens’s “La
Bamba” uses a I–IV–V progression, Neil
Young’s “Helpless” is I–V–IV, and Woody
Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” goes
IV–I–V–I.
Example 3 is another variation, I–IV–I–V,
in waltz time. Take it slowly, and let the bass
notes ring.
THE NASHVILLE NUMBER SYSTEM
Roman numerals are traditionally used to represent chords by their function in a key, but many session players and others prefer regular old Arabic numerals, using what’s called the Nashville number system. Written this way, a I–IV–V progression is 1–4–5. Add an m for a minor, dim (or °) for diminished, and a small 7 for a seventh chord. For chords with a note other than the root in the bass, use a slash with a number indicating the bass note: 1/3 is a 1 chord with the third of the chord in the bass (for instance, a G/B).
C Dm Em F G Am Bdim
D Em F#m G A Bm C#dim
E F#m G#m A B C#m D#dim
G Am Bm C D Em F#dim
A Bm C#m D E F#m G#dim
I ii ii IV V vi viidim
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44
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36 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
A SONGWRITER’S GUIDE TO CHORD PROGRESSIONS
TAKE vi Venturing outside the I, IV, and V, the next dia-
tonic chord you’re likely to encounter is the vi.
Many songs move between the I and vi—a
smooth change because the chords have two
of their three notes in common. The Isley
Brothers’ “Shout” is entirely I–vi except for the
slowed-down “I want you to know . . . ” part,
which toggles between I and IV.
One of the templates of early rock ’n’ roll is
I–vi–IV–V, used most famously in “Stand By
Me” (by Ben E. King with Jerry Lieber and
Mike Stoller). The same sequence is heard in
the verses of the Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden”
and the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” (in
which the chords are dressed up with ninths
for a jazzier sound). Reorder these four chords
and you get the progressions for tons of other
songs—such as John Denver’s “Country Roads”
(where the verse is I–vi–V–IV and the chorus is
I–V–vi–IV, I–V–IV–I). Play Example 4 and
you’ll hear echoes of another Beatles tune, “Let
It Be.”
By shuffling the I, IV, V, and vi around,
changing how long you hold each chord,
and trying different rhythmic feels, you can
cover a tremendous amount of songwriting
territory.
THE ii AND iiiBy adding the ii and iii chords to your song-
writing palette, you can create seemingly infi-
nite progressions. The Grateful Dead’s “Friend
of the Devil” is one of many songs that use the
ii in conjunction with I, IV, and V. Bob Dylan’s
“You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” in keeping with its
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44
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3
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TRAIN YOUR EARS
If you’re not accustomed to thinking of chord progressions by number, one of the best ways to learn is to say the numbers aloud while you’re playing a song. Start with something simple—a three-chorder with a traditional sound—and each time you change chords, call out I, IV, V, or whatever the chords may be. Easy? Try a song with more chords or quicker changes. The more you practice this, the better you’ll be at recognizing by ear the relationships between chords in a progression.
Eventually, you’ll reach a point where you can identify chords by number while listening to a recording, without refer-ring to a guitar. Developing that ability is a real boon for a songwriter, because when you hear a song idea in your head, you’ll be able to capture the progression whether or not there’s a guitar within reach.
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AcousticGuitar.com 37October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
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38 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
A SONGWRITER’S GUIDE TO CHORD PROGRESSIONS
title, uses an unchanging I–ii–IV progression.
Elsewhere in the Dylan songbook, “I Shall Be
Released” ascends the diatonic chords like a
ladder: I–ii–iii to a quick IV–V. “Like a Rolling
Stone” uses a similar pattern: the verses start
with I–ii–iii–IV–V, hang for a couple lines on
IV–V, and then go right back down, IV–iii–ii–I.
Example 5, a fingerpicking pattern in C,
shows two common functions of the ii and iii:
in measures 1–4 the ii leads to the V, and in
measures 5–6 the iii leads to the IV. This eight-
bar progression uses all the diatonic chords
we’ve discussed—the I, ii, iii, IV, V, and vi. We
haven’t covered the less common vii° chord
(songwriters are much more likely to use the
nondiatonic bVII chord instead). But with a
good handle on the I, ii, iii, IV, V, and vi, you
are ready to roll for writing in major keys—
and you’re also primed for our next topic,
chord progressions in minor keys.
MINOR-KEY PROGRESSIONS Minor keys are often said to be brooding and
sad, but not all minor-key songs are as bleak
as, say, “Death Don’t Have No Mercy.” They
can also be soothing (George Gershwin’s
“Summertime”), funky (the Commodores’
“Brick House”), or upbeat and rocking (Dire
Straits’ “Sultans of Swing”). Chord progres-
sions in minor keys provide a rich set of musi-
cal possibilities and should be part of every
songwriter’s palette.
So let’s look at the diatonic chords you’ll
find in minor keys and at a few common
minor-key progressions and classic songs
using those chords.
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AcousticGuitar.com 39October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
BUILDING CHORDSAs with major keys, we find the diatonic
chords in minor keys by using a scale—in this
case, the main building block is the natural
minor scale. The natural minor scale is the
same as the major scale starting on the sixth
note, or scale degree. If we take the C major
scale (C D E F G A B) and start on the sixth
(A), we get the A natural minor scale: A B C
D E F G. We build a chord on each scale
degree by stacking notes just as we did with
the major scale, skipping a note and using the
next one, and then doing the same again. So
to build a chord off the first degree of the
A-minor scale, we start with A, skip a scale
degree to add C, then skip another scale de-
gree to add E—those three notes form an Am
chord. To build a chord rooted on B, we start
with the second scale degree and repeat the
process, giving us a Bdim chord: B–D–F. The
same stacking pattern holds for all the scale
degrees and for any minor scale.
When we follow this pattern for all seven
scale degrees, we wind up with the chords
shown in “Diatonic Chords in Minor Keys.”
This chart lists the four most common minor
keys for guitarists, but the same pattern of
diatonic chords can be found in any minor
key. When we build chords with the natural
minor scale, the i, iv, and v are minor; the ii°
is diminished; and the bIII,
bVI, and
bVII are
major. But as you see, the chart shows that
the ii can also be minor, and the IV and V can
be major. These alternatives occur because
we can build chords with other minor scales,
namely the harmonic and melodic minor,
which have slightly different notes and cre-
ate slightly different chords. The bottom line
is you can pick which scales and chords to
use, and the three alternatives shown are
common choices for songwriting. So let’s see
how these diatonic chords work in minor-key
progressions.
MINOR BLUESThe major I, IV, and V are the kingpins in
major keys, and their minor equivalents also
figure prominently in minor keys. There are
minor blues using i, iv, and v, such as “Black
Magic Woman,” the Santana hit written by
Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green. Also from the
Santana songbook, “Evil Ways” (by Sonny
Henry) uses the major IV and V with the
minor i. B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone” (Roy
Hawkins and Rick Darnell) and Ray Charles’s
“Unchain My Heart” (Bobby Sharp) are minor
blues that use bVI–V instead of just V (more on
the bVI chord below).
Example 6 shows an eight-bar minor
blues pattern in the key of A minor.
Measures 1, 3, 5, and 7 repeat a little me-
lodic motif with B and C notes on the sec-
ond string—you can pick both notes or try a
hammer-on.
Am Bdim or Bm C Dm or D Em or E F G
Em F#dim or F#m G Am or A Bm or B C D
Bm C#dim or C#m D Em or E F#m or F# G A
Dm Edim or Em F Gm or G Am or A Bb C
DIATONIC CHORDS IN MINOR KEYS
i iidim or ii bIII iv or IV v or V bVI bVII
40 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
A SONGWRITER’S GUIDE TO CHORD PROGRESSIONS
THE FLAT VII AND IIIIn minor-key songs, the
bVII (with a root two
frets below the i) and the bIII (three frets up
from the i) often play a central role. Bob
Dylan’s “Masters of War” uses nothing more
than the i and the bVII (and a tiny hint of the
IV) to take on the military-industrial complex.
John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” has the
same chord combo.
In a minor key, the bIII is known as the rela-
tive major of i; these chords have two notes in
common, so songs often move between them.
In many songs the bIII leads to the bVII. Dolly
Parton’s “Jolene,” for instance, goes i–bIII–
bVII–i
and then bVII–i. In Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick
in the Wall,” the chorus is bIII–
bVII–i, while the
verses are simply i–V.
Example 7 kicks off with i–bVII–i in D
minor, then moves to the bIII (a change accen-
tuated by the ascending bass line in measure 4)
and the bVII. Play the V in the last two measures
to steer the progression back toward the i.
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Introducingthe new
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AcousticGuitar.com 41October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
THE FLAT VI Another important chord in minor keys is the
bVI. To conjure its sound, think of the verses in
the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” which move be-
tween i and bVI. Coming from the i, the
bVI has
an uplifting sound. Simon and Garfunkel’s
“Sounds of Silence,” for instance, starts out
with a somber i–bVII–i (darkness is their old
friend, after all) but then brightens when it
goes to bVI–
bIII.
The E minor progression in Example 8
uses the bVI in a rock style, with i–
bVI followed
by a iv–bIII descent to the i. Strum with all
downstrokes, muting the strings with your
palm and accenting the first beat of each new
chord.
DESCENDING FROM THE IIn many minor songs where the
bVI appears,
the bVII is right with it. One classic sequence is
i–bVII–
bVI–
bVII, voiced so that the roots of the
bVII and
bVI are below the i. This is the basis of
Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” as well as
the climactic section in Led Zeppelin’s “Stair-
way to Heaven.”
Often, a descending i–bVII–
bVI continues a
half step lower, to the V. You can hear this
sequence, for example, in the verses of Brian
Setzer’s “Stray Cat Strut” (in fact, the song
modulates and follows the same descending
pattern from the iv chord). The bVI–V (or
bVI–v) move also pops up in songs that don’t
include the bVII. In Bob Marley’s “I Shot the
Sheriff,” for instance, the chorus goes i–iv and
the verses repeat bVI–v–i.
Example 9 shows a i–bVII–
bVI–V sequence
in the key of B minor. Play flowing fingerstyle
arpeggios on each chord. For extra color, the
Bm and F# chords include open-string notes
not in the chord (a ringing E over the Bm
chord in measure 1, and a B over the F# chord
in measure 4).
ALL TOGETHER NOWFinally, let’s fit these diatonic chords to-
gether in longer minor-key progressions.
The Animals’ version of “The House of the
Rising Sun” (a traditional tune via Dave Van
Ronk), climbs i–bIII–IV–
bVI and then goes i–
bIII–V (the second pass is the same except
the ending is i–V–i). The Eagles’ “Hotel Cali-
fornia” may as well have been written to il-
lustrate diatonic chords in minor keys. The
verse progression is i–V–bVII–IV,
bVI–
bIII–iv–V.
Note how both the major IV and minor iv are
used. In the chorus, we have the brightening
move to the bVI (
bVI–
bIII–V–i) followed by the
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AcousticGuitar.com 41October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
THE FLAT VI Another important chord in minor keys is the
b
VI. To conjure its sound, think of the verses in
the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” which move be-
tween i and b
VI. Coming from the i, the b
VI has
an uplifting sound. Simon and Garfunkel’s
“Sounds of Silence,” for instance, starts out
with a somber i–b
VII–i (darkness is their old
friend, after all) but then brightens when it
goes to b
VI–b
III.
The E minor progression in Example 8
uses the b
VI in a rock style, with i–b
VI followed
by a iv–b
III descent to the i. Strum with all
downstrokes, muting the strings with your
palm and accenting the first beat of each new
chord.
DESCENDING FROM THE IIn many minor songs where the
b
VI appears,
the b
VII is right with it. One classic sequence is
i–b
VII–b
VI–b
VII, voiced so that the roots of the
b
VII and b
VI are below the i. This is the basis of
Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” as well as
the climactic section in Led Zeppelin’s “Stair-
way to Heaven.”
Often, a descending i–b
VII–b
VI continues a
half step lower, to the V. You can hear this
sequence, for example, in the verses of Brian
Setzer’s “Stray Cat Strut” (in fact, the song
modulates and follows the same descending
pattern from the iv chord). The b
VI–V (or
b
VI–v) move also pops up in songs that don’t
include the b
VII. In Bob Marley’s “I Shot the
Sheriff,” for instance, the chorus goes i–iv and
the verses repeat b
VI–v–i.
Example 9 shows a i–b
VII–b
VI–V sequence
in the key of B minor. Play flowing fingerstyle
arpeggios on each chord. For extra color, the
Bm and F#
chords include open-string notes
not in the chord (a ringing E over the Bm
chord in measure 1, and a B over the F#
chord
in measure 4).
ALL TOGETHER NOWFinally, let’s fit these diatonic chords to-
gether in longer minor-key progressions.
The Animals’ version of “The House of the
Rising Sun” (a traditional tune via Dave Van
Ronk), climbs i–b
III–IV–b
VI and then goes i–
b
III–V (the second pass is the same except
the ending is i–V–i). The Eagles’ “Hotel Cali-
fornia” may as well have been written to il-
lustrate diatonic chords in minor keys. The
verse progression is i–V–b
VII–IV, b
VI–b
III–iv–V.
Note how both the major IV and minor iv are
used. In the chorus, we have the brightening
move to the b
VI (b
VI–b
III–V–i) followed by the
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42 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
same sequence that ends the verse (bVI–
bIII–
iv–V). The only diatonic chord not used is
the ii.
Example 10 also runs through the six dia-
tonic chords covered above. In measures 1, 3,
5, and 7, change chords on the last offbeat
(four-and) of the measure—this anticipation
propels the rhythm forward. The example
shows two common ways to resolve to the i:
bVI–V–i (measures 3–4) and
bVI–
bVII–i (mea-
sures 7–8).
WRITING IN MINOR KEYSAs the songs and progressions above sug-
gest, you can use minor keys for a wide
range of moods and effects in your songwrit-
ing. They do have an edge that may be just
right for an emotionally dark song, but don’t
stereotype keys as “major = happy” and
“minor = sad.” If you marry heavy lyrics
with heavy-sounding music, the result can
be, well, heavy handed—the song bludgeons
listeners rather than connecting with them.
Instead, brighter major-key music might be
worth trying for those same heavy lyrics—
think of John Prine’s “Sam Stone,” with its
tragic story of a drug-addicted veteran set
over folky major-key fingerpicking. Con-
versely, setting lighter lyrics to darker music
might give a song a more complex quality.
Songs, like life experiences, are often filled
with conflicting emotions.
MAKE YOUR OWNThese are just a few examples of what you can
do with diatonic chords in major and minor
keys. Chord substitutions are a topic for an-
other lesson, as are nondiatonic chords—the
chords from outside the key that can add har-
monic surprise to a song. There’s much more
to explore, and really no limit to the varia-
tions you can create.
In any case, with an understanding of dia-
tonic chords, you’ve got the basic vocabulary
for a lifetime’s worth of songs in your hands.
Write on. ag
&
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AcousticGuitar.com 45October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
T H E
CRAFTSMANIN 2011, Texas-bred singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell published
Chinaberry Sidewalks, a memoir about growing up as the only child in a
volatile, dirt-poor family in a scrappy East Houston suburb. Over the pre-
ceding decade, Crowell had released a remarkable series of albums, includ-
ing the autobiographical triad of The Houston Kid, Fate’s Right Hand, and
The Outsider. It was a stunningly soul-baring turn for the musician who
made his mark as a member of Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band in the 1970s
and then established himself as a consistent spinner of Nashville gold (and
platinum) in the 1980s and ’90s. Crowell issued his first LP in 1978, and by
1988 he was regularly hitting the top of the country charts (“It’s Such a
Small World,” “I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried,” and “She’s Crazy for
Leaving,” all from the album Diamonds and Dirt). In addition, country art-
ists of every stripe (Harris, the Oak Ridge Boys, Johnny Cash, Jerry Reed,
Crystal Gayle, and Crowell’s wife of 13 years, Rosanne Cash) were record-
ing such Crowell compositions as “Till I Gain Control Again,” “Shame on the
Moon,” and “Leaving Louisiana in
the Broad Daylight.”
on his rhythm-heavy guitar style and continuing evolution as a songwriter. BY DERK RICHARDSON
RODNEY CROWELL
— —— — —— — —— — ——— ——— ——— ——— —— — ——
46 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
RODNEY CROWELL
But hit making seems the far-
thest thing from Crowell’s mind in
the 21st century. At 62, he is more
focused on excavating deep and
sometimes comic truths about life
and crafting them into honest,
plainspoken songs. That makes him
kin to such contemporaries as John
Prine and Steve Earle, as well as to
one of his seminal influences, Bob
Dylan, despite the disclaimer of-
fered in the opening line of
“Beautiful Despair,” a brilliant song
on The Outsider: “Beautiful despair
is hearing Dylan when you’re
drunk at 3 am / Knowing that the
chances are / No matter what,
you’ll never write like him.”
On his new album, Kin: Songs
by Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell
(Vanguard), the composer of “Ashes
by Now” and “Stars on the Water”
explores the notion of family ties,
both literal and figurative, in a
novel way. He co-wrote all ten
songs with poet, memoirist, and
Syracuse University professor of lit-
erature Mary Karr. A few years
Crowell’s junior, Karr, author of the
best-sellers The Liar’s Club and Lit:
A Memoir, grew up about 100 miles
from Crowell’s childhood stomping grounds,
in what she calls “the same swampy, godfor-
saken stretch of East Texas Ringworm Belt.”
As they got to know each other, the two writ-
ers discovered deep affinities. Some—like
having ridden their bikes behind mosquito-
abatement trucks, breathing in the DDT fog—
were steeped in the physical environment of
their “sub-sea-level backwater” neighbor-
hoods. Others arose from the ecology of their
families, especially from parents who drank
too much, suffered from various levels of
what Karr characterizes as “nervous,” and
were disappointed artists.
The fruits of the Karr-Crowell collabora-
tion include songs with such titles as “Anything
but Tame,” “I’m a Mess,” “Momma’s on a
Roll,” “Sister Oh Sister,” “My Father’s Advice,”
and “Hungry for Home.” (For a transcription
of “Hungry for Home,” see page 50.) And they
were made flesh through the efforts of more
“kin.” Joe Henry produced the record, and
singers Norah Jones, Vince Gill, Lucinda
Williams, Lee Ann Womack, Rosanne Cash,
Kris Kristofferson, and Emmylou Harris joined
Crowell in giving voice to the characters that
materialized from the mists of their creators’
imaginations—and memories.
A month or so before the June release of
Kin, Crowell (whose work was singled out in
Daniel Levitin’s study of the brain and music,
The World in Six Songs) discussed what it was
like for a veteran tunesmith to partner with a
novice songwriter, albeit one who is a “lan-
guage scholar.” The conversation rambled
back to his teenage conversion from drummer
to guitarist; the influence of Guy Clark,
Townes Van Zandt, and Mickey Newbury dur-
ing his early years in Nashville; and the perils
of political songwriting. Still enjoying the roll
he’s been on for the past dozen years, Crowell
planned to follow up Kin by putting the finish-
ing touches on a new solo album as well as a
duet album with Emmylou Harris. “I do have
a few pieces of writing that I think are pretty
swinging,” he said of his yet-to-be-released
songs, “but Kin seems to rank among my fa-
vorites of the records I’ve made.”
What impelled you to seek out Mary Karr as
a collaborator?
CROWELL A book she wrote called The Liars’
Club, which resonated deeply with me. It was
given to me at a time when I was scratching my
head about the book I wanted to write about
my childhood. I was like, OK, this is the way
out. Because Mary grew up on the same east
side of the swamp where I grew up—the meta-
phorical and quite literal swamp—I just knew
instinctively that she and I would be friends
and that we would collaborate on a couple of
songs. I didn’t know it would become an
album, but once we started, it just took over. In
a very short time we had 15 songs.
How did you make the initial con-
tact?
CROWELL My record Fate’s Right
Hand had been out for a year or
so, and she’s in one of the lines in
a song called “Earthbound,” where
I cite her and Tom Waits and
Aretha Franklin and [Irish poet and
playwright] Seamus Heaney and
Charlie Brown as reasons to go on
living. So I decided to send her
note, saying, “Hey, I’m singing your
name out there in the world.” She
had heard the song and sent me a
note back saying, “Hey, yeah,
you’ve helped my street credibility.”
A conversation ensued and led to
songs.
What was the first song that came
of the collaboration?
CROWELL “If the Law Don’t Want
You, Neither Do I.” We were talking
on the phone, and she was talking
about her experience with “bad”
boys/men in her youth, and she
said, “My theory was always, if
the law don’t want you, neither do
I.” I said, “That’s a song.” And she
said, “Well, write it.” And I said,
“No, let’s write it together.” She
said, “I don’t write songs.” I said, “Yeah, you
do. Watch.”
So I got a little melody and verse going,
and I MP3’ed a scratch vocal of the first verse
to her, and back comes the second verse, and
I thought, “OK, the badminton game is on.”
Because of that, I said, “Hang on, I’m coming
to New York, and we’ll sit down and do this.”
It was a really easy process, because she’s so
gifted and so nimble with language—she’s
a language scholar, for god’s sake, a poet
and a language scholar—but she’s very musi-
cal, too. She was a quick study. She was on it
instantly.
Did you write most of the songs together
face-to-face, or did you do a lot of that
Nashville-to-New York MP3 exchange?
CROWELL We wrote maybe half of them star-
ing at each other, and another half we fin-
ished long distance, sending pieces back and
forth. She’d just send me down a lyric in
Nashville, and I’d concoct a chorus for it.
Every way that a song can be written, we
pretty much came up with it.
How did this compare to your co-writing
experiences in the past?
CROWELL It’s there with my favorite kind of
co-writing—the experience I have writing
with Guy Clark or Will Jennings—in that
these are extremely gifted artists who have a
Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell.
DEB
OR
AH F
EIN
GO
LD
AcousticGuitar.com 47October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
real strong sense of language and narrative.
They just have that sixth sense for what’s true,
and by true I mean what resonates in song or
on the page.
Had you written Chinaberry Sidewalks
before you started working with Mary?
CROWELL No, I met her about halfway
through that process, and she became very
supportive. It gave me an ongoing conversa-
tion with someone who had done it. It was
truly a gift at just the right time.
How much did the fact that you came from
the same part of Texas affect the way you
did the archeological dig for your own
memoir?
CROWELL That became our personal glue.
We communicated sort of primordially, in col-
loquial tonalities. She’s perfectly at home with
vile swamp language. Most of that is the
humor of that region that we came from,
what she calls “the ringworm belt.” I know
what the ringworm belt is. Yeah. We felt very
comfortable together. In fact, it felt like family.
From the perspective of a reader/listener, it
seems as if Chinaberry Sidewalks is part of
the whole string of albums that started with
The Houston Kid.
CROWELL I started writing The Houston Kid
and Chinaberry Sidewalks at just about the
same time. All of that was kind of nudging
itself into my awareness. I realized that the
songs were memory, and I started tinkering
with the notion that I could write memoir. Of
course, I had the skill to make a record, in
due time, but it took me ages and ages and
ages to figure out how to write prose. It took
years, and years and years and years. Mary
has told me that one of the reasons she was
willing to give it a go writing songs was be-
cause she saw how much fun I was having
trying to figure out how to paint on another
canvas.
Is there a song that you see as the thematic
cornerstone or centerpiece for the album?
CROWELL I think there are several. “Any-
thing but Tame” is our implied imaginary re-
lationship from childhood. Kids grow up
together, become emotionally bonded in ado-
lescence, and then that evolves into a roman-
tic thing that in the end doesn’t work. Yet,
over time, these two people still love each
other. It’s not mine and Mary’s story, but it is
a story produced by my interpretation of our
sensibilities.
I’m really proud of “Sister Oh Sister,” be-
cause I just don’t know that there’s ever
been a love song from a sister to a sister, and
I was really pleased to midwife that with
Mary, to coax that out of her. And the writ-
ing of “I’m a Mess” was really fun. Mary was
promoting her paperback of Lit around
Houston for a few days, so I said I’m gonna
come down there and follow you around,
and we’re gonna work on this song in your
spare time.
What played into the decision to have other
people sing some of the songs?
CROWELL Well, Mary’s not a singer, in the
sense that we understand singers. To me, she’s
a great singer, but good luck getting her to do
it in public. [Crowell has since coaxed Karr
into singing a few harmonies with him in con-
cert, as well as the lead on “If the Law Don’t
Want You.”] At least half of the songs were
female narrative, so we needed some female
voices. I just adored what Norah Jones had
done with my song “Bull Rider,” and I started
a kind of timid communication with her about
how much I admired her performance. “By
the way,” I said, “I’m working on something.
Would you be willing to give it a go and sing
one of the songs?” She chose “If the Law Don’t
Want You,” and I was like,“Yeah! I’m glad you
chose that one.” She chose the one I’d hoped
she would.
And from there it grew—wow, let’s try
Emmylou and Rosanne and Lucinda and Lee
Ann. The next thing you know we’ve got these
great performances by all these female artists,
and I’m the only one carrying the male narra-
tive. I said, “Hang on, this is imbalanced. We
need some more males in the family.” So I las-
soed Vince and reached out to Kris. My gen-
der was a little thinly represented before I got
those two.
What is your strategy for keeping your
music fresh and not repeating yourself?
CROWELL Thank god for Joe Henry! I’d had
a pretty good run with The Houston Kid and
Fate’s Right Hand and The Outsider, but I went
one step too far, and I made a fourth record. I
could hear how the trickery and the process
had become ingrained. I said, “I’m repeating
myself here, at least sonically and rhythmi-
cally and arrangement-wise.” I was financing
my own records then, so I bit the bullet and
put it on the shelf. I called Joe and said, “Man,
can you help me?”
I went out and made a record [Sex and
Gasoline] with Joe at his place, and lo and
behold, there was a different sonic land-
scape, and I was very happy with it. It was
the first time in my whole life that I had just
gone and played and sang and had a good
time and then hugged everybody good-bye
and said, “Hey, send me the mixes.” I got ’em
in the mail and loved ’em. Didn’t change a
thing. That was so great. So, naturally, when
we started concocting Kin, I wanted Joe
helping. We did quite a bit of it in Nashville,
and of course all the lads around Nashville
wanted to impress Joe, so it was good.
I think one way to keep myself fresh from
now on is by not producing myself. Not for a
while. There’s an objectivity that the producer
must have, but the performing side of record
making is subjective, and I can’t be both sub-
jective and objective at the same time. I’m
much better when I’m subjective.
You started on drums behind your dad
when you were 12, thrown into the juke
joint performances of J.W. Crowell and the
Rhythmaires. When did you realize that the
guitar was really your instrument?
CROWELL Puberty. Girls. I noticed that
those guys coming over from England would
stand out at the front of the stage and sing,
and there were girls screaming. Most of us
performing musicians freely admit that we
got into it for girls. Good god, what else?
That’s the way the species has perpetuated
itself forever.
When Rodney Crowell started writing his mem-oir, Chinaberry Sidewalks, he found a change of scenery did wonders for his inspiration. “That works well for me,” Crowell says. “That book, Chinaberry Sidewalks, I wrote in Florida and Montana and Ireland and Los Angeles and briefly in Hawaii and Tennessee, just any-where I could get where I could tune out the world. Even New York. There’s something about going somewhere else, where I imagine myself to be a composer or writer, and then I live that fantasy, and generally produce something.”
GETTING AWAYFROM IT ALL
— ———
48 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
RODNEY CROWELL
How would you characterize yourself as a
guitarist?
CROWELL I’m a strummer. I’m a drummer! I
remember reading an interview with John
Lennon, and he said, “I’m a rhythm guitar
player and I can make a band move.” Well, I
can say the same thing. When I’m playing
with my band, my right hand is a big part of
it. I wish my left hand would contribute
more. Especially with my band, I start to rely
heavily on my right hand. I feel like part of
the percussion section when I’m with my
band. In the studio, I can take the time to
compose parts I can play—something that I
compose through the course of writing a
song, a little piece or pattern to go with what
we’re recording. That’s why I’ve always had
really great guitar players in my band. Know
your limitations!
As that kid growing up in East Houston,
when did you realize you wanted to write
your own songs?
CROWELL Graduation day. When I was grad-
uating from high school, I heard we’d have a
class song. I wrote some really sophomoric,
silly, fluffy, Beatlesque song for our graduating
class. It was an absolute piece of shit and it
got voted the class song. Now, I wasn’t dedi-
cated to any craftsmanship at all, I just wanted
the attention. It was an attention-getting de-
vice, and maybe it still is, if I’m bone-honest
about it.
But when I arrived in Nashville in the early
’70s, I ran into Guy Clark and Townes Van
Zandt—and Mickey Newbury, who was kind
of one cut up from even those two guys—and
a few other songwriters who were around.
That was when it hit me like a garden hoe
between the eyes that, wait a minute, this is
serious business. There is craft and thought
and work behind this. If I want to do this just
for the attention, I’m gonna be singing some
pretty fluffy, shitty songs, and I ain’t gonna
last long. God bless Guy Clark for being will-
ing to let me hang around and puppy dog
along behind him.
I’ve talked to a lot of songwriters—includ-
ing Kris Kristofferson and Rosanne Cash—
who go on at length about Newbury’s genius
and influence. Finally, after all these years,
his earliest albums have been issued on CD.
CROWELL Newbury was a great influence on
Guy and me, and probably Townes, although
I see it less in Townes’s work. I hear [Clark’s]
“Desperadoes Waiting for a Train” and I know
[Newbury’s] “Heaven Help the Child” and
“Cortelia Clark” were inspirations. With [my
song] “Till I Gain Control Again,” that
dropped-D tuning and that melody are so
reminiscent of Mickey Newbury. In the early
’70s, he hit me profoundly. He had a house-
boat out on the lake where Guy and [his wife]
Susanna were living for a little while, and just
to catch a glimpse of him once in a while was
pretty magical. I still dream of Newbury.
How has your approach to the craft changed
over the years, from the time you were a
young man writing that remarkable string
of hits in the late 1980s to now?
CROWELL I have learned to do consciously
what was just pouring out of me. Inspiration
would hit me, and these songs would pop out:
“Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” and
“Till I Gain Control Again.” Mainly, it was sur-
vival back then. I was in a rarefied artistic
community, where I was kind of like Guy’s
little buddy that followed him around, and I
was sharing rooms with Jerry Jeff Walker and
Townes. I guess it was competitive: I had to
come up with something so I could hang, you
know? I remember the first time Guy actually
nodded—I played him “Bluebird Wine” and
he said, “OK, alright, OK, you’re gettin’ some-
where.” Then I came up with “Till I Gain Con-
trol Again.”
I was young and I guess I was a natural-
born songwriter, I think it’s safe now for me to
say that. In the early stages, inspiration just
came through and got formed, but later on,
the conscious work ethic that’s involved in
sustaining a career came into play. As an art-
ist, you have to develop a work ethic, and you
have to develop a sense of craft, and you have
to keep that all working and sharp, because
inspiration will go looking for somebody else
if you don’t maintain the sensibility. So I de-
veloped a work ethic, and it’s gotten stronger
over the years. There’s no doubt it was an
attention-getting device in the beginning, but
now I’m whole-heartedly devoted to my job as
an artist. ag
DERK RICHARDSON is former managing editor of Acoustic Guitar and currently is senior editor at Afar magazine (afar.com).
THE PERILS OF PROTEST MUSIC
JAY
BLA
KES
BER
G
Rodney Crowell performing at San Francisco‘s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in 2005.
Rodney Crowell wrote his most explicitly political album, 2005’s The Outsider, in defense of “really healthy dissent.” In 2010, he went on a road trip with Time columnist and Woody Guthrie bi-ographer Joe Klein, taking the pulse of America in the run-up to the midterm election. And he’s played benefits with his daugh-ter, recording artist Chelsea Crowell, to promote the abolition of the death penalty. Still, he cautions, “Politics is a slippery slope for an artist.”
“Joe Klein sought me out,” Crowell says, “and he told me, ‘You write good political songs, and that’s very hard to do.’ And it is very hard to do. The Woody Guthries of the world are few. ‘This Land Is Your Land’ is a protest song, it’s a political statement, and yet it’s timeless.”— —
———
AcousticGuitar.com 49October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
WHAT HE PLAYSACOUSTIC GUITARS: 1932 Gibson L-00 with a black finish and white pickguard. “I call it ‘Little Black Betty,’ and that’s become my No. 1 guitar,” Crowell says. “I used it quite a bit on Sex and Gasoline and also Kin. I like L-00s, because the L stands for ‘learner,’ and I feel like when I’m playing a learner guitar that I’ve got a leg up. It asks me to play it softly, and I feel like a real guitar player when I play it. It seems to coax more out of my left hand, which is the reason for my devotion to that guitar right now. It’s like I can feel the vibration going from the soundhole up the neck and into my left hand, and it gives my left hand a little more confidence.” Collings C10. Gibson 1939 J-35 with a natural finish and a V-shaped neck. Early ’70s Martin D-35. 14-fret sunburst Gibson L-00 (a gift from Vince Gill). Early ’60s red sunburst Gibson J-45. Early ’60s Martin New Yorker.
AMPLIFICATION: “At best, I like playing into a microphone,” Crowell says. “But I use AER acoustic amps with my L.R. Baggs bridge pickups with a preamp on the floor.”
STRINGS: Ernie Ball medium-light, .012–.054. GHS Silk and Steel .046 on the Martin New Yorker. On the Collings, Crowell uses a .056 for the low string.
PICKS: Dunlop .73 mm. “There was a time when I used metal fingerpicks and a thumbpick, but I got away from that because it was hard to pick up a pen and write down words with those things on your fingers. So I started playing with just my nails, and it’s the only way I can do it now.”
CAPO: No particular brand. “I just got a new capo, but I don’t know who makes it. I have a couple of those big ol’ spider-looking clamp-on jobs, those clothespin jobs, and I feel like a bumpkin just come to town. Recently I found a capo that I can slide up and down the neck, and it’s a cooler experience. I have this aversion to clamping a capo on a guitar’s headstock. It’s a particular peeve of mine, which kind of leads me to think, how can I say that when I use one of those things on the neck myself? Capos are a sensitive area for me. I’m trying to join the big boys and play with a hipper capo.”
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50 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
RODNEY CROWELL
Rodney Crowell and Mary Karr’s “Hungry for Home” is a virtual grocery
list of all the food a Southern musician misses while on the road. Along
with the layers of food, the song layers thick vocal harmonies during the
chorus but leaves the accompaniment to just two acoustic guitars. For
this song Crowell clamps a capo on the sixth fret and plays in G posi-
tion. The two guitars play similar patterns, occasionally deviating for
slightly different chord embellishments and fills. The following tran-
scription arranges the two parts into one easily playable version with a
picking pattern in the first six measures you can use throughout the
song. The pattern highlights the sixth, fourth, third, and second strings
and, although full chord shapes are shown in the diagrams above the
staff, Crowell usually plays just those four strings of each chord.
Throughout the tune, each guitar adds a
few embellishments. Crowell occasionally
plays the G5 chord shape shown in the first
system (especially on the first verse) or adds
the open first string to this shape for a G6. He
also embellishes the standard G shape by mov-
ing his middle finger from the fifth string to
the third string to create a Gadd9. For the D/F#
shape, he occasionally lifts his middle finger
from the first string (playing the open string)
for a Dadd9. The C chord rocks between the C
bass note on the fifth string and the low G on
the sixth (move your ring finger between the
two notes). Measure 49 highlights the Gadd9
embellishment favored by the guitar in the left
channel, while measure 53 shows an embel-
lishment favored by the guitar in the right.
—ANDREW DuBROCK
Hungry for Home
Words and music by Rodney Crowell and Mary Karr
© 2
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Capo VIIntro
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2–3. See additional lyrics.
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G00 4032
Œ œ œ œ œI’m hun gry for- - - - -
AcousticGuitar.com 51October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
&#
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home
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G D/F# A pot of hot collards make a monkey out of full-grown men
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˙ ˙œ œ Œ œ
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52 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
RODNEY CROWELL
G D/F# 3. Popcorn shrimp, yeah, that oughtta do
G C Next best thing to a catfish stew
G D/F# Catch ’em in the river and you cook ’em in the frying pan
G D/F# Lemon meringue on a windowsill
G C Sweet iced tea for to drink your fill
G D/F# G Papa come and get it, better live it up while we can
Repeat Chorus
D/F# G I’m hungry for home
D/F# G I’m hungry for home
D/F# G I’m hungry for home
D/F# G I’m hungry for home
D/F# G D/F#
Chorus D/F# G
I’m hungry for home, I been gone too long
D/F# G Been beat up and bit, feeling pretty much spent
Em G Try to make my mark everywhere I roam
D/F# G But I’m losing my spark, I’m hungry for home
G D/F# 2. Frito pie and a Nehi grape
G C Sure enough will leave you in tip-top shape
G D/F# Ain’t nothing like sittin’ down eatin’, keep your hopes up high
G D/F# Pinto beans and the black-eyed pea
G C Boiled red cabbage and believe you me
G D/F# G A deviled egg and a chicken leg says you’re never gonna ever say die
Repeat Chorus
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AFTER A COUPLE OF DECADES of running one of the world’s most successful and respected electric guitar companies, Paul Reed Smith had an experience that would have a profound impact on his perception of stringed instruments. Sitting in Larry Thomas’s living room (at the time, Thomas was CEO of Guitar Center, he’s now CEO of Fender Musical Instruments), Smith was playing guitars from Thomas’s prized collection when he stumbled upon a 19th-century Antonio de Torres clas-sical guitar. Although Smith had encountered countless
54 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
PRSGUITARS
HOW ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL
ELECTRIC GUITAR COMPANIES BECAME
A TOP MAKER OF HIGH-END ACOUSTICS.
BY TEJA GERKEN
EST’D 1975
For video of a factory tour with Paul Reed Smith and a demonstration of a Martin Simpson signature model, see AcousticGuitar.com
AcousticGuitar.com 55October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
A PRS Private Stock Martin Simpson signature model built with an Adirondack
spruce top and Honduras rosewood back and sides.
acoustics in his early years as a guitar repairman, and he was familiar with the sound of classic American steel-strings, he wasn’t prepared for the power, projection, volume, and tonal purity offered by the Torres, whose maker is regarded as the father of the modern classical guitar. “We were playing all these guitars, and he pulls out this little tiny Torres guitar, and he played just two notes, and I couldn’t breathe,” Smith says. “This little tiny maple guitar was the most nonlinear, counterintuitive thing!” That experience led Smith on a path to develop an acoustic guitar design, meeting players and learning about musical styles he’d known little about, and ultimately, producing a range of new guitars in his state-of-the-art factory.
ROCK ’N’ ROLL BEGINNINGSLet’s back up a bit and take a brief look at the beginnings of PRS Guitars (for an in-depth view of PRS history, check out The PRS Guitar Book [Backbeat]). The PRS journey starts with a guitar-obsessed teenager in the mid-1970s. Taking the neck off a Japanese Hofner Beatle bass copy and transplanting it onto a solid body he made himself was Paul Reed Smith’s first step, followed by a stint repairing guitars at Washington, DC’s Washington Music Center and building a few Gibson Les Paul Junior–inspired guitars. Smith was still playing guitar, however, with dreams of becoming a rock star, performing on the DC club circuit at night while building guitars by day.
Perhaps due to his credibility as a musician, Smith had an uncanny ability to get his guitars into the hands of established players. He would scope out who was coming to town, show up at the venue hours before the show, befriend the roadies, and find a way to get backstage. This resulted in commissions from Ted Nugent, Peter Frampton, Al Di Meola, Neal Schon, and PRS’s most loyal player, Carlos Santana.
Smith’s early guitars had a distinct Gibson vibe—typically using twin humbucking pickups, a stop tailpiece, and solid mahogany bodies—but it didn’t take him long to arrive at the original design that can still be seen in most PRS electric guitars today. While early PRS bodies looked like a modified Gibson Les Paul Junior, Smith altered the shape to be more asymmetrical, and combined with a 25-inch scale length (which splits the difference between typical Fender and Gibson scales), the guitars became a successful hybrid of the two dominant electric guitar designs—the Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul.
By 1985, Smith had become successful enough to move his company from the tiny Annapolis shop (where he lived in an upstairs room) to a factory environment, also in Annapolis. He had already assembled a small team of builders, and after raising some initial capital, Paul Reed Smith Guitars was officially founded. In the next ten years, PRS grew into one of the major players in the electric guitar market, single-handedly creating a market for high-end instruments at a time when the two classic American brands hadn’t come up with a significant new design in years. Growing from a company that earned $500,000 in its first year to one that surpassed $10 million in gross earnings a little over a decade later necessitated another move in 1995, this time to PRS’s current Stevensville, Maryland, facility, which employs about 250 people.
PRS UNPLUGSPaul Reed Smith’s first attempt at launching a line of acoustics took place in the early ’90s, when Smith hired luthier Dana Bourgeois to design a line of guitars for the company. Eleven prototypes were built (one pictured in The PRS Guitar Book looks a lot like a Bourgeois Soloist cutaway, with flamed maple back and sides and PRS bird inlays), but ultimately, the project was shelved, although Smith says that the prototypes sounded great and that some of them were sold.
It wasn’t until Smith found himself marveling at Larry Thomas’s Torres classical that he considered building acoustics guitars again. As someone whose career was founded on rethinking the electric guitar, it made sense that he would look past the common steel-string flattop paradigm when venturing into the acoustic world. For Smith, this meant looking a few decades farther back and to Spain, rather than North America. Fascinated by the Torres, Smith decided to study the instrument and even X-rayed it with a mammogram machine to understand how it worked. “The question was not so much ‘How did he brace it?’ but ‘What was he thinking?’” Smith says. “In my mind, you can’t have something that remarkable and have it not be intentional.”
STEVE FISCHER ARRIVESThe next development in the creation of the PRS acoustic guitar was the arrival of luthier Steve Fischer, who was working for McPherson Guitars at the time and had recently graduated from the Galloup School of Guitar Building and Repair (galloupguitars.com). Fischer introduced himself to Smith at a PRS clinic in Michigan in 2005, showing him a guitar he’d designed
Paul Reed Smith tunes up a Collection Series Tonare Grand in the factory's
setup area.
PRS ELECTRONICSNot surprisingly for a company that has long made its own electric guitar pickups, PRS has also developed its
own acoustic electronics. Available as an option on all Maryland-built models (and standard equipment in the
three signature models), the PRS system uses a McIntyre Feather pickup (a soundboard transducer that mounts
to the guitar’s bridge plate) and a custom-made, proprietary preamp that runs on 18 volts, using two nine-volt
batteries. The preamp and batteries mount to the guitar’s neckblock, and there are no onboard controls.
56 AcousticGuitar.com
PRS GUITARS
AcousticGuitar.com 57October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
and built. “Steve sort of tackled me after the clinic and said, ‘I want you to take a look at my guitar. I have ideas about bracing,’” Smith says. “I’m a guitar maker, so why wouldn’t I look?” Fischer and Smith shared the opinion that combining Torres-style fan bracing with the X-bracing found on most steel-strings could yield a new flattop voice. “He was impressed enough with [my guitar] that he called me the next morning and asked me to build a guitar for him,” says Fischer, who worked on Smith’s guitar during nights and weekends while still working for McPherson. The results were so promising that Smith hired Fischer, who moved back to his home state of Utah to build more proto-types in his own shop before relocating to Maryland to join the PRS staff.
By the time of the 2007 Summer NAMM show in Austin, Texas, rumors of a PRS acoustic had begun circulating. Smith had brought a couple of guitars to Austin, and while he wasn’t ready to take orders and didn’t display the guitars at the PRS booth, he invited various artists and the press—including Acoustic Guitar—to check out the guitars in his hotel room. Even at this early stage, it was apparent that the guitars were incred-ibly well made and that they had a sound that offered plenty of volume, a wide dynamic range, deep bass, and searing highs. Not wanting to rush the development to market, Smith waited another two years before introducing his acoustic line to dealers in 2009.
ROOTS MUSIC VIRTUOSOSEven when he’s talking about acoustic guitars, it’s clear that Smith is a dyed-in-the-wool electric guitar guy, saying, for example, “That’s like the difference between a 50-watt Marshall and a 100-watt Marshall,” when describing the increase in volume he has experienced with his acoustics. And yet, in developing his acoustics, he has distanced himself from the rock ’n’ roll crowd and the high-profile endorsers who play his electrics. “One of the things I admire about Paul is that he could have gone to some much more high-profile people,” says English folk virtuoso Martin Simpson. “But he didn’t do that; he talked to people who are really seriously into the business of acoustic guitars.” The first person Smith asked for feedback on his new guitars was bluegrass and country multi-instrumentalist Ricky Skaggs—a virtuoso player and connoisseur of fine instruments. Impressed with the prototypes Smith showed him, Skaggs connected him with the guitarist in his band, bluegrass prodigy and National Flatpicking Guitar Champion Cody Kilby, as well as Celtic fingerstylist extraordinaire Tony McManus. “I was in Nashville, and I got an invite from Ricky,” McManus says. “He asked me to come to his studio, where he had a couple of early prototypes. He didn’t tell me what they were, he just said ‘Play them!,’ and I did. They were phenomenal; loud like cannons!” Impressed, McManus told Smith that he should contact Simpson, whose involvement with various luthiers and guitar companies goes back to the 1970s.
The first lesson Smith learned by working with this team of heavy hitters was that acoustic players don’t necessarily like electric guitar–style neck shapes. “The first guitars had skinny necks,” says McManus, who, for his signature model, got Smith to widen the neck and string spacing to dimen-sions that were more like those of the guitars he was used to playing. Simpson had a similar experience: “My first response was that it was a fantastic-sounding guitar, but that it felt very much like an electric guitarist’s acoustic.” However, after working with Smith on two prototypes of what would become a signature model, Simpson ended up with a guitar that
The top bracing used on all PRS acoustics combines standard steel-string
X-bracing with a Torres-inspired fan pattern in the lower bout.
Abalone top purfling being
inlaid on an Angelus body.
A Tonare Grand being sanded
between coats of finish.
AcousticGuitar.com 57
58 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
worked for him both tonally and in terms of feel. “The phone rang shortly after the [final] guitar arrived, and it was Paul,” Simpson says. “He just said, ‘You are happy.’ It wasn’t a question, it was an assertion.”
EFFICIENT TONE PRODUCTION, STABLE BODIES PRS acoustics come in two body shapes, several models, and numerous custom variations, but they all share a fundamental approach to efficient tone production. They are fashioned in a similar way that modern classical guitars are, with ultrastiff back and sides and a highly responsive top (such as Greg Smallman’s), which explains why Smith says he thinks of PRS acoustics as “single-diaphragm” instruments. “With most acoustic guitars, the back vibrates and the top vibrates, and if the back is going one way and the top is going the other, then they’re out of phase with each other,” he says. “But even if they’re in phase going the same direction, you get some boomy notes, and you get some nonexistent notes.” While some makers use heavy, arched backs or extralarge kerfing to stiffen the guitar, PRS uses somewhat large mahogany braces on the guitar’s backs, which Smith says “locks up the back” without making the guitar excessively heavy.
The tops on PRS acoustics are built with a combination of X-bracing and Torres-style fan bracing. There are four fan braces that radiate from the bridge plate into the lower bout area in a symmetrical pattern, whereas most X-braced guitars have a pair of tone bars. Smith feels that this approach to bracing allows for more control over the tone and says, “The top is the speaker, and the back is part of the cabinet.”
Not surprisingly for a maker who began his career building set-neck electrics, PRS acoustics have a dovetail neck joint, which Smith believes is the ideal way to transfer energy to the body. But while PRS electrics have always had metal truss rods, Smith and his team origi-nally reinforced the acoustic necks with a non-adjustable carbon-graphite rod. “We load up our necks with the highest modulus graphite we can get, so it doesn’t bend,” he says. But because many players find that they like being able to adjust the neck’s relief, PRS now uses a standard adjust-able truss rod in the Core and SE acoustics, leaving the graphite reinforce-ment to Private Stock and Collection models.
The rigid construction results in an instrument that—besides having a loud, clear, and balanced voice—is extremely stable and reliable. “I got my
signature guitar in January 2011, and that one has been all over the United States, all over Canada, it’s been to Australia, and to Japan twice,” McManus says, highlighting the rigors of the road (he checks his guitar as luggage when traveling by air), different time zones, and vari-eties of performance situations. “It just comes out of the case and plays.” Simpson agrees: “Some guitars are like hot rods, they need massive amounts of maintenance, and then there are guitars like these that are just really efficient; they do everything you want them to do, including staying still.”
SMALL SHOP INSIDE A FACTORYOccupying a large portion of an industrial park, Paul Reed Smith’s massive 105,000-square-foot building doesn’t provide a clue that it is home to a company producing meticulously crafted musical instruments. But the corporate aura fades as soon as you enter the lobby. Signed
gold records, poster-size prints of famous guitarists playing PRS guitars, and a couple of Smith’s early guitars indicate that the building’s offices and manufacturing floors constitute a dream factory.
At the time of my visit in April 2012, the acoustic division of the factory was a fraction of the size of the electric guitar shop, both in physical space and staffing. While the electric production buzzes with the activity of up to 1,000 guitars being built each month, the acoustic area is located in a rela-tively small upstairs area (with room to grow), employing less than a dozen dedicated craftspeople, now led by senior luthier Mike Byle and engineering manager Rob Carhart (Fischer left PRS in 2011 to pursue his own line of guitars), and building 25 to 30 guitars per month. The result is a small custom-shop environment where individual attention can be given to each instrument. The fact that this boutique-style lutherie happens within one of the largest guitar factories in the United States could be considered an unfair advantage: the PRS acoustic crew (all of whom were hired from within the company’s existing workforce) has access to far more resources, technology (including CNC machines and advanced finishing procedures), and wood supplies than smaller builders who make the same number of acoustic instruments that PRS does.
INTO THE FUTUREPRS acoustics have come a long way since Smith and Fischer started working on their first prototypes. But while the resulting guitars have been extraordinary, Smith acknowledges that entering the market at the very high end with an electric rock ’n’ roller’s reputation hasn’t been easy—even for a maker whose top-end electrics are among the priciest production guitars around. “I’m hoping for more acceptance,” he says. “Violins have that cachet. Guitars are really the violins of our time, but they’re not considered that way. And the fact that our [acoustics] are made within an electric guitar factory—that’s incongruent with how the market thinks.”
However, Smith and his team of acoustic builders are continuing to grow their operation, hoping to fill some of the gaps in the line’s pricing structure and expand the
variety of models offered. Smith might worry where it’s all going at times, but when asked about the most fun aspect of making acoustics, he’s quick to reply, “When you build a rocket! When you hand Martin Simpson, or Ricky Skaggs, or Tony McManus a guitar, and they say ‘Oh my god, there’s some-thing going on here!’ That’s the fun part.” ag
PRS’s senior luthier, Mike Byle, and
engineering manager, Rob Carhart.
PRS uses a dovetail neck joint, which is visible on this Angelus body and neck prior to being glued together.
PRS GUITARS
AcousticGuitar.com 59October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
PRS currently offers four pricing levels and two
body styles for its acoustic guitars. The two
styles, Angelus and Tonare Grand, are both about
grand-auditorium size, and the Angelus includes a
cutaway, while the Tonare Grand doesn’t. Voiced
for fingerstyle and a relatively soft attack, the
Angelus has a width of 15½ inches at the lower
bout, while the 16-inch wide Tonare Grand is
intended for heavier strumming or flatpicking.
PRS Acoustic guitars start with the SE Angelus
(see a review in the August 2012 issue), which is
available in Standard (mahogany back and sides
and rosewood fingerboard and bridge) and
Custom (Indian rosewood back and sides and
ebony fingerboard and bridge) versions, both of
which have solid Sitka spruce tops and cutaways.
Prices start around $699 (street), and the models
are available with an optional pickup system.
SE-series guitars are built in South Korea.
The Core line consists of the Maryland-built
Tonare Grand (see a review in the June 2009
issue) and Angelus models, the first PRS
acoustic models, which start at around $4,795
(street). These models are also available in
Standard and Custom variations. Standard
comes with figured mahogany back and sides, a
European spruce top, and cocobolo fingerboard
and bridge, while the Custom has cocobolo back
and sides, an Adirondack spruce top, and coco-
bolo fingerboard and bridge (with ebony being
an option).
Players who want to customize a Maryland-
built model can do so with the PRS Private Stock
program. Private Stock instruments are built with
the highest-quality materials (the program is
so-named because it once used woods from
Smith’s personal stash) and can be designed with
a wide range of choices for woods and appoint-
ments. Prices for these instruments start at
around $7,500.
Signature models for Cody Kilby, Tony
McManus (see a review in the July 2011 issue),
and Martin Simpson are built under the Private
Stock program. Kilby’s model is based on a Tonare
Grand Custom, with a slightly shallower body and
more traditional appointments and inlays than
PRS’s typical “birds in flight” pattern. McManus’s
guitar is based on an Angelus Custom, but it has a
European spruce top and slightly wider neck.
Simpson’s guitar is also based on the Angelus,
with a significantly wider neck (1.81 inches at the
nut) with a fuller profile and wider string spacing
at the saddle (25⁄16 inches).
Offered in very limited editions, the Collection
Series (starting at about $13,000) comprises short
runs of guitars made exclusively for PRS
Collection Series dealers, using exotic woods and
appointments and built under the direct supervi-
sion of Paul Reed Smith. Recent Collection Series
acoustics include Tonare Grand models with
quilted or flamed maple back and sides and an
Angelus that combines specs from McManus and
Simpson’s signature models.
A Core series
Angelus with
a sunburst
finish.
The
entry-level
SE Angelus
model.
A Tony
McManus
signature
model
Angelus.
PRS ACOUSTIC MODELS
A Collection
Series
Tonare
Grand.
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FLATPICKINGScott Nygaard
FINGERSTYLEAlex de Grassi
IRISH FOLKDanny Carnahan
SLIDEDavid Hamburger
JAZZSean McGowan
BLUESOrville Johnson
LEARN FROM THE MASTER TEACHERS AT ACOUSTIC GUITAR U
CHANGING THE WAY YOU LEARN GUITAR
AcousticGuitar.com 61October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
LUTHIER LAURENT BRONDEL builds beautiful steel-string guitars in his rural Maine shop, but his journey to this station of his life has been a circuitous one. Born and raised in Paris, France, Brondel began playing guitar as a child, and by the time he was in his teens, he was playing in bands, before going on to make a living as a teacher, session player, and music producer. By the early ’90s, his musical focus had shifted to electronic music, and he recorded several albums for labels in Europe and the USA; he was still working in this medium when he moved to New York City in 1999. But moving to Maine a few years later had him longing for acoustic sounds, and before long, he was in search of the perfect tone, buying and selling and studying scores of vintage guitars. Ultimately, the self-taught Brondel started building his own guitars, becoming so skilled that Dana Bourgeois hired him to work in his shop. In late 2007, Brondel decided it was time to go out on his own, and since then, he’s developed a highly original approach to the classical American flattop design.
Can you describe the sound you’re aiming for in your instruments?In order of importance: perfect balance in all registers, wide dynamic range, quickness of sound, clarity, sustain, projection, and power. They’re all interrelated. In terms of tonal signature, I aim for the right mix of fundamentals and overtones for the best possible note separation, while keeping a certain richness, especially in the low registers.
Laurent Brondel Guitars
New England–based luthier fuses original designs with vintage American tone.
By Teja Gerken
Is there any particular instrument (vintage or contemporary) you’ve modeled your sound on?It is hard to escape the prewar Martin para-digm when building steel-strings; the best examples are a form of ideal for me. I particularly favor the smaller, lightly built guitars of the late 1920s, like 0’s and 00’s. But the OM is probably the most versatile. For modern builders I’ve always admired the originality of Stefan Sobell’s overall style and tone and Rick Turner’s ideas. But structurally, I build at the complete opposite spectrum: thin and light! I benefited immensely from my short stint with Dana Bourgeois, both in terms of understanding how guitars work and crafts-manship.
How much does your tonal goal change according to what your customer is looking for?Not very much. I have an ideal, and no matter what small changes I make, they all seem to converge toward the same ideals. I think every builder tries to squeeze as much potential as possible out of every build. Choosing a guitar size and platform are probably the most important steps in fine-tuning the tonal signature, followed by
tonewood choices.
What part of your design contributes most to your tonal ideal?Probably the way I tune the top
and the back and how they interact, meaning the thickness of
the wood and how bracing contributes to what I want to hear when I strike the free plates. I use a lateral arch on the top and back, rather than the modern domed plates, and besides greater struc-tural strength, I believe it
allows my guitars to be more responsive in the mids and
fatter in the high registers. But in reality with a stringed instrument,
SHOPTALK
See video at
AcousticGuitar.com
Luthier Laurent
Brondel plays a
model B-3 guitar
built with a red
spruce top and
cocobolo back and
sides in his rural
Maine shop.
LAU
REN
T B
RO
ND
EL—
VIR
GIN
IA V
ALD
ES
A Brondel A-2 built
with a Carpathian
spruce top and
cocobolo back and
sides. The A-2 starts
at $6,100.
62 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
especially a guitar, it would be impossible to isolate one or a few components and think they have a finite influence on tone and struc-ture. It is a whole and it is more the interac-tion of components—how they are assembled, influence each other, and form the overall style of building—that defines a builder’s tonal signature.
Do you think your instruments are best suited for a particular kind of player or style?I do not think so. Since I aim for balance and an ultraresponsive but solid instrument, the tone changes according to the player’s tech-nique more than anything else. They’re versatile, but unmistakably flattops (although nothing is flat on them!) with a bit of an archtop tonal edge and fatness. They’re suited for polyphonic and/or contrapuntal music, but also for single-note playing and even strumming.
Is there a particular instrument style you consider to be your specialty?My OM-influenced A-2 is the one I built the most. However, I build ten different models, 12 and 14 frets to the body, and even a Size 3 parlor guitar. I also started building solid-bodies in the early Fender paradigm, because I just love it. For me personally, as
a player, the ideal size is probably a concert, preferably a 14-fret 00, but I could live happily with an 0 or an OM.
What do you like most about that kind of instrument?The size seems ideal in terms of physical comfort for me, the tonal balance and power works well with my low voice, and it is very portable.
What’s your favorite combination of tone-woods?Probably some kind of spruce, European or red, with one of the ebony or rosewood species. But I think the tonal differences between tonewoods are highly overrated.
Are there any unique design or structural elements you’ve developed?I don’t think so. I view my work in the conti-nuity of what has come before, so perhaps it is more a question of refining certain features and what my ears want to hear. Lutherie is an ancient and mature art, and the highest potential only comes with a delicate balancing act on the part of the builder. Some of my building choices can appear unorthodox, but I did not invent anything. Aesthetically I tend to be influenced by Renaissance and Baroque instruments.
SHOPTALK
Details of the
Brondel A-2
(clockwise from
left): The guitar’s
interwoven rosette;
the back of the
headstock, featuring
Schertler tuning
machines; and the
slight arch Brondel
gives his guitars’
tops and backs.
Win free guitar strings!Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/juststrings
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AcousticGuitar.com 63October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
8 Andrews Brook Road
West Paris, ME 04289
(207) 674-2660
laurentbrondel.com
laurent brondel
Describe the guitar you provided for our video and pictured here.It is an A-2 with a 25.6-inch scale. The top is Carpathian spruce and the back and sides are cocobolo. The neck is Honduras mahogany; the fretboard, bridge, and bind-ings are African ebony. It has my arrow motif on the rosette and top purflings, accented with amboyna burl on the rosette, end wedge, and heel cap. It has a 125⁄32-inch nut width, 23⁄8-inch bridge string spacing, and a slender neck. Like all my instruments it is constructed with mostly hot hide glue and the thin finish is oil varnish. ag
Brondel’s D-3 model uses a small
dreadnought-shape body and is available
in 12- or 14-fret configurations.
64 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Ashes and Roses
Though her breakthrough
hits back in the ’90s were upbeat songs like
“Down at the Twist and Shout” and “Passionate
Kisses,” Mary Chapin Carpenter has always
excelled at hushed ballads backed by crystal-
line fingerstyle guitar. On Ashes and Roses, her
12th studio album, she digs deeply into this
quiet, acoustic side on a set of songs that con-
template an exceptionally tough period in her
life—in which she faced a life-threatening ill-
ness (a pulmonary embolism), divorce, and
the loss of her father. The resulting songs,
delivered in her rich alto, are suffused with
sadness but aim for positive lessons; in “What
to Keep and What to Throw Away,” for in-
stance, she offers a series of instructions for
emotional recovery after the end of a mar-
riage. The album’s reflective mood strongly
recalls James Taylor’s latter-day writing, and
as if to confirm the connection, JT himself
joins in on the soft-pop duet “Soul Companion.”
On a few tracks Carpenter and coproducer
Matt Rollings bring in a touch of country-rock
electric guitar, but the songs never speed up
past midtempo, and no other instruments
drown out Carpenter’s acoustic picking. What
Ashes and Roses lacks in variety of moods it
makes up for in emotional depth—these are
songs that find poetry and beauty in hardship.
(Zoë/Rounder) —JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERS
Bill Evans
In Good Company
There’s no one who plays
banjo—or composes for it—
like Bill Evans. Partly that’s because of his de-
cades in academia, studying minstrelsy and
African-American banjo alongside music from
Japan and North India. Partly, it’s the unique-
ness of his path through bluegrass, starting in
the progressive Cloud Valley, then changing
direction with the deeply traditional Dry
Branch Fire Squad before setting off on his
own. At this point, Evans can play anything on
banjo, and for In Good Company, he’s gathered
together friends like fiddler Darol Anger, gui-
tarist David Grier, mandolinist Mike Marshall,
and bassist Todd Phillips to explore just how
far he can go. “The Distance Between Two
Points” finds Evans taking equal inspiration
from Japanese koto and Scruggs picking; with
the slowly meditative “They Say You’re Never
PLAYLIST
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• Betty and Dupree
• Shortnin’ Bread
• “A” Blues for Ya
• Raggin’ the Blues
• Walkin’ the Basses
• Slow as Lightnin’
• Poor Boy
• Delta Thing
• Dusted
• Lonesome Weary Blues
• Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor
• Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep
• Skin Game Blues
• Drop D Blues
• Bye Bye Baby Blues
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AcousticGuitar.com 65October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
“I’m talking about a feeling, a smoky, lonesome,painful - yet somehow comforting groove
that lets you know that you are not alone - even when you’re blue. Play on brother.”
— Steve Earle
Digging up the ground he broke on “Roll Away The Stone,”
Kelly Joe Phelps returns, slide guitar once again in hand,
to his blues/gospel journey toward mercy, peace and salvation.
Released worldwide on August 21
For info on this and other zesty Black Hen recordings, visit www.blackhenmusic.com
Lonely in Louisville,” he’s at the edge of string
band minimalism; and on the Beatles medley
that serves as the album’s centerpiece, he
sweetly straddles pop and chamber folk. He’s
joined by Joy Kills Sorrow on one cut, the
Infamous Stringdusters on another, and Tim
O’Brien on a third, taking each session as an
opportunity to stretch out in a new direction,
and emerging with an album that’s smart, me-
lodic, and immensely engaging throughout.
(Native and Fine) —KENNY BERKOWITZ
Adam Miller
Delayed
Melding funk, blues, and jazz
into solo fingerstyle acoustic
guitar is an improbable feat, but Australian
Adam Miller makes it seem not only easy but
inevitable. What holds this varied collection of
original compositions together is a relentless
propulsive groove that is downright danceable.
Miller amply displays the qualities that earned
him an Australian fingerstyle championship
and that are making him an international up-
and-comer: pristine clarity of tone, a virtuoso
technique that tosses up absurdly fast legato
runs and rapid-fire pull-offs, as well as an
ability to play a complex bass line and melody
simultaneously (which he attributes to guitar-
ist Charlie Hunter). “Straight Forward” is any-
thing but—it lays out a bluesy melody and
then veers off into exuberant improvisational
tangents—while the mesmerizing title track
lays a simple melody over a repeated motif,
giving it an ethereal, otherworldly vibe. Yet
Miller’s music is as refined as it is unbridled.
On slower pieces such as “Wedding Speech”
(replete with fun chimes and intricate taps)
and “Last Kiss,” his emphasis on melody and
a sumptuous range of textures and colors is
most apparent. There’s nothing held back or
last-minute about Delayed, except perhaps the
wider recognition Miller deserves. But with
such a masterful accomplishment, that won’t
be long in coming. (adammiller.com.au)
—CÉLINE KEATING
Mindy Smith
Mindy Smith
Recorded in Nashvil le,
Tennessee, Mindy Smith’s
fifth studio album picks up where Stupid Love
(2009) left off, navigating a troubled path be-
tween dream and disappointment, God and
the devil, and Long Island country and
Nashville pop. These 11 new songs, all written
or co-written by Smith, range from uplifting
gospel (“Closer”) to wailing blues (“Don’t
Mind Me”) to gentle swing (“Cure for Love”)
to folk-rock (“Pretending the Stars”) to deep
country (“When You’re Walking on My Grave”)
to singer-songwriter confessional (“If I”), each
astonishing in its honesty. The melodies are
smartly, sharply etched and the singing pas-
sionate, with Smith’s fearless, keening
soprano sounding stronger and bluer than
ever before and performances by Dan
Dugmore on pedal steel, Joe Pisapia on elec-
tric guitar, and Bryan Sutton on acoustic gui-
tar that closely match her mood from one
heartbreak to the next. The surfaces on Mindy
Smith shimmer in the best pop tradition: steel
strings ring gloriously, rhythms snap, and gui-
tar solos soar. But there’s no avoiding the
pain underneath, the tensile strength that
holds these songs together, and the intelli-
gence that makes the album so rewarding.
(Giant Leap) —KENNY BERKOWITZ
editors’ picksDAN GABEL, editorial director:
I Draw Slow,
Redhills
MARK SMITH, managing editor:
Old Crow Medicine Show,
Carry Me Back
DAN APCZYNSKI, digital content
developer:
Rodriguez,
Searching for Sugar Man
66 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
WEEKLY WORKOUT
FOR MANY GUITARISTS, learning the fingerboard is a lifelong endeavor, one that is
best done through regular practice. But if you’ve ever attempted to diligently practice
scales, arpeggios, and chords in numerous positions up and down the fingerboard,
at some point you have probably tired of running the same patterns over and over,
wondering how such practice relates to actual music and possibly even what all that
work is accomplishing. In “Weekly Workout,” we’ll try to remedy that with a variety
of exercises that we hope will challenge you and keep you interested in learning
more about the guitar.
These monthly exercises will provide you with two things: technical “workouts”
that will get your fingers (mostly on the fretting hand, but sometimes on the picking
hand) working in different ways and musical “studies” that will help you visualize
and explore the fingerboard. You’ll get a different exercise to work on each week of
the month, as well as a few extra variations and extended practice ideas for over-
achievers or more advanced students. Some of these workouts may seem daunting
to beginners, but there is no time limit or tempo indications on any of these exer-
cises. Take them as slowly as you want and concentrate on playing cleanly and
smoothly with good time, whatever tempo you’re playing at (as always, a metro-
nome will help immensely with this).
Although we’re presenting these as weekly exercises, there are numerous ways you
can approach them. You can simply spend five minutes or so every day playing that
week’s workout, moving on to the next workout at the beginning of the next week.
Or you could change up the workouts daily, playing one on Monday, the next on
Tuesday, and so on. If you’re really ambitious, in subsequent weeks, you could try
playing the workouts in different keys, the second week moving them up the finger-
board a second, the third week up a third, the fourth week, up a fourth, or in any
way you choose.
Week OneThis month’s workout starts with a one-bar phrase that moves up through the har-
monized major scale. Measure 1 is a familiar-sounding major-pentatonic phrase in
G major. Each subsequent measure takes this phrase and moves it up a step in the G
major scale from the previous measure. So measure two starts on an A, measure
three on a B, etc. You may notice that these phrases outline the chords in the key of
G: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim, and G, again (measure 8). While this workout is
natural for flatpickers, it’s primarily concerned with learning the finger-
board, so fingerstyle players shouldn’t shy away from it.
I’ve included some slur possibilities here, but you might want to start
by picking all the notes first and then adding some of the slurs as you like.
You could also try playing some of the open-string B notes at the fourth
fret (measures 3, 5, 6, and 8). In measure 8, you could even try sliding
Harmonized Major-Scale
Pentatonic Licks
These exercises will get your fretting-hand fingers moving
in new ways and help you learn the fingerboard.
By Scott Nygaard
For video of the music examples, go to
AcousticGuitar.com
AcousticGuitar.com 67October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
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68 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
WEEKLY WORKOUT
from the A note on the and of the first beat
into a B note that follows it at the fourth fret
and moving the whole phrase up into a partial
F shape, with the D and G notes played at the
third fret with the index finger.
Once you’ve played through each phrase
in these workouts, try to make them as guitar-
friendly as possible—adding slurs, adjusting
the fingering to make it easier to play, etc.
Some of these phrases may not be that inter-
esting and will serve just as technical exer-
cises, but you’ll probably want to memorize
some of them for use in your own playing.
Week TwoThis workout moves week one’s workout up
the neck into a position without open strings,
spanning frets two through five. If you’re not
familiar with this position, it will give your
fretting-hand fingers more of a workout, be-
cause they have to fret every note. There are a
few awkward fingerings where notes on adja-
cent strings have to be played with the same
finger (the D and G notes at the fifth fret in
measure 1 and the E and A notes in measure 2,
for example). Measure 7 is particularly gnarly.
Don’t worry if it takes a while until you
can play these cleanly. These are called
“workouts,” after all, and the nature of these
systematic exercises means that there are
some phrases that will never be that comfort-
able on the guitar. But just getting your
fingers to attempt them is great exercise.
You’ll notice there are fewer slur indications
here. Concentrate on fretting each note
cleanly and accurately and add slurs that
seem workable to you.
Week ThreeThis workout moves back to open position,
varying week one’s workout by starting up on
the high E string and moving downward.
You’ll notice that the phrase has been in-
verted—sort of. I’ve simply taken the second
half of the phrase (beats three and four) and
played it first, then followed it with the first
half of the original phrase. If you’re confused,
compare measure 1 of week three with mea-
sure 8 of week one. Notice that the first two
beats of week three’s first measure are the
same as the second two beats of week one’s
eighth measure. Make sense? Or just play the
exercise as written, and don’t worry too much
about how the two exercises relate. You’ll no-
tice, however, that even though the phrase is
similar to the initial one, it feels like a new
phrase to your hand. Once again, pick all the
notes first and then try some slurs and alter-
nate fingerings.
Week FourThis week’s workout moves week three’s
workout up into the same position as week
two. Despite its similarity to the phrase in
week two, this one has fewer awkward finger-
ings. With exercises like this, you never know
which ones will bear guitaristic fruit, you just
have to try them to find out. The slurs indi-
cated here are the ones that work for me.
Everyone’s hands are different and some slurs
and fingerings will work better for some than
others.
Extra CreditFor the overachievers in the bunch—you
know who you are— I’ve provided some extra
credit, although, as the term implies, you will
have to work a little harder. Example 1 moves
the initial workout up into a fingerboard posi-
tion that spans frets three through seven. I’ve
just given you the first four measures here.
See if you can work the rest of it out on your
own, and then try the descending version in
weeks three and four in this position.
Example 2 moves the initial phrase up an oc-
tave and into a position at the seventh through
tenth frets. You can really only play one more
measure of the pattern at this position, so try
Example 3, which is the same thing at the
ninth through 12th frets. And finally, for those
with cutaways, Example 4 resides in the
nosebleed section at the 12th through 15th
frets.
Well, how’d it go? Did you “feel the burn”?
Have your fingers played some new things? I
hope so. If not, I’ll see you next month for
another workout. ag
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AcousticGuitar.com 69October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
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See video of the music examples at AcousticGuitar.com
70 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
ONCE YOU HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON the elements intrinsic to finger-
style guitar—melody, bass line, and a variety of chord voicings—you’ll be
well on your way toward creating killer arrangements that are as fun to
listen to as they are to play. Sometimes the thing that sets a great perfor-
mance apart is an extra dash of flair in the form of little melodic and
rhythmic flourishes. In this lesson, we’ll take a look at artificial harmon-
ics, one particular technique that can really help put your arrangements
over the top.
Artificial HarmonicsMost guitarists are aware of natural harmonics—the chimey, bell-like tones that
occur when an open string is touched lightly with the fretting hand at one of a few
specific places on the guitar neck (most notably directly above the 12th, seventh, or
fifth frets). Example 1 illustrates this technique along the 12th fret, sounding the
harmonics from low to high, one octave above the open strings. While this tech-
nique certainly sounds great, the selection of available pitches can prove somewhat
Artificial Harmonics
How to play any melody or chord with harmonics
to add flair to your guitar arrangements.
By Sean McGowan
WOODSHED
&
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44
3
‚ ‚ ‚3
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3
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3
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1517
1716
1515 17
1717
1919
17
G1 11234
3 fr.
Am1 11134
5 fr.
Ex. 3
= artificial harmonic
œb ‚ œb ‚b œ ‚b œ ‚b
1
13
1
13
1
13
1
13
Ex. 4
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&
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Ex. 1
Harm.
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Ex. 2
= artificial harmonic
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AcousticGuitar.com 71October 2012 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
limiting. By using a lesser-known technique
called artificial harmonics, players can
achieve that same ringing sound with any
note or chord.
The most common type of artificial har-
monic is played one octave above a fretted
note (although other intervals are possible in
various locations). To try this technique, fret
an F note on the guitar’s fourth string at the
third fret with your fretting hand and posi-
tion the index finger of your picking hand 12
frets higher up the neck on the same string.
Point your index finger directly above the
15th fret (again, over the actual fret), mak-
ing absolutely sure not to press down—you
want to have contact with the string, but not
the fingerboard. Finally, use the thumb of
your plucking hand to pluck the string be-
hind your index finger (Example 2). Your
index finger will look like it’s pointing while
the thumb plucks. Note that the tab number
corresponds to the fret your picking-hand
finger is pointed at, not the note you’re fret-
ting. Simply subtract 12 to find the note you
should be fretting with your other hand.
Example 3 illustrates this technique with
groups of notes voiced in familiar chord
shapes. With your fretting hand forming
barre chord shapes rooted on the third and
fifth frets, use your index finger to “outline”
the same shapes, 12 frets higher, picking
each string with your thumb as you go.
Mix with Non-HarmonicsYou can also alternate between harmonics
and non-harmonics (notes fretted normally)
to create sustaining scale figures like the
F-minor-pentatonic scale in Example 4. Chet
Atkins and Lenny Breau were both masters
&
B
44
3
‚ ‚ ‚3
‚ ‚ ‚
3
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3
‚ ‚ ‚
1517
1716
1515 17
1717
1919
17
G1 11234
3 fr.
Am1 11134
5 fr.
Ex. 3
= artificial harmonic
œb ‚ œb ‚b œ ‚b œ ‚b
1
13
1
13
1
13
1
13
Ex. 4
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3
15
3
15
4
15
3
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7
18
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8
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20
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5
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3
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2
14
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3
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45
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3
15
3
15
4
15
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15
5
Ex. 6
H
= artificial harmonic
‚b œ œb ‚b œ œ ‚b œb ‚b œb
18
8 6
18
8 6
18
6
18
6
PP
&
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44
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17
6 5
17
6 5
17
5
Ex. 7
P P
‚ œb œb ‚b œ œb ‚b œ
17
6 4
16
6 4
16
5
Ex. 8
P P
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20
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720
7
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18
6
18
6
18
6
18
6
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..·˙b
6
18
8
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Ex. 9a
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8
21
89
7
19
77
5
17
55
3
16
34
Cmaj7 Bm7 Am7 Gmaj7
Ex. 9b
&
B
45
œ ‚ œb ‚ œb ‚ œ ‚b œ
3
15
3
15
4
15
3
15
5
Ex. 6
H
= artificial harmonic
‚b œ œb ‚b œ œ ‚b œb ‚b œb
18
8 6
18
8 6
18
6
18
6
PP
&
B
44
‚ œb œ ‚ œ œ ‚ œ
17
6 5
17
6 5
17
5
Ex. 7
P P
‚ œb œb ‚b œ œb ‚b œ
17
6 4
16
6 4
16
5
Ex. 8
P P
œ ‚œb ‚œb ‚œbb
20
819
720
7
‚œbb ‚œb ‚œbb ‚œbb
18
6
18
6
18
6
18
6
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..·˙b
6
18
8
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Ex. 9a
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8
21
89
7
19
77
5
17
55
3
16
34
Cmaj7 Bm7 Am7 Gmaj7
Ex. 9b
&
B
45
œ ‚ œb ‚ œb ‚ œ ‚b œ
3
15
3
15
4
15
3
15
5
Ex. 6
H
= artificial harmonic
‚b œ œb ‚b œ œ ‚b œb ‚b œb
18
8 6
18
8 6
18
6
18
6
PP
&
B
44
‚ œb œ ‚ œ œ ‚ œ
17
6 5
17
6 5
17
5
Ex. 7
P P
‚ œb œb ‚b œ œb ‚b œ
17
6 4
16
6 4
16
5
Ex. 8
P P
œ ‚œb ‚œb ‚œbb
20
819
720
7
‚œbb ‚œb ‚œbb ‚œbb
18
6
18
6
18
6
18
6
œb
..·˙b
6
18
8
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Ex. 9a
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8
21
89
7
19
77
5
17
55
3
16
34
Cmaj7 Bm7 Am7 Gmaj7
Ex. 9b
See video of the music examples at AcousticGuitar.com
72 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
WOODSHED
of this technique. As before, use your index
finger to “fret” the harmonics and your
thumb to pluck the string, and then pluck
each “normal” note with either your ring or
fourth finger. Try both and decide which is
more comfortable!
This technique can also be applied to
chords and works best when there are no re-
peated notes in a voicing—making it a great
fit for complex chords like the ones shown in
Example 5.
Add Embellishments Example 6 takes things a step farther by add-
ing hammer-ons and pull-offs to several of the
non-harmonic notes. Be sure to let each note
ring for as long as possible to achieve that
great harp-like harmonic sound. Example 7
shows the same technique applied to a de-
scending C Mixolydian scale pattern, and
Example 8 takes it through a ii–V–i in Bb
minor. To play the double-stop arpeggios in
measures 2 and 3 of Example 8, continue to
pluck the harmonic notes with your picking-
hand thumb while simultaneously plucking
the non-harmonic note with your ring or little
finger.
Close Voicings with HarmonicsYou can also use this technique to play chord
voicings not possible with the fretting hand
alone. Example 9a shows four-way close voic-
ings that are obviously difficult—if not impos-
sible—to play smoothly. By reorganizing the
fretting-hand voicing into accessible drop-two
shapes and adding an artificial harmonic on
the D string, the chords in Example 9b sound
just like those in Example 9a would sound if
they were playable. Fingerstyle guitarist Tuck
Andress occasionally uses this technique to
enhance introductions and solo sections, as in
the opening measures of “Winter Wonderland”
on his album Hymns, Carols, and Songs About
Snow. ag
Learn more techniques like artificial harmonics in SEAN McGOWAN’s complete Extended Techniques download available at store.AcousticGuitar.com. Includes addi-tional examples and video.
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74 AcousticGuitar.com ACOUSTIC GUITAR October 2012
SONGBOOK
“Dimming of the Day” first appeared on Richard and Linda Thompson’s
third album, Pour Down Like Silver, as a medley with “Dargai,” a solo
guitar instrumental. The duo performed and recorded the song together
at live performances, and Richard continued singing the song long after
the duo split. The song gained even more exposure over the years with
several high-profile covers, most notably Bonnie Raitt’s 1994 version
and Alison Krauss and Union Station’s take in 2011 (on Paper Airplane).
The following transcription is from Richard and Linda Thompson’s
live performance of “Dimming of the Day” on RT: The Life and Music of
Richard Thompson. Richard plays the song in dropped-D tuning with a
capo on the third fret, and the notation shows split stems that generally
follow the bass line on the bottom with the melody and embellishments
on top. If you play the song with your fingers, play the downstemmed
notes with your thumb and the upstemmed notes with your fingers,
although you’ll need to adapt your picking in a few places. At the end
of measure 23, it’s easier to play the downstemmed A note on the and
of beat 4 with the index finger; and several
sparse measures (measures 25–26) can be
played exclusively with the thumb or the
thumb and just one or two finger plucks.
Thompson often plays the song with pick and
fingers. If you play it this way, you may find it
easier to use your pick on more than just the
downstemmed notes. Any single-note passage,
as well as places where two or more strings are
played simultaneously, can be played with the
pick (like the second half of measure 7, mea-
sure 16, or measures 29–34). Of course, when
you have to play two or more non-consecutive
strings, you’ll need to use your middle or ring
finger to get those notes.
Thompson rarely plays things exactly the
same, and on this performance, he uses differ-
ent embellishments and picks different notes
of each chord every time through. Because of
this, the chord names above the staff show just
the basic chord he’s working from, omitting
brief embellishments—like the quick moves to
Asus4 and Asus2 in measures 11–12.
—ANDREW DuBROCK
Dimming of the Day
Words and music by Richard Thompson
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G D A A7sus4 I’m drowning in the river of my tears
D A When all my will is gone, you hold me sway
G D A D G D I need you at the dimming of the day
Bridge 1 A Em9
You pull me like the moon pulls on the tide
A Em9 A D G6
You know just where I keep my better side
D A2. What days have come to keep us far apart?
G D A A7sus4 A broken promise and my broken heart
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G D A D G D Oh, I need you at the dimming of the day
Bridge 2 A Em9
Come the night, you’re only what I want
A Em9 A D G6
Come the night, you could be my confidant
D A3. I see you on the street in company
G D A A7sus4 Why don’t you come and ease your mind with me?
D A Oh, I’m living for the night we steal away
G D A D G D G I need you at the dimming of the day
D A D I need you at the dimming of the day
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-
WILCO “I Might” JUDY COLLINS “Someday Soon”
CARTER FAMILY “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”
MICHAEL JACKSON “Billie Jean”
4 SONGS TO PLAY
F O R E V E R Y P L A Y E R I N A N Y S T Y L E
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MARCH 2012
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GEAR REVIEWS ALVAREZ Parlor
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dAN cRARy “Reuben’s Train”
fATs wAlleR “Ain’t Misbehavin’”. . . and more
9 SongS To PlAy
f o r e v e r y p l a y e r i n a n y s t y l e
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TO VINTAGE MARTIN enthusi-asts, few guitars are as desir-able as a prewar 000-45, which yields all of the qualities collec-tors and players value so highly: masterful construction, easy playability, remarkable tone, and rarity. Built in the period when Martin was still transitioning away from gut-string guitars, the 000-45 was one of the fanciest models offered. And until the dread-nought size was introduced on Martin-brand guitars in 1931, the 000s also had the distinction of being the
largest guitars the company offered.As befits an instrument at the top of Martin’s line, the
guitar pictured here sports incredibly high-quality Brazilian rosewood back and sides that display tight, straight grain and rich color. And as with most Martins of that era the top is red (Adirondack) spruce. A look inside the 000-45 reveals standard late-’20s scalloped X-bracing. At a quarter of an inch wide, under half an inch tall, and made of red spruce, the braces contribute to this guitar’s fast attack and even response across the sound spectrum.
Strummed, this classic Martin’s excellent dynamic range is immediately apparent. There is a clarity and snap to the low end that sustains wonderfully, and the guitar has a great openness and organic resonance. Digging in with a pick never produces harsh sounds or any other indicator that the top is being overdriven—just a steady increase of volume. Playing the 000-45 softly with fingers show-cases the sublime balance of overtones that arise with the note’s strong fundamental.
Those fortunate enough to experience a prewar Martin 000-45 firsthand will likely never forget the experience. For players, the guitar is the embodi-ment of what so many of us seek—an instrument with unsurpassed tone and gorgeous appoint-ments that is sure to inspire a wealth of satisfying musical ideas. ag
STEVEN DEMBROSKI is a guitarist, songwriter, and photographer based in North Carolina.
1930 Martin
000-45
By Steven Dembroski
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Martin SP Lifespan™ strings treated with Cleartone™ protective technology repel dirt, oil and sweat for long life. No flaking, no peeling. Just the rich, natural tone you expect from Martin Guitar.