Revised TABS-Magic Feather Well, I'm NOT completely satisfied with any of the TABS i've come up with so far. I discovered it was easier (for me) to play the stuff higher up the neck, so you'll note I follow each older version with a different newer version. I hope everyone will play around with it and figure out what I've missed, gotten wrong, etc. I also put three versions of two accent notes, none of which seems quite right. Nick seems to vary and progress each line and verse in what I think of as part of "skiffle" style (I'm NO expert on what constitutes "skiffle" except some ROY). I hear Nick bending DOWN to some notes also. MAGIC FEATHER copyright 2007 by Nick Harper (TABS/NoCelebrity) “Little rook in the midst of the parliament...” 1 E--------------- ---------------------- -0------0------ -0-----0-----0- 2 B--------------- ---------------------- -3--3---2---2- -0--0--2------- 3 G-2^4-2------- -2^4^2^4-2-------- -0-0-0-0--0-- -0-0-0-0--0^2- 4 D--------4-0-4- --------------4-2^0- -2------2-2--- -2-----2-2----- 5 A--------------- ---------------------- --------0------ -------0------- 6 E--------------- ---------------------- --------------- --------------- “Little rook in the midst of the parliament...” 1 E------------- ------------------- ----------------- ----------------- 2 B------------- ------------------- -5-------5----- ---------5----8/10- 3 G------------- ------------------- -7---7---6---6- -7--7---6--------- 4 D-7^9-7-0-- -7^9^7^9-7------ -5-5--5-5--5-- -9----9-5-5/7----- 5 A--------9-9- ------------9-7^5- -5-------7-7--- -7-7----7--------- 6 E------------ --------------------- ---------5----- -7------5--------- “‘Cause he’s white...” (end 1)? “‘Cause he’s white...”(end 2)?(end 3)? 1 E------------------------ -----0^1-- ------------------------ --------- ----- 2 B-1^3^1^3^1--------- -------- 1- ------------------------ -----5+- -6+-- 3 G---------------2^0--0- -2-------- -5^7^5^7^5--------- -------5- ---7- 4 D--------------------3--- --4------- ---------------7^5--5- -7-4---- ----- 5 A------------------------ ---------- --------------------8-- --------- ----- 6 E------------------------ ---------- ------------------------ --------- ----- “Can you believe...” 1 E-2-3-5-2-3-5-2---0-- -1^0--3-5-2- 2 B------------------3-3- ------3------- 3 G---------------------- --------------- 4 D---------------------- --------------- 5 A---------------------- --------------- 6 E---------------------- --------------- “Can you believe...” 1 E-------------------------- ------------- 2 B-7-8-10-7-8-10-7---5-- -6^5--5/8-10- 3 G--------------------7--7- -----7-------- 4 D-------------------------- ------------- 5 A-------------------------- ------------- 6 E-------------------------- ------------- “^” = hammer-on OR pull-off “/” = slide-up “+” = bend(up) I had to adjust this since it doesn't translate the equal-spacing font (courier new) into equal spaces. If there's some way to do it on this forum without scanning an image file into the forum, someone let me know. Hope I made all the necessary corrections to keep the notes in order.
Nick's style I think once you can play with confidence on each string you can give each/ various combinations of note a certain prominence. The fretboard becomes your playground and you can bend your emotions spontaneously up/down/in between. Random on your momentary sensitivity contemporaneously. So for you to sit down and try to work out the bending tablature is quite freaky really. I admire your studiousness. I could never follow every thing as such; always drifted on tangents, and not copy for copy's sake other's songs religiously /plagiaristically, or whatever - just so I could prove that I could play / cover someone else's songs /ideas. But always know I am not fluid enough coz never had the impetus as a youngster to learn all the theory. Ther are different schools of thought whether knowing theory can somehow dilute your spontaneous effort. Or,like me, trapped in a stlyle vicarious. But I love it, and perhaps, each artist have their own persona / timbre which is their unque signature irrespective. Like our planet. For instance when every guitarist in the land had to learn the iconic Stairway to Heaven etc I made a point of not learning it coz everyone else was playing it. Like the intro to Pinball Wizard , Smoke on the water, the latest Bob Dylan etc. etc.. Anyway back to work in five hours and forgotten what I was saying originally, go to sleep Andy, get out of this timezone for a while.. andi
AND I will rebut, reboot... I thought I was clear enough, Andy, I'm just trying to figure out a framework for someone like me to start with. I can't really improvise until I've learned where the notes are. When I write something for myself, I might practice something a thousand times before I hear more ideas in my head. Some stuff is easy to improvise. Unlike you, I'm not strong at an impressionistic approach to music, but I still love it. I wouldn't have looked for the chord structure without lemurjin pointing it out. And I'm not good at all practicing that part of my tabs yet. If I practice everyday for two weeks, I might put all the parts neatly together. I do improvise with bends, trem, vibrato, slides, and varying notes and chord structure, but I'm an inconsistent guitarist with a limited repertoire. I usually sing or whistle a tune to practice in my head. Yet I play a little guitar almost everyday. Frankly, it was an interesting challenge and I picked some consistent notes out at the beginning. But the rest of what I TABBED is not what Nick played or IMO would ever play. Still, I found what I put down to be one harmonic starting point of many. I didn't even try to indicate the individual note lengths. Plus, It's easier for me to TAB than read someone else's TABBING. Lastly, the subject matter sounds familiar, but I'm not sure who "Little Rook" is (though Gandhi seems possible), or what the "Magic Feather" is (a pen, an airplane, a Native American name?). My first guess is it's more recent or contemporary. Will someone please enlighten me? For that matter, ANDI, I was hoping I might learn something from others about Nick's techniques, etc. (But don't try to explain the syntax of "Random on your momentary sensitivity contemporaneously." Idiom, Youdiom, We-All-diom. i.e. I actually understood it!)
Magic feather I think it's something to to do with Dumbo the elephant or something? But beautiful song/lyrics/melody/singing-ability in whatever connotational metaphor you care to interpret/put on it. Andi
Fiction or Reality? Well, it's not Disney's version (unless Little Rook is from the Dumbo Story?). We don't have a Parliament. That reasoning would also eliminate Native Americans. No elephants, either, except zoos (so it's possible). Related Mammoths and Mastadons went extinct 10,000 years ago. And Buffalo could only be the vaguest of poetic allusions. India/Pakistan, South Africa for Parliament. Asia/Africa for Elephants. Magic Feather for Robert Plant (his rune)? Perhaps it's just a beautiful fiction Nick concocted from his imagination? It's a beautiful song I hadn't registered in my memory until lemurjin drew my attention to it (but I just got the CD with "Last Guitar").
Two different approaches? So how'd you get started with guitar, Andi? How did you get introduced to skiffle and other styles? I had two girlfriends (one at a time!) in college who wrote songs, played guitar, and sang beautifully. I had violin in 3rd grade (quit). Learned to whistle and sing at an early age. Piano for 8th grade (teacher moved). I picked up guitar to figure out accompaniment for two songs I wrote in college. I had an early intro to music theory in FILM class (really! a DISNEY short in High School), Chorus, and my year of piano. Music (the diatonic/12-note scale) is also studied in Math as an example of logarithms (and Blues). So, I mostly watched others and practiced by myself. When I wanted to figure something out, I often made up an example to practice, and sometimes it sounded real good AND original, and if I was lucky, I came up with lyrics. Half of my songs came to me this way, the other half came LYRICS and/or Melody first.
Various Here's various new bits and bobs I've worked out over the last few months. Three Magpies: Standard Tuning G_______________Bm________G__________________Bm From the badlands through the plains, and around the lane. etc C______D_________C__________D_____Em________D I think I saw myself, runnin' along side myself, even then. The Sky Goes All The Way Home: Custom Tuning: EADGAE This is the intro bit e|---------------------------------------------------------------| A|-5-5--4-5-2-0-------------------------------------------------| G|---------------------------------------------------------------| D|-0-0--0-0-0-0-------------------------------------------------| A|---------------------------------------------------------------| E|---------------------------------------------------------------| I have a suspicion that this song is in Dmaj tuning; DADF#AD. By My Rocket Comes Fire: Standard Tuning (Bar Chords)_____Thank you, for inviting me to the party... etc e|----x-------x--------------------------------------------------| B|----x-------x--------------------------------------------------| G|----x-------x--------------------------------------------------| D|----7-------11-------------------------------------------------| A|----7-------11-------------------------------------------------| E|----5-------9--------------------------------------------------| I'm a baby in this world, but I'm going to climb much higher. e|-----x--------0-----x----0--------------------------------------| B|-----3--------0-----3----0--------------------------------------| G|-----0--------6-----0----6--------------------------------------| D|-----4--------7-----4----6--------------------------------------| A|-----5--------0-----5----0--------------------------------------| E|-----x--------x----- x----x--------------------------------------| Vampire Song: Standard Tuning ______C__________G_________Dm_______Fmaj7 And I'll wake, with a start, like a vampire at sunset ------------------------------------------------------------------------ And there's still a few more bits to come
Just a small point but I think I'm right in saying that Nick has banjo machine heads on his Lowden and that lets him change the string tuning while he is playing like he does a lot of in A Hundred Things and he does in Kilty Stone [youtube]BzOP80_uDZ8[/youtube]
Absolutely true, Graeme - there's more about it on Nick's site here (though it's about the guitars he had in 1997, I suspect much of the tech is unchanged)...
Has anybody got any tabs for Field of cloth of gold because my 17 yr old is learning it from this video and has got most of it but needs a little help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmZeGPZc4e4 How do I post videos so they show up?
Remembered it was discussed on this forum and just found it Go to : http://www.stormcock.net/vb/showthread.php?t=272&highlight=field+cloth+gold If you want to post YTvids to show up, do this to the above Youtube ref you gave us by putting [youtube] at the beginning of kmZeGPZc4e4 and followed by /youtube but in [ ] brackets. That's the only way I can describe it without it automatically going to it if I wrote it down for you ok? chrs andi
or you can look at the page PD created for us, that explains how to embed stuff - http://www.stormcock.net/vb/showthread.php?t=1064&highlight=youtube
In the comments of the video James describes what he does thus :- If you start at C you should be able to work it out. I've got a capo on the third fret I believe. C, then run down to Am. Play a G on the bass string then F, G back to C. If that makes sense. Seems I fooked up a tad as I missed out the Am chord and just played the A note in the bass. I like how he does the ending shall have to have a go at learning that. Thanks for the link to the video Andi as I hadn't seen that before.
Magnificent G7 Hi folks, This thread might be a bit quiet but I figured I'd post what I've done here...The Magnificent G7, as recorded on Double Life. Hope the format is OK; feedback would be appreciated! Tuning should be A D A D F# A, but if you don't fancy detuning that much, you could go for D A D F# A D and play everything down a string. I started tabbing this ages ago and finally decided to finish it after Nick's stellar Surya gig the other night Included in the zip file is the PowerTab file and an HTML output of ASCII tab. Enjoy! Jim
Thanks your Jimness I shall check this out tomorrow. Apologies for not picking up on this sooner but I mostly am an infrequent visitor to this here forum.
I can't get my strings to cope with the A tuning so I have had a go using the DADF#AD and also tried it using DADGAD tuning. Trouble I've been finding is I need a 7th string in the middle section, or I just have to miss out a bass note or two! So I had a go at transposing to get a compromise so I could get the lowest note but then found that screws up some of the middle bit again where the pull offs and twiddly bits don't quite work cos the notes are on different strings. So I've still got a bit more head scratching to do to rework the fingering. All in all its been great to play it so thanks for posting up your tab.
