Season 293 Fall in to Autumn

For the second straight week I'm doing a song Sam Bush has added to his extensive repertoire. This isn't bluegrass, and it's not on a 1937 Gibson mandolin. It's Dylan, and it mentions the end of summer, so I'll beg Thornton Rule forgiveness. As with a number of Bob's songs, the melody is up for discussion ...

 
Robin, you're overthinking it. Finding a key where your voice is most comfortable is critical. If the chord voicings aren't perfect, so what as long as it harmonises? Listeners won't notice as long as the overall sound is right. You have to learn to live with the limitations of your instrument and make the most of it.

Normally I'd agree with you, but this one has a very particular picking pattern, which requires some 5th chords and other oddities. I COULD transpose it and retain all that I want to, but it would take too long. I think the capo is my best bet.

It's a very busy week this week. We've got the head of my aikido style visiting for the Australian national seminar. I will be attending the seminar, interpreting for him, arranging bits and pieces, having 2 other participants stay at my house, and working full-time, so it's going to get a bit hectic. I've really only got a few days to get my entry in. Otherwise, I'd do 2 entries. I've got a good second option, but I'll leave Sinatra to others.
 
I've gone for the obvious I'm afraid


I see the Wee man beat me to it.
 
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Here's my first entry of the week. I did it first because I was afraid someone was going to do it before me. I really love this song, it's simple and lovely.
 


Thid is a cover of a song by a punk band from Bremerton, Washington. I'd wager that it's both the first MxPx song to be covered on Seasons and the first appearance of a tap dancing monkey as well. :)
 
This is a Tom Waits song from the 1993 play, "The Black Rider."

 
paoriginal for this season
Kind of an argument against my previous song.
There ain't no leaves that hang on forever.
In Australia we have very few deciduous trees but the eucalypts (and others) lose some of their leaves all year round, eventually replacing them all. The deciduous tress that we do have are mainly tropical and lose their leaves in preparation for the dry season.
 
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Son of a (&$! This song is right at that point where it feels uncomfortable and sounds strained no matter whether I sing it high like the original or an octave low. Tried transposing, but it stuffs up the chord voicing. Put a capo on the third fret, which makes it comfortable to sing low, but then the uke sounds really high. Can't play with linear tuning because it stuffs up the chord voicing again (okay, I could, but it would take too much working out). This thing is pissing me off!

When a song kicks my butt, which happens plenty, I always think, "This is supposed to be fun". lol Meanwhile, I'm sweating, swearing, and ready to throw things. Then, I start messing up and forgetting the parts of the song I do have down. It is maddening. I feel your pain!
 
Apples at the golden hour in my garden.
An old ISB song done Caribbean style.
A snippet of a much longer song.

Leaves know the art of dying.
They leave with joy their glad gold hearts
in the scarlet shadows lying.

 
There was too much going on (even by my family's standards) in the living room for me to hash out this original, so I retreated to the bedroom.

Family had other ideas.

There's lots of imagery associated with Autumn, that often romantically finds itself into songs.

This song explores the reality. I love it when the weather starts to turn, but only because it means Winter is that much closer, a season I much prefer.

 
I think the capo is my best bet.
have you got a bari? *UAS WARNING* do you NEED a bari?

even if it's not something you'd use all the time, having both dgbe and gcea instruments lying about the place is so handy - if you're playing one, it's so easy to grab the other tuning and get an automatic transpose, without changing chord shapes or putting on a capo. changing instruments in either direction, bari dgbe to gcea, or gcea to bari dgbe, gives you something in-between-y of a full octave voice jump. of course i love bari and am therefore a bit biased, but hey, you know <fab excuse to buy a new uke> and you don't have to spend a fortune, everyone who has the makala bari, it seems to sound REALLY good, and i think that baby is pretty much the cheapest one you can get?


ok here is a homemade song for the season, "autumn sun"

 


I really wanted Em to sing with me on this one, but she insists that she's a dancer now, NOT a singer. Anyways, here's some Veggie Tales and more tap dancing.
 
Normally I'd agree with you, but this one has a very particular picking pattern, which requires some 5th chords and other oddities. I COULD transpose it and retain all that I want to, but it would take too long. I think the capo is my best bet.

It's a very busy week this week. We've got the head of my aikido style visiting for the Australian national seminar. I will be attending the seminar, interpreting for him, arranging bits and pieces, having 2 other participants stay at my house, and working full-time, so it's going to get a bit hectic. I've really only got a few days to get my entry in. Otherwise, I'd do 2 entries. I've got a good second option, but I'll leave Sinatra to others.

I get your point. I find a capo useful to quickly give different voicings on 1st position chords. I know at this point all the Jazz guys will shriek "use moveable shapes" but 1st position chords have a particular sound that I'm mostly aiming for.

have you got a bari? *UAS WARNING* do you NEED a bari?

even if it's not something you'd use all the time, having both dgbe and gcea instruments lying about the place is so handy - if you're playing one, it's so easy to grab the other tuning and get an automatic transpose, without changing chord shapes or putting on a capo. changing instruments in either direction, bari dgbe to gcea, or gcea to bari dgbe, gives you something in-between-y of a full octave voice jump. of course i love bari and am therefore a bit biased, but hey, you know <fab excuse to buy a new uke> and you don't have to spend a fortune, everyone who has the makala bari, it seems to sound REALLY good, and i think that baby is pretty much the cheapest one you can get?

Lynda has a point here. I often use my bari to give instant 5th transposition. I also have a tenor in reentrant dGBE which I find better for strumming. Between the two tunings and a capo it's fairly easy to quickly find a good key for singing in.

BTW, capo 3 gives you Eb6 tuning which was quite often found in 1920s sheet music. I have a tutor from the 1930s which gives BbEbGC as one of the standard tunings. Capo 3 on a tenor probably gives a scale length not too far different from a soprano.
 



Hi Trent! My brain is so addled at the moment that I woke up convinced that it was Monday and that I had till Friday to convince the Inland Revenue that I do not owe them any tax! However, several hours later, when I discovered that it was actually Sunday, I thought I might have time to actually record something! Hope, maybe, that I might manage another one later in the week. (Sorry about the voice ... I've got a cold!)
 
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