How Does the Song Go?

I was nervous right up until there was a knock at the door. With Carol the wonder Dog by my side, I opened the door and let in this long haired kid with a well traveled  guitar case.

Following a  casual discussion about all of Grateful Dead artwork on the walls and all the green sprouting up in the back yard it was time for "school". With me being an "old hippie" and him being a "young hippie", there seemed to be a reverse student teacher relationship between us and I was happy to be the student.

After blowing through the "Scales" and the major chords we got right into choosing a song to dissect. With the vast amount of time I have spent listening to music I was at a loss as to which ones to pull out so I limited our choices to Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, the Grateful Dead and Randy Newman.

First choice, "Franklin's Tower" (because it only has two notes in it), but that was quickly replaced with a perennial favorite "Uncle Johns Band" (six notes but a 'funner' song). Pulling out his phone Mr. James downloaded the tune from the web and set the phone down so we both could look at the video and LISTEN to the tune. Comparing what we heard to what was written in the song book we noticed some subtle differences between the two. This is were the interpretation and nuance of the artist comes into play. How many versions of "Over the Rainbow" are out there now? All the same song yet none of them alike.

The beauty and freedom that music brings is the magic that frees the soul.

When I asked him to show me the strum pattern in the book, a puzzled look came over his face that was quickly replaced with a sly grin. He went on to explain, "It's not in the book. These books were all made for the piano and augmented for the Guitar. Best and quickest method is to listen to the tune performed by the person who wrote it". Then he reset the song on the phone again, moving the cursor to the beginning of the song so we can concentrate on the intro. He did this a few times, writing on a piece of paper, and then gave me the piece of paper with the strum pattern written on it. I have been listening to this song since 1970 and mauling it with my guitar since 1973, just never could master the strum. He stumbled a couple of times, then like magic there it was, yeah it took 5 maybe 6 minutes for him to make the song his own.

I called our relationship student / teacher, I'm thinking now it is more student / Professor, we're meeting again next week...stay Tooned