AnneS Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 After a week of bonding with the new addition, I found myself with a burning need to learn this song. It's something of a stretch, to be sure, but these lyrics just need singing these days. And I could've reached for the J100 or J45, but I did promise a sample, so here's an old (new to me) song on an old (new to me) guitar, warts and all. American Tune (I just figured out that the song is half as old as the guitar...and I am midway between them. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Mellow- the guitar and the voice. I have been telling myself for 30 years to learn this song...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwalker201 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Mellow- the guitar and the voice. I have been telling myself for 30 years to learn this song...... She and the guitar sounded fantastic. She bonded quick with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george wooden Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I must back-up the comments of kwalker201, if ever there were two who were destined to be paired, we just heard them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Fabbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jalex Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Really nice enjoyed it a lot 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatbaroque Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Thanks for letting us hear the little blighter Anne.You both sound great. I must admit that some that song had passed me by.Seemed like I should have known it.Cheers again for posting and introducing me to it...or jogging a long faded memory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 A bouquet of mayflowers to you for presenting this song - and it seems you and the guitar already walk hand in hand. Sound very good together. But did you know American Tune is everything but American. Simon borrowed the DNA from J.S. Bach's Saint Matthews Passion - a choral piece, whose melodic core goes even further back to the grand European psalm-book. And did you know P.S. during a phase in his later years regretted he 'lifted' so much on the way. A mayflower to him too for admitting. Have fun and pleasure with the new oldie. I'm sure it'll inspire and conjure. P.S. (this time it means post scriptum) shouldn't we see the Kala in that SCloud-avatar-pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I must admit that some that song had passed me by.Seemed like I should have known it. It's from the There Goes Rhymin' Simon album; his second. An excellent record from beginning to end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Nicely done, Anne....... The guitar has a nice, warm, well-balanced sound that lends itself to your style of picking. Simon is, for my money, one of the best of American songwriters.......right there with Dylan. The S & G Bookends album is on my "best of the era" list. Simon borrowed the DNA from J.S. Bach's Saint Matthews Passion......... Much in music is borrowed. The tune I did, A Whiter Shade of Pale, is borrowed Bach as well. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Nicely done, Anne....... The guitar has a nice, warm, well-balanced sound that lends itself to your style of picking. Simon is, for my money, one of the best of American songwriters.......right there with Dylan. The S & G Bookends album is on my "best of the era" list. Much in music is borrowed. The tune I did, A Whiter Shade of Pale, is borrowed Bach as well. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Talent borrows Genius steals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Your guitar sounds terrific! I was expecting a more raw, edgy tone. Nothing wrong with that, but your guitar is very mellow and rich. Maybe the x-conversion has added that dimension. How do you feel it fits in with your other guitars? Any songs in particular you think are a good fit? Lars Oh, almost forgot the song was great too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted October 1, 2017 Author Share Posted October 1, 2017 Aw thanks, gents-- Em7--SC avatar changed. And I did not realize Simon borrowed (stole) from O Sacred Head--it makes me feel better about having lifted in its entirety his melody for my Kathy's Other Song. For all we know, his wasn't original, either. Buc, yes, I think he is among the very best songwriters. I am, after all, a lyric freak, but he's hard-ish to learn by ear alone, so I was watching video and culling tabs, which is not at all my comfort zone. Oddly, and as with Dylan, I would have no desire to meet him--neither gives me warm fuzzies, but maybe that's a genius thing. As I mentioned, it is not (for me) an easy song to learn, but it was fun discovering some small changes (Am-C9; G-G#dim-Am-A7) that are subtle and lovely. Risk-to-reward ratio is high, methinks. Something I love about the little boxes is how I can feel the vibrations through the back. Maybe its because they fit entirely against me, whereas I have to hold the larger guitars a little bit out (which, I suspect, is a better position, if dampening the back vibration dampens the vibrations transmitted to the top, too). With the little ones, guitar-playing is a contact sport! Again, thanks everyone--and good luck to all who might take up the gauntlet with this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 About the only thing I can bond with in a week is a dog. Nice job Did I detect a bit of Buffy Sainte-Marie warble/vibrato? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6stringTom Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Thanks for a very nice version of "American Tune." It's a great variation from the standard three or four chord folk/country songs, isn't it? I usually don't consider a song "learned" until I can play it through without any kind of song sheet in front of me. This one is a challenge I haven't met yet, what with all the chord changes. However, one of these days . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted October 1, 2017 Author Share Posted October 1, 2017 Thanks for a very nice version of "American Tune." It's a great variation from the standard three or four chord folk/country songs, isn't it? I usually don't consider a song "learned" until I can play it through without any kind of song sheet in front of me. This one is a challenge I haven't met yet, what with all the chord changes. However, one of these days . . . Same here--and it'll be awhile before I will get there. (And smooth out the pitchy-ness, too, for that matter.) And, indeed, it is a great variation from my usual wheel-house. My favorite rendition of the song is Starland Vocal Band's. You can sure hear its Bach-ish chorale origins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL-o_L-Q0NA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Much in music is borrowed. The tune I did, A Whiter Shade of Pale, is borrowed Bach as well. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Talent borrows Genius steals Theahhh, , , so say the mediocre over a pint in the pub. Of course talent and genius get inspired to lift ideas from previous work and waves. But to really be unique, you have to create a bulge of genuine material - a universe of independent power, atmosphere and mass, which becomes your island. Only such an effort allows the borrowing-business and as mentioned, Paul Simon recognizes this himself. Imagine tunes like Imagine, Here Comes the Sun, Tambourine Man, Fire and Rain, Proud Mary, Muffin Man, Pale Blue Eyes, Suite Judy Blue Eyes, Both Sides Now, Guinnevere, Mrs. Robinson as stolen or pasted songs = Depressing. Find your source - break'n'brush it free, then built. Borrow here and there, but be your own master, , , not the puppet. Everything else would be too easyyyy. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 I hope you didn’t misunderstand me em7 I was quoting someone who I now forget It means no slight on Paul Simon Who is indeed a genius in my eyes Now I’m going off to consider myself being mediocre ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Now I'm going off to consider myself being mediocre ! I'm afraid we are, good bbg. . Jive 45 on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Anne, this is beautiful. My partner and I listened in the car earlier on today and had a little moment between us. PS is an artist important to both of us, and this is such a lovely version of this song. We both heard elements of Emmylou and Judy Collins in the delivery, and you and the K'zoo sound like you were made for each other. Magic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 It’s been said. Beautiful job Anne... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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