Michael Card tunings?
Gordon
recently and decided to figure out a few of his tunes that I liked and
are nice for worship services as well.
I pulled out a piano/voice/chord music book of his music that my
daughter had only to see progressions that not only would not be very
enjoyable to play but also did not sound like the lush acoustic guitar
parts I was hearing on the cd's!
I particularly liked a song called "Jubilee" and after a bit of trial
an error and going through a few tunings I found that the song is
played in open D and that the really nice chord phrasings are actually
very easy and provided for some very nice sounding rhythm
progressions.
After purusing some of the other songs I think I have found a few that
may be in dadgad and certainly some in open G.
I'm wondering if anyone else here plays any MC stuff and what tunings
you've attributed to what songs?
Tom Loredo
>
> I particularly liked a song called "Jubilee" and after a bit of trial
> an error and going through a few tunings I found that the song is
> played in open D and that the really nice chord phrasings are actually
> very easy and provided for some very nice sounding rhythm
> progressions.
Hmm. Perhaps he rearranged it, but I'm pretty sure he plays it in
standard tuning (key=E). In fact, the chord progression for this tune
is one of my favorites, and I use it often to test pickups because
it combines high fretted strings with open strings, and the combination
of this with heavy strumming is a good pickup test. Anyway, I don't
have a guitar here (I don't think my officemate would appreciate it!),
but as best as I can visualize it in my head the first few chords in
the version I've seen him do has these fingerings (lo to hi):
[079900] [079800] [076400] [077600]
I've learned a handful of his tunes, and they were all in standard
tuning or drop-D. A couple of them I copped off of his old
"Front Row" concert video. I think he has a couple concert videos
still available; they might help you figure some stuff out.
Peace,
Tom Loredo
MKarlo
>tuning or drop-D. A couple of them I copped off of his old
>"Front Row" concert video. I think he has a couple concert videos
>still available; they might help you figure some stuff out.
>
>Peace,
>Tom Loredo
Love to have that video. Tell me if you see it anywhere.
Mitch
Stanstep3
One thing to note about Michael Card is that he is a lefty playing a standard
guitar...upside down as if it were a left-handed guitar.
Or in other words, picture hitting the treble strings with your thumb instead
of your first three fingers. I haven't heard too much of his music, but that
could also explain some sonic differences.
good luck,
Stan
Gordon
You could be right. I didn't try that but if it is in standard he'd
be tuned down a half step and that would account for the chords that
are transcribed for piano I guess. It certainly works very well in
open D.
FYI I did notice that if your listening to some of his tunes that have
a lot of sus and sus4 chords, he's getting a very lush sound that you
probably wouldn't get in standard tuning and using closed chords. I
tried dadgad and applied a number of chord voicings to some of the
recordings and viola!
Then again I could be wrong and if he's tuned down a half step and
playing partials you might get the same effect.
Have a great day!
Tom Loredo
Oops! I shoulda mentioned that! In learning the few tunes of his
I've learned, I was surprised at how little this "flip" messed things
up. But yes, it does affect the sound somewhat.
Peace,
Tom
dane...@gmail.com
Thanks