Sunday, November 7, 2010

Who Will Sing for Me?

I have some new practice tracks I just finished recording. These are in response to a special request from Niklas in Sweden. (Which is funny, I was just reading a novel set in Sweden. Me and half the world, I guess.)

This song is called "Who Will Sing for Me?". It's been recorded by a lot of people, but it seems like the archetypal recording was by Flatt & Scruggs. The same arrangement is played on the album, "The Three Pickers". The key is Bb--I used G, capo 3. (Sorry, fiddlers and mandos.)

The structure of the song goes like this:

Intro: G G C G G G A7 D G (G)
Verse: G G C G G G A7 D G
Chorus: D G D G G C … G D G
And this pattern is repeated three times. These chords are, of course, relative to the capo.
There is a pause after the C in the chorus. In the Flatt & Scruggs recording, they break time there and pause for a while. I didn't pause as long--I hit the chord and let it ring for the rest of the measure, then came back in. I figured that would be more useful for practicing, since the mp3 can't give you the visual cues that another player would about when to come back in.
This tune has a cool guitar part that Earl Scruggs plays fingerstyle. It reminds me a bit of "Give Me the Roses". I haven't learned how to play it like Earl does, I just kinda approximate it.
I recorded a demonstration of the tune with vocals and fills so you could hear it if it's new to you. The 3 Pickers version is cool, check that one out. The performance tempo is about 185 bpm, so I recorded at tempos on both sides of that.


7 comments:

  1. Good job on this. Have you heard the Stanley Brothers version of this tune?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nope. It didn't turn up on Rhapsody when I searched for the song, though I did hear Jeanie Stanley's version. How does it differ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Didn't Ralph do it with Roy Lee Centers? Or is my memory completely shot? I love this track! Thanks. Great fun to play mandolin to. Do some more vocals!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Carter Stanley Wrote the song, and the stanley brothers did it completely different than F&S. Donna Ulisse is married to Rick Stanley and as a tribute did a VERY nice version on her Holy Waters CD. The Stanley Brothers have the original on the King Box Set. If you want Dave I can arrange to let you hear both versions.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anyone have a tab for the scruggs fingerstyle part?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anyone have a tab for the scruggs fingerstyle part?

    ReplyDelete