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.

Who Will Sing for Me demonstration

Who Will Sing for Me 170 bpm

Who Will Sing for Me 175 bpm

Who Will Sing for Me 180 bpm

Who Will Sing for Me 185 bpm

Who Will Sing for Me 190 bpm

Who Will Sing for Me 195 bpm

Who Will Sing for Me 200 bpm

And a zip file of all tempos (25.7 MB)