• From: West Georgia
  • Registered: 2006-10-14
  • Posts: 2,557

Topic: Experiment With Chords

Hi Everyone

Today, just sitting around, I thought about our transposition feature.

What I wanted to do is take one of the simplest songs to chord and transpose it to the point where it might be impossible to play.

So while this post is for everyone, it is especially for  Russell Harding, who, instead of me trying to write this , can do this little so-called "experiment"  justice.being that he's our Professor of Music Theory here.

The song I chose first was "Tom Dooley" - The Kingston Trio version - but alas I found only tabs and I am not as adept with tabs as most of you are.

So the next attempt was The Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody": very easily chorded.

I began transposing first with "plus one semitone" and the higher I got, the more difficult (for me, anyway)  it was to play, and I told myself, "No way can you make these changes as smoothly as they need to be!"

Now, please don't misunderstand: this is in no way meant as a criticism. I have used the tool many times to help myself and love it!

It was something I had always wondered about and now I am forming it into a question for my talented friend(s) to answer. smile

Thanks very much and Peatle and Mojo: Y'all have mail on Sound Cloud. I am slowly and surely catching up!

Bill

Epiphone Les Paul Studio
Fender GDO300 Orchestral - a gift from Amy & Jim
Rogue Beatle Bass
Journal: www.wheretobud.blogspot. com
  • From: Scott County, Virginia, U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2008-03-19
  • Posts: 794

Re: Experiment With Chords

Hi Bill, good to see you, I do hope all is well with you and yours. The transpose feature is fun, I admit using it to make a song easier to play and sometimes use it to find a more difficult way to play chords just for the challenge of finger training.

Live in the "now" - a contentment of the moment - the past is gone - the future doesn't exist - all we ever really have is now and it's always "now".
  • From: Virginia, USA
  • Registered: 2016-02-07
  • Posts: 923

Re: Experiment With Chords

For Strummerboy Bill

Tom Dooley chords
The Kingston Trio (North Carolina folk song, first recording by Grayson / Whitter)

Throughout history there've been many songs written about the eternal triangle.
This next one tells the story of a Ms. Grayson, a beautiful woman, and a condemned man
named Tom Dooley. When the sun rises tomorrow, Tom Dooley, must hang

E
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                        F#m
hang down your head and cry

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                          E
poor boy, you're bound to die

  E
I met her on the mountain,
                 F#m
there I took her life

Met her on the mountain,
                    E
stabbed her with my knife

E
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                        F#m
hang down your head and cry

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                          E
poor boy, you're bound to die

E
This time tomorrow,
                  F#m
reckon where I'll be
[ Tab from: http://www.guitaretab.com/k/kingston-trio/276578.html ]
Hadn't a-been for Grayson,
                    E
I'd a-been in Tennessee

E
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                        F#m
hang down your head and cry

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                          E
poor boy, you're bound to die

E
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                        F#m
hang down your head and cry

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                          E
poor boy, you're bound to die

E
This time tomorrow,
                  F#m
reckon where I'll be

Down in some lonesome valley,
                         E
hangin' from a white oak tree

E
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                        F#m
hang down your head and cry

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                          E
poor boy, you're bound to die

E
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                        F#m
hang down your head and cry

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
                          E
poor boy, you're bound to die

F#m                       E
Poor boy, you're bound to die
F#m                       E
Poor boy, you're bound to die
F#m                       E
Poor boy, you're bound to die...

Music is what feelings sound like.
Music is life, that why our hearts have beats.
  • From: Probably Somewhere
  • Registered: 2010-12-09
  • Posts: 2,446

Re: Experiment With Chords

Transposing in ones head is a great skill to have.  Spent a LOOOOOT of time practicing that back in school.

  • dino48
  • Honoured Member
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  • From: los banos,california
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 6,801

Re: Experiment With Chords

There is a movie 0ut there that was made someware in the fifties or sixties.

my papy said son your going too drive me too drinking if you dont stop driving that   Hot  Rod  Lincoln!! Cmdr cody and his lost planet airman
  • From: Almancil, Algarve, Portugal
  • Registered: 2006-09-02
  • Posts: 6,198

Re: Experiment With Chords

'Tom Dooley' is a song that I often use as a  first guitar lesson song as it is only two chords (of course I remember the Lonnie Donegan version) so here it is in 'G' for you. G and D7 are the first two chords I teach, then a student can go home after his/her first lesson and have a song to play, I also use 'He's Got The Whole World in His Hands' which is another two chord song. smile

Tom Dooley
Misc. Traditional

G    D7    G    D7

G                                            G
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
G                                          D7                               
Hang down your head and cry,
D7                                          D7
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
D7                                       G
Poor boy, you're bound to die.

G                          G                                           
I met her on the mountain,
G                          D7 
There I took her life,
D7                        D7                                                                                             
I met her on the mountain,
D7                                         G
And I stabbed her with my knife.

G                                            G
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
G                                          D7                               
Hang down your head and cry,
D7                                          D7
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
D7                                       G
Poor boy, you're bound to die.

G                       G
‘Bout this time tomorrow,
G                           D7     
Reckon where I'll be,
D7                                     D7
Down in some lonesome valley
D7                                      G
Hangin' from a white-oak tree.

G                                            G
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
G                                          D7                               
Hang down your head and cry,
D7                                          D7
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
D7                                       G
Poor boy, you're bound to die.

G                                            G
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
G                                          D7                               
Hang down your head and cry,
D7                                          D7
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley,
D7                                       G         G          G…
Poor boy, you're bound to die.

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Roger Guppy's Website

  • From: NY
  • Registered: 2009-08-26
  • Posts: 4,320

Re: Experiment With Chords

dino48 wrote:

There is a movie 0ut there that was made someware in the fifties or sixties.

I looked it up, it is in fact named "The Legend of Tom Dooley" from 1959.  It is based on the Kingston Trio's version of the legend, but not on the actual historical records of the event.  wink  Michael Landon (you know, the dad from Little House on the Prairie) stars in it.  wink 

Bill - I think I know what you were trying to get at.  Like BlueJeep said, just to try to challenge yourself.  That's an interesting way to spend some time.  smile  Makes me think of vocal warm ups, going through the "do re me fa..." and then kicking it up a half step until it's just too high to sing.

Art and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder.
What constitutes excellent music is in the ears of the listener.

mekidsmom's Website

8 Reply by Tenement Funster (edited by Tenement Funster 2016-08-16 08:18:14)

  • From: Nova Scotia, Canada
  • Registered: 2013-01-20
  • Posts: 4,083

Re: Experiment With Chords

I'll sometimes transpose a song to accommodate my own vocal register, and I've noticed many bands do that with their own work when playing live. The lead singer may have been able to hit those notes when it was recorded, but the passing of time often lowers the voice a couple of notes. Other times, I'll transpose a song down a couple of notes, and then capo back up to the original key. This is if I want to use different chord shapes on the fretboard.

  • From: Probably Somewhere
  • Registered: 2010-12-09
  • Posts: 2,446

Re: Experiment With Chords

I met Bruce Hornsby once and asked him how he kept his band engaged - they've been playing the same music together for decades. He said "I mess with them," and then told me that he has a special mic next to his vocal mic that he uses to talk to his band. He calls out songs and key, and they have to transpose in their heads on the fly. Incredible!

  • From: Genoa, NE
  • Registered: 2016-02-02
  • Posts: 102

Re: Experiment With Chords

Tenement Funster wrote:

I'll sometimes transpose a song to accommodate my own vocal register, and I've noticed many bands do that with their own work when playing live. The lead singer may have been able to hit those notes when it was recorded, but the passing of time often lowers the voice a couple of notes. Other times, I'll transpose a song down a couple of notes, and then capo back up to the original key. This is if I want to use different chord shapes on the fretboard.

You've given me a boost and given reassurance that what I HAVE to do is transpose. I don't think the retirement communities notice - perhaps only the trained ear might, but my vocal register is way down there. It does produce some interesting results when performing a tenor-based song. It's fun, whether it's right or wrong...