MrNatch3L - Posted - 08/02/2011:  13:25:06

Working on an arrangement for a live set. Some rough spots but it's coming along. The guitar fell out really different. The song is in E, I'm playing the guitar with a partial capo up 2 frets leaving the low E string open... one of my favorite tricks. So the banjo is more or les straight ahead, but the guitar is a little different... maybe too much. I'm still thinkin' about it. Meantime, hope you like it thus far.

Gentle on My Mind

Jeff 1965 - Posted - 08/02/2011:  13:47:20

One of my favorite songs. I enjoyed it very much.

Old Hickory - Posted - 08/02/2011:  15:08:44

Very nice.  This is really going to be something.  I like it a lot once the guitar comes in full.  Guess you can't play both banjo and guitar live. 

One question: if it's in E, how are you playing the banjo? D positions capoed at 2?  Drop C tuning capoed at 4?  Doesn't really sound that high.  Not near my banjo, so I can't work it out.

DoubleG - Posted - 08/02/2011:  15:55:12

I play claw hammer style at this point with hopes of tackling the finger style you played sometime in the future. Nice job on the singing there. I really like John Hartford. To learn this song did you start with a tab from somewhere?

Edited by - DoubleG on 08/02/2011 15:55:40

MrNatch3L - Posted - 08/02/2011:  20:20:15

Old Hickory: Nothing so tricky... I just tune the banjo down to E and then play chord positions as if it were tuned to G. When tuned that low it helps to use medium strings. Lights feel, as Steve Martin said somewhere "like wet spaghetti" and tend to bend out of tune just by fretting with normal pressure.

DoubleG: I've never been able to make sense of tab. I'm a by ear guy. I kind of imagine what I want something to sound like and then work on it until it sounds like that. At least half the time I wind up with something different than I imagined. Sometimes it works out better and sometimes I end up frustrated because I'm just not an accomplished enough picker to pull off what I was imagining. I end up with a compromise.

stigandr5 - Posted - 08/03/2011:  06:12:59

I thought that was a wonderful interpretation. Your vocals, in particular, really echo John Hartford in a powerful way. Nice job!