Question for Doug Young about Shenandoah

[KarenB]

Hey Doug:
On this forum I heard Philip Taylor beautifully playing your arrangement of Shenandoah. I downloaded the music (thank you for making it available) and saw that you play it in DADGAD tuning. Since it's easier for me to read notes than Tab, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Other than the low "E" tuned to "D" I was able to play all the notes in standard tuning. I'm curious as to why you chose to play it in DADGAD. Is it to have that low D string? To have more ringing notes? And why capo it?
It's a gorgeous arrangement. Thanks for having created it.

And while I'm asking questions...you have very little finger noise while you're playing--it's almost like the strings are playing themselves. How do you do that???

Karen

[Doug Young]

hi Karen, I arranged that many years ago, I think it was the first tune I tried to arrange in DADGAD, and tho I don't recall for sure, I think I was just doing to see if it could be done, and to learn DADGAD better. That's something I often do with alternate tunings. It's so easy to get stuck noodling on cool sounds in alternate tunings, but if you take a song that has a specific melody and harmony, it will force you to learn where the notes and chords are and give you something with more direction than the typical "new agey" sound of alternate tunings. I often just open up the big Beatle white book and pick a tune and a tuning and see if I can work it out.

These days, I know DADGAD almost as well as standard tuning, so I often choose it because I like the sound and I know my way around the fret-board, and only try something else if I get stuck. You can do almost anything in DADGAD and it can just create a slightly different sound, slightly different chord voicings. Check out the arrangement I did in the "arranging #1" thread of When You Wish Upon a Star, with lots of jazzy chord voicings. I thought I might end up using standard for that, but DADGAD worked out nicely, and gave me some sounds I probably wouldn't have found in standard. So it's not so much about the low D, as nice as that is, it's more about what sounds you can find. Standard tuning has benefits, too.

String squeaks are always an issue! I just try to play smoothly, lift my fingers, and so on. It helps to get some volume out of the guitar, so the notes are louder than any squeaks. Unfortunately, some always sneek in anyway....

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

hi Karen, I arranged that many years ago, I think it was the first tune I tried to arrange in DADGAD, and tho I don't recall for sure, I think I was just doing to see if it could be done, and to learn DADGAD better. That's something I often do with alternate tunings. It's so easy to get stuck noodling on cool sounds in alternate tunings, but if you take a song that has a specific melody and harmony, it will force you to learn where the notes and chords are and give you something with more direction than the typical "new agey" sound of alternate tunings. I often just open up the big Beatle white book and pick a tune and a tuning and see if I can work it out.

These days, I know DADGAD almost as well as standard tuning, so I often choose it because I like the sound and I know my way around the fret-board, and only try something else if I get stuck. You can do almost anything in DADGAD and it can just create a slightly different sound, slightly different chord voicings. Check out the arrangement I did in the "arranging #1" thread of When You Wish Upon a Star, with lots of jazzy chord voicings. I thought I might end up using standard for that, but DADGAD worked out nicely, and gave me some sounds I probably wouldn't have found in standard. So it's not so much about the low D, as nice as that is, it's more about what sounds you can find. Standard tuning has benefits, too.

String squeaks are always an issue! I just try to play smoothly, lift my fingers, and so on. It helps to get some volume out of the guitar, so the notes are louder than any squeaks. Unfortunately, some always sneek in anyway....

Wow Doug! What cool ideas! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer the OP's question so fully. This is just to let you know that you have probably helped many more folks than may be posting in this thread. I am sure taking note (pardon the pun) of your ideas.

Tony

[HOF dad]

That is a terrific arrangement.
Is the tab version available somewhere that i missed in all these posts? I'd love to work on this as well.


Dan

[Doug Young]

Hi Dan, it's a free download on my web site. There're a few others there as well:

http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/tabs.php

[HOF dad]

Wow - that's a bunch of great stuff!

It's a crappy, cold, rainy day here in beautiful Canton, Ohio.....now I have something to work on.

Can't thank you enough Doug.


Dan

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by HOF dad

Wow - that's a bunch of great stuff!

It's a crappy, cold, rainy day here in beautiful Canton, Ohio.....now I have something to work on.

Can't thank you enough Doug.


Dan

Hey Dan, I grew up near Kent, and met my wife (at a gig) in Canton, where she lived. Spent many a cold rainy day there :-) Ohio weather makes for lots of good practicing time!