Bert Jansch Tabs

[xpauliber]

Does anyone have a good source for Bert Jansch tabs? I would like to learn some of his tunes, but most of them are complicated and I can't pick them up by ear.

Thanks!

[Scholar]

I've got some in Guitar Pro format, which means you can use 'em if you have either Guitar Pro, or the freely downloadable Tux Guitar (available for Windows, Mac and Linux). Send me a PM...

[saulhudson]

Originally Posted by xpauliber

Does anyone have a good source for Bert Jansch tabs? I would like to learn some of his tunes, but most of them are complicated and I can't pick them up by ear.

Thanks!

Try Songsterr they usually have some stuff on there.

[JonPR]

I have a fairly big Jansch collection, at least of older stuff, so PM me with a request, or I can send you my list.
Happy to provide stuff free of charge - as long as it's one I've already worked out (!), and as long as I don't get snowed under with requests. (And even then, it may only mean you need to wait a while.)

My tabs are all complete, and include notation and vocal lines. I'll swear to 100% accuracy on most of them, and happily admit to where I'm not totally confident on others.
I do also have a big collection of Jansch tabs I've been sent by others, which you're welcome to, but I certainly won't swear to the accuracy of those. (Few of them are as complete as mine.)

[sandy99]

hi all - have been scouring the net for an "Avocet" tab - the song not the album. Can't find it at all, and am not good enough a player to do the tab myself. Anyone have it?
thanks

[Bern]

Oh yeah...Bert Jansch tab ! I've been looking for Black Waterside...anybody ?

[sandy99]

send me your email and I'll pdf you a copy.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Bern

Oh yeah...Bert Jansch tab ! I've been looking for Black Waterside...anybody ?

I have what I believe to be a full and accurate transcription (including vocal and lyrics), which you're welcome to. PM me with your email. You can contrast and compare mine and sandy's, and may the best man win...

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by sandy99

hi all - have been scouring the net for an "Avocet" tab - the song not the album. Can't find it at all, and am not good enough a player to do the tab myself. Anyone have it?
thanks

Hmmm - I have a vast collection of Jansch tabs - some of my own, some from other people - but Avocet is not among them. I feel a challenge coming on...

The problem, of course, is not only its daunting length (18 minutes???), but the other instruments, which form a fundamental part of the composition. Would the guitar work on its own? (Can you seriously be hoping to perform the full 18 minutes on your own, or have you got a bassist, violinist and the rest ready and waiting?)

If there's one specific part you want, I might be able to tab it out for you (and for myself of course).

[Hotspur]

Okay, this is a bit of a thread hijack, but ...

I've really been getting into the music of the '60s Brittish folk scene lately - a lot of Davy Graham and John Martyn - and I know Jansch is seen as one of the titans of that group.

But I have no idea where to start when it comes to listening to his music. Can anybody make some recommendations - beyond Blackwater Side - as to where to start with him?

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

Okay, this is a bit of a thread hijack, but ...

I've really been getting into the music of the '60s Brittish folk scene lately - a lot of Davy Graham and John Martyn - and I know Jansch is seen as one of the titans of that group.

But I have no idea where to start when it comes to listening to his music. Can anybody make some recommendations - beyond Blackwater Side - as to where to start with him?

His version of Davey Graham's Angie would be a good place. Useful to compare the two. DG's is quite straight, slightly jazzy, a bit restrained. Jansch's is lazier, bluesier, swinging, technically more impressive - as if he could do much more if he just tried a bit; he's quite clearly not in awe of Davey Graham; he's the new kid on the block. (This was on his 1965 debut LP, recorded on a borrowed guitar in his producer's kitchen.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqjUWJtH88c
- that's the piece that every 60s folk club guitarist had to master (the folk equivalent of Stairway to Heaven, or Johnnt B Goode). In fact, it isn't particularly hard .

There are several good party-piece instrumentals on that album: my favourite is probably Alice's Wonderland, a jazz waltz with some very fancy chords (for a folk-blues player), almost all arpeggios rather than his usual fingerstyle. (It sounds improvised, but it's carefully composed.)
(The original isn't on youtube - just a handful of brave amateur attempts, some not too bad.)

Most would argue he didn't really get into his stride until the 3rd album, Jack Orion (66), which featured Blackwaterside, and most of the tracks seem based on that same drop D vamp.

A classic (seriously challenging) from the 70s is Chambertin, a 9/8 tour de force:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAtiofihEu0
(yes, it's just one guitar... EADGBE)

Another favourite of mine is Reynardine (drop D):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC9qhg8lb-w
- later live version (a little lazier and rushed):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmVA7BHsF1I

He and John Renbourn did a brave version of Mingus's Goodbye Pork Pie Hat back in 1966:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfeXvvQ98y8
(that's a video I uploaded myself a while back)

Here's a nice informal performance - check who's looking on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-2E9VvUo8

I don't have all his albums, and there's a few I still haven't heard, so I can't give a recommendation for a best one. Black Swan is a popular later one. I'd be very interested in other opinions myself.


BTW, if you're getting into these kind of guys, check out Dick Gaughan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9yQ...eature=related
- beautiful setting of the Burns poem, in DADGAD.

[Bern]

Originally Posted by JonPR

PM me with your email.

Cool...thanks ! My email address can be found in my profile.

[xpauliber]

I have all of Jansch's albums and they are fabulous!

For beginners, start with:

The Ornament Tree
The Black Swan
Down Under (Live in Australia)
Anthology
Rosemary Lane

Acquire those CDs in that order and you will soon find yourself listening to the multitude of other albums that Jansch has.

Awesome stuff!!

[Hotspur]

Originally Posted by JonPR

His version of Davey Graham's Angie would be a good place. Useful to compare the two. DG's is quite straight, slightly jazzy, a bit restrained. Jansch's is lazier, bluesier, swinging, technically more impressive - as if he could do much more if he just tried a bit; he's quite clearly not in awe of Davey Graham; he's the new kid on the block. (This was on his 1965 debut LP, recorded on a borrowed guitar in his producer's kitchen.)

The funny thing about this is that I've been working on Angi (or however the heck you're supposed to spell it) and the one thing that gave me trouble was the second "A" bass note during the main riff.

And the first version I found of Jansch performing it was a live version on Spotify ... where he doesn't play the second A note. I hear now that he does on his original recorded version, but it makes me feel a little bit better about my learning curve that he evidently found it enough of a challenge to work around it in live contexts sometimes.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Hotspur

The funny thing about this is that I've been working on Angi (or however the heck you're supposed to spell it) and the one thing that gave me trouble was the second "A" bass note during the main riff.

And the first version I found of Jansch performing it was a live version on Spotify ... where he doesn't play the second A note. I hear now that he does on his original recorded version, but it makes me feel a little bit better about my learning curve that he evidently found it enough of a challenge to work around it in live contexts sometimes.

Strange. I never found that difficult myself.
I do find it easier to play a kind of alternating bass, I guess, rather than the double descending notes, but no particular technical issue with that one note. (I'll check out that Jansch video later.)