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  #16  
Old 03-20-2014, 06:51 AM
FiL FiL is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard Emerson View Post
In the magazine Fretboard Journal[1] Fred Carter, Jr. recounts:

"I had a baby Martin, which is a 000-18, and when we started the record in New York with Roy Halee, the engineer, and Paul [Simon] was playin' his Martin — I think it's a D-18 and he was tuned regular — he didn't have the song totally written lyrically, but he had most of the melody. And so all I was hearin' was bits and pieces while he was doing' his fingerpicking . . . I think he was fingerpicking in an open C. I tried two or three things and then picked up the baby Martin, which was about a third above his guitar, soundwise.

"And I turned down the first string to a D, and tuned up the bass string to a G, which made it an open-G tuning, except for the fifth string, which was standard. Did some counter fingerpicking with him, just did a little backward roll, and Iucked into a lick. And that turned into that little roll, and we cut it, just Paul and I, two guitars. Then we started to experiment with some other ideas and so forth. At the end of the day, we were still on the song. Garfunkel was amblin’ around the studio, hummin’ and havin’ input at various times. They were real scientists. They’d get on a part, and it might be there [unfinished] six weeks later.

HE
I know this is an old thread, but I just stumbled upon it, and I'm surprised no one pointed this out: Since when is a 000-18 considered a "Baby Martin"?, and who tunes a 000 up a third? I wonder if Fred is mis-remembering this guitar. It seems more likely that it was something like a 5-18, no?

- FiL
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  #17  
Old 03-20-2014, 07:16 PM
songz songz is offline
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Fred Carter was one of my closest friends and after a session in the 70s (Fred, Ray Eddington and I on guitar) when everyone had gone home, I asked him to show me the intro to the Boxer. After an hour he gave up - he couldn't remember what he had played. True story.

The runs you hear throughout the record are just Fred - not two guitars. Paul
wasn't even at the studio when Fred recorded those parts ( not talking about the intro).
I arranged for Fretboard Journal to do the interview Howard quoted, and Fred was
very forgetful by that time. I think he was playing his gut string on the entire record.


Ron

Last edited by songz; 03-20-2014 at 08:12 PM.
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  #18  
Old 03-21-2014, 02:52 AM
ac ac is offline
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According to one of the old Frets issues (I think), Fred Carter recounted the details and the score/tab that accompanied the article states:

Guitar 1, Tuning EADGBD, Capo IV
Guitar 2, Standard Tuning, No Capo
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  #19  
Old 03-15-2018, 10:25 AM
es335td es335td is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ac View Post
According to one of the old Frets issues (I think), Fred Carter recounted the details and the score/tab that accompanied the article states:

Guitar 1, Tuning EADGBD, Capo IV
Guitar 2, Standard Tuning, No Capo
This is how I play it (guitar 2). It allows you to play the intro correctly with all the open strings. A bit tricky to master, but once you do, it's a joy.

It's in the key of "B", and the capo 4 allows the second guitar to play in G. The song was either recorded with the first guitar a 1/2 step low, or the song was lowered for the released version.

I too believe the guitar was a nylon string, not the 000-18.
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  #20  
Old 03-15-2018, 11:36 AM
Bob from Brooklyn Bob from Brooklyn is online now
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There's a few on youtube. Here's one

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  #21  
Old 03-15-2018, 12:15 PM
Nymuso Nymuso is offline
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Well, for one thing, it's two guitars and I believe the original was in B. However, I don't obsess about getting anything note for note as long as it sounds about right. So I play it in C and when I start the song, and also between verses, I just add a couple of notes to the C chord I'm fingerpicking, a Bb and a D, giving me a C9/G and it looks like this: 332330
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  #22  
Old 03-15-2018, 01:20 PM
Bob from Brooklyn Bob from Brooklyn is online now
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Paul Simon never plays that part live
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  #23  
Old 03-15-2018, 02:26 PM
RockyRacc00n RockyRacc00n is offline
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Not sure if someone already posted, but here is the guy I learned from

EDIT: just realized the original post is really old. In any case hope this helps someone. Really nice song to play and sing.

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  #24  
Old 03-15-2018, 08:04 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by washy21 View Post
Hi All

Can anyone point me in the direction of a tutorial that shows how Paul Simon actually plays the intro to 'The Boxer'.

I know there are several tutorials on Youtube and elsewhere there are tabs, which show some rather awkward stretches that I doubt are correct. One tutorial on Youtube claims, perhaps correctly, that the intro was recorded in open G, and looking online at Simon's Live performances, where he tends to omit the intro, may be clue that this in fact the case.

I guess I was wondering if anyone here had some definitive knowledge of this intro.

Thanks
It was two guitars. Best you can do is come up with a compromise that you can work with.
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  #25  
Old 06-10-2018, 11:40 AM
centerpunch centerpunch is offline
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I found this forum thread yesterday via google, but didn't love any of the suggestions.

I worked out an easy way to play the intro using standard tuning and capo at fifth fret, here's a quickie video I did.

I doubt if I'm the first person to discover this method and I'm not suggesting this is the best way to play it, just thought some folks might like to see another method!
.
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Last edited by centerpunch; 06-10-2018 at 12:03 PM.
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  #26  
Old 06-27-2018, 09:58 AM
gfirob gfirob is offline
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According to the new Paul Simon biography, they spent 100 studio hours on that song, so I wouldn't go crazy trying to replicate it. Simon himself does not try when playing it in an acoustic performance.
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  #27  
Old 06-27-2018, 10:10 AM
centerpunch centerpunch is offline
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I have a Yellow Dog bootleg, Simon and Garfunkel "Back to college" live at Miami University in Ohio, and he pays a version of the intro.

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  #28  
Old 06-27-2018, 10:29 AM
bsman bsman is offline
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This thread is precisely why I never attempt to 100% duplicate what an artist does on a studio recording. I remember a friend and I were attempting to recreate the first chord of "Hard Day's Night" and spent about two hours down that rabbit hole!
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  #29  
Old 06-27-2018, 02:58 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by washy21 View Post
Hi All

Can anyone point me in the direction of a tutorial that shows how Paul Simon actually plays the intro to 'The Boxer'.

I know there are several tutorials on Youtube and elsewhere there are tabs, which show some rather awkward stretches that I doubt are correct. One tutorial on Youtube claims, perhaps correctly, that the intro was recorded in open G, and looking online at Simon's Live performances, where he tends to omit the intro, may be clue that this in fact the case.

I guess I was wondering if anyone here had some definitive knowledge of this intro.

Thanks
Two different guitars. I just play in standard tuning, cowboy C chord, put my pinky on the third fret of the g string (Bb) and try to play some banjo rolls to start it off. I do that in the appropriate spots between verses as well. Works.
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  #30  
Old 06-27-2018, 02:59 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by centerpunch View Post
I found this forum thread yesterday via google, but didn't love any of the suggestions.

I worked out an easy way to play the intro using standard tuning and capo at fifth fret, here's a quickie video I did.

I doubt if I'm the first person to discover this method and I'm not suggesting this is the best way to play it, just thought some folks might like to see another method!
.
According to Youtube, you removed this video.
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