My Yellow Ginger Lei in Drop C

[Fran Guidry]

Noodling in drop C tuning (C G D G B D) and something similar to Leonard Kwan's "My Yellow Ginger Lei" arrangement appeared. That was fun, and my sweetie said it sounded nice, so I played around with it for a while then shot a video:



and a tutorial video:



and tabbed out the tutorial:

PDF

Tabledit TEF

Fran

[Wrighty]

What a lovely relaxed tune - I loved it (and great sound too..)

[superbitterdave]

I agree. Fun and relaxing. Wish I was back in Hawaii (though not by the volcano!)

Cheers

Dave

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Wrighty

What a lovely relaxed tune - I loved it (and great sound too..)

Thanks, I was pretty happy with the sound as well. I put up a pair of Schoeps CMBI mic amps with cardioid MK4 capsules in ORTF spaced pair configuration, aimed sort of around the sound hole and about 24" out, and fed the mics straight into one of the GH4 cameras. Unfortunately the camera audio glitched at the point that it created a new file. That's going to take some investigation to determine if it's an SD card issue or inherent in the camera audio processing.

The CMBI mic amp is an interesting one, it's battery powered and can be cabled to deliver the signal to a 1/8" stereo plug. Schoeps recently discontinued this product, I suppose because XLR inputs are now much more common on portable recording equipment.

Of course part of the sound was the OM-18GE having a good day.

Fran

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by superbitterdave

I agree. Fun and relaxing. Wish I was back in Hawaii (though not by the volcano!)

Cheers

Dave

We hang on O`ahu and our friends tell us that so far the trades have kept the vog away from there, but Led Kaapana just got back from Kona and said the vog was fierce on that side.

Fran

[bajawatt]

Fran, wonderful as always. Thank you kindly for the tutorial and tab. Let me add, I returned to an old favorite tonight. You and Led in your house playing Ke Aloha. Beautiful, joyful, and oh so good. Thanks for all the music.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by bajawatt

Fran, wonderful as always. Thank you kindly for the tutorial and tab. Let me add, I returned to an old favorite tonight. You and Led in your house playing Ke Aloha. Beautiful, joyful, and oh so good. Thanks for all the music.

Thanks for the kind comments. "Ke Aloha" really works for a lot of people, as simple as it is. Something about the lilt of the melody seems to reach out and catch people. It's also a popular hula number, which adds to the fun. That version with Led was just as spontaneous as could be, I kicked it off without a giving him a clue and he started delivering the magic. It can be pretty challenging to keep playing when he comes out with some of his stuff, I just bust up.

Fran

[Howard Emerson]

Hey Fran!

Always nice to hear & see you playing!

So I’m reading the tuning, and considering the intervals, and I’m just not getting why it’s called ‘dropped C’....until I realize that open G is almost the National tuning in Hawaii!

I’ve always called it open G w/lowC.

Hope all is well with you and the family!

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Hey Fran!

Always nice to hear & see you playing!

So I’m reading the tuning, and considering the intervals, and I’m just not getting why it’s called ‘dropped C’....until I realize that open G is almost the National tuning in Hawaii!

I’ve always called it open G w/lowC.

Hope all is well with you and the family!

Regards,
Howard Emerson

Aloha, Howard, you figured out the nomenclature all right. We're doing pretty well these days, thanks, I hope the same goes for you. We're feeling extra fine right now because we're back in Kailua about 50 feet from one of the most gorgeous beaches in the world, the tradewinds are blowing, and my guitar is staying in tune (grin).

Tuning terminology in Hawai`i is a whole separate vocabulary from mainland naming. Open G is "taropatch" so drop C is "taropatch wit da big string down." Then we've got various "wahine" tunings, these feature a maj7 and give an extra opportunity to bounce to the tonic and also makes the V chord more fun. Drop C is actually one of those wahine tunings.

Families have tunings, then variations on those tunings, so Led Kaapana plays one he learned from his uncle and he has added a wahine version and a Mauna Loa version to his family tuning, the Pahinui family did the same thing to their C tuning.

One thing that's pretty rare is your "cross-tuning" concept. I've tried playing key of D in taropatch but I haven't figured it out well enough to rely on it. A gentleman named Atta Isaacs did some cross-tuning in his C tuning, but he passed a few years ago and I haven't heard of guys following his lead.

Fran

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

Aloha, Howard, you figured out the nomenclature all right. We're doing pretty well these days, thanks, I hope the same goes for you. We're feeling extra fine right now because we're back in Kailua about 50 feet from one of the most gorgeous beaches in the world, the tradewinds are blowing, and my guitar is staying in tune (grin).

Tuning terminology in Hawai`i is a whole separate vocabulary from mainland naming. Open G is "taropatch" so drop C is "taropatch wit da big string down." Then we've got various "wahine" tunings, these feature a maj7 and give an extra opportunity to bounce to the tonic and also makes the V chord more fun. Drop C is actually one of those wahine tunings.

Families have tunings, then variations on those tunings, so Led Kaapana plays one he learned from his uncle and he has added a wahine version and a Mauna Loa version to his family tuning, the Pahinui family did the same thing to their C tuning.

One thing that's pretty rare is your "cross-tuning" concept. I've tried playing key of D in taropatch but I haven't figured it out well enough to rely on it. A gentleman named Atta Isaacs did some cross-tuning in his C tuning, but he passed a few years ago and I haven't heard of guys following his lead.

Fran

Good morning Fran,
Taropatch was the term I was looking for when I was responding.

I don't know how much you compose, but that might be the best way to ease into playing off the V chord in Taropatch. Your open chord will become your IV chord, of course.

My arrangement of Mystery Train is done exactly that way, aside from it being capo 4.

Apparently you're unaffected by the volcano. I can't imagine that reality......

'Bouncing to the tonic'........I like that visual!

Best,
Howard

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Good morning Fran,
Taropatch was the term I was looking for when I was responding.

I don't know how much you compose, but that might be the best way to ease into playing off the V chord in Taropatch. Your open chord will become your IV chord, of course.

My arrangement of Mystery Train is done exactly that way, aside from it being capo 4.

Apparently you're unaffected by the volcano. I can't imagine that reality......

'Bouncing to the tonic'........I like that visual!

Best,
Howard

As long as the tradewinds blow the volcano is no issue here on O`ahu. When we lose the trades, though, we get vog from Hawai`i Island and the recent eruptions have made the vog worse.

I've pretty much given up composing as I try to learn more vintage Hawaiian songs, but playing D in G tuning comes in handy on stage at times. I can handle playing rhythm for something really simple but no pa`ani (lead licks), not much variation, and my hand gives out pretty quickly. I've learned over the years that trying to play things without building muscle memory gives me a hand-ache right away - gee, that must be why they invented practice!

Fran