Mary Chapin Carpenter and guitar

[dhockenbury]

MCC has been a favorite songwriter and performer of mine for many years. She is an incredible talent in my opinion.

I love her songs from home series.

[MrDB]

I've been a fan for a long time as well. Very talented musician and songwriter. I've seen her in concert a number of times. The last time she was in StL she was with Shawn Colvin and they did several songs individually and several together.

Come On Come On and Stones In The Road are I believe her 2 best selling albums, although I have liked pretty much everything she's done.

[jgmaute]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

jgmaute, I find this fascinating...

‘The Things That We Are Made Of’:
D A C# E A E (capo VII)

‘What Does It Mean to Travel’:
C# A E G# B E (capo IV)

‘The Blue Distance’:
C G D G B C (capo V)

I am not familiar with these tunings, far as I know. This one -- C G D G B C -- is apparently called Admiral tuning? That, according to a google search. I didn't find a name for the other two. Now on this "Admiral" tuning... I found it hard to believe she can tune the e-strings to C but I just tried it and it works. I've got two chords picked out, so, I have a start!

The more I dig into MCC, the more I like. My kind of writer and very intrigued with her guitarwomanship.

She sang The Blue Distance for Songs From Home Episode 6. You might get some hints from her left hand. (She's capoed up III instead of the V listed, could be the recording is at V and this mellower version at III.)

[LiveMusic]

Thanks jgmaute, I find her audio quality stunningly good on that, as good as I have ever heard for a simple video like this. Does anyone have any idea of her recording setup? A guess or maybe she has said something?

I also wonder if she does any post production tweaking with software.

Her guitar playing is still amazing me! One more time, it doesn't get any better than this, IMO, for a singer-songwriter.

[Goodallboy]

“Stones In The Road” with the incomparable Belmont Tench (Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers) on keyboards would be my suggestion as an introduction to her great talent.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by Goodallboy

“Stones In The Road” with the incomparable Belmont Tench (Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers) on keyboards would be my suggestion as an introduction to her great talent.

I’m completely In agreement with you there - a true tour-de-force album. I do the song ‘Stones in the Road’ solo and with our band - one of my favourite songs to sing and play.

Check out also ‘He Thinks He’ll Keep Her’ from the ‘Come On, Come On’ album - brilliant.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

[Goodallboy]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

I’m completely In agreement with you there - a true tour-de-force album. I do the song ‘Stones in the Road’ solo and with our band - one of my favourite songs to sing and play.

Check out also ‘He Thinks He’ll Keep Her’ from the ‘Come On, Come On’ album - brilliant.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

Excellent suggestion, I have them both. Great albums and nearly every song is a jewel.

[larren]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

Thanks jgmaute, I find her audio quality stunningly good on that, as good as I have ever heard for a simple video like this. Does anyone have any idea of her recording setup? A guess or maybe she has said something?

I also wonder if she does any post production tweaking with software.

Her guitar playing is still amazing me! One more time, it doesn't get any better than this, IMO, for a singer-songwriter.

Hi, There was a discussion on this on another post, so I asked the question on her Facebook page. Here's Mary's reply:


Hi Larren, there is nothing special about my recording set up...it's just my phone! No mic attached, nothing. My Greven guitar has a beautiful tone so that certainly helps...the only thing I have to be careful about is not playing the guitar too loudly as I sing, as it can drown out the vocal. So it's a balancing act...stay well!

Link:
https://www.facebook.com/officialmar...t=feed_comment

[LiveMusic]

Originally Posted by larren

Hi, There was a discussion on this on another post, so I asked the question on her Facebook page. Here's Mary's reply:


Hi Larren, there is nothing special about my recording set up...it's just my phone! No mic attached, nothing. My Greven guitar has a beautiful tone so that certainly helps...the only thing I have to be careful about is not playing the guitar too loudly as I sing, as it can drown out the vocal. So it's a balancing act...stay well!

Wow, glad I asked, thanks! I figured someone might have asked, glad she replied! That's amazing. I wish I knew what model phone, lol. That's a testament to how good phone mics are!

[larren]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

Wow, glad I asked, thanks! I figured someone might have asked, glad she replied! That's amazing. I wish I knew what model phone, lol. That's a testament to how good phone mics are!

Hi Bill, I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet, and it records guitar and vocals very well.

[KCharlesD]

Originally Posted by 6L6

When it comes to academic, God-given brains, Mary is third in line behind Brian May and Kris Kristofferson in the music industry.

An Ivy League graduate (Brown University), Mary can do it all. Definitely worth paying close attention to her.

MCC is absolutely great. I was buying her CD's 30 years ago. Really appreciate her Songs From Home.

Another one for the brainy list is Alison Brown, Harvard graduate, ace banjo player and founder of Compass Records (a look at their artist roster is proof enough of good taste and intelligence).

[jgmaute]

Originally Posted by KCharlesD

MCC is absolutely great. I was buying her CD's 30 years ago. Really appreciate her Songs From Home.

Another one for the brainy list is Alison Brown, Harvard graduate, ace banjo player and founder of Compass Records (a look at their artist roster is proof enough of good taste and intelligence).

I had the pleasure of hearing Alison and spending some time with her a few years back when she was playing with Janis Ian at a concert for Scarrett-Benter Center in Nashville. Amazing player and person. I have to admit I'm typically not a fan of the banjo but I really think this, from the Compass web site says it all,

Alison Brown doesn’t play the banjo. Alison Brown plays music on the banjo.

now back to our regularly scheduled MCC discussion, loved today's episode.

Larren, thanks for getting and sharing her recording info. I alluded to wanting her tunings for non-standard songs in my comment today. Maybe I just need to plain ole come out and ask for them!

[jgmaute]

Originally Posted by rickcrna

I've been a HUGE MCC fan for a very long time and have seen here live on several occasions. There are very few songwriters that can string together superb lyrics and pair them with just the right music and she is a master. Yes, she does use quite an assortment of alternate tunings. I once came across a tuning chart for many of her songs and if my memory serves, I believe it was on one of the guitar tab sites like ultimate guitar tabs or chordie.com. Of course, her songbooks have the tunings and chord structures in them as well.....

I found some of her alternate tunings for her older songs on this site MCC Capo Charts. I also found a songbook, The Authentic Guitar Style of Mary Chapin Carpenter which is out of print, hard to find, and usually pretty expensive. I did find one site that had it for $17. I ordered one but won't believe it until it is actually here. I can't tell from her regular songbooks if they include alternate tunings, anyone know? It's reallly nice in the recordings she's doing from her kitchen now that we can see where she has her capo and a pretty good look at her left hand for chord structures.

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by jgmaute

I found some of her alternate tunings for her older songs on this site MCC Capo Charts. I also found a songbook, The Authentic Guitar Style of Mary Chapin Carpenter which is out of print, hard to find, and usually pretty expensive. I did find one site that had it for $17. I ordered one but won't believe it until it is actually here. I can't tell from her regular songbooks if they include alternate tunings, anyone know? It's reallly nice in the recordings she's doing from her kitchen now that we can see where she has her capo and a pretty good look at her left hand for chord structures.

I’ve been a studying her left hand closely during her songs from home videos! I’m hoping she does Goodnight America soon...

[jaymarsch]

Originally Posted by jgmaute

I found some of her alternate tunings for her older songs on this site MCC Capo Charts. I also found a songbook, The Authentic Guitar Style of Mary Chapin Carpenter which is out of print, hard to find, and usually pretty expensive. I did find one site that had it for $17. I ordered one but won't believe it until it is actually here. I can't tell from her regular songbooks if they include alternate tunings, anyone know? It's reallly nice in the recordings she's doing from her kitchen now that we can see where she has her capo and a pretty good look at her left hand for chord structures.

I got that book years ago and it is very well done. I learned The Moon & St. Christopher from that book and it has her altered tuning for that song as well as the notation for the second guitar part which of course was played by John Jennings. So happy that you were able to find a copy!

Best to you, Joan!
Jayne