Davey Graham Tabs - Forty Ton Parachute

[Collingsman]

Does anyone have accurate Davey Graham Tabs they don't mind sharing?
Looking for Forty Ton Parachute and any other of his great tunes. Thanks Paul

[NormanKliman]

I've worked out a few of his tunes in great detail but I play them from memory. I wrote them out when I was studying them, but the scores have undergone lots of revision, so they're messy and inaccurate. Do you already play any of his tunes or are you looking for tabs to get started?

There's a fairly accurate transcription of Lashtal's Room and others in "British Fingerpicking Guitar" by Mel Bay. I say "fairly" because it's sort of abbreviated and I think not 100% perfect.

If you poke around on YouTube, one of his videos shows him playing 40 Ton Parachute with a few excellent variations. Really good stuff.

[Collingsman]

Thanks Norman, I'm looking for tabs ideally, I play Janch's version of Anji. Thanks

[NormanKliman]

Paul, here’s the first part to get you started. When you get to the end, go back to the beginning.

http://canteytoque.es/FortyTonParachute.png

Look at the first full measure (after the pick-up measure). See how it ends with the third and fourth strings open? He repeats that idea three times at the beginning of the recording and plays slight variations further in. I don’t think he uses the thumb there, although I hear it in some of the variations (clearly at 0:38, for example). At the end of the second measure of the second staff, the two notes are played with thumb and another finger, as are the notes on the fourth and fifth strings in the last measure. When playing Graham’s music, I used to play these kinds of ideas with a single finger or thumb across both strings, but it sounds a lot more like the recording if I use finger and thumb, one on each string. I can’t find the video I mentioned upthread, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s doing there. If you end up getting some mileage out of this, I can work out another part another day.

[NormanKliman]

Posting to bump this to the top...

[Collingsman]

Hi Norman, that's great thanks. I appreciate you taking the time to help me.

Take care.
Paul

[NormanKliman]

Glad to help, Paul. Let me know if you have any questions. It was a good thing for me to go back and listen to this one because I realized that the recording I’d been using is an MP3 copy of a cassette copy of the vinyl. It’s no wonder I found it hard to hear certain details!

The variations I mentioned in post #2 are actually in his “lost tapes” release and not in the video. This isn’t the first time my memory's failed me with regard to certain details of Graham’s recordings, but I’m absolutely sure he plays Forty Ton Parachute in a documentary, either about him or about British fingerstyle guitarists. It’s very short, as I recall, and there’s a clear view of him playing that idea on the fourth and fifth strings in the last measure of my transcription. When I first saw that, it surprised and disappointed me because there are easier alternatives that sound pretty good, but there he was, doing it the hard way. Same thing happens a little further into the recording, when he plays the idea on the third and fourth strings (0:44 on The Complete Guitarist).

The versions that I’ve studied are on The Complete Guitarist and the “lost tapes” release, but I’ve just come across another on the 1970 album Godington Boundry. It's not as good as the other two, in my opinion: