Monday, April 20, 2015

Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender

(adapted from the folk tune Aura Lee)

   Here is a guitar arrangement for the popular tune Love Me Tender, made famous by the 1956 recording (and movie) by Elvis Presley.  The melody was adapted from an almost century-old original Civil War era folk tune called "Aura Lee."

  This particular arrangement is in the key of C.  The melody and double-stops, in particular, work and flow better in this key.   

   Accompaniment can be with a bass & strum combination, where the player will first play the BASS note of each chord, and follow with three slow down strums.   Walk-ups and walk-downs of bass notes can be implemented to provide more of a rhythmic flow to the song.

   NOTE : For those of you beginning players who are still having trouble with "barre" chords, don't give up.  Keep working on chords like F, etc. until you get the hang and master them.  However, in this tune, the chord Fmaj7 will work fine as a substitute for F; in fact, the major 7th gives the transition at the end of the third line an even deeper sound.   For those who have mastered playing the "barre" chords, you can also add an Fminor after the F or Fmaj7, before returning to the C chord.  (see chord charts below)




CHORD CHARTS
x = do not play     o = open string / note

The Fmaj7 chord is played with the first three fingers (1-2-3).
   Fminor is played as a one-finger barre chord with the first finger.

(See above NOTE about Chord Substitution and Barre Chords).


Star Spangled Banner

Star Spangled Banner


  Here is an arrangement of our National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, for guitar.

  It is in the key of G.  The notes are arranged in double-stop format, with the high notes being the Melody, while the lower notes are Harmony notes.

  It should be noted that this song brings our note playing into the higher registers of first the fifth and seventh frets, and then later on, into the 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th frets.
While this may be --NEW-- to you, it should not be looked at as something foreign or unattainable.  We will explore the proper fingerings for these notes, and some additional notes or graphics may be added here for assistance.

  The accompaniment should be either with a light strum, or by fingerpicking the basic chordal rhythm.   Strumming pattern can be two down strums, followed by a double (down-up) strum.   Rhythm should be in a slow, methodical march-like cadence.