Conference napalm::guitar

    Hi.  I've just joined DEC at Reading, and I'm trying to get the
    hang of Notes, so excuse any hitches.  I play some John Martyn stuff
    (the easier bits!) so I'd be happy to make any suggestions on specific
    problems.
    Cheers, Andrew.

    I tried making Email contact with you, William, but you don't exist!
    Mind you, nor do I now; however, I do exist on RDGENG::FRY.  Be
    glad to receive your call!
    
    Good health, Andrew.

    Just curious - have heard only "May You Never," and wonder if a
    lot of John Martyn's stuff is in this vein.  If so, can anyone
    recommend albums?  I've seen only a couple in the folk stores.
    
    Please advise if this isn't an appropriate use of this Notes file.
    Thanks,
    
    john in apo

    The first time I saw John Martyn was in 1968, when he was playing
    superb acoustic fingerstyle folky/bluesy stuff, a lot self-penned.
    
    This was about the time of his firsr two albums (UK) called:
          London Conversations
          The Tumbler
    
    Since then, like most musicians he's gone through some fairly drastic
    style changes, as well as some very variable quality changes!
    
    The most elemental of these is his move to electric guitar and the
    use of effects.  It's been a gradual development, and he's never
    given up the acoustic outright, but the style and content of his
    material has changed quite a bit.  He now performs a lot (only?)
    with a band.
    
    Inbetweentimes he went through a phase performing with his wife(?
    sister ?) Beverley, including albums called "Stormbringer" and "The
    Road To Ruin", which I personally disliked.
    
    More recently (ie. the last eight or ten years!) his albums have
    included:
              Glorious Fool
              One World
              Solid Air
              Sunday's Child
    
    This list is by no means exhaustive, nor in chronological order.
    I like them all (and the first two albums from way back).
    
    He uses a wide variety of tunings including (I think) a nice Dm7,
    not to mention a lot of different effects gadgets (which I haven't
    looked into).  His vocal style is pretty distinctive (but we won't
    go into that here - wrong conference, maybe!)
    
    Wishing you good listening!
    
    Andrew

    I spent a long time trying to imitate John Martyn's style on "May
    You Never" from the "Solid Air" album. I used a normal tuning, but
    can never quite get the feel - does he use a chord tuning on this?
    If so, what?
    
    Regards,
    Dave
    
    P.S. To do the voice you need to smoke at least 60 a day!!!

    If anyone's still interested....
    
    I believe Martyn plays 'May You Never' in dropped D; at least, I can do
    a passable imitation in that tuning.
    
    Another tuning he uses a lot (e.g. on 'Hurt in Your Heart', off Grace
    and Danger) is C-G-D-D-A-E; by tuning down that low on certain strings,
    you can get Martyn's characteristic string-popping effect.
    
    
    Bob

    Yo, UK noters:
    
    What's Martyn up to these days?  His last US release, "Foundations"
    came out about three years ago...I haven't heard of a US tour since
    about 1985...
    
    What about CD reissues over there?  So far, only "Foundations" and
    "Piece by Piece" have made it to CD in the US.
    
    							Brian

    
    His last release, two months ago, is great.
    
    It's called 'The Apprentice' and is crammed full of high quality
    popular, hummable catchy tunes with some nice arangements....
    
    Strongly recomended..
    
    	Nigel
    
    

re.> < Note 14.6 by WELMTS::GREENB "Suit yourself, then" >


>    If anyone's still interested....
 
	yes I am..
   
>    I believe Martyn plays 'May You Never' in dropped D; at least, I can do
>    a passable imitation in that tuning.
 
Could you explain "dropped D" tuning please Bob...


				cheers...
					 rik...:-)

    Re: .9
    
    Dropped D tuning is the same as standard tuning with the low E lowered
    to D:
    
    D A G D B E
    
    This lets you play tunes in D and get the D bass note on the lowest
    string.  Most chord shapes are the same if they don't use the sixth
    string.  

Re "May You Never";-

There's a nice little run during the A chord section that I've tried to show 
below;- please excuse the pitiful attempt at tablature! You hit the 4th string
with the thumb,then pinch the 2nd and 4th together,or strum with the fingers,
or something;- I'd need the guitar here to get it right!
	It takes a bit of practice to get that slap between the beats just 
right,but it's worth it.
E--------------------------------  Play the x's as a pair,then the O's etc
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
B----X--O-----X-----O--X---------      BTW,Brian had his D&G strings mixed
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |          up.
G--------------------------------
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
D----X-----O--X-----O------X-----
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
A--------------------------------
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
D--------------------------------

                         Big Jim from South Queensferry
                                          

    Did anyone catch John Martyn on the new BBC Scotland program,"Push The
    Boat Out" on Saturday night...he did some excellent acoustic numbers,
    including "May You Never","Solid Air",and"Sweet Jelly Roll"
    	He used the same strange tuning throughout,and it was great to get
    a close up view of his picking style,where he slaps the strings with
    his nails on the offbeat.Good to see him back to basics.
    

    I along with many others waisted two saturday nights in waiting to  see
    John Martyn but must have got our dates mixed up - he is playing in
    sunny Ayr again this time at a place called the civic theatre.It is a 
    small theatre with great acoustics I'm told so am looking forward to
    it.I hope he has his band with him,although he is excellent doing his
    acoustic sets to,but doubt it as it seems to be a small one off.
    
    
    
    					stuart.

    Re: .8
    
    Believe it or not, "The Apprentice" just made it to the US about a year
    ago and it took me until two months ago to track down a copy.  Turns
    out the US label handling it is only an hour's drive from my house, no
    wonder none of the local stores could get it %^&*
    
    There's been another two out since "The Apprentice": "Cooltide" and "No
    Little Boy".  The latter is rerecordings of his old "hits" in his newer
    electric style. It's the first one to be on anything approaching a major
    label (Mesa, distributed by Rhino, who are distributed by
    Capitol....whew) for six years or so.
    
    He also just appeared in the Boston area.  I saw a one-sentence mention
    two days before the show...sheesh...talk about low profile!  Still
    waiting for someone to issue some of the older albums on CD here in the
    States (particularly "Solid Air", which I have only on tape).
    
    							Brian