Guitarist's Forum

[Geoff]

Where Can I find the tablature of this song (Terminus)  ?

It's in his 1984 book "The Guitar & Songs of Ralph McTell"..not in print any more but does come up on e-bay sometimes...keep an eye out for it!

Geoff

[A french fan]

Because this book is no more print,is there somebody who  can send me the tabs of Terminus

Many thanks.

I will order 'songs for six Strings(Perhaps I receive it for Chrismas(:A gift from my wife?)' but Terminus is not on this book

[bigalwhittle]

Favourite to play - The Setting.

Favourite to perform - Bentley and Craig

[rizraklaru]

Favourite to play - The Setting

So similar to "pity the boy," I run them together as a single solo.

[rizraklaru]

Hmm. My avatar seems to have gone astray.

[Geoff]

Hmm. My avatar seems to have gone astray.

I understood this to be a "non-smoking" room.

[david stevenson]

Favourite to play - The Setting.

Favourite to perform - Bentley and Craig

Favourite to play - Nettle Wine

Favourite to perform - Girl from the Hiring Fair, Sand in Your Shoes

[John Beresford]

Happy New Year to you guitar buffs!  My NY Resolution is to understand what on earth you are talking about.  We'll start with...

What's the difference between 'playing' and 'performing'?

John.
Guitarly Challenged

[Geoff]

Happy New Year to you guitar buffs!  My NY Resolution is to understand what on earth you are talking about.  We'll start with...

What's the difference between 'playing' and 'performing'?

John.
Guitarly Challenged

I'd say it was the difference between having an audience or not.  Lotsa songs I'll 'play'...but a much more limited repertoire for 'performing'...even just at folk clubs, which are usually very tolerant of my lack of talent. 

[rizraklaru]

Fiddling around with the bass dropped to D just now I found myself playing "The Mermaid and the Seagull."
I'd completely forgotten what a lovely, satisfying  piece of music to play and sing that that is.

[rizraklaru]

Following on from my last post, this evening I dropped into open D for a bit, (The Setting, Water of Dreams, Pity the Boy and a couple of Joni Mitchell tunes,) then tuned up into DADGAD and tried to remember "the first time ever I saw your face" -Bert Jansch's version.
As I tuned back up, I remembered that Clown was now an option and played that.
I haven't played that for years, but again, what a lovely piece to play.

[Al]

I think that over the years Ralph has produced a nice little selection of tunes in open D, they're all quite satisfying to play and to your list I would also add "Birdman" and "Bentley And Craig", I almost always end up playing them once in that tuning  But I was actually prompted to post a reply because this morning I was noodling around and suddenly realized I had drifted into playing "Mermaid And The Seagull" for the first time in years and it struck me as remarkably coincidental when I saw your posting about it 

[bigalwhittle]

The setting is the only Ralph song that I have looked up the tab for.  it seemed to me too distinctive to do it with three chords though I'm sure you could - much in the same way that Christy Moore did Fairy tale of New York very effectively with a very simplified accompaniment. Also I think the guitar solo adds a  lot.

the difference between performing and merely playing has a myriad shades of distinctinction.

There are songs I simply can't play because I've not bothered to put the time in.

there are songs I can play and will do if asked when doing a floorspot or some gig in a pub or restaurant.

But the setting and bentley and craig are the only two I would play if someone had actually paid to come and see me. 

these two songs I feel I relate to very strongly, and that I can personalise.

the setting because, back in the mists of time my family came from Ireland, and I suppose you always wonder what your life would have been like if your family had not emigrated.  and also you wonder if back there there was a scene a bit like this.   that play Dancing at Lughnasa has that same sort of , was it like this...? vibe.

bentley and Craig I relate to because my father was a policeman in the 1950's and I can remember my father having to make a contribution from his very small wage when a colleague was murdered on duty.  and poor as we  were I can remeber him saying that he didn't resent paying.  Also the monstrously unfair trials, the inevitable death sentence, the films on tv of the scmenes outside the prison on the exection days and the endless interviews in the newspaers.  I particularly remember one day it showed this chap sitting down to steak and chips in a motorway cafe - it was harry allen the hangman on his way to do string up some poor sod.

because I feel my guitar technique can deal with these songs pretty well and my insights lend some intensity.  the setting needs a better listening more attentive audience that Bently and craig which is  very direct - a great performance piece!

[John Beresford]

Thanks for that, Big Al.  You were right here performing Bentley and Craig.  Let me know if you get a gig up Manchester.

John.

[Al]

i will really miss that Yamaha guitar, I think it sounds better than the Gibson one on the last tour.  Nicer tone. More bottom , more evrything.....Actually he played the Yamaha at the Leicester racecourse gig.

perhaps i will start a 'Save The Yam Petition'

Hi Al,
you might find yourself in the minority with regard to the Yamaha, but thats ok isn't it, thats what opinions are for :-) I was at the Leicester Racecourse gig ( you might have read my review of the evening ) - wasn't Jaques Stotzem amazing. Anyway, as you say, Ralph aired the Yamaha but this was because he was there representing Yamaha supposedley. As it happens, he seemed to be unaware of this himself and I when I mentioned this to him at the preceding Maidenhead gig he said "Am I ? Well I'd better take the Yammy then" :-)

[bigalwhittle]

theres probably not that much in it.  theres a dozen variables in the eq and microphone positionng in the yamaha, and there must another million variables in Donard's bag of tricks. Donard wouldn't let the man sound bad!

I think the advantage the yam has is that the whole thing is put together by a great design team.  Sticking a fishman or whatever into a classic guitar. well its okay - but basically you're messing about with an acoustic instrument.  i don't know if you saw the late eric Roche's set up at Leicester the year before, which involved an XLR and a jack coming out of a Lowden.  if you went to Lowden and asked them to cut a hole in one of their guitars they'd probably refuse. (mind you Eric looked like he meant business!) ken Nicol (a great picker and currently with Steeleye) for example wan't even use a cutaway - he says its messing about with what is after all the classic and optimum design.

Listen to the DVD - the Yamaha is a VERY good sound.

Yes I heard JS at leicester.  Good technician, but a bit abstract for me.  I missed Eric and Steve Hicks wasn't there this year.  the local duo were very good.

all the best

al

[david stevenson]

Sand in Your Shoes is also in open D, fun to play, as is Genesis 1 v20.

[ragtime]

I often play Genesis 1 v.20 in open D, but the "old brown song book" from the 70's indicates that the tuning Ralph used was  DADF#AE. I have tried it like that and the opening and fill riff does fall more naturally under the hand. The little high fill passage used in the introduction comes naturally around the 7th fret too. I recorded it with one guitar in open D and a second guitar track with the top string left on E for the fills and interludes. It does give the song a slighlty uplifing, yearning  quality as well as the tonality of warmth and mystery from the open D tuning. Since this is a slightly unusual tuning and that particular song book is usually very accurate, I think this is the authentic version. It still sounds good in open D though

[Al]

Listen to the DVD - the Yamaha is a VERY good sound.
 

the other side of this is listen to "Travelling Man" and it most definitely isn't. Indeed, the sound on the DVD is not too bad, but in concert it leaves a bit to be desired ......doesn't it ?

Its all subjective and down to taste but give me a mic'd up guitar any day   The sound on "Ralph Albert & Sydney" is far more exciting for me. Listening to the Yamaha conveys nothing of what sound a 'classic' guitar produces, it has all the wrong dynamics and everything is 'squished' into a neat manageable range that is easy to control but conveys no excitement whatsoever. For example, when he gives it a hard strum on "Peppers And Tomatoes" you get a hideous electronic thud as all the limiting and compression kicks in. Compare that with the joyous rattle that "Michael In The Garden" makes on Ralph, Albert & Sydney. Or can you imagine what "I Bid You Good Night" would sound like played on the Yamaha - I can ! All that attendant noise and rattling is what makes it all so satisfying :-)

Ralph must think so too, otherwise why doesn't he record with it and why does he still seek out classic sounding guitars and performed most of his recent tour on a vintage J-45 that whilst sounded like a classic guitar with an undersaddle pick up shoved in it at least hinted at some of the glory of a classic guitar in action. Comparing the sound on the few songs that overlap between "Ralph, Albert and Sydney" and "Travelling Man" says it all to me.

The use of the Yamaha is an attempt to iron out the gremilins and make each gig experience a more predictable affair for Ralph, ie he is going to be able to concentrate on his performance without battling all the other issues that go with trying to mic up guitar instead. The Yamaha is a tool of convenience and I think a poll would reveal that there won't be many out there that think the Yamaha actually sounds "good" - which is setting myself up potentially I know !

Haviong said that, the sound of Miss Gibson on the DVD is pretty ropey and highlights perfectly the point about sticking a pickup in a classic guitar, they should have mic'd it instead :-)

Re Lowden cutting holes in guitars, you don't need to cut holes for most pickups, Lowden are as happy to retrofit a pick up as anybody else 

[ragtime]

I have to say that I agree with the anti-pickup brigade. I have an electro-acoustic, which is very useful in certain settings and sounds pretty good for that style of guitar. But I wouldn't dream of putting a pickup in either my old Daion or my new Taylor. Transducers, by their  nature,  produce sound from the strings vibrations rather than by the strings vibrating and amplifying naturally in the soundbox. So to my ears all piezo pickups sound rather "plastic" and brittle, lacking the complex overtones produced by the woods and construction of the actual guitar. You can mount swan neck mics inside a good acoustic without doing it any harm (by going in via the end pin) and they  can sound excellent. But they are liable to feedback problems sometimes. I still think you can't beat a good external mic, or preferably two, for a great sound.