American folk song April 26, 1996 Tab by Chief Noda
This piece is an old American folk song, presumably with Mexican
influence. In mid-19th century, a guitar teacher/author named Henry
Worrall published several versions of this piece and that's how the
song became widely known.
Back in late 80's, I lived in Bloomington, Indiana (go Hoosiers!
Cheers to Mr. Bobby Knight!). One day I saw an old guitar book at a
used bookstore and the owner said he just got the book and hadn't
priced it yet but I could have it for $4.95. Without thinking much,
I bought it and subsequently forgot about it. A few years later, I
discovered the book and looked through. On the front page, it said
"The Eclectic Guitar Instructor" Henry Worrall, and it also said
"1862" (not 1962). In the middle of the book, there was this
arrangement of "Violet Waltz", which is same as "Spanish Fandango".
What's amazing is that the book discussed several open tunings (open
G; open D for a tune called "Sabastopol"; E G D G B E tuning for
"Latonia Spring Waltz").
Anyway, enough pondering.
As I said, you play this in open G and the piece is extremely easy -
a great tune to start experimenting with open G tuning. Notice that
fingering remain the same through out the tune.
What I wrote below is the exact transcription of the 1862 Worrall
book. I added also some variations at the end. As long as you keep the
melody, it is quite easy to make some nice arrangements.
Enjoy!
Tuning: Open G ( D G D G B D)
Time: This one is written as 3/4,
often you see it as 6/8. When written as 6/8, two measures are
combined into one.
Source: There are several published music for this. This one came from "The Eclectic Guitar Instructor" by Henry Worrall.
Chord progression:
Part A - | G | G | G | G | D | D | G | G |
| G | G | G | G | D | D | G | G |
Part B - | C | C | G | G | D | D | G | G |
| B | B | C | C | D | D | G | G |
Note: All notes a quarter note expect the last measures (sustain three beats)
Part A (repeat twice) measures #1-8 --9-----|-7-----|-5-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-------| ------0-|-----0-|-----0-|-----0-|-----1-|-----1-|-----0-|-0---0-| ----0---|---0---|---0---|---0---|---2---|---2---|---0---|---0---| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| --0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----| --------|-------|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------| measures #9-16 --9-----|-7-----|-5-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------| ------0-|-----0-|-----0-|-----0-|-----1-|-----1-|-0---0-|-------| ----0---|---0---|---0---|---0---|---2---|---2---|---0---|-0-----| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| --0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----| --------|-------|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------| Part B (repeat twice) --5-----|-5-----|-0-----|-0-----|-7-----|-7-----|-0-----|-0-----| ------5-|-----5-|-----0-|-----0-|-----7-|-----7-|-----0-|-----0-| ----5---|---5---|---0---|---0---|---7---|---7---|---0---|---0---| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| --5-----|-5-----|-0-----|-0-----|-7-----|-7-----|-0-----|-0-----| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| --4-----|-4-----|-5-----|-5-----|-7-----|-7-----|-0-----|-------|| ------4-|-----4-|-----5-|-----5-|-----7-|-----7-|-----0-|-------|| ----4---|---4---|---5---|---5---|---7---|---7---|---0---|-0-----|| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|| --4-----|-4-----|-5-----|-5-----|-7-----|-7-----|-0-----|-0-----|| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|| My suggestions for variation: (a) * This 2 sounds nice --9-----|-7-----|-5-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0---2-|-0-----|-------| ----0-0-|---0-0-|---0-0-|---0-0-|---1-1-|---1-1-|---0-0-|-0-0-0-| ----0-0-|---0-0-|---0-0-|---0-0-|---2-2-|---2-2-|---0-0-|---0-0-| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| --0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----| --------|-------|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------| (b) Melody on 4th string --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| ------0-|-----0-|-----0-|-----0-|-----1-|-----1-|-----0-|-----0-| ----0---|---0---|---0---|---0---|---2---|---2---|---0---|---0---| --9-----|-7-----|-5-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-5-----| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| (c) Play at double time (change from 3/4 to 6/8) Original (written with wider spacing) --9-----------|-7-----------|-5-----------|-0-----------| ----------0---|---------0---|---------0---|-------0-----| etc ------0-------|-----0-------|-----0-------|----0--------| --------------|-------------|-------------|-------------| --0-----------|-0-----------|-0-----------|-0-----------| --------------|-------------|-------------|-------------| Variation in 6/8 --9-----9-----|-7-----7-----|-5-----5-----|-0-----0-----| ----0-----0---|---0-----0---|---0-----0---|---------0-0-| etc ------0-----0-|-----0----0--|-----0-----0-|-----------0-| --------------|-------------|-------------|-------------| --0-----------|-0-----------|-0-----------|-0-----------| --------------|-------------|-------------|-------------| (d) Play melody using harmonics --------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-12H---| -12H----|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-12H---| --------|-------|-12H---|-------|-------|-7H----|-12H---|-12H---| --------|-7H----|-------|-12H---|-12H---|-------|-------|-------| -0------|-0-----|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----| --------|-------|-------|-------|-0-----|-0-----|-------|-------| You can do artificial harmonics for C chord and B chord or just play regular notes......