Tune Req: John Barleycorn (from Traffic)

Subject: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST,Susan-Marie
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 01:08 PM

I've trying to write down the harmony in Traffic's version of John Barleycorn. Unfortunately, I don't have a good enough ear to get it all - I'm having particular trouble with the third line ("they plowed, they sowed, they harrowed him in...."). Can anyone help me out with a midi file or abc file or scribble on a stained napkin?

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 01:32 PM

..."threw clods upon his head...and these three men, made a solemn vow...John Barleycorn was dead."

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 01:35 PM

here are the lyrics...click here

http://www.ivory.org/lyrics/johnbarl.html

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 01:44 PM

click here for tablature and chords.

http://www.guitar.com/tab/olga/main/t/traffic.asp

Hope this is of some help...can't do the midi/abc/etc stuff. Sorry.

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 02:01 PM

Check out Jethro Tulls version on "A Little Light Music".. a deffinate tip of the hat to Traffic...

Now did Traffic arrange it like that? Or is that a trad arrangement??

I'm working on blending their version with the Ron Cavanaugh version, for sort of an epic tale...

[~`

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 02:11 PM

The liner notes for Traffic's album John Barleycorn Must Die say "Trad arrangement."

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST,guitarist
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 02:16 PM

I think you're trying to transcribe the music, aren't you? It can be really tough sometimes to get parts that are buried in the background, but your computer can be a tremendous help.

There are several "wave editing" programs available that can make this easier. I have a few pro-level things I use for tough cases, but the thing I use most when transcribing is the cheapo "Creative Wave Studio" that came free with a Soundblaster card I bought years ago. First you have to record the piece to your hard drive as a .wav file, then you can use Wave Studio to slow it down to half-speed (it also drops the music an octave when you play back half-speed).

Sometimes this is all the help you need. Two other programs I use are Sound Forge and DC Art32, although these aren't cheap and and you have to have a little understanding of audio to make the most of them.

Another excellent program is "Musician's CD Player" from Roni Software -- I tried the demo, it's absolutely the best of the programs that let you slow down music without altering the pitch. Other software that does this introduces nasty artifacts and impulse noise, but the output is very clean from Musician's CD player.

One I haven't tried, but see a lot about is "Cooledit", haven't tried it so can't comment but you should have a look at it.

Demos are available for all this stuff (except "Wave Studio" which you probably already have if you have a Soundblaster card). Sorry I don't have url's handy but a web search should turn this stuff up pretty quickly.

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST,Susan-Marie
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 06:51 PM

Dear guitarist - yes, I am trying to transcribe off my tape of the song. I'll look into the wave studio and other software, slowing it down would be a help.

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: GUEST,guitarist
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 08:06 PM

Susan-Marie, here's the link to Musician's CD Player:

http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-11396/muscdpl.htm

The name is a little deceptive, you can use it with any .wav file, as well as your CD drive -- hope this helps.

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 12 Jul 00 - 02:59 PM

WHAT A GREAT PROGRAM THAT IS!

I'm gonna get a lot of miles out of this thing!!!

Maybe I'll actually learn to play!

LOL!

{~`

Subject: RE: Traffic's harmony to John Barleycorn
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 13 Jul 00 - 11:55 AM

Guitarist,

Thanks for the good advice--I hope you stick around, because you know a lot about many things, including the technology stuff, that have gotten to be necessary tools for playing and recording.