Both Sides Now, Fingerstyle

[cpa2guitar]

The two vids below are two fingerstyle versions of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now - one on acoustic with a thumbpick and one on classical. The acoustic is a Tim McKnight OM-D; the classical is my old Alvarez Yairi.

Decided to post these here today, since after being a TGP member for a couple of years, I finally got around to introducing myself in the Introductions section today. I posted these vids there and decided to add these here also.

Wish I had some electric work to post, but these are the only two vids that I have of my guitar playing. Both were made on the same day about eight years ago. I have since acquired better guitars, so I really need to redo these and lay down some electric work. I hope you enjoy these.





Kirk

 

[zzmoore]

I thought that was some gorgeous playing.....kept waiting for Joni to start singin'

 

[cpa2guitar]

I thought that was some gorgeous playing.....kept waiting for Joni to start singin'

Thanks for the kind words, zzmoore.

When she was a young woman, before she lost her range, Joni Mitchell's tone, style, and inflections were just stunning. The first time I listened to the CD she released in 2000, entitled Both Sides Now, I was truly saddened at the change in her voice that had occurred over the years. The magic was gone to the point that she no longer sounded like the same person. First Joni, and now Linda Ronstadt can no longer sing due to Parkinson's disease - we have lost some truly great singers, though thank Heavens they are still with us.

With her introspective and sometimes almost confessional lyrics, Joni Mitchell pours so much of herself into her compositions (e.g., in A Case of You). Based on her writing, I bet she is an extremely interesting and intelligent person. My oldest daughter and I both have her on our Top 10 List of people with whom we would most like to have coffee and conversation.

Thanks again,

Kirk

 

[DamianL]

Very cool...

Is that your own arrangement?

And what is the tuning on that piece?

 

[cpa2guitar]

Very cool...

Is that your own arrangement?

And what is the tuning on that piece?

Thanks, DamianL. Now, to answer your questions:

This is Chet Atkins' arrangement, as it first appeared on his album entitled '68 Gold. I have made a few alterations, so I'd say it's about 85 percent original (i.e., as Mr. Atkins originally recorded it) and about 15 percent my alterations.

The biggest change that I made gets into your other question. In Mr. Atkins' arrangement, he drops the 6th and 5th strings a whole step, using the tuning D-G-D-G-B-E. When I originally learned this off the record, I erred, thinking he was using a straight open G tuning (D-G-D-G-B-E). Years later I bought a book of Chet Atkins' arrangements that contained Both Sides Now and learned of my error (the transcript in this book is, as best as my ear can discern, absolutely faithful to the record).

Incorrectly using an open G tuning led to the other changes that I made. A few of the measures that I play in the verses differ from the original. At the time I knew that what I was playing in those measures deviated from the album, but I liked how it sounded so I kept my changes rather than belaboring the difference. Years later, when I bought the aforementioned book and learned what Mr. Atkins was actually playing, I decided - and I'll be flogged for writing this so please forgive me - that I liked the open sound of the measures that I had changed better than the original. So I kept what I had changed in verses one, three, and four, and for verse two I used what Mr. Atkins actually played to give the arrangement some variation.

I took this off the record when I was 18, and it was the first fingerstyle arrangement that I ever learned by ear. I have no idea how many times I dropped the needle on that record as I sat in front of my turntable for hours trying to hear everything. It was a painful but very educational experience.

Kirk