I just noticed (while looking through some old practice logs) that Greg's songbook has been a part of my daily life for around 3 years. A great resource, I highly recommend it!!!!

Is anyone else currently working on any of these tunes?

How time flies
Brett

I've had it over a year now. I went through it from the start, but landed on "Blue Ridge". Still planning to add that to my set someday...

Brian Baggett
Ft Qu'Appelle, SK

Many thanks for the thread, gents.

I've had the pleasure of hearing several students of mine learning and playing the tunes. Very rewarding. For anyone interested:

http://www.stick.com/instruction/books/greghowardsong/

http://www.greghoward.com/free_hands/books/

Great resource. I got through the book up to "Blues for Ayman", spent several days without sleep trying to play it, then went insane.

Now I think I may get another copy and white out the finger suggestions written over the staff. I am trying to sight read these and can't keep from "cheating" by looking at those numbers.

Has anyone, besides me, attempted to write some lyrics for any of these yet? Maybe we should have a contest?!?!

The Mike

Wow. Did you ever get the feeling that you are a thread killer? Sorry, if there is such a thing, and I did it to yours Brett.

Dunyu Wong

I thought "I" was the ultimate thread killer!!!!!!!

No need to worry, just a tip o' the hat to a cool learning tool.

Lyrics? blasphemy!!!

Brett

I just wanted to add...

The primary reason I like this book: getting to see the compositional reasoning within someone else's head. Ex:

The first three left hand chords in Blue Ridge: two are 1st inversion (3rd in the bass) and one is the 7th in the bass. In this song, it works well since the low note travels within a half step of the next.

In my own arranging, I commonly forget to use non-root chords in the left hand. Root position is my fall-back or comfort zone. When creating my own compositions or arranging someone else's music, I often use root position accompaniment chords.

So...it's fun to learn some of Greg's songs. But breaking into someone's head gives me the ideas to use in my own songs, etc. Thanks Greg!

Brian Baggett

I'm so glad it's working so well for you guys. There are lots of different ways to arrange a piece. The book, of course, only points to one way for each piece.

I am working on a Classic tuning version of the book, and I hope to have it done before the end of the year.

In the meantime, if you have a Grand Stick in the Classic tuning, you should get the Baritone Melody 10, Classic 12, version of the book.

I find the songbook really useful. The exercises seem to cover a different topic / technique for each tune, and I appreciate the key guides.


The lead sheets at the back offer opportunities for interpretation.