# Song and Tune Projects > Song and Tune Projects >  Colleen malone

## chopaholic

I'd like to try and work out Hot Rize's Colleen Malone. Any help with the key and chords? Also, if you guys or gals know of other versions that have intros which normal humans can accomplish, please offer them up. I think Tim O'Brien does these things to watch the rest of us(beginners) throw our mandos off of bridges.

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## cgwilsonjr

I play it in G, the verse pattern is:

G C G C A D
G C G C D G(repeat)

The chorus is:

D C G C G D
D C G C D G 

If you know the song and can sense the chord changes that should give you a good start. Chuck

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## Scotti Adams

..if memory serves me correctly...Hot Rise does it in E...he kinda crosspicks his leads..Just take what Charles showed you up above and transpose it to E from G...hes got the progression right.

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## chopaholic

Thanks for the help, fellas. Much appreciated.

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## EdSherry

The chords given above are in the right order, but the timing is not reflected. #Some of the chords are held longer than others. #But you should be able to pick up the timing of the chord changes from the recording.

I'd notate the above as follows:

G G C G C A D D
G G C G C D G G

D D C G C G D D
D D C G C D G G

to show that some chords last longer than others.

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## Bob Simmers

Don't forget the tasteful ending with O'Brien coming in to play the last few measures as they sing the last word. Not difficult, but really tasteful. Vintage Hot Rize.

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## david blair

Watching Tim play that in "E" was a memorable experience for me. I remember double stops up the middle strings. Aren't the chords E, A, B, C# minor?

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## Perry

Once again, one need look no furthur then the 'Cafe itself:

In E as Hot Rize does it:

Colleen Malone

We do this tune quite often.

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kohaylan

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## Patrick Bouldin

> Once again, one need look no furthur then the 'Cafe itself:
> 
> In E as Hot Rize does it:
> 
> Colleen Malone
> 
> We do this tune quite often.


I realize this is an OLD thread!  On Colleen Malone I am having a couple of challenges.  The first is that the Cafe (and Tim O'Brien).  The key of E is too high for me, I sing this in C.  There are drones in the key of E which don't exist in C, right?  First off, can someone help with the finger positioning in the key of E?  I understand it's the "second position", more or less.  If I can understand his technique there, perhaps I can move it to the second position in C.  

Thank you,
Patrick

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## re simmers

I do this tune in the key of C, also.     I assume you are talking about drones that come up in the little bit of cross-picking.    If so, I don't think that will work in the key of C......not that I can think of.

Where in Tim's break are you referring to drones?    

Bob

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## Patrick Bouldin

Hi Bob,

Well, in the Key of E, Hot Rize's version, there are plenty of drones (the tab is on the cafe).  I thought that if I could "SEE" what was going on perhaps I could transpose to C, but as you said probably not.  Do you have suggestions for me in the key of C?

Thank you!
Patrick




> I do this tune in the key of C, also.     I assume you are talking about drones that come up in the little bit of cross-picking.    If so, I don't think that will work in the key of C......not that I can think of.
> 
> Where in Tim's break are you referring to drones?    
> 
> Bob

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## John Adrihan

I would really like some cafe member to do a utube instructional video using the tab supplied by this site on the cross picking technique :Grin:

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## Toycona

We do it in 'B'.

http://youtu.be/kIWkmCytNvM

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## Mike Snyder

This is the first tune that I took up the neck ala' FFCP and is just a great tune in any key.

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## hattio

Okay,
   I know this is an old thread.  I'm attempting to work out this song from the cafe tab linked to earlier in this thread.  Presumably the three string portions in measures 5 and 6 should be played down down up (McReynolds style).  What about the measures like 7 and 8 that begin the three string portion on the second note?  I've been trying to play measure 7 up, down, down, up, up, down, down up, but don't know if that is too complicated and I should just switch to straight alternate up and down cross-picking.  Final question, it seems that measures 1-4 are over an E chord, 5 is over an A chord, 6 over an F# chord, 7 and 8 over a B chord, 9-12 over an E chord, 13 over an A, 14 over a B, and 15 and 16 back to E.  Is that correct?  Thanks in advance for any help.

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## hattio

No thoughts?  Or did it just disappear from the front page too quickly?

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## terzinator

We do it in C.

We play a vi minor in the verse, but we don't play the ii major that Hot Rize plays.

The A minor would fall on the word "sea" in the first verse.

C F C Am
F C G
C F C Am
F G C

Chorus
G F C
F C G
G F C
F G C

Great song.

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## John MacPhee

Hey Chris thank so much for that. it is one beautiful song although sad (my Dad was in the Navy). It just tugs at the heart strings.
Thanks again.
Regards
John

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## Jordan Ramsey

> Presumably the three string portions in measures 5 and 6 should be played down down up (McReynolds style).  What about the measures like 7 and 8 that begin the three string portion on the second note?  I've been trying to play measure 7 up, down, down, up, up, down, down up, but don't know if that is too complicated and I should just switch to straight alternate up and down cross-picking.  Final question, it seems that measures 1-4 are over an E chord, 5 is over an A chord, 6 over an F# chord, 7 and 8 over a B chord, 9-12 over an E chord, 13 over an A, 14 over a B, and 15 and 16 back to E.  Is that correct?  Thanks in advance for any help.


Hi Hattio....  Tim O'Brien uses alternating pick direction (down, up, down, up) the whole time for this intro, not McReynolds style (which is actually down, up, up).  

In general with crosspicking, you can infer which way the pick is moving by examining the string patterns.  If the pattern is 3, 2 ,1 (like in measures 5 and 6), it's probably going to be either Shuffler style (down, down, up) or alternate picking.  If the pattern is 2, 3, 2, 1 (like in measure 1), it's probably going to be alternate picking.  If the pattern is 3, 1, 2...  then it's most likely going to be McReynolds style.

As for the chords, here's the chart in E...

E  A  E  C#m
A  F#B  B
E  A  E C#m
A  B  E  E

B  B  A  E
A  E  B  B
B  B  A  E
A  B  E  E

The kickoff is only over the verse (the first four lines), and in this case each letter represents one measure in your tab.... so measure one is an E, measure two is an A, etc...  Hope that helps.

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## hattio

Thank you everyone.

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## MandoDude1

> Okay,
>    I know this is an old thread.  I'm attempting to work out this song from the cafe tab linked to earlier in this thread.  Presumably the three string portions in measures 5 and 6 should be played down down up (McReynolds style).  What about the measures like 7 and 8 that begin the three string portion on the second note?  I've been trying to play measure 7 up, down, down, up, up, down, down up, but don't know if that is too complicated and I should just switch to straight alternate up and down cross-picking.  Final question, it seems that measures 1-4 are over an E chord, 5 is over an A chord, 6 over an F# chord, 7 and 8 over a B chord, 9-12 over an E chord, 13 over an A, 14 over a B, and 15 and 16 back to E.  Is that correct?  Thanks in advance for any help.


Tim basically plays this off the A(2nd) string with his index finger doing the melody and the other double stops or drone first thrown in. You can see his picking if you go to YouTube, search for Colleen Malone, and view the videos(you can lower the speed to .5 and enlarge the image to see just Tim and his picking and he uses alternate directions.
 You'll have to look at several videos. It is not easy to play either.

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