I've been obssessing a bit of Ricky Skaggs's intro to Walls of Time from his Ancient Tones album. The thing that always got me about this break is the mysterious sliding / droning sound. When I slow down the audio, it almost sounds like a sitar.
I decided to work with Mike Stangeland's already-excellent transcription of the break as a template. Then I really, really slowed down the audio, trying to hear where there are slides, open or closed notes, triplets, etc., and made some changes to the transcription over the course of two days. A lot of times I hear the audio better on day #2...
I think I have it down now, or at least a fair approximation. I am uploading a transcription in tabledit and pdf format in case anyone is interested in trying it out. This is my first time to try an upload, so we'll see if it works...
A lot of the sliding sound is moving from a low B pentatonic (1st finger at the first fret on the D string) by shifting up and down with the second finger (from D# to F#) and the third finger (from F# to G#). Dropping down low means it is much easier to slide up with the third finger from F# to G# without slowing down (i.e., to do a smooth slide in time with the music).
For the high part near the end, Ricky shoots up the neck by playing his first finger on the tonic (B on the A string) then playing a slide with his third finger on the D string (from G# to B). I've found that he used that kind of lick a lot when he played with J.D. Crowe & The New South.
If anyone tries out the retranscription effort, please let me know your thoughts, suggestions, etc.
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