Song for a young queen

[dumontf]

Is anyone here trying to learn Chris Thile's Song for a Young Queen? #I got the tab from Mandozine and am having trouble with the technique. #There are some tricky transitions that I'm thinking must take advantage of some barring or something because there isn't time to get your fingers to the right place. #For example:

E #5-4 0 2 # # | 2-0 # # # # # |
A # # # # # ##0 # | # # #4 5 # # #| #5-4 0 2
D # # # # # # # 0 | # # # # # # 4 #| # # # # # # ##2
G # # # # # # # # #| # # # # # 4 # #| # # # # # # 1

That last measure is crazy. #Anyone got any tips?

[Jim Broyles]

***DISCLAIMER***
I am not a classical guitarist, nor a classical mandolinist.


I believe that this piece is most easily played using a classical left hand position. That is, placing the thumb in the center of the back of the neck and keeping the fingers more or less straight with the back of the hand, bending at the wrist rather than at the big knuckle, like this. I would use this fingering for the measures you posted: 4-3-0-2-0-0/2-0-3-4-3-3/ 4-3-0-2-1-2

[adgefan]

Have at a look at http://blueroom.att.com/inc_mediapla...er.php?id=2332 to see how Chris plays it. There's certainly a lot of barring going on!

[acousticjt]

I made this petition to try to encourage Chris Thile and Sugar Hill Records to transcribe and publish all of Thile's albums. If you have any interest in getting your hands on some Thile sheet music, please sign this online petition......it takes 10 seconds and is truly hassle-free...no account creating .

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/thile/petition.html

Thank you for your time

[phizban]

I've written a lot of thile's tunes in sheet music format, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, just make sure to share what you've written out..

As far as playing song for a young queen, it is a HARD tune. Despite having to know your cross picking (loooooseness) you need to make sure that your not supporting the neck of the mandolin with the left hand, which commonly happens when your right hand becomes so loose. This is going to severly inhibit your shifting, because you'll be trying to hold the neck while trying to shift at the same time. A goal for the left hand is to have it just as loose as the right. The classical fingering technique (your thumb is more behind the neck than on the side) is a good idea for having your fingers come down as points, allowing less skin to touch the surface of the mandolin (very important for me because I have big hands as it is). Barring, in my opinion, will probably slow you down and reduce the clarity of the notes you are hitting, especially for this tune. If you watch when thile plays, he has one finger per note when chording in this song. You'll have to do some squeezing, so make sure your fingers are coming down as much as they can as points (classical technique remember), and just hope you have tiny fingers .

I tried learning this tune in high school but my fingers are pretty big ( and I was below the proper technique level), so I never was satisfied when I played it. Keep practicing the tune and remember to take the chords SLOW and as often as you can, make sure your left hand isn't cramping up (take breaks). Good luck!

all thats rubbish... look... you walk down this dirt road for a few miles, when you get to the cross roads, wait there, "someone" will meet you.

[dandclinder]

all thats rubbish... look... you walk down this dirt road for a few miles, when you get to the cross roads, wait there, "someone" will meet you.

LOL - I just about spit my lunch out when I read that!

[DMC]

I don't think I've ever seen a mandolin played with a 'classical guitar' left hand position. (The only time I've seen Thile move his thumb right around the back of the neck is when he's playing certain chords.) Personally I find my thumb simply slips off the back of the neck and besides, that grip keeps your hand too square with the fingerboard IMO. I'd use your normal hand position which hopefully looks like this http://teacherweb.com/NJ/MillstoneRi...inlefthand.jpg

I've only learned the first couple of parts to be honest and nowhere near up to speed. It's a beautiful piece IMO even at a slower tempo (though some of the contrapuntal stuff going on is kinda harder to hear)

I don't think of Thile's picking technique on this tune as 'crosspicking' but simply a dud dud (as in 'jig' or 6/8 time). I find you have to be careful to take the pull-offs into account and keep your pick direction sound. I find that I have to bar at certain times but at others fretting the 'inside' strings of two adjacent strings with one finger tip is more appropriate. But I'm no expert and as I said I only learned the first two parts. It's gets harder further in I've no doubt

[Emonortem]

I'm thinking he plays the tune pretty much dudu... that's what I do on that one. It is hard to get used to on the cross picking, but easier than any other alternative.

[Songbird]

I spoke to Chris at a gig about this song and he said it was just dudu all the way through...though I'm guessing you would start with an up position.

[Zoe]

i'm glad i'm not the only one finding this song really hard!

i am simply going through it really slowly and experimenting with different fingerings...
personally i am barring notes- but then again i am not playing it up to speed...

i have a friend that is a professional guitar and banjo player and he told me some advice "if you're not screwed getting to the next note...it's ok...look, hendrix had the worst technique ever!"

goodluck
zoe

there is a saying in the glass blowing world... TECHNIQUE IS CHEAP.

[Zoe]

Hello

I am still working on the tune too- and the best solution for me- with the last measure you posted is to - use classical fingering for all of the first two and a half measures- then on the last half a measure'cheat' and use my second finger- instead of my first
so... on the A string 540 as normal then the 2 with my second finger- this puts my first finger in the perfect place for the next note

hope this helps

zoe

[NoNickel]

Try as I might, I can't find this tune on Mandozine. Can anybody point me in the right directions?

[Jim Broyles]

Here

[wolff]

I made this: https://musescore.com/user/3282276/scores/1543166
for what it's worth..

[danchan]

I tabbed out the first section with pick directions and fingering.

The song is in 6/8 time and the pick directions alternate DUDUDU within a measure. It starts halfway through a measure on an upstroke. The Mandozine tab starts at the beginning of the measure, but you should still start on an upstroke. There's a half measure in that particular transcription before transitioning to the second section, which brings the picking back in line with DUDUDU per measure.

Most of the time I use a standard left hand position but I switch to a classical left hand position (thumb on back of the neck) for some of the barre chords, like the one halfway through the fourth measure. I use a non-classical barre on the fourth fret in the third measure.



Sorry about the non-standard pick direction symbols. Those are Tabledit's default symbols. Arrow pointing up is upstroke and arrow pointing down is downstroke. I couldn't use the standard pick direction symbols since Tabledit erroneously swaps the symbols for up and down!

And... I just realized this thread is from 2007. This is a great song that requires constant practice. Hope this is still helpful to someone out there!

[Timbofood]

The title of the thread caught me! Years and years ago Joe Carr and the guys from Country Gazette were having dinner at a friends house where we were all getting a little silly. Anyway someone brought up the piece "Pavanne for a Dead Princess" which rapidly degenerated to Joe looking at me and saying "OK, who wants to play "Divan for a Tired Princess?""
I thought Alan Munde was gong to cry! We were all laughing like fools, it was all Joe's dead on timing! I miss his sense of humor!
Sorry, not anything constructive to add.