Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds.

[Ed Goist]

Hi All:

I'm starting this thread as on off-shoot of the thread F Chord: 2-3-0-X & 2-3-3-X!, since the main reason for my initial posting of that thread was to get ideas for how to best play LITSWD on mandolin.

Thanks to the mandozine.com tabledit file for this song, and to everyone who posted here (especially Ed & Bruce), I'm finally starting to get to a point where I like the way the song sounds (played with the intro/ostinato followed by the chords). Unfortunately, I still don't have a melodic line I like.

Since there doesn't seem to be a good mandolin tab for this song available on the internet, one of my mandolin goals is to create one (with all of y'all's help) and to put it in the TAB section of the Cafe.

During my search for help with this song, I found the following interesting article. Unfortunately, since I'm still 'standard notation ignorant' a lot of this is over my head, but I think there's some good stuff here for the more enlightened:

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/...P/litswd.shtml

Anyways, please post any ideas or thoughts here regarding the best way to play this song on the mandolin. I'll also be sure to post any insights I find elsewhere.

Thanks much;
Ed

[Capt. E]

I love the way Beatles tunes are getting constantly re-worked. Keep working on finding a sound, an arrangement that works for you. There was a guy at SXSW this year who played the entire Beatles Songbood on ukelele over three days. I know I would have prefered it on mandolin. Keep it up.

[Perry]

Hi All:

I'm starting this thread as on off-shoot of the thread F Chord: 2-3-0-X & 2-3-3-X!, since the main reason for my initial posting of that thread was to get ideas for how to best play LITSWD on mandolin.

Thanks to the mandozine.com tabledit file for this song, and to everyone who posted here (especially Ed & Bruce), I'm finally starting to get to a point where I like the way the song sounds (played with the intro/ostinato followed by the chords). Unfortunately, I still don't have a melodic line I like.

Since there doesn't seem to be a good mandolin tab for this song available on the internet, one of my mandolin goals is to create one (with all of y'all's help) and to put it in the TAB section of the Cafe.

During my search for help with this song, I found the following interesting article. Unfortunately, since I'm still 'standard notation ignorant' a lot of this is over my head, but I think there's some good stuff here for the more enlightened:

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/...P/litswd.shtml

Anyways, please post any ideas or thoughts here regarding the best way to play this song on the mandolin. I'll also be sure to post any insights I find elsewhere.

Thanks much;
Ed

Wow that is some analysis by Pollack!

The opening riff is well suited to mandolin. If I remember correctly there is a YouTube out there of someone playing L.S.D. on mandolin.

[Bruce Clausen]

I threw together a little solo version today after listening to the original a bit. The tune is not really all that suited to this kind of arrangement, but it's fun to try to get the various parts in there. Hope you enjoy.

[McMandolin]

Very fine work Bruce

[Ed Goist]

Hi All:

Bruce, I love your solo version. Simply outstanding! Thank you for taking the time to put it together and post it.

I too listened to the song today (many, many times), and put together this TAB.

I think that the tab sounds fairly accurate and decent when played along with the song. It's also okay solo, but it's nowhere near the league that Bruce's version is in! Bruce's version has much more complexity and nuance. (But then again, my playing isn't remotely on par with Bruce's playing either!)

The TAB is targeted for the beginner/intermediate mandolinist.

Anyways, please let me know what you think of the TAB, and also recommend any modifications.

Thanks very much;
Ed

[MandoNicity]

Very nicely done Bruce!

[Elliot Luber]

Enjoyed the solo Bruce. My version, sort of a cross between what I took from the record and what I remembered from guitar, can be found here at the bottom of my playlist. I don't quite have your dexterity so I used two tracks.

[Ed Goist]

Santiago, nice job. I like the reverb in your version, it provides a vibe similar to the original. I also love the pix of Captain Kirk with the mandolin! Thanks.

[Bruce Clausen]

Yes, thanks Santiago-- two tracks, that is really the way to go! And thanks for your tab version, Eddie. Looks good, although I wonder about the last two bars of tab, just before "Cellophane". As far as my version goes, I don't know how I managed to invert two notes in the intro-- and I wish I'd tuned a little better. But thanks for the kind words.

Bruce

[Ed Goist]

...snip...although I wonder about the last two bars of tab, just before "Cellophane"...snip...
Bruce

Very astute Bruce...I struggled mightily with those 6 notes. It was by far the most challenging portion of the tab. What I tabbed out seems to work well enough, but I'm not totally happy with those two bars...I would love the input of others on that (or any other) section.

Bruce, thanks again for your video...It's very inspirational for a new player.

-Ed

[Bruce Clausen]

Just messin' around here.

[Ed Goist]

Bruce; Wow, once again, superb! Thanks very much.
Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I regarding music theory can answer this - Why do so many Beatles songs sound so good on mandolin? Is it because of the classical influence on their music?
-Ed

[Elliot Luber]

I also love the pix of Captain Kirk with the mandolin! Thanks.

I can't take credit for the Captain Kirk photo. That came from the Cafe, and I was at a loss what photo to use to illustrate the song.

[Elliot Luber]

Wow. For just messing around that sounds pretty accurate Bruce! Love it.

[ald]

Flippin' great, Bruce. Both tunes. Brilliant

[ald]

Do you take requests, Bruce? Across the universe, This boy!!!

[Elliot Luber]

Do you take requests, Bruce? Across the universe, This boy!!!

Across the Universe is an easy one. I recorded it, but I was a little sloppy so I didn't post it.

[Bruce Clausen]

Sloppy? I'LL show you sloppy!

[Bruce Clausen]

By the way, Eddie, I think the notes in the place we were talking about should be D and F against a D minor chord in the background. So where you have 5-0-5|3-0-3 you might try 5-1-5|1-5-1. That's what the keyboard is doing; at that same point the record has another instrument (bass?) going from D to C, and you've put that move into your tab. It's really hard to get all the bits of a multi-track performance into one mandolin part. Fun though!

Bruce

[Ed Goist]

By the way, Eddie, I think the notes in the place we were talking about should be D and F against a D minor chord in the background. So where you have 5-0-5|3-0-3 you might try 5-1-5|1-5-1. That's what the keyboard is doing; at that same point the record has another instrument (bass?) going from D to C, and you've put that move into your tab. It's really hard to get all the bits of a multi-track performance into one mandolin part. Fun though!

Bruce

Thanks very much Bruce...I can't wait to try this tonight!

By the way, when you say "...at that same point the record has another instrument (bass?) going from D to C, and you've put that move into your tab...." are you implying that what I did in the tab made musical sense on some level???
If so, frankly I'm shocked!

Thanks again for all of your help on this.

-Ed

[Bruce Clausen]

"...are you implying that what I did in the tab made musical sense on some level???"

Exactly. You're hearing the bass part moving from D to C under a D minor chord, and it's a nice touch. It's the open E's that don't quite seem to fit. If you want to include that bass line leading towards the Bb chord ("Cellophane"), you might try:

5-1-5|3-1-3|

and then the Bb chord. It's always going to be a series of compromises really.

--Bruce

[Ed Goist]

...snip...You're hearing the bass part moving from D to C under a D minor chord, and it's a nice touch....snip...
--Bruce

Interesting. I remember thinking how dominant and up-front in the mix McCartney's bass was while listening to the song repeatedly trying to bang out the tab...It's no wonder that's what I was hearing. Thanks for identifying the actual notes being played...That seems like magic to me.

-Ed

[Elliot Luber]

Sloppy? I'LL show you sloppy!

Believe me, that's not sloppy.

[George R. Lane]

Bruce,
Enjoyed your versions very much. I was wondering if you had tabbed them out, for those of us who are not as musically inclined as you.