wayfaring stranger by bill monroe....anyone have a tab for it??

[Nalapombu]

hey all,

i was watching the video by bill monroe and thought it would be a good tune to practice and get back into the habit of learning to play songs again.

it doesn't look like a hard song to learn at all. i'm hoping i can pull it off before spring hits...

would anyone happen to have a tab of the bill monroe version? if you don't have a tab, can you at least give me some guidance on learning to play it?

thank you

nalajr

[Mark Wilson]

There's not much to the basic melody imo - mostly quarter note and tremolo. If you learn one key moving it to another is good practice. Just find the double stops and connect the melody.

Here is a link to an Am version here on this site:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/tab/wayfaringstranger.txt

Here's a link to search results here using advanced options and "Wayfaring" thread titles as a filter:
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/se...archid=5363677

I use WS (in Gm) as my practice tune for tremolo.

[AlanN]

The thing about Bill's take on WS is his use of the major chord on the bridge. Makes blind men see and politicians repent.

[Mark Wilson]

Yeah that will get your attention. He pulls it off with his voice and the guitar behind him. When I tried it it just sounded wrong.

[AlanN]

You're a brave man, Mark. I'm not sure even Del would have a go at that one...

[Nalapombu]

Hey all,

Thanks for the info....

That tab that you posted a link to, that isn't the version that Monroe is playing in that video is it?

Also, I know this might sound like a completely ignorant question, but can someone tell me what the "x" means in that tab. It's right at the beginning and I don't know what it means to do.

Also there's a section that has the A and D strings OPEN and the G string on 7, tremelo all of them. Well I did that and it sounds horrible. That can't be part of the song...is it? Am I seeing it wrong or something? I know it's been a long time since I've seen or tried to read a tab, but am I that bad?

If someone could post how I could play the MONROE version, that would be awesome. I've tried fooling around with it and just cannot get it to sound like his version. I guess I'm not playing the right strings.

AlanN...I don't mean any disrespect at all, but I don't know a thing about what you just said. That's no bust on you, but me. You could've wrote that in CHINESE and I would get the same thing out of it. When I said I was gone for a while, it was a LONG WHILE and I need to get back with a teacher soon.
Not easy to find a Bluegrass mandoo teacher in the Houston, Texas area.
Thanks

Nalajr

[sachmo63]

Ha......

[Nalapombu]

Did I miss something?

Nalajr

[AlanN]

Nala,

You had asked for a tab of Bill on WS. This I don't have. My contribution to this thread was talking about how Bill did WS. He inserted a major chord (not sure of the key he did it in, maybe G minor), but where the vocal goes "I'm goin' there to see my mother...", he played a major chord. It had the effect of...how to say...having to go to the bathroom (in a good way...)

No umbrage taken or given, my friend.

[Nalapombu]

Thank you AlanN for explaining it.

Is there anyone here that would/could tab this version out for me? I would really appreciate it and would be willing to pay whomever a bit of money by PayPal if they could do it for me. I really want to learn how to play this YouTube version and then get the words and sing it....oh the horrors.

Thank you everyone.

Nalajr

[Spruce]

I'd love to see someone like Del take this tune back to where it should be, and bury the myriad of saccharin "goin' to the 4-chord on the bridge" versions in the sand...

[FLATROCK HILL]

Bill does it in Am, at least in this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI92oDdXazg

Here's T.E.Ford in Am, sung an octave lower. Lots of extra chords from that guitar picker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRhpHZ85Ozk

I could think of a lot of adjectives for Bill's live version, but saccharin isn't one of them.

Not a lot of help for the OP here I'm afraid. But, if you can play an Am, Dm, E7, F and a C chord, that should be a good start. All you gotta figure out is which octave to sing it in.

[Mark Wilson]

OK I listened again to Bills solo version in Am .

On the B-part(to my ear) he uses an Amaj chord all the way thru to the 5 chord (E). Other versions would use F and C there instead

[FLATROCK HILL]

I believe you are correct Mark. Even on the studio version, I believe he (Bill) goes to the major chord there; the harmonies make that major chord stand out. I would guess that is the 'old-school'/traditional way that Bill heard early on.
It certainly gets your attention. Maybe that is the effect Lester F. was looking for when he banged on that (E?) major chord in Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

[ralph johansson]

Playing an E major chord against an e minor melody is not at all the same as passing from a minor key to the parallell major
(e.g., g min to G maj).

I don't hear the studio version the same way you do. To my ears it's in Ab major all the way through. Incidentally, in the fifth bar (and other similar spots) there's no iv or IV chord, but the V7, (with the 7th in the melody).

Monroe's singing on that version is also far superior to later versions.

[FLATROCK HILL]

I don't hear the studio version the same way you do. To my ears it's in Ab major all the way through. Incidentally, in the fifth bar.

You are correct Ralph; we do not hear it the same. My ears do not hear an Ab major in that 'B' part. The chord I'm hearing on Bill's mandolin is somewhere just south of Ab major, but certainly not low enough to be a G major.
Maybe we are not talking about the same version. In any case, I agree that the chord played there is the major 'parallel' chord.

[AlanN]

Some years ago, I caught a band doing Kentucky Mandolin. On the B part, they went to G Major for the first 2 bars, then F, then G minor (as usual). This treatment grabbed my ear, and now I tend to do it that way. Not sure Bill would approve, but wth.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Maybe we are not talking about the same version.

Yes...my mistake. I thought this version:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrBCJObQOk was recorded in studio. According to the album cover, it is a 'live' recording. I'm sure you know much more about this matter than I do (or ever will).
In any case, it sounds to me like Bill's mandolin is tuned somewhere in the 'cracks'.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Playing an E major chord against an e minor melody is not at all the same as passing from a minor key to the parallell major
(e.g., g min to G maj).

Obviously, and I did not mean to suggest that it is (the same). What I said was:

It certainly gets your attention. Maybe that is the effect Lester F. was looking for when he banged on that (E?) major chord in Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

"the effect" meaning the result or the perceived result of the change. In other words, hearing a chord (in this case a major in place of a minor) that you might not normally expect seems to have the 'effect' of getting ones attention.
I submit the following quote (I added the bold print) from AlanN:

Some years ago, I caught a band doing Kentucky Mandolin. On the B part, they went to G Major for the first 2 bars, then F, then G minor (as usual). This treatment grabbed my ear, and now I tend to do it that way. Not sure Bill would approve, but wth.

Not sure how much all of this matters but...the OP did ask specifically about the Bill Monroe version of this song. Since it is different than many others, I figure it's worth a closer look (or listen).

[ralph johansson]

Yes...my mistake. I thought this version:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrBCJObQOk was recorded in studio. According to the album cover, it is a 'live' recording. I'm sure you know much more about this matter than I do (or ever will).
In any case, it sounds to me like Bill's mandolin is tuned somewhere in the 'cracks'.

That version was recorded at B F Logan's home in New Jersey in 1966. I've heard a similar version, recorded at the U of Wisconsin in 1967, with that dialogue between mando and fiddle. The U of W concert is probably the best representation of that particular edition of the Blue Grass Boys.

The studio version was recorded in 1958, for Monroe's second LP. Monroe plays a four bar introduction, then sings the three verses in succession, without interludes or solos. On the choruses he sings solo, with the rest of the quartet joining in on the last four bars.

Theres' no fiddle or banjo on this recording - it wasn't until 1962 that Monroe used banjo on a gospel quartet number. Owen Bradley, the producer, is listed in the discography as playing organ, but his constribution is extremely faint - in fact, the chording between lines sounds more like a piano to my ears.

My guess is that WS, along with several other numbers on this gospel album, was suggested by the producer.
It was most strongly associated with Burl Ives - who even adopted "The Wayfaring Stranger" as his nom de guerre.

Monroe performed only three or four of these songs later, a couple of them (like WS and I Am a Pilgrim) in
completely new arrangements.