"Shenandoah"- Smart 10 string mandola

[John McGann]

Here is my arrangement of the traditional song "Shenandoah" arranged for 10 string fandola ('09 Lawrence Smart), from a March 2011 recital.

[hrlarson]

Bravo! Beautifully played.

[dorenac]

Bravo!! as well. Love those chords and harmonics.

[Tom Wright]

Bravo, also. Nice arrangement, uses the 10-string range.

[ptritz]

That's lovely, John. Thank you.

[KristinEliza]

Great! Shenandoah is my all time favorite song.

[JEStanek]

Always a pleasure to watch/listen to your performances, John.

Jamie

[mandopete]

Yes, the chord voicings are wonderful. Thanks to you John I just spent a good hour or so watching Allan Holdsworth over on UToob.

Love the Fandola!

[Will Patton]

whoa! amazing, inventive performance and arrangement. Grammy nominee for best use of a 13 b9 chord in a folk tune. The accuracy of the harmonics section was staggering. I'll now retire from music and become a plumber - it's daunting at first but after you get to know it, it's just like music theory.
Great job, John, thanks.
-Will

[mandopete]

I'll now retire from music and become a plumber - it's daunting at first but after you get to know it, it's just like music theory.

LOL - True Dat!

[Chip Booth]

Great stuff John, thanks for sharing!

[John McGann]

OK, Will and mandopete, I must confess- I took my time arranging that piece over the course of several days, a good deal of experimentation and tweaking, and then practiced it quite a bit to get it going...and there is still some stuff I fluffed, but what the heck, it's live and real...I want in on that plumbing business; we can all stand to enhance the tens of dollars we make on gigs!

[Chip Booth]

Keep it coming John, I am always hungry for any material played on the 10 string! My Smart 10er has been used a lot this summer, but in a more traditional accompaniment/soloist roles in a group as opposed to a solo instrument with a wide range. I hope to explore more of those possibilities this winter once the gigging season slows down a bit.

[Rhinestone]

Wonderful instrument - and you make fascinatingly good use of it.

[otterly2k]

wow

[Bernie Daniel]

Awesome! I should be able to play that! I show you my version of it around mid-2025 or so!

[chip]

Any chance of a transcription of that version????

[John McGann]

Thanks for asking, Chip, but i don't think there are many instruments out there to play it on!

[mandopete]

Hammond B-3 organ perchance?

[John McGann]

OK Mandopete, since you didn't ask for Hammond Organ tablature, here are the notes I took while hashing out the arrangement. It's not pretty, but it's real. I changed up some of it from the time it was written until the performance a few months later, but this will get you 97% of the way. Hope this might help those interested.

I didn't write the 1st part of the single note melody, that's easy enough by ear, yes? It's in G, then the written section begins in C.

• The diamonds indicate harmonics, the AH indicates articfucual harmonics (finger the pitch indicated, then sound the harmonic by touching the right hand index finger 12 frets above the fingered note. Obviously, you have to hold the pick with thumb and middle finger for those- touch the string at the fret with the index, and pick. Tricky at first but way easier with 78 years of woodshedding

• There are some passages that combine normal fingered strings with the art harms- to get those, i use my ring finger (right hand) to sound the string two courses away from the art harm note. This technique comes from Chet Atkins and Lenny Breau, wish I'da thought of it, but it's not uncommon guitar technique. Still, if you want to think I came up with it, that's cool.

• Circled numbers indicate strings (1 is the high E) and uncircled numbers are left hand fingers 1-4. This system is used in classical guitar, and it gives you all the information that tab does, with the added bonus of showing you what the heck the notes are.

Not in picture: when to hit the breaker button on the Leslie speaker (Hammond organ joke for all you acoustic music lovers)...

Well, have fun, and when it's a big top 40 hit for you, remember my 10 per cent, OK?

[Marcus CA]

OK Mandopete, since you didn't ask for Hammond Organ tablature, here are the notes I took while hashing out the arrangement. It's not pretty, but it's real. I changed up some of it from the time it was written until the performance a few months later, but this will get you 97% of the way. Hope this might help those interested.

What a gift!!! Thanks so much, John. If it gets me 27% of the way, I'll be thrilled.