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Thread: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

  1. #1

    Default John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    I just listened to Come Heavy Sleep arr. by Hiroyuki Teramae and not sure what
    tuning he used so I transcribed it in GDAE tuning. Very nice tune that works on a tenor guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2xXacbutKo
    You can download my transcription here:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1992...ew?usp=sharing

    All my mandolin & tenor guitar transcriptions can be found here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mosM...ETfV6VvEzMyOfz

    and the transcriptions here:
    https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...fS?usp=sharing

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  3. #2

    Default Re: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    You can use a capo on the 3rd fret to match the key on his recording.
    I made a video on how to play the given fingerings:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJKlXYpyL6o

  4. #3

    Default Re: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    First, this is a lovely performance and transcription....thank you for sharing! And doubly thank you for the whole folder full of transcriptions!

    Quote Originally Posted by Roland Lee View Post
    I just listened to Come Heavy Sleep arr. by Hiroyuki Teramae and not sure what
    tuning
    To my ear it sounds like CGDA tuning...in particular, you can hear when he hits the low C that it's an open string, and the open A appears repeatedly in the melody.


    Meanwhile, I went a little down the rabbit hole of Hiroyuki-san's YouTube and found out that for some of his videos/recordings he tunes down an octave, still in CGDA. That's the first I've heard of someone doing that on a standard scale-length tenor. (There's the Eastwood electric baritone tenor, for example, but that adds three inches for a 26" scale)

    This performance of Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin is where I found the details:


    He's using a Gold Tone TG-10, and the tuning is enabled by the same Hannabach bass strings for classical guitar that låtmandola/Nordic mandola/cittern players like Ale Carr have been using to get lower tunings without lengthening the scale.

    Here are his string gauges:
    "1st〜3rd DADDARIO Phosphor 020,030,044
    4th HANNABACH H9(9th string for classical 10strings guitar. I don't know the gauge)"

    Amazingly, even though I've tuned my cittern Ale Carr style, it had not yet occurred to me to try this Hannabach magic on one of my tenors. It really is a gorgeous tuning, especially for performing cello repertoire (as he does on several of his videos). It would definitely be a commitment (new nut and saddle, etc.) but the results are so sonorous I might have to try it.

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  6. #4
    Registered User Bruce Clausen's Avatar
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    Default Re: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    Yes, a fine performance and transcription, Roland. And a very beautiful song, written originally for tenor voice with lute accompaniment.

    It starts "Come heavy sleep, the image of true death..." Dowland was certainly drawn to melancholy lyrics; two of his other hits were "Flow my tears" and "In darkness let me dwell".

    Come Heavy Sleep is familiar to some of us (including you, Roland?) from its use by Benjamin Britten as the basis for his big solo guitar piece Nocturnal, written for Julian Bream in 1963. The Nocturnal ends with a solo treatment of the original lute song's melody and accompaniment, along the same lines as the arrangement Roland has transcribed.

    Impressive work, Roland, thanks and keep it up!

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  8. #5

    Default Re: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    Quote Originally Posted by Escaped Cellist View Post
    First, this is a lovely performance and transcription....thank you for sharing! And doubly thank you for the whole folder full of transcriptions!



    To my ear it sounds like CGDA tuning...in particular, you can hear when he hits the low C that it's an open string, and the open A appears repeatedly in the melody.


    Meanwhile, I went a little down the rabbit hole of Hiroyuki-san's YouTube and found out that for some of his videos/recordings he tunes down an octave, still in CGDA. That's the first I've heard of someone doing that on a standard scale-length tenor. (There's the Eastwood electric baritone tenor, for example, but that adds three inches for a 26" scale)

    This performance of Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin is where I found the details:


    He's using a Gold Tone TG-10, and the tuning is enabled by the same Hannabach bass strings for classical guitar that låtmandola/Nordic mandola/cittern players like Ale Carr have been using to get lower tunings without lengthening the scale.

    Here are his string gauges:
    "1st〜3rd DADDARIO Phosphor 020,030,044
    4th HANNABACH H9(9th string for classical 10strings guitar. I don't know the gauge)"

    Amazingly, even though I've tuned my cittern Ale Carr style, it had not yet occurred to me to try this Hannabach magic on one of my tenors. It really is a gorgeous tuning, especially for performing cello repertoire (as he does on several of his videos). It would definitely be a commitment (new nut and saddle, etc.) but the results are so sonorous I might have to try it.
    Thanks so much for compliments and esp. that very useful information Escaped Cellist!!!
    I don't even have a tenor guitar and thought that my string gauges (Chinese strings 6542 Medium for acoustic guitar) would be pushing it...I didn't think to use CGDA.
    Brilliant!

  9. #6

    Default Re: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    Thank you Bruce! Many years ago, I learned Benjamin Britten's great Nocturnal but never dared to perform/record it.
    I remember it took its toll on my left elbow and was the only time I ever felt pain from over-practice...the song is one
    that haunts me to this day. I heard Freddie Waddling singing it in a documentary by Kirsi Nevanti and thought it came closest to
    a version that is at once modern but retains an ancient sentiment...me thinks.
    You must've taught that piece( Britten's Nocturnal ) at UBC many times over Bruce?

  10. #7
    Pataphysician Joe Bartl's Avatar
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    Default Re: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    Any notion of where I can obtain a copy of Hiroyuki Teramae's CD Bach on Tenor Guitar?

    Thanks for your help.

  11. #8
    Registered User Bruce Clausen's Avatar
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    Default Re: John Dowland music on Tenor Guitar

    Thanks, Roland, I was thinking you probably had some experience with the Britten, as we all did back then. I never had it in my own repertoire, but did help one or two very good students work through it. It's a masterpiece.

    Quote Originally Posted by Roland Lee View Post
    ...the song is one that haunts me to this day. I heard Freddie Waddling singing it in a documentary by Kirsi Nevanti and thought it came closest to a version that is at once modern but retains an ancient sentiment...me thinks.

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