help playing solsbury hill

MissYouAllDay

hey everyone. You know the song solsbury hill by peter gabriel? It seems to me if I learn the intro with the picking I will be able to instantly impress anyone with my acoustic guitar ability. My problem is I can't get a picking pattern down to make it sound right.

Can anyone play this song? And if you can, can you gimme some sweet tips.

I need to learn good acoustic guitar skills. Girls only want boyfriends with great skills.

Here is the tab I'm using.
Verse..
E||

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B||

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|-0---1---0-|-1---0---3-||

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|-1---3--0--|-1---0--3-||--
G||----0-2-|--0---0--0-|--0---0--2-||----0-2-|--0

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0-0|--0--0--2-||-
D||--4

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|---0---2-0-|---2---0-0-||--4

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|---2----0--|---2-0--0-||--
A||

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E||

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Executed Anyhow

Try using a capo? Look at different versions of the tab?

The Black Circle

From looking at tabs it says you need to have a capo at the 2nd fret. They're fairly cheap and any decent music store should have one. An extremely cheap alternative which I can't guarantee to work is tune your guitar up by 2 half steps. This could snap string(s) and i don't recommend it since acoustics have heavier strings than electrics.

The guy who made that tab should have put F#BEAC#F# instead of EADGBE at the side of the tab really.

who's_pearljam?

I never use tab,,, I just play stuff I guess.

I just put on the the live version of it ,, and it's in the key of B.
The chart you have posted would work,,, but I'm positive he capoed it at the 2nd fret.

The HARD part of this isn't the picking I think,,, you just have to listen and play it over and over.

What's different about this song is that it's actually in 7/4 time. So you have to throw 1234 1234 out the window and count it out in 7 beats per measure.
It actually is a good thing to do. I love playing in 5/4 and 7/4 time. I learned when I played with a bunch of offbeat bands in the 70's and 80's.

It's best to sit with the song and pick a couple of notes while counting to 7 along with the beat,,, then it should come to you. You'll hear it repeat after 7 beats in no time.. then pick it slowly to get the vibe. You'll hate doing it,, but the next day, you'll wake up and you'll have it.
Pink floyd - Money is in 7/4 time, too.

If you want to really get complex,, listen to some live Zappa songs, where some of the band is in 11, some in 4/4, some in 5/4 and Zappa is soloing in 9/4, 9/6 , then changing time signatures mid song.. That's when you REALLY start to appreciate how amazing some of those players were.
King Crimson and Bowie use it, some Jethro Tull is in 7 or 5/4 too.

good luck!

MissYouAllDay

I don't know anythign about keys notes... music...

Can you explain how it would be more easily played with a capo on the 2nd fret.

who's_pearljam?

The capo is only used to bring th guitar up the the key the song is played in. It should work fine just playing in regular tuning. If you're sitting on a blanket in a park with a bunch of girls watching, while you're about to play in 7/4 time,,,, you don't want to be fumbling for a capo unless you know what you're doing!,,,, just play that sucker!



But to learn the song,,, you can through a capo on to match up with the record.

If Peter Gabriel writes a song in B,, David Rhodes, the guitarist, wanted to use open strings to give it that ringing sound. Capoing at the 2nd fret lets you play those 3 strings as a B chord. Then when he shifts fingers, the open strings can still ring when he plays what would essentially be an F# chord
Those songs get written in specific keys because the singer has that range,,, but also,,, certain songs have different feels in different keys.

The key of "B" is generally a sort of bouncy happy key,, so is "F".
D Minor is the "sad" key.

I don' t know if that makes sense to you, but it made sense to me!

Almost all rock and blues and pop music is in 4/4 time. It's what most people's ears are accustomed to. Each cycle repeats every 4 beats.

A waltz is in 3/4 time.. Elderly woman in a small ,,,,, is in 3/4. If you play that, you count 123 123 123 123,,,,which is why a lot of people have a hard time playing it until they know that.

So the picking for Solsbury hill repeats it's cycle every 7 beats. If you think in rock and roll timing, it won't work. Just let your mind wander while you're listening to the song, and it'll come.

Make any sense?,,,, I might not have had enough coffee yet!

who's_pearljam?

Sorry, missyouallday!

Stop the presses!!! I wasn't paying attention to your tab too well. The tab is wrong, (For the version I have on)

Capo at the 2nd fret and take your tab that you have on the first post and try this:
Play the g string - 1-2-4 as the intro, then fret below with your index finger, the 222

2--3--2--3--2--0
2--2--2--2--2--1
2--4--2--4--2--2
g string 1-2-4 again then repeat

for the general feel.
Then you're generally in open A and open E chord formations, and the open strings sound good with it.
(Actually B and F# with capo on to match the record)

That's after some coffee!

The Black Circle

Sorry to seem pedantic but it's Salisbury .

who's_pearljam?

The Black Circle wrote:

Sorry to seem pedantic but it's Salisbury .

Sorry about that!


Yup , Missyouallday, I, AND Peter Gabriel are all wrong. He even mispelled it on the CD!


(You got me to look though!)


Now, if I go out and order a Solsbury steak, that would be wrong!:D

MissYouAllDay

"Capo at the 2nd fret and take your tab that you have on the first post and try this:
Play the g string - 1-2-4 as the intro, then fret below with your index finger, the 222

2--3--2--3--2--0
2--2--2--2--2--1
2--4--2--4--2--2
g string 1-2-4 again then repeat"

I am alittle confused by your tab. Are saying to pick the 222 , 324, 222. Or strum them. Jsut checking cause you put them right under eachother
like:
2
2
2

Thanks for all this help.

The Black Circle

Oh crap you're right .

Salisbury in Wiltshire is spellt like that :rolleyes:

who's_pearljam?

MissYouAllDay wrote:

"Capo at the 2nd fret and take your tab that you have on the first post and try this:
Play the g string - 1-2-4 as the intro, then fret below with your index finger, the 222

2--3--2--3--2--0
2--2--2--2--2--1
2--4--2--4--2--2
g string 1-2-4 again then repeat"

I am alittle confused by your tab. Are saying to pick the 222 , 324, 222. Or strum them. Jsut checking cause you put them right under eachother
like:
2
2
2

Thanks for all this help.

Ok,, I'll try to type the chords I'm a stupido at this

E-X
B-2
G-2
D-2
A-x
E-x
Is what I'm trying to get at. It's basically an open A chord.

E-0
B-3
G-2
D-4
A-x
E-X
Is basically a D

E-X
B-0
G-1
D-2
A-X
E-X
Is E

You'll be picking these fingerings, not strumming, but I don't know who to tell you the pattern, but if you play with it a bit you should be able to find the notes. It's good to get that down without the tab,,, because if you forget it when all the girls are swooning,, you want to make sure you can improvise!

who's_pearljam?

who's_pearljam? wrote:

Ok,, I'll try to type the chords I'm a stupido at this

E-X
B-2
G-2
D-2
A-x
E-x
Is what I'm trying to get at. It's basically an open A chord.

E-0
B-3
G-2
D-4
A-x
E-X
Is basically a D

E-X
B-0
G-1
D-2
A-X
E-X
Is E

You'll be picking these fingerings, not strumming, but I don't know who to tell you the pattern, but if you play with it a bit you should be able to find the notes. It's good to get that down without the tab,,, because if you forget it when all the girls are swooning,, you want to make sure you can improvise!

Play that middle combination first,, not the top one,,, and hit the open e string when you're picking, then the A formation,, then back to the middle one,, then the last one.

Man,,,, I started this with coffee today, now I'm to beer!
I'll get this to you yet!:D