Harper Roy

From: Aaro J Koskinen 



[Song: Roy Harper "Highway Blues"]

[Transcription by Dave Coniam (B096770@vax.csc.cuhk.hk)]



I dunno which open tuning Roy uses but you'll a lot of stuff is

in some open tuning or other - as Gordon's naming of chords like

G1 and Bm1 suggests.



I play a lot of stuff in open E tuning - just crank the 3rd, 4th

and 5th strings up so that when you hit them you get the E chord

without holding down any strings. I find it's a great tuning for

a lot of old Joni and Beatles songs.



Here's an attempt at Highways Blues, which, like a lot of Harper

songs, requires very few chords.



In the "main" verses you hammer a sort of E and a vague D6;

following Gordon's line, I've called these E1 and A1.



The chorus then shifts to a good old E - A - B run.



I've only included a few of the words. Mebbe some kinder soul cd

stick the whole song on the list: the last verse I cant

remember/work it all out.





Fret

:0... _ _ _ _ _ ... _ _ _ _ _ ... _ _ _ _ _ ... _ _ _ _ _

 1   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|

 2   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|

 3   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_1_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|

 4   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|

 5   |_1_|_|_|_|   |_|_4_|_|_|   1_1_1_1_1_1   |_|_|_|_|_|

 6   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|

 7   |_|_4_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   |_|_|_|_|_|   1_1_1_1_1_1



        E1            D1               A           B





Intro : E1 - D1 - E1 - D1 - E1 - D1 - E1



E1                     D1                        E1

Take a walk down your highway, tell me what you see



E1 - D1 - E1 - D1 -



E1             D1                            E1

If you're down my way, well it could well be me



[.....]



A                   E1      A                            E1

  Please give me a lift man,   you know it won't be for far



A                  E1      A               B

The way that you shift man, in your empty car



[.....]



E1                   D1      E1        D1

I got the Highways Blues in my holey shoes



E1             D1             E1

and I cannot choose what I look like



[.....]



Like anything in an open tuning, this is pretty approximate, but

hammer away at it after a beer or two and it shdnt sound too bad!



"Once" goes pretty OK in open E as well- you basically fiddle

around on the top and second strings, picking out the melody, and

plonking a few chords (A, G# and B) in here and there. I'll bung

that up on the list as well if anybody's intrested.





Bash away



Dave Coniam

Hong Kong