a small group of beloved twitch viewers pledged like $91 to a commissary fund for detained/incarcerated trans people; the catch is i have to cover the song "Cane Toad Blues" by Tim Finn. why that song? why are most people on our stream aussies? mysteries for another day. but i wanted to share a little bit about my process of converting this for my hands.
context: my hands don't work so good. i play a 3/4 size nylon string with real low action, but i still need to avoid barre chords and high-fret else the hand don't work anymore. also, this song to my ear is in some kind of open E tuning and for some stubborn and unknowable reason i refuse to play in anything but standard. when you're in open tunings you can fudge all kind of things, the open notes can become pedal points or upper structure in a way that just sounds right because the guitar's whole resonation supports it. so i'm gonna have to adapt, without just going the easy way out.
what shapes i need: we need the following at least: an E7 shape; a G6 shape; an A-ish shape; a B7 shape; and an A7 shape. all of these have easy options with basic shapes, but i wanna be a little fancy with it. so let's figure some stuff out.
so here's what we decided on
- E7: 076700
- G6: 355400
- Aadd9: 466500
- B7: either 224242 or 797877
- A7: x07653
reasons: plenty of open strings except on the B7; there aren't a lot of open strings useful for B7, and i don't think my beloved 22120x is up for the task. in the "you're supposed to set us free" parts, switching between the two B7s helps build up tension, and then the open strings feel like a release. i think it sounds okay. i'm strumming through the chords in this audio file and then playing through
rating: 3/5 ouchies, some of those shapes still hurt, but in a way i think is manageable. i think that Aadd9 shape is really silly and played out, but it works here, and it'll help me sing when the E the melody returns to is in the guitar. i'm a little tempted to change the E7 to an E, and get that reallll fulll 076400 as tonic, but then it wouldn't be as bluesy, so. ok that's my story! thanks
