Request

kinda not the easiest one - have never really made an effort to play it before - find it a bit on the annoying side - even though the lyrics are brilliant - no other than Bob can make it worthwhile listening to IMO.

But if you will please your father - go ahead :)

The strumming depends on how and with whom you will play it. On the recording, I think basically the guitar is on the offbeat(?) all through - i.e. 1 strum 2 strum 3 strum 4 strum - you strum upwards(?) on the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th eighth note in the meassure, just the top 3-4 strings. And every now and then you substitute the single stroke with 3 16th notes instead ie.

'U 'U 'U 'UDU | 'UDU ' U ' U ' UDU | 'U 'U 'UDU 'UDU

When the song is in smth like between 140-150 bpm you get a lot of strumming, but that's OK. The challenge starts when you play it alone and need to add some bass notes too in order to get it sounding ok. Trying to put a bass on each beat smth. like this C U G U C U G UDU | F UDU C U F U C UDU | etc. is not extremely easy but probably possible to get a grip on - but then also the song has like 12 (or probably far more) verses - wimamp tells me it runs for 8:53... puh!

I would have focused on the bassline and the treble offbeat

The f(C)est(U)iv(G)al w(U)as o(C)ve(U)r a(G)nd t(U)he b(F)oys (U) w(C)ere a(U)ll p(F)lanning etc... if that make any sense to you.

Another option is to play it with "standard fingerpicking"
i.e this pattern for a C

E------------------|-
B------1--------0-|---
G------------0-----|---
D------2-------2---|---
A--3---------------|---
E----------3-------|-

maybe that's the best solution when playing solo

Good luck!!
Disclaimer: I'm not at all an expert when it comes to thinking up clever strumming patterns. Somebody else may have far better suggestions!!
Lars

just for info, this song was recorded in open D tuning, capo at 2nd fret to give open E
with these chord shapes

Chords:

E 054000 (or 054300, which simplifies the slide to A)
A 020100 or 020120
B x02100
B(ii) 042000 (or 042300)

If you go to Dylanchords.com there's a full transcription of it on there.

all the best

Matt

You are rigth - and wrong.
Yes, it was recorded with open tuning as all the rest of the songs for the album. However Dylan wasn't satisfied so he visited his brother at his Minesota ranch for x-mas and re-recorded a lot of the songs. LRatJoH is one of the songs that didn't survive in open tuning on the final record.

Lars

Lars

oh right, i didn't know that, very interesting, thanks

all the best

Matt