House of the Rising Sun

Hey Musen,

What does that anthology look like now.  I can't find that specific one.  Or better yet, what is the ISBN?

Mark

Hi again!

Thanks Tim for the book recommendation, I'll definitely look into it, his guitar work seems mostly approachable, with interesting strumming patterns etc.

Further on House of the Rising Sun - I've been enjoying concentrating on trying to get a good sound from the strings when I pick them, not worrying about going too fast, if I try to go fast I get tense.  One mistake I kept making was playing the Am instead of the E; the e and the b played together sounds cool.

I still have a little aprehension when I know this chord change is coming up. It's like, oh oh, here it comes, don't screw it up.

pj, i think most of us beginners know about this one. My advice is simple, just practice switching between D and Fmaj7 until you feel confident about it.

isbn for the Dylan Anthology:

0825627486

There appears to be a separate Isbn for the UK (which seemes peculiar).

You can find it at Barnes & Noble on line.

Aretha-- it sounds to me like you're approaching the song just right -- take it slow and easy and gradually build up to tempo.

Aretha,

when I learnt it, I broke the song down into 4 blocks, two of which repeat (1 & 3). So you have 3 blocks each of 4 chords to learn. Learn each one on it's own.
I put them together as 2 blocks of 8 chords, each starting with the common line (Am, C, D Fmaj7). Then put those two together.
Even now, if I play it, I think of the song as 4 lines.  

Aretha,

when I learnt it, I broke the song down into 4 blocks, two of which repeat (1 & 3). So you have 3 blocks each of 4 chords to learn. Learn each one on it's own.
I put them together as 2 blocks of 8 chords, each starting with the common line (Am, C, D Fmaj7). Then put those two together.
Even now, if I play it, I think of the song as 4 lines.  

Thanks Greybeard,  this sounds like helpful advice, I'll have a go at approaching the song as you suggest.  I've written this down to put in my lesson folder

Thanks also Tim

Has anybody heard or  recorded a version of this song with a guitar playing the solo rather than an organ.

don't get me wrong I like the organ solo but one day when I was still in the church group during a break in practice, the other guitarist started playing house of the rising sun and I started playing some pentatonic lines along with it and it didn't sound half bad.

I'm guessing a decent lead guitarist could make it sound awesome

Not this song, per se, but I have a recording of "Amazing Grace" by The Blind Boys of Alabama that is arranged exactly like "House of the Rising Sun" (only with "Amazing Grace" lyrics).  This is done only with guitar, percussion, bass and vocals.

this has been my most enjoyable song so far, it uses really simple chords but sounds really good.

Just goes to show that the simple things can be the most clever

I like to alternate the picking with some intermittant strumming, more to annoy the neighbours than anything else ;-)

I'm doing pretty well with this song now, and hope everyone else is too; even got a decent volume now, which was pretty soft to start with.

Read the interview with Janis Ian on this site then went to her website and read a few of her articles, her rememberance of her friendship with Chet Atkin's was very interesting; among other things he spoke of not worrying if you can't play fast, check it out if you have time, it's a great read.

Cheers (Three!) and thanks again to all posters here :)

8)

Oops, sorry, Chet Atkins is also mentioned in the interview that Mr Charron and David H. did, I wrote the above post a couple of days after I'd read the interview and the articles on Janis Ian's website, my brain tends to short circuit more than usual heading on to Christmas :)

Thanks for the great link.  ;D

I don't mean to brag but...that was easy for me since I have been practicing finger picking for several months.  I love to finger pick songs now.  I almost hate to pick up a guitar pick unless I am playing Hendrix or something.  I am lucky that there was tab below the actual nots since I haven't played in first position (except for the the first 2 strings which I am teaching my brother) for so long.  Thanks again.  ;D

I'm somewhat new to the guitar. I haven't figured out tabs yet. Is this available in chords. Thanks

I'm somewhat new to the guitar. I haven't figured out tabs yet. Is this song available in chords