Impressions of Susan play-through video
Added 2020-06-14 14:43:58 +0000 UTCGood morning everyone. Here's the play through of Impressions of Susan. It's broken into two parts both about 20 minutes. Part 1 covers mm 1-89. Part 2 is mm 90 through the end. My left hand became fatigued by the end so measures 214 onward could have been cleaner, a testament to the importance of good practice habits and giving yourself plenty of time to rest and recover!
Video Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrFjU2F6c0M
Video Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUMYHmpwJxE
I'm also adding a new copy of the transcription here with the one typo corrected. I will also replace the initial transcription in the first post.
Comments
It probably is but true analysis is beyond my 'ken. I'd have to look up what it means to have both a bVI major chord and a VI minor chord played in the same song. My guess is that one belongs in the key and one is some kind of modal interchange. I think that a VI major chord occurs in minor keys, so this would imply a major key. The bVI major is possibly the "borrowed" chord, God knows from what key. I just noticed something else curious he does: the bend and release of the 9th fret second string up a semitone and back down again while playing G and D in the bass - he's bending up the root note to match the b2 note, but then playing a (non flat) 2 note right after. Bending the root up a half step is - I think - pretty uncommon. The root is not a commonly bent note. I know Davey Graham did do it (for example in his version of Misirlou). I think it's one of the most dissonant things you can do; it begs to resolve back down to the root. It isn't done in the Blues, where b2 notes are absent and bending the root does not occur. So it's another "where did he get that idea from?" thing for Fahey there. Finally, how would you name the "awkward chord" (x02325)? All I know is Fahey said he didn't want to the song to resolve, deliberately - that to me hints that it should not be called a G chord of any type despite having two G notes in it. My guess at the moment is some kind of weird C7 inversion. So a IV7 chord. I guess it could be some kind of Emb5 as well.
Jon Tunster
2020-06-18 07:24:33 +0000 UTCYes I found this interesting and believe I wrote about it a little in my DOD YouTube video. The intro is major but then shifts to minor. I would need to do a proper analysis on Impressions of Susan but I have the feeling it is firmly in G major as you point out. Use of a minor iv on the 9th fret but falling chromatically to a major chord, interesting harmony indeed in parts and probably worthy of some standard notation to accompany the tablature
Andrew Lardner
2020-06-17 02:04:13 +0000 UTCJon, I’m not sure if he used open Gm after this either. Claudio Guerreri’s book does a good job of documenting all of Fahey’s tunings, though I’ve never double checked it for accuracy. I agree, no borrowed themes that I’m aware of in this, I’ve not come across live recordings either. Interest in Dance of Death, yes, but unlikely to come here soon. I had the idea that after I release the second half of the Blind Joe Death book I would do another titled “The Epics” or something like that. It would have focused on Fahey’s long-form collage compositions and I wanted to include Dance of Death there. Now that Hal Leonard controls his print licensing any further releases will be very difficult. I can probably lean on the people at his main publishing agency for help but am unsure if it will lead to anything.
Andrew Lardner
2020-06-17 01:29:04 +0000 UTCThanks Andrew. This stuff really is gold. Is this a song that ever turned up in any incarnation anywhere else? AFAIK it did not - I'm not aware of any other recordings of it, or live performances, or even themes from this song that appeared elsewhere. That makes it kind of unusual for Fahey. It feels like a kind of "singular" piece, with no obvious precedent either in his own work or in anyone elses. I also don't know if he ever recorded another track in open G minor after this, but I'm not completely abreast of his very late work. (I think that Robbie Basho may have recorded Blue Crystal Fire in open G minor but not totally certain on that) Since you're in open G minor already, any interest in doing a similar play through of Dance of Death, to "complete the set"? :)
Jon Tunster
2020-06-17 01:17:10 +0000 UTC
