I'm Gonna Do All I Can for My Lord

We're back to John Fahey this month with the 1967 recording of "I'm Gonna Do All I Can for My Lord." When the Blind Joe Death record was issued for the third time in 1967, nearly every rerecorded track was shorter than on the 1963 album, and "I'm Gonna Do All I Can for My Lord" was a new addition to the record. The transcription here is a final draft of what was to be included in the new release of my Blind Joe Death book. The plans with Mel Bay were to discontinue the first edition and release a second that contained the transcriptions of all 11 tracks from BJD, plus a transcription of an unreleased version of "West Coast Blues" recorded in 1964. There was an unfortunate change of ownership in the print licensing rights to Fahey's catalog after my first book came out, making it very difficult for the second book to be published. The possibility remains that I may get it released in the future, but for now I thought this would be a nice way to get some of that work into the hands of fans.

The study notes preceding the transcription speak of the importance of the capo in this one. In measure 24 and similar instances Fahey uses a descending slide, a move that would be much more difficult without a capo. Since Fahey's left hand positions are fairly predictable it is likely he would be using his middle (second) finger for the slide. If this is too difficult you could try altering the fingering here, use your first finger instead or go to a different fingering for the G chord that he is working out of. The study notes suggest Fahey was using a capo on the third fret but this is merely a guess as we don't know to what pitch his open strings are tuned. In the recording if he is tuned to standard pitch the guitar would be ever so slightly sharp with a capo on the third fret. There is always the possibility Fahey could have been tuned a little lower than standard pitch with a capo on the 4th fret instead. This thinking would not be completely unwarranted, as most of the recordings on The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick recorded in 68 and 69 are tuned slightly flat, if not an entire half step lower than concert pitch. Since there is no video this piece the only thing we can do is guess. Personally, I have a hard time using a capo on anything but the second or the fourth fret because it keeps the position markers in a place that is easier for my brain to process. I also like to keep my vintage guitars tuned a tiny bit lower than concert pitch. For those two reasons I decided to capo 4 on the video with my guitar slightly detuned.

My video performance is live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG9sQ7Bu3qE&feature=youtu.be

Any additional thoughts or questions? Did you get a chance to see Fahey perform in the late 60s? Post what's on your mind here or send me a private message. And... Don't forget to download the sheet music at the bottom of this post!