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Redemption
© 2008 Geoff Bartley
Published by Joshua Omar's Music BMI
All Rights Reserved
Topical songwriter and veteran folk entertainer Tom Paxton www.tompaxton.com added lyrics to it in 2008. The new song is called Redemption Road and is ©2009 Joshua Omar's Music, BMI and Pax Music, ASCAP.
I made up this instrumental in the spring of 2007 and recorded it a year later for the "Blackbirds in the Pie" CD on a (1994) National Style-O (a single-cone biscuit-bridge resonator guitar with a bell-brass body). It's played in Open G Tuning (from bass): D G D G B D, finger-style with some chords and melodic lines played fretted and other chords and melodic lines played using a glass slide. And, of course, it can be played on any kind of guitar.
In Open G Tuning, the note that makes the tuning major is on the 2nd string (the B string). So to make any major chord, bar across all six strings at any fret. To make any minor chord, bar across all six strings at any fret but fret the 2nd string (the B string) one fret lower (toward the tuning machines). There are several ways to do this, but make up your own way. That's what I did. (Hint: There are only three necessary notes. To make the first minor chord that occurs in Redemption, 1) fret the 5th string (the A string, which is now a G) at the 4th fret... it's the root of your new B minor chord. 2) Fret the 4th string (the D string and still a D) also at the 4th fret... it's the 5th in your new B minor chord. 3) Fret the 2nd string (the B string and still a B) at the 3rd fret... it's the flatted 3rd in your new B minor chord.) You'll be greatly relieved to know that all the minor chords in this tune are made this way.
CHOOSING A SLIDE
I am currently the proud owner not only of the largest rubber lizard collection east of the Mississippi, but also of roughly 244,095,650,129,342 slides. To me, they're like little works of art in brass, steel, glass, ceramic, bone, some thick, some thin, most factory made, one or two hand-made. I recommend choosing a thick glass slide with smooth edges that's exactly as long as your pinkie finger and no longer. Put paper, fabric, or leather inside so it fits comfortably on your finger and doesn't flop around. Bonnie Raitt and others wear their slide on their ring finger (the one next to your "driving finger"), but I've always worn mine on my pinkie. Either way, the exact length lets you accurately put the slide on one string at a time (this is how Redemption starts). The thickness allows more of the slide's surface area to touch each string, and that results in better tone and volume. The smooth edges let you move the slide laterally from string to string if, like me, you sometimes put the slide on the wrong string. But don't listen to me. Instead, get a few slides and experiment. That's what I did. Gently restrain yourself from thinking too much or asking too many questions. Instead, pick up your guitar, tune, and play.
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