I’ve got to be honest, when ever I take on a version of a song like this, Doris from Gavin and Stacey comes to mind singing Girlfriend in a coma…🤣😂. I wonder if I’ll play this on the street, if we ever get to play on the street again!
I think I’ll enjoy performing it., even if I do look like some old lady singing with a guitar!
So anyway, this is my work in progress, recorded flat in our horse truck.
So, we’re in week whatever of the lockdown. It’s a blur. I feel honoured and lucky to have all this time to spend with my daughter, I’m also acutely aware primary school teaching is something I should NEVER consider once all this is done, unless it’s all sewing, art and music……
In between that I’ve been working on some new stuff. It’s an act of faith that one day us musicians will be able to earn a living again. So here I am, in our ‘secret getaway’ working on Rio by Duran Duran.
I love the energy of the original but am going for a more laid back approach. At school one of my friends loved Duran Duran… I pretended I didn’t as I liked Spandau Ballet…. We had some common ground with Japan…. thinking about doing a cover of Swing but that’s another story.
So, it’s a bit rough and the guitar needs its intonation looking at, oh and I need a hair cut, but don’t we all!!😂🤣
Growing up I loved Spandau Ballet. My friend liked Duran Duran and never the twain met (although Rio is one of my favourite albums of the 80’s). I love performing this, it feels so liberating.
I’ve recorded this tutorial which shows how I play it; it’s not particularly polished but it shows you all the shapes you’ll need. If you want a more faithful version I daresay that there are others. See below for the chord diagrams. As I say on the video, I’m using a capo and the chords can move up or down the neck depending on your vocal range.
I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I do.
One of the challenges I enjoy is taking a song that I love but that doesn’t immediately shout ‘acoustic cover’ …. so I’ve been using this ‘down time’ to work on a few songs I’ve been toying with got a while…
Death on Two Legs…. absolute epic song. People who’ve heard me perform know I love Queen. A Night at the Opera is one of my all time favourite albums and I’ve wanted to get those to work for the longest time… I’m glad to say it’s coming together well so watch this space.
Famous Last Words – My Chemical Romance. In my other life as a fitness instructor I have used this song (And Death on Two Legs) several times in my spinning mixes. I love it. This one too is showing promise.
The Pretender -Foo Fighters…. ummm still working on this one!
In other news, I’ve pretty much got 9-5 by Dolly Parton nailed!
This is an amazing song and Amy was such a singer, it would be easy to shy away from trying to do an arrangement. Having said that, all the songs I play are classics so if that was the rule I played by, I’d have no songs to play!
It would not do to just try and recreate a carbon copy of the song so I came up with this. I really enjoy playing it and it’s a really good introduction to playing some of the Jazz chord shapes. Rather like your regular bar chords they can go anywhere on the neck so once you get to grips with them you can have fun with some of the other songs you know by substituting the chords with these.
Click on the link below for the chords written. I play this with a capo on the 1st fret so that I can still get the harmonics only now they’re on the 13th fret not the 12th.
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Here’s another classic song – Tainted Love. Being a child of the 80’s I will always associate it with the Marc Almond version … love it. It’s very straight forward, just keep your 3rd and 4th fingers in place and the rest just falls in to place. The C7 shape goes everywhere and so it’s a good one to know. Here are the chords all written out. You all know the lyrics….. don’t you…….?
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Dream of the Blue Turtles is one of my favourite albums. Sting is one of my favourite artists. So here is my version. I love playing it but seldom on the street. I hope you enjoy playing it. If you want pictures of the chords click on the link below.
