As you may know, I’m a huge Bruce Cockburn fan and when I discovered the documentary, “My Beat: The Life and Times of Bruce Cockburn” at Amazon, I had to have it. A brilliant documentary that gives just a bit of insight into the genius of Bruce Cockburn and his writing process.
Highlights include:
Studio footage of Bruce working with Andy Milne and Dapp Theory in his pursuit of overcoming writers block.
Witnessing the birth of “Postcards from Cambodia” from “You’ve Never Seen Everything.” He was working through the lyrics and music for this song and tried out the chorus for the first time on camera. Truly moving to watch.
If you are an aspiring song writer or just someone who loves the music of Bruce Cockburn, this documentary is highly recommended. From interviews with friends and family and words from Bruce himself, you will learn just a bit more about this modern day troubadour.
I’ve been trying to find accurate Bruce Cockburn tabs for you play. Unlike my Tommy Emmanuel Tabs post, it wasn’t as easy to find good tabs to find and I found many sites that were nothing but pop-ups and deceptive links, so beware because those types of sites are the kind you get spyware from. Here are a few for you to try and if you have any other recommendations, please leave a comment and share with us.
Sunwheel Dance: I’m not a fan of ASCII tab but it’s fairly accurate/close to the version I have in my “All the Diamonds” songbook. This version has you tune to open E(EBEG#BE) but I believe it’s tuned to open D (DADF#AD). Both with the capo on the second fret. The song is surprisingly easy to learn but incredibly hard to master, especially at the correct tempo.
Pacing the Cage: I couldn’t not find a free tab that was worth mentioning but I did find two versions that you can pay for. Both are very accurate and are in a tab/standard notation form. Version 1: $5.50 to download from musicnotes.com Version 2: $3.95 to download from freehandmusic.com
Foxglove: Tuned to open C, this is transcribed to power tab and is almost identical to my “All the Diamonds” songbook.
Wondering Where The Lions Are: ASCII tab again but gives you the main motive pretty accurately which is pretty much 90% of the song.
Dear Dancing Round a Broken Mirror and Water Into Wine: Very good transcriptions, one in Powertab. You will have to subscribe to the Bruce Cockburn musicians group in Yahoo groups and the tab can be found in the files sections. Many other good tabs and ideas that will set you in the right direction in learning other Bruce’s songs.
Haven’t had much time to play this past week because I decided to paint the room I practice in. I needed change. The nice thing about tooling around the house is that I turn on the iPod and jam on some tunes. I’ve had Colin Hay’s “Man at Work” CD on my mind a lot lately, so it’s my next in my “what’s in my CD collection” recommendation list.
If you are a fan of the 80’s, you are probably familiar with Colin Hay and his band Men at Work. With songs like “Overkill,” “Down Under” and “Who Could it be Now,” I remember watching them on MTV back in the day when MTV actually played music videos. The 80’s were over and Colin Hay seemed to have disappeared.
Maybe Not…
A couple of years ago, I was watching an episode of Scrubs and Hay played an acoustic version of “Overkill” and it was amazing and much better than the 80’s version. Which leads to the “Man at Work” release which such acoustic versions of some of the 80’s Men at Work classics like “Overkill” (my favorite) and “Down Under”. He also has some new stuff that is reflective and thought provoking like e “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin” and “Beautiful World.” If you don’t have this, you won’t be sorry if you get it. These are also great to learn to play and sing along. I’m working on “Overkill” and “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin” myself.
9.13.08: For those of you that are trying to figure out “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin,” the song is in standard tuning, played in G with the capo at the 4th fret. Most of the song is C-Maj – D-Maj to G-Maj.
If you are like me, you probably own quite a few guitars. With all of those guitars in your arsenal, do you own your dream guitar yet? The one that you long for and would buy it if you had the money and the chance. My dream guitar is a made by Canadian Luthier, Linda Manzer and I’m afraid that it will remain just that…. a dream.
I first discovered Manzer guitars about five years ago I saw Bruce Cockburn in Boulder, Colorado. I have heard many times that when it comes to guitars, we listen with our eyes. Let’s just say that with a Manzer guitar your eyes won’t be disappointed. They are beautiful! The tone is exquisite and a joy to listen to. I also helps that Bruce really knows how to make it sing. Other notable Manzer lovers are Pat Methany and Carlos Santana. Methany owns the famous Pikasso(Pictured right), which is an intimidating instrument to look at it, let alone play it. As you can see, the craftsmanship on these guitars are first rate and with such high quality of guitars made, the popularity and demand increases.
When I first dreamt about owning a Manzer, there was about a 12 month waiting list because she only makes about 15 guitars a year. Next thing you know, it’s an eighteen months and today, the waiting list is closed so she can “catch up.” One day, I was tooling around on the Internet and stumbled on the Dream Guitars site. I noticed that they had a Manzer in the used list. For grins, I checked it out and see how much it would cost. $17,000! Now you know why it’s only a dream. Whether or not this is a ridiculous price or not is best left for a different post. You can bet that you will not see a post about my new Manzer unless I get the winning lotto numbers.
So what is your dream guitar? Is it attainable or will it always be a dream?
In 2001, I stumbled upon a CD that changed my musical life. The CD was called “Drum, Hat, Buddha” by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. My first experience was a 30 second clip, “Disappearing Man,” where the pure, piercing voice of Tracy Grammer captured my attention. I was instantly a fan and got the CD. Upon further listening, I began to take notice of the songwriting of Dave Carter and it truly moved me. His lyrics and honest voice will conjure images in your mind that are so vivid, it feels as if you are experiencing the story personally. I was excited with my new discovery and hoped for a day to experience their music live.
To my dismay, Dave Carter left this world six years ago today and only months after I was lucky enough to discover this treasure. I was disappointed and saddened that I would never see him live or hear any new music. Thankfully, Tracy and a strong community of Dave Carter fans have faithfully kept his music alive for all to hear. So today, like many Dave Carter fans, it is with a heavy heart that I will listen to all my Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer CD’s and celebrate the life of a true American treasure.
in his pursuit of overcoming writers block.
and Hay played an acoustic version of “Overkill” and it was amazing and much better than the 80’s version. Which leads to the “Man at Work” release which such acoustic versions of some of the 80’s Men at Work classics like “Overkill” (my favorite) and “Down Under”. He also has some new stuff that is reflective and thought provoking like e “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin” and “Beautiful World.” If you don’t have this, you won’t be sorry if you get it. These are also great to learn to play and sing along. I’m working on “Overkill” and “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin” myself.
