Nettle Wine - Ralph McTell

[grandplans]

that sounds very nice



[persephone608]

Must be one of the most difficult of Ralphs songs,to play and sing at the same time,and you have covered it really well,wish i could play half as good,but you,ve given me inspiration to try harder many thanks and thanks for the video.

[houndheadhenry]

@persephone608 thanks very much, keep pickin' :-)

[persephone608]

@houndheadhenry Thanks for reply,and your welcome,could you maybe cover ''Barges'' or Mike Chapman songs, an artist who i have admired for a long time and with your standard of playing would not find too difficult.Look forward to hearing more of your playing,or maybe you have music of your own,best wishes.

[Bjowolf2]

@persephone608

Keep practicing - you will get there ;-)

I too found it very difficult to get to sound right and played it with too little flow

& poor timing. You can learn a lot from listining to and watching HHH play this

gem of Ralph's to perfection.

The trick is to use the strings as slide guides - ie. not taking your fingers off them,

when you go up and down the board in the intro and first verse parts. That really

helps a lot, I think.

[persephone608]

@Bjowolf2 Many thanks for your tip on playing'' nettle wine','i found it very useful and have been practicing this a lot in the last week or so,Houndheadhenry makes it look so easy though.

[Bjowolf2]

@persephone608

Great! - you are welcome ;-)

Another trick is to "just" focus on the melody part along with the bass line and

then add the rhytmic picking patters & fills later on as you feel more confident

and the chord changes are more fluent. They will often follow naturally, I think.

So find out which notes are the mel. part. Wish they would mark up those notes

- makes it so much easier to make sense of it all, once you - and your poor fingers ;-) -

know that.

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

Yes, he is a "most annoying" person, who even builds his own guitars LOL

Isn't there a law of some sort against so much talent in one person? :o)

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

But then again, he is a great inspiration to a lot of us pickers -

it is indeed possible!

Please let me know, how it goes for you. Maybe I shall have to

pull myself together and "finish" the parts in a hurry that I lack or that are

less fluent - before you overtake me, I mean ;-)

So when can we expect to see your video then? :o)

[Bjowolf2]

@persephone608

Yes, this one, "That'll do Babe", "Hands of Joseph", "Leah's Favourite"

and of course most of the other rag time stuff. Also the new one "Reverend Thunder"

or "Blind Faith" as it's also called. Think I have finally figured most of it out by now

through mere trial and error - except for those cool licks way up the fret board. GRRR!

It took me ages to get HoJ to sound passable - bit for bit :-)

[renoskydust]

thanks pal i loved the versatility on guitar ..all the best renoskydust

[houndheadhenry]

@renoskydust thanks for watching, glad you liked it :-)

[Northernspotter101]

Thats impressive my friend.I have been playing for two years now and have got into ralph mctell in a big way.

best wishes from dave in liverpool

[houndheadhenry]

Glad to hear Ralph is still winning new fans :-) Learning to play is a challenging but rewarding journey, and the true benefit is the joy it brings you when you play something you have always wanted to play, whatever that might be and however simple it might seem to others, its your achievement and yours alone. Keep at it friend :-)

[rustino08]

awesome playing mate!!

[MrBleach01]

I thought only Ralph could play this song... nice job, you are quite gifted.

[houndheadhenry]

thank you :-)

[Poopaloo55]

We tried this when we were camping...kept the bears awake! Nice to see how it should be done (although we`ll never do it this well...LOL!!). Thanks!

[rudedanny]

Thanks for showing us how this song has to be played.

I too had the book you mentioned in one of your earlier replies and no matter how I tried I have never been able to master this piece. I'm not good at moving my hand all over the fretboard at every quartetone.

That same book (containing lyrics and tabs for the albums Not Till Tomorrow, Easy and Streets...) did teach me other songs of Ralph though...

I have lost the book somewhere and am still looking for another copy...

Brilliant rendition

[houndheadhenry]

thanks rudedanny :-) I learnt a lot from that same book, unlocked the whole fingerstyle thing for me :-) mine's in a right state now :-)

[houndheadhenry]

ps copies turn up on Ebay regularly

[rudedanny]

I'll look out for it straight away... thinks for the tip...;-)

[robinkane1]

brilliant. I'm a three chord man. Can't guess how hard this is to play. Give Britains Got Talent a go. I'll def. Vote.

[houndheadhenry]

hmmm, but could I concentrate with Amanda watching me :-~

[GeoffHoare]

Superb!!! I've always wanted to play this one but couldn't even get started. Is there a tab available anywhere?

[houndheadhenry]

Hi, thanks very much :-) the tab was available in book published in the mid 70's which is how i got started with it, although it has evolved somewhat over the years. Its also in a book that is currently still available from Ralph's official website if wish.

[quicksilver300]

You have mastered this song and made it look so easy to play, but that is not the case as I have discovered. But I will get my "Fylde" out and give it another work out.

Many thanks for your fine playing, a joy to listen to.

[houndheadhenry]

You shouldn't have put your Fylde away in the first place :-) But seriously, thanks for taing the toruble to watch and comment, its much appreciated. More videos are coming very soon :-)

[houndheadhenry]

thanks :-)

[josabp]

Oh that's just brilliant.

[dejay823]

One of my favourites and one of Ralph's most difficult songs to play. You mastered it perfectly - can't get enough of it. Well done, mate!!!

[houndheadhenry]

cheers for the kind comment mate, glad you liked it :-)

[Acoustictalk]

Excellent!!

[InKlInG479]

Completly wondeful song, =) and fantastic cover! =D

[wiganlad56]

great cover m8... even sounds like him :-)... what tuning is the guitar in pls

[houndheadhenry]

thanks :-) Its just plain old dropped d

[Bjowolf2]

@wiganlad56

it's in Dropped-D - ie. lower E -string tuned down to D.

Start with a D-chord on 5'th fret - pure magic!

[amazongift]

great job mate 5*****..Mel

[plynchmusic]

Another nice job. thanks

[P0tbum]

Good Stuff!

[Colodepolo]

Wow Great Stuff mate 5/5!

[eyesofsteel]

Hi triple H! Very nicely performed. Thanks for all your posts.

[houndheadhenry]

:-) Thanks to you too for watching and posting a positvie comment :-)

[eyesofsteel]

Very easy to do triple H. You are very talented!

[ElvenDane]

Wonderful, HHH - excellent version.

I must go and practice immediately -

I am slowly getting there, but I may still

need a few hints in a "couple" of places LOL

H.

[pinknblues1]

Mighty fine pickin'there hhh, possibly one of Ralphs most difficult songs from a guitarists point of view, but you have done a perfect job here well done, have an extra pint tonite!

[houndheadhenry]

oooh, ta, I'll look forward to downing it :-)

[ElvenDane]

have one on me too, hhh LOL

[dlmosca]

The best way to play it! Amazing