John Martyn Small Hours- A Cover

Tuning one tone down from cfccgd. Mag pickup on Maton acoustic. Line 6 dl4, autovolume setting + delay and repeats at about 60 and 70 percent of max respectively. [After enquiry: The mag pickup is a coil fitted inside wood, brand is 'Shadow' and was fairly cheap but slips in the sound hole-solution-duct tape out, obviously why JMs acoustics usually had tape all over 'em]

Category:

Music

Tags:

• john
• martyn
• cover
• acoustic
• guitar
• fingerstyle
• small
• hours
• line6
• dl4
• delay
• echoplex

[pikenekue]

Wow. Awesome cover, man, love it. This is a special song for me. Watching you performing it, and with your explanations, maybe I'll dare to give it a try. Thank you so much.

[ianmcgeachy]

if you're giving it a go- see the latest cover by me-i show the chord chart -timed, movie style, for this.

Thanks for your appreciation.

-Ian

[ianmcgeachy]

Thanking you muchly for your appreciation. Look forwards to some JM from you as well my fellow philosopher!

-Ian

[ianmcgeachy]

Cheers for the comments and appreciation Ben. I'm gradually working on another version of Small Hours (and also One World), still not fully happy wi' em yet though. Its the blending of any vocals wi' guitar thats really hard with the echoplex stuff imo.

The balance/emphasis, and plus the fact John had such a bleeding great voice!!

Aye, the Maton is nice and does handle the low tunings.

And there's a few JM guitar nuttas around-looks you're another of the afflicted then!!

-keep pickin

[ianmcgeachy]

Thanks for the comment. I also had problem like that (esp the very slack 3rd string-even fretting too hard is bad) and switched to medium/heavy .011to.049 strings. Exacerbated because of the low tuning in cfccgd, and I use one tone down from that! I now use a vol pedal also -inline just after the delay -esp' lets me 'swell' on the Fm7add11 chord at the 5th fret (in cfccgd) and the Dm7add11 chord at the 2nd fret, and get 'control' better of what comes out the amp.

-keep in touch squire!.

-ian

[irvpav]

great version Ian I'm going to try acoustic

The lite gauge aspect of the strings on my strat or tele make the chords hard to hit in the low tuning without bending the pitch..

I'm thinking of getting a volume pedal also.

[ianmcgeachy]

Thanks very much! At some point I may/should upload another attempt at this -using drum beats in the background, as John Martyn did originally.

I'm also in two minds whether to stay with acoustic + pickup, or use electric guitar. They both have their benefits/problems.

All the best,

-ian

[NickCarr1]

Brilliant Sir. Love the sound you get on this

[ianmcgeachy]

NIce to hear from you Jesse..(esp after a bad day at work).and thanks for the comment. The pickup is 'Shadow' (wood with coil inside) well advertised -here in Oz. The delay is line6 dl4- a multi delay 'modelling box'-models echoplex and more. BUT hard to get right setting-used 'autovolume' setting rather than 'echoplex'. Set by ear to 'headache tempo' or 'seagull cries'-delay interval. Am now trying again also using volume pedal and drumbeat-like John did. Tried 'Strat' but found acoustic best!

[JesseMathews]

man this is great Ian.. also the sound is amazing, may I ask what gear are you using, pickup on guitar and the delay effect ?

Cheers,

Jesse.