Melita (with tutorial)

"Melita" was written by the English composer John Bacchus Dykes in 1861 and appeared as one the tunes in that famous Victorian publication "Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern". Dykes fit­ting­ly named the tune af­ter a lo­cale as­so­ci­at­ed with a Bib­li­cal ship­wreck. (Mel­i­ta was the isl­and the Apos­tle Paul reached af­ter his ship went down (Acts 28:1); to­day we know it as the isle of Mal­ta). It's usually associated with the hymn written by William Whiting in 1860 "Eternal Father, Strong To Save" or "Those In Peril On The Sea". He wrote the lyr­ics as a po­em for a stu­dent about to sail for Amer­i­ca.

The tune uses quite simple chords, but they range all over the fretboard, so it's an excellent tune for practicing your barred chords on! It may have been written in the mid 19th century, but it has a very gospelly feel to it. I'm playing it in C - three times through - and then following that with a slow chorus with the chord names on the screen. You can get the tabs and chords, with a lead line in standard notation, from my website at:

http://www.mjra.net/WillFly/tabs.shtml

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Will
• Fly
• John
• Bacchus
• Dykes
• acoustic
• guitar
• fingerstyle
• fingerpicking
• Victorian
• hymn
• gospel
• tunes

[adjohns1]

Will: is that a ZOOM (H2) used for the recording? If not, what do you use?

Thanks for your work.

[HenfieldWill]

Yes - that's a zoom H2. I'm using the wider angle mic atcthe back to pick up the guitar tonal range. :-)

[lw216316]

Will,

Let me see if I understand your barre chords correctly.

Are all of the barre chords you are using based on the E-form and C-form

moved up the neck ?

- Larry

[HenfieldWill]

They are indeed - you can see the shapes from the tabs on my website. :-)

[floridamg]

Thanks. Enjoyed your performance then had fun playing it with your help. JW