David Levine playing 'America' by John Fahey

John Fahey's 'America' played by myself when I was 15 or 16. I do hope the ghost of Fahey forgives me for skipping a chunk of 'America.' He would probably be too drunk to notice, anyways. This is dedicated to an old girlfriend, Bridey, who first made me fall for her when she told me she "absolutely loves John Hurt."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• John
• Fahey
• Leo
• Kottke
• American
• Primitive
• Guitar
• Charley
• Patton
• Blind
• Blake
• Skip
• James
• Delta
• Blues

[SylvainBrunerie]

I just don't understand why you skipped the part at 0:14. You seem to master the entire song and yet you choose to skip one of the most beautiful parts in it. Other than that, it's great!

[Arsenal123456123]

@SylvainBrunerie To be honest, I couldn't figure it out. Right before I recorded this, I hadn't owned a 12-string. So prior to buying the guitar, I went to a guitar store twice and figured it out on one of the store's 12-strings. The fast, main part of the song came so quickly and naturally to me in those two 30-minute guitar sessions at the store that I decided it was good enough for me to record. I'm in my 20's now.... I should learn the slower part. You're right.

[Dooyon]

Impressive.

I need to get a 12 string guitar for this song. Do you go to drop C for the song or just drop d?

[Arsenal123456123]

Thanks. You just tune your low E string down to D.

[greybeard73]

This tune made me buy a 12 string guitar (a martin d12-20), and start playing with fingerpicks. I still haven't covered all of it, but eventually I will. (Yes, I skipped the easy part too). It is in dropped D-tuning, but most old 12-string guitars are tuned down and you have to use a capo if you want to play along with Fahey.

I am impressed by your picking when you were 15 - 16 years old. Keep on playing guitar!