Hey kathrynt!

[annathepiper]

Or anyone else who has the Music Clue... I've worked out the melody line to "John Barbour" off of Something Beautiful*, but damned if I can figure out what this melody's key is supposed to be. I want to say that B flat is the tonic, but I just don't know! Input, anyone? I thought that if I could get the melody line that'd help me figure out the chords, but so far, my guesses as to what chords would go with these notes have been wrong.

C    D    D   C Bb C    D   C
What ails you, my daughter dear?

Bb   Bb    C    C   A  Bb
Your eyes, they are so dim

Bb   A   G   F F D    G   G
Have you had any sore sickness,

Bb Bb  A    G   G    F    G G
Or yet been sleepin' with a man?

Bb C   D   D   C Bb C   D   C
I have not had any sore sickness,

Bb  Bb Bb  C      C  A   Bb
But I know what's ailin' me

Bb  Bb  A    G  F  D   G    G
I'm thinkin' of my own true love

Bb Bb    A   G  F   G
He plows the ragin' sea

Bb Bb    Bb  C  D   Bb
He plows the ragin' sea

Comments

[annathepiper]

A capo is the clamp-thingie you're thinking of, yes. Their actual shape seems to differ depending on model and instrument; my guitar capo is a clamp, but my mandolin/bouzouki capo is this strand of elastic that winds around the neck of the instrument and hooks together.

Short form of what a bouzouki is: it's like a mandolin, only bigger, but not as big as a guitar. Let me know if you want a longer form. :)

The song's definitely in B flat--the good Mr. McCann said so. What I will most likely do it with it is the capo thing, but I'm not sure yet where I'll capo to. If I do what the GBS boys were doing, that would be a capo on the third fret, which would mean playing chords that natively belong in the key of G... but I'm not too uncomfy with the key of A, either, so I might capo on the second fret instead. Either way, the song would still come out in B flat.

Though I do like the idea of actually transposing it up to C and playing around with the positioning of my capo accordingly, based on how annoying the chords are in that key. :) I could sing the song much more easily then.