Trees Have Soul is the title cut off of Willy Porter's first
album. It sounds best when played on an amplified acoustic,
which gives the tapping a nice percussive-like sound.
The piece uses an alternate tuning and is played fairly
fast. I've only included the intro but I'll submit the
rest soon.
Performance notes:
To play this song (Texts of songs ) you will first have to retune your guitar.
First, tune the sixth string down to C. Next, tune the fifth
string to an octave below the third string (G). The fourth and
third strings stay at D and G. Next, tune the second string
up one-half step to C. Finally, tune the first string down one
step to D.
Almost the entire piece consists of two-handed tapping.
The bass part is played with right handed hammer-ons while
the melody is played with left handed hammer-ons and pull-offs,
the only exceptions being the first note of the song (Texts of songs ) and the
first note of the ninth measure, which are plucked normally,
and the harmonics near the end.
I've included changing time signatures (6/8 to 10/8 to 4/4).
However, the song (Texts of songs ) is basically all eighth-notes (except
the bass notes which are held for the length of the measure).
Beginning in measure 25, Willy starts a beautiful run of
natural harmonics using a second fret hammer-on and -off
for rhythm. Play the harmonics using your right hand index
finger to touch the string while plucking with your thumb.
Timing is very important here for the right effect. Listening
to the album will help greatly.
Good luck and I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I do.
D----------------------------|-----------------------------|
C----------------------------|-----------------------------|
G-------h5-p0----h5-p0----h5-|---p4-p0----h4-p0-h2-h5-p0---|
D----------------------------|---------h5------------------|
G----------------------------|-----------------------------|
C----h5-------h5-------h5----|-----------------------------|
* Hold bass note through next measure
D----------------------------|-----------------------------|
C----------------------------|-----------------------------|
G-------h5-p4-p0----h4-p0-h2-|---h5-p0-h7-p5-p0-h2-h5-p0---|
D----------------h5----------|-----------------------------|
G----------------------------|-----------------------------|
C----h5----------------------|-----------------------------|
* Hold bass note for two measures
