Andrew Lardner
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"When the Springtime Comes Again" by John Fahey
🕑 Added 2024-01-01 15:01:02 +0000 UTCFriends:
Im pleased to close out 2023 with one of Fahey's most epic collages. "When the Springtime Comes Again" was first commercially released on the Death Chants, Breakdowns, & Military Waltzes album in 1963 (this track was actually recorded in February of 1962). It progressed through many different forms over the course of many years. The re-recording of the Death Chants album was released in late 1967. The included recording is probably the version of the piece many will be familiar with. Things start getting interesting with this take recorded in 1966 titled "The Fahey Sampler." This was actually recorded in the earlier portion of 1966 and contained pieces of "When the Springtime Comes Again," "The Transcendental Waterfall," and a third melody which I don't recognize from any other Fahey tunes. This version sets the stage for Fahey's use of collage to piece together many melodic ideas into one grand piece of music.
The recording of "When the Springtime Comes Again" that I'm most interested in comes from the Guitar Guitar television show in 1969. Here he introduces the piece as being untitled. Unfortunately, we only get to hear the first few minutes of his interpretation. This has always been my favorite version of the piece, yet I was teased with only a few minutes of how it may have been performed at the time. There was, of course, what I think of as the final version titled "Mark 1:15" which was recorded about two years later for the America release. For some reason, I found myself most attracted to the slightly simplified version from 2 years prior.
If we were going to come up with a version that accurately represented the form and the style of the version he was playing in 1969 we were going to need more recordings. Fortunately, a second recording from 1969 recently surfaced, though again, only in a small portion. Here is Fahey playing the last few minutes of the piece from the Memphis Blues Festival in 1969. This was the first time I was able to hear how he ended the piece in this era. At this point we just needed the middle section to fill out the details of the transcription. I used his 1968 recording from The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick record to arrive at a complete version that hopefully most closely resembles how he may have played the piece in its entirety in 1969. This will probably be as close as we get until someone releases a complete recording from 1969.
The attached 23 pages of music is heavily edited to accurately reflect all of his fingerings, both in the right and left hand. Not all of the fingerings can be seen in the early video, but we also have a more recent performance of John playing this at the New Varsity theater that was used to fill in any missing details. Though most passages are simple, there's a lot of nuance to uncover and many important details in the tablature that will get you to play this exactly as Fahey did.
Finally, the lesson video for this one is quite long. Make sure to grab yourself a coffee. Remember, the lesson videos are created mostly to help clarify areas of the notation that may be harder to understand and share additional insight. These are not necessarily meant to play along with, though you could. You will still get the most out of reading the tablature, which by far takes the most amount of work to get ready for you.
Access the lesson video here: https://youtu.be/qmEgLjuRNBs
I think that is everything I wanted to say about the piece. If anybody has an original B&D S-6 that they want to part with please let me know! Haha. Please fill the comment section with additional thoughts or questions. I hope 2024 is a great year, and this piece of music is certainly a great way to kick it off.
Comments
Ben Knight
I noticed that in your performance video you're wearing the kind of classic blue work shirt Fahey was known for. Nice touch! Also noticed you pulling your watch up your forearm the same way in this and other videos, was that also intentional?
Andrew Lardner
No problem Matthew! My favorite fingerpicks are the propik f-tone, I get the kind with the double wrap. I would someday like to try to find some plastic style picks that I like but have a really hard time getting comfortable with them. Thumb picks are less important, I’ve been using Dunlop for a long time. I used a different thumb pick for this recording, it was not branded and heavier weight plastic. I felt like I was getting more bass response with it, but probably just my imagination. Good question about posture! I don’t think we’ve talked much about that here. I’ve always liked Scott tennant’s pumping nylon book for a general technique guide. It is geared toward classical guitar, but so much applies to fingerstyle. Classical players almost all use the same seated position with the guitar between the legs. The idea is to have the body in a neutral position with as little surface area of the instrument touching the body as possible to improve tone and projection. Fahey used this type of position with some modification. Alex de grassi would be another fingerstyle player that most often uses this type of position. Most others play over the right leg. I find this position most comfortable. What I tell my students is I like to have the weight of the right arm supported by the guitar. This can be achieved by resting the bicep on the side of the guitar near the lower bout. If you are keeping the neck parallel with the ground you can play with the left arm completely relaxed, so your elbow is near your waist. I have found this position to keep me relaxed and free of injury for the last 25 years. One thing I don’t mention much is how to use the left hand. Most literature will tell you to keep your thumb on the back of the neck. In this style of playing I find it advantageous to often use the palm on the back of the neck so I’m free to use the thumb to fret bass notes. Sometimes I hybridize and use both methods in a composition. Sometimes I do play an entire piece using the more traditional thumb on the back of the neck.
Matthew Hinkel
Hi Andrew, I’m sorry if this has been asked a million times before but do you have any recommendations for finger and thumb picks? That and any resource that might be helpful for posture and position with finger style guitar. I’m a convert from electric and would like to pursue a lot more in this realm. Thanks!
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