Tears with a pick.

Jeremy

Would I be able to achieve a good sound playing tears with a pick rather than with my fingers? I'm a classical guitarist, and playing fingerstyle on a steel string is not good for my nails, but I really want to learn this song.

manoucheguitars

HI Jeremy, Tears was the first Django composition I learned to play... HOWEVER I learned to play it WITH a pick and in A minor as opposed to C minor... play it in A minor and you get to use a lot more open strings and I think it sounds much better in A minor anyway. Purists wouldn't agree but not being a purist... The first time I heard it in A minor with a pick was on a version by Chet Atkins and Mark Knopler on an album titled "Neck and Neck". (I think that's right). It's a beautiful version and sounds much better than Djangos original. I have the whole thing in TAB if you want it. You can learn the whole version in a couple hours. Let me know and I can email it to you.

Robert

Sigurd

Actually, from what I know, tears is not a Django composition! It is a very old tune wich was played as early as around year 1600. It was Jon Larsen, the lead guitarist in Hot club Norvege who said this before performing the tune in a concert last year.
If I remember correctly, he also said that the tune was played by vivaldi, and that the title directly translated to english would be "cry" :shock:

Stackabones

Sigurd wrote:

Actually, from what I know, tears is not a Django composition! It is a very old tune wich was played as early as around year 1600. It was Jon Larsen, the lead guitarist in Hot club Norvege who said this before performing the tune in a concert last year.
If I remember correctly, he also said that the tune was played by vivaldi, and that the title directly translated to english would be "cry" :shock:

Wow! That's awesome info. Vivaldi, huh? Any more info? What's the title of the Vivaldi? "Cry" in Italian, right? So ... what's that? But it sounds like you said that it may before Vivaldi's time. There is some old chord sequence that has a Spanish name ... arrggh ... can't remember it right now!!!

Sigurd

Wow! That's awesome info

Yes, I always thought of that as a django composition :roll:
Jon Larsen had a whole story about this, who told him, what the original title was, but I just can't remember (sometimes I think I got a little touch of alzheimers :? )
The next time they come here to play, I'll ask him
This is a lovely tune btw

Jack

Look here for more information about the history of 'Tears'.

best,
Jack.

Stackabones

Jack wrote:

Look here for more information about the history of 'Tears'.

Nice!

... but nothing about Vivaldi?

Sigurd

... but nothing about Vivaldi?

The next time I see him, I'll ask him where he got it from.
Then I'll let you know

Stackabones

Sigurd wrote:

... but nothing about Vivaldi?

The next time I see him, I'll ask him where he got it from.
Then I'll let you know

Thanks! 8)

Super Mario Maccaferri

Nice info, I also thought Tears was one of Django's pieces.
Nice to read the old thread about it too, with the lyrics to a sung version in French.

There is a new one out called "Tous mes souvenirs me tuent" sung by Françoise Hardy (who happens to be the wife of Jacques Dutronc... and) mother of Thomas Dutronc which some of you may know from his sideman appearances in Bireli's Gipsy project. It's on her latest album I think and Thomas and Bireli play the guitars.


ps running the spellcheck I see I have it all good... and also that DJANGO doesn't trigger anything very positive from this system, which advises me to change it for TANGO :roll:

Tele295

I learned it from the Chet Atkins/Mark Knopfler album, and I believe it is in Cm on that disc. I could be wrong.

I do play it with a pick & fingers combination, but I am not copying anybody's version. Making a song one's own is the heart of "jazz" for me. YMMV