{"id":141829,"date":"2023-10-18T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=141829"},"modified":"2023-10-17T09:38:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T16:38:09","slug":"fresh-look-at-on-top-of-old-smoky-on-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/fresh-look-at-on-top-of-old-smoky-on-guitar\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking a Fresh Look at the Centuries-Old Waltz \u201cOn Top of Old Smoky\u201d on Guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W-tTdqVzN4s?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn Top of Old Smoky\u201d (sometimes spelled Smokey) is a traditional folk song with roots extending back to England, perhaps as far as the 16th century. It\u2019s a mournful, lonesome waltz with a sweet, lilting melody and a lyric full of regret and bitterness. Passed from generation to generation for centuries, \u201cOld Smoky\u201d has been recorded in a wide variety of styles by all sorts of artists\u2014to name just a handful, Libby Holman, Pete Seeger, the Weavers (whose version reached the pop charts in 1951), Connie Francis, and Bruce Springsteen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The song is customarily played with a simple three-chord progression, containing just the I, IV, and V chords, or C, F, and G, respectively, in the key of G major. That certainly gets the job done, but I like to do some harmonic embellishments. For instance, instead of just sticking with the C chord for the duration of bars 2\u20135, I add the relative minor chord, Am, in measure 4. I do the same thing with G and Em in bars 6\u20139. And in measure 10, instead of playing a regular open D chord, I add the third, F#, in the bass, followed by a D7, also with a low note of F#.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In terms of the picking hand, I use a classic waltz pattern: a bass note on beat 1 (either the root or the fifth of the chord), followed by downstroke strums on 2 and 3, sometimes with an upward strum added on the \u201cand\u201d of the beat. Little details like these help bring fresh color and anticipation to this old waltz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"322\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C322&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"&quot;On Top of Old Smoky&quot; Guitar music notation sheet 1\" class=\"wp-image-141831\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C322&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-1.jpg?resize=500%2C157&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-1.jpg?resize=768%2C241&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-1.jpg?resize=300%2C94&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-1.jpg?w=1079&amp;ssl=1 1079w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"755\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-2.jpg?resize=755%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"&quot;On Top of Old Smoky&quot; Guitar music notation sheet 2\" class=\"wp-image-141832\" style=\"width:750px;height:1017px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-2.jpg?resize=755%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 755w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-2.jpg?resize=369%2C500&amp;ssl=1 369w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1042&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-2.jpg?resize=221%2C300&amp;ssl=1 221w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/AG343-OLD-SMOKY-NOTATION-2.jpg?w=1079&amp;ssl=1 1079w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-343-november-december-2023\" name=\"magazine\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 198px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/001_343_Cover-150px.jpg?w=1290&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Acoustic Guitar magazine cover for issue 343\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><\/a>\n<p style=\"font-family: sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15px 0px;\">This article originally appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/store.acousticguitar.com\/products\/no-343-november-december-2023\">November\/December 2023<\/a> issue of <em>Acoustic Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Singer-songwriter Maurice Tani teaches how to add fresh color and anticipation to a traditional favorite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":129105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"Singer-songwriter Maurice Tani teaches how to add fresh color and anticipation to a traditional favorite.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1653],"tags":[1088,1930],"ppma_author":[1592],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Maurice-Tani-holding-guitar.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":1592,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"maurice-tani","display_name":"Maurice Tani","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Maurice-Tani-holding-guitar.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Maurice-Tani-holding-guitar.jpg"},"user_url":"http:\/\/www.mauricetani.com\/","last_name":"Tani","first_name":"Maurice","description":"Maurice Tani is a veteran singer-songwriter and alt-country band leader based in California. 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