Windy and Warm fingering help required (please!!)

[JD]

I'm really stuck on the C9 section of the finger style song Windy and Warm as played by Doc Watson. I'm not doing so hot on the second G before that either.

About the only thing I have down pretty good is the repeat part/catchy bit in section A that you go back to throughout the song.

I was wondering if someone would look at this picture of the C9 notes and suggest some fingerings for them before I throw my guitar out the window in frustration! Any help much appreciated, thank you.

If you're really feeling helpful the second G leading into the C9 would help too, but it's the first C9 that is really killing me. For the second C9 I've been using fingers 1,2,3 on the third fret and using finger
4 to play fret 5. Depending on suggestions for the first C9 I may have to change that to get a decent flow.

I'll put this as a link so you can choose to click or not. Thanks for any help, I'm still pretty new to guitar.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x91/ ... dyhard.jpg

[IkeKrull]

Thumb-over the top, barre the bottom 2 strings, first finger on the 2nd fret of the D-string, and then hold the others on the 3rd fret using a partial barre with one of your fingers (ring works best for me). You might also be able to mash your middle, ring and pinky in there too fretting one string per finger.

Personally, i find this kind of thing hard to play smoothly as i have short fingers, so while i can usually fret the low-E with my thumb, getting my hand in position to fret the E and the A is a bitch.

Still, thats the only obvious way i can see to play that 3-3-2-3-3-3 C9 chord.

[JD]

Thanks, I'll try that!
Anything is better than staring at it in frustration.

Edit:
I tried the thumb over the top but that won't work for me. Combination of a ten year old boy's sized hands and a classical guitar wide neck. For that matter I doubt I could do it on my steel string. I can manage an F chord with the thumb over the top method, but reaching the A string is out.

So I think I'll try breaking the C9 up and playing with 2 on the c note, 1-3 on the e and d, 3-2 on the b flat g or maybe stick a bar in there until the e on the second fret d string again.

Or, maybe experiment with leaving the occasional note out and see how that sounds, lol.

[Capt. Black]

9ths are hard at first but fun once you've got them down.

Thumb over the top works well if you have big hams.

Small fingers should be easier to play 9th chords in a more orthodox style.

Middle finger 3rd fret (A string) C, index finger on 2nd fret (D string) E, ring finger on 3rd fret (G & B strings). You can use the pinky on the B string but I like to fret the lighter strings with my ring finger and leave the pinky to move around on variations.

There's an old David Bowie song from Station to Station called Stay. It all 9ths through the verses and its great for practicing playing them up and down the neck.

Prize if you can figure out the chords in the chorus without the tab.

[JD]

Excellent! I'm just home for lunch heading back to work in a minute so I can't try this now but I will as soon as I get home. Thanks heaps.

Edit: Yep, that's definitely it. Yay! Thanks a lot, I can practice that now. It is quite a handful though! Fingerful? Should be a bit easier with the capo on and the frets closer together. [later] Yes, it IS easier further down the neck.[/later]

I think for the g note on the low e string I'll stick my thumb over it then my finger is still on the three fret for the next c9 and the pinky can scoot around as I have been playing it for that fifth fret.

Thanks again for the help. It's nice that on a couple of my varied attempts I was close, lol. Boy it really had me pulling my hair out. I'm very grateful. And relieved. Thanks tonnes.

Any suggestions for the G before it?

[Capt. Black]

I just clicked the link and looked at the chart for the first time now.

Never seen that bottom row type of notation but it was quite easy to follow. The G looks to be a standard Bar chord.

Just checking, when you say you are pretty new to guitar, are you familiar with the basic chord shapes and moving them up and down the neck using bar chords?

[JD]

No, not really, I learned to play classical fifteen years ago (the fingering is the same ie. for G it's pinky on the bottom and third finger at the top e etc. but it isn't written as "G") and just lately decided to pick the guitar up again. I'm still playing some classical at about early grade three and comfortably/easily at grade two.

I'm just at the point now where I am working on higher positions on the neck. ie. I'd previously learnt all the notes on the first six frets and just lately all the notes on the high and low e string and can play them competently in songs from notation and I'll be working on the rest of the notes on the next string in the book I'm working from when I get around to it. I've just been memorizing a few favorite classical songs (ie. Ben Bolt's arrangement of Scarborough Fair) before I get to that. All work and no play is...no fun.

Meanwhile I'm learning Windy and Warm because I really like it and it isn't too hard once I get the fingering sorted. I have section A down really well including the slurs, hammer ons and slide up the frets but once in a while like on that C9 I run into a snag where I don't know the easist way to finger it so I'm not moving my hands more than I need to. I don't believe I've ever run into that particular chord before, lol.

In that G preceding the C9, for instance there are a couple notes thrown in there and I thought there might be a way of having them all down at the start of the G.

Watching a video of Doc playing it, he seems to play the first G the way I would classically then he changes to thumb over the neck on the second one. He must have a reason, probably to play those two odd notes out before the C9. It's sometimes hard to see in videos exactly what's going on though.
So I thought someone might have an alternative suggestion to the way I'm doing it at the moment which is to take my hand out of the G and play those notes I think with my first and second finger.

And with that, lunch is over and back to work I go!



Edit again: Yep, tried that G as bar at three fret and it works well, thanks.