Some Christmas Music

[sunvalleylaw]

Oh WOW Jim that was awesome!!! Great playing and arrangement...and I love Christmas music! Made my day totally thanks!

Yeah, isn't it great?! I love the Peanuts piece. I am a Peanuts special addict anyway. I even still remember the Dolly Madison ads and the early CocaCola commercials (I want to give the world a Coke . . . . ) from those days. For those young enough that they didn't start watching TV til the 80s or so, remember, no VCRs or TiVo. If you missed it, you were hosed.

The other (non-Christmas) songs on Jim's sounclick page are awesome too! :

[Tone2TheBone]

Yeah, isn't it great?! I love the Peanuts piece. I am a Peanuts special addict anyway. I even still remember the Dolly Madison ads and the early CocaCola commercials (I want to give the world a Coke . . . . ) from those days. For those young enough that they didn't start watching TV til the 80s or so, remember, no VCRs or TiVo. If you missed it, you were hosed.

The other (non-Christmas) songs on Jim's sounclick page are awesome too! :

I was raised on Peanuts and actually lived near the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm ok I'm just kidding.

We're near the same age so I also remember the Coke and Dolly Madison commercials. And we're both ex Dogtown skaters. :

[sunvalleylaw]

Hi Steve,

Thanks so much for digging these songs up and listenting to them again. It's hard to believe that I was working on these nearly 1 year ago.

In terms of the arrangement, I was trying to copy the same arrangement that I'd learned with a cover band that I'd played with, but I did change the key to A so that I could use some open string voicings to help out with covering the melody and keeping the bass line going. I find that I need to do that when I'm trying get that Chet Atkins alternating bass style going. When you find the right key for the song you can take advantage of open string voicings to get cover alot more ground.

You're right about the chord changes only changing it to the key of A.
Good luck on your performance!

-- Jim

Thanks Jim. What I am going to do will be a lot more basic than your beautiful performances, but I can take inspiration and instruction from listening. Thanks for sharing them.

[jpfeifer]

Thanks again guys. "I'm not worthy"
I listen to my tunes and hear all the warts, but it's nice to know that some people like them.

I really love the music from the original Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I used to watch that show every time it aired (once per year) in the days before Tivo. "The Wizard of Oz" was the same way. You could only see it at Thanksgiving and that was it for the whole year.

I think that the music is a big part of why the Charlie Brown Christmas Special was so good. You had this really cool Jazz music with all these interesting chords as the sound track to what was supposed to be a children's show. That music made all the characters seem more interesting in some way. Snoopy wouldn't have appeared so cool if he was dancing to something other than the "Linus and Lucy" theme. I was reading an interview with Charles Shultz who was talking about that first animated Christmas Special that he made and he mentioned that the network absolutely hated it and almost pulled the plug on it when they first saw it. They thought the music was too sophisticated for kids to appreciate and they hated the animation. It's funny how wrong these guys were about the whole thing.

-- Jim

[sunvalleylaw]

I was raised on Peanuts and actually lived near the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm ok I'm just kidding.

We're near the same age so I also remember the Coke and Dolly Madison commercials. And we're both ex Dogtown skaters. :

That's right brotha! Thanks Jim for helping re-live our TV influenced youth again.

[sunvalleylaw]

Hi Jim, digging up this thread once again! I love your stuff, and am still trying to learn a version of "Christmastime", which I agree is one of my all time favorites. The chords are so cool.

I found this little tutorial for a version in E, which the instructor thinks is easier than the original F for guitar. I tabbed it out for myself based on what he is showing and a chord calculator, and he voices the chords a little differently, but it seems to sound nice. What do you think? Any tips for me?

Thanks!

Steve

Also, I was thinking of using a pick instead of fingerstyle like he is doing. (EDIT: not gunna work without changing some stuff. Fingers work better).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbh7hfKP91I


EDIT: I just tried working through these chords, and this is going to take me a LONG time to get right. Boy, makes me respect and admire all the more your beautiful playing on this great song!

[Jimi75]

Ahhh Jim that's great. Thanks for posting. Your guitar playing is really inspiring.
I appreicate when someone manages to catch the atmosphere of Christmas with his music and you did this in a great manner!

[jpfeifer]

Thanks Jimi, I appreciate it.

I love working out solo guitar arrangements. They are always the most challenging and the whole process of making a solo guitar arrangement (of any song) teaches me a lot of things.

--Jim

[helliott***]

No idea how I missed this, but very glad I found it now. Super work to be proud of, and many thanks for sharing it.

[sunvalleylaw]

BUMP!! For those of you who have not heard Jim's beautiful playing, and for those who may want a little bump into the Christmas spirit. Enjoy Jim's music linked at the beginning of the thread!

I still want to learn to play "Christmastime is Here" and still don't have it down. I will have to break out the Hagstrom and give it a go again!

[jpfeifer]

Hey thanks a lot Steve! I appreciate it.

--Jim

[sunvalleylaw]

Holy Holiday Thread Revival!!!

I just had to bump this thread as part of wishing all the Fretters here a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! Jim shared these tunes way back in 2006 just a couple months after I had first joined The Fret. I thought his arrangements and playing were so beautiful back then and still do. So do yourselves a favor and go to Jim's Soundclick page and check out The Christmas Song, Christmas Time is here, and Jingle Bell Rock. Perfect for bringing in the season.

I hope that all you Fretters are well and enjoying the season. I hope also the new year brings you health and happiness, and that more of us find time to share our passions and friendship here at Robert's amazing forum. I love you all. Merry Chistmas!!