Tunings

BEST GUESSES ON NICK DRAKE TUNINGS:

--SONG--------------------------TUNING-----------CAPO?--------AT OLGA?--

----FIVE LEAVES LEFT----

Time Has Told Me D A D G D F# 3rd fret yes

River Man standard 3rd fret yes

Three Hours D A D G D F# ? no

Way To Blue standard no

Day is Done D A D G A D ? no

Cello Song D A D G D F# 1st fret yes

The Thoughts of Mary Jane D A D G D F# 1st fret

Man in a Shed D A D G D G ? no

Fruit Tree D G D D A D 2nd fret yes

Saturday Sun standard no yes

----BRYTER LAYTER----

Introduction D A D G D F# ? no

Hazey Jane II C G C F C E no yes

At the Chime of a City Clock standard down 1 fret yes

One of These Things First standard ? no

Hazey Jane I D A D G D F# no

Bryter Layter D G D D A D ? 3st fret ?

Fly D A D G D G 1st fret yes

Poor Boy standard ? no

Northern Sky D A D G D F# 1st fret yes

Sunday D G D D A D ? 1st

----PINK MOON----

Pink Moon D A D G D F# 1st fret yes

Place to Be D A D G A F# 3rd fret yes

Road D G D D A D 3rd fret yes

Which Will C G C F C E no yes

Horn standard down one

Things Behind the Sun D G D D A D 6th fret yes

Know standard no yes

Parasite D A D G D F# 2nd fret yes

Ride C G C F C E no

Harvest Breed D A D G D F# 1st fret yes

>From the Morning C G C F C F no yes

----TIME OF NO REPLY----

Time of No Reply standard down 2 frets

I Was Made to Love Magic D G D G A D ? no ?

Joey D G D G A D 5th fret yes

Clothes of Sand D G D G A D 3rd fret yes

Mayfair standard ? 3rd fret

Been Smoking Too Long standard 2nd fret

Strange Meeting II standard 2nd fret

Rider on the Wheel standard ? down one ?

Black Eyed Dog standard 3rd fret

Hanging on a Star C G C F C E down 1 fret

Voice From the Mountain standard no yes

NOTES: This list is nothing more than a best guess at this point. I

don't no actually know how to play any of the songs that are not marked

as being at Olga. Some of these are marked with a ? which means I really

am best guessing and some are not which means I'm fairly certain but

could still be wrong. It's impossible to tell until the song is actually

figured out cos some of the tunings (DADGDF# and DADGAF# for instance)

are so similar to each other. Hopefully in the future this list can be

corrected and eventually most Drake songs actually figured out (someday!).

NOTES ON D A D G D F# AND IT'S VARIATIONS: Note that this tuning and

DADGDG are the same as CGCFCE and CGCFCF, just two half-notes apart. If

you try tuning to DADGDF# and/or DADGDG, I warn that your odds of

breaking a string are quite good. Personally I always tune to CGCFCE

and/or CGCFCF- then I can strap a capo on the second fret and it's

exactly the same as DADGDF# and/or DADGDG. This is probably what Nick

Drake often did- one song (Hanging on a Star) is even tuned lower than

that!

TUNING TO C G C F C E

Note that the 1st string (E) is already where you want it. NEVER change

this string and it will be easier to get back into standard tuning later.

To tune the other strings, I would recommend tuning the 4th string (D)

down to C first. This can be done by checking with other C notes on

other strings, such as the 9th fret of the first string or the 1st fret

of the second string. Then, drop the 6th string (E) down four frets to C

and raise the second string (B) up one fret to C. So now just the 5th

and 3rd string are off. The nice thing about having the 4th string in C

early is that the relationship between this string and the 5th and 3rd is

the same as before, just two frets lower. So, you can use harmonics and

the usual 5th string / open string test to bring the 5th and 3rd string

into line. Both the 5th and 3rd string need to go down two half notes.

So to make sure everything is okay at the end of your tuning, you can play-

6th and 5th strings: 7th fret note (6th string) with open note (5th string)

5th and 4th strings: 5th fret note (5th string) and open note (4th

string) plus the 5th fret harmonic (5th string) and 7th fret harmonic

(4th string)

4th and 3rd strings: 5th fret note (4th string) and open note (3rd

string) plus the 5th and 7th harmonics as in the string before.

3rd and 2nd strings: 7th fret note (3rd string) and 2nd string open note.

2nd and 1st strings: 4th fret note (2nd string) and 1st string open note.

Some double checking techniques:

3rd and 1st strings: the open third string should be the same as the 1st

fret note of the first string.

Obviously, make sure all three C strings sound good together.

The 12th fret harmonic on the 6th string should sound good with the open

note of the second string.

Once you're in CGCFCE, getting to CGCFCF is a piece of cake- just tune

the first string up one, by comparing it with the open third string.

GETTING BACK: Once you're in CGCFCE, getting back isn't so tough, if the

1st string E has not been tampered with. Using this E, tune the 6th

string (now at C) way back up to E. Once that is done, getting the 5th

string up to A should be easy (same technique as normal tuning), then the

4th string can follow and so on. After you've done this awhile, it's

better to work on several strings at once rather than one at a time so

you don't move too quickly on any one string and break it (ditto with

tuning down).

FINAL NOTES: Comments and/or improvements on this tuning list are greatly

appreciated. I hope this inspires those who have never done so before to

try and figure out Nick Drake songs themselves. As far as the songs I've

posted go, I'm better at figuring out chord shapes than figuring out picking

patterns, so I hope some other people can improve on those especially. Also,

Drake tends to through in all kinds of extra notes and tricky bits- if any

one can post these kinda things, much less figure them out, my hat's off

to you.

Harlan (at harlant@hawaii.edu)