God, Our Father, Hear Us Pray

WARNING:  CONTAINS VERY EASY CHORDS  (with scary names.) And lots of barre chords. If you can play barre chords, you should have no trouble.

THE CHORDS:

According to the piano music in the hymnal, this song is a long series of chords, with hardly any melody notes. That sounds good when accompanying choral or congregational singing, but  does not do so well as an instrumental solo. But it’s such a beautiful song, with such a lovely chord progression, that I could not resist it. It did require a bit of arranging for instrumental guitar, and in one case, I had to substitute an F#7 chord for Fdim7, to bring out the melody.

There are lots of “diminished seventh” chords in this song. Don’t let that throw you. They are beautiful, and easy to play. Only the names are scary. And there’s a secret to playing them that you may not know.

THE SECRET: Nearly all diminished seventh chords are played exactly the same way; only the barre position varies. Sometimes, even that does not change. The second chord in the first measure is actually an Fdm7, but it’s played exactly the same as Ddim7. The name is the only difference! That’s right-- the very same chord has two different names. Actually, it has four different names: Ddim7 = Fdim7 = G#dim7 = Bdim7. All four are exactly the same chord, played exactly the same way. All four names are equally correct.

I call them all Ddim7 for simplicity. Change the barre position, and you get other diminished seventh chords, in similar groups of four. There are technical reasons for this. I won’t go into them here, but if you are interested, see the PDF document in The Tabs at right, called “Diminished Seventh Chord Theory”. You’ll learn how, by mastering one easy, four-string chord, you can play five dozen really beautiful chords. Really.

Those dim7 chords probably all should have Roman numerals attached, to show which space the barre goes in. I didn’t do it, because their names would be ridiculously long, and would not fit in the tablature. G#dim7II, for example.

Some chords called for in the piano music have been replaced with single notes or two-note pinches, for playability. In the interest of simplicity, and to avoid confusion, I have left their chord names out of the tab entirely.

There are two different ways of playing A7 in this tab, two ways of playing Bm, and two ways to play D7. All are necessary to bring out the melody. If you just play them one way, the melody  will go down where it’s supposed to go up,. There are also two different ways of playing G. You may find it easier to fret the non-barred G as if you were playing G7, for easier chord changes. The #1 string is not played, so there is no difference between G and G7, so far as the actual notes played are concerned. Use which ever feels easiest to you.

PLAYING TIPS:

-- At the end of the second measure, you can ease the transition from G to BmII by releasing the G chord early. It won’t matter, as the third pinch is on two open strings. Do the same at the end of the tenth measure, where the transition is from G to BII .

-- The first measure of the second line shows a ligado on the G string, from the 4th fret to the 2nd fret. Normally, this would be played as a pull-off, but if your fingers are short, like mine, you may find it easier to do a push off instead. Whichever way you do it. leave the index finger on the string in the 2nd space, where it will be perfectly positioned for the following D chord.

-- In the first measure of the last line, you will normally use your ring finger to fret the G note on the #1 string. If you leave it on the string, you can easily move it to the second space, to make the pull off, in preparation for the following GIII  chord.

-- Following this chord, there are two notes (C and B) on the #1 string, which are to be played with “strong tremolo”. This is done by rapidly vibrating the fretting finger (probably the ring finger) along the string, while continuing to hold the note. The tremolo will be strongest if performed with the finger closer to the next higher fret, rather than in the middle of the space. If you are playing more than one verse, you may choose to omit the tremolo from the earlier verses, adding it in on the last verse for emphasis.

-- The final three chords require you to go from an Em7 shape to an A7 shape to an E shape, while simultaneously sliding the barre from VII to V to III. Quickly. There is no trick for doing this easily. It’s a hard series to play well, even though the chords individually are not difficult. As in all such situations, the only strategy that works is lots of practice. Sorry, there is no royal road here. It just takes work. However, it’s worth it, as this is a lovely way to end the phrase. You may even wish to repeat the last four measures, slowly, as a finale after the last verse.

-- Since this guitar arrangement is still mostly chords, it works without alteration as a guitar accompaniment for singers, or as a duet with some other instrument. I’d love to hear it done as a duet with a violin. Any violinists out there want to jam?

Historical notes:

Text of the lyrics is by Annie Pinnock Malin, an early Utah pioneer. I have been unable to learn anything about the circumstances under which she wrote this song. Anyone have any information?

The music is from a tune called “Mercy”, by Louis M. Gottschalk, adapted by Edwin P. Parker. Gottschalk was a child prodigy of the piano, born in the USA, but classically trained in Europe, who performed throughout the United States. He left the U.S. after a scandal, and died in Brazil, leaving a large corpus of music. Several of his tunes are well-known hymns, but this is the only one included in the LDS Hymnal, which states that it was “adapted by Edwin P. Parker.

Parker is listed in hymnals of various churches as adapting works by Gottschalk (and other composers), though the names are often misspelled. To further cloud the issue, there are several historical personages of note named Edwin P. Parker, with conflicting birthdates and biographical information. I’m not going to repeat any of them, as I have no way to tell which are true, or even which refer to this-- and not some other-- Edwin P. Parker.

This song is in the public domain.

Baptism (Jesus Came to John the Baptist)

Don’t let the chord names fool you!  This is not a particularly hard song.  In fact, there are really only four chords: a couple of barred E-shapes, a couple of  barred A-shapes, C, and G7.  There are some quick chord changes, but the barre chords make them really easy. Just move your hand along the neck without changing the chord shape.  (Lift your fingers completely off the strings to avoid that annoying scraping noise.) 

The pattern pick is also easy: groups of three notes, with lots of repetition.  Yes, it’s fairly fast, and there are lots of fill notes, but they are all in the original music as published in The Children’s  Songbook. 

The time signature is also unususal, but is also in the original, and actually makes the playing easier for the guitar.  I could have recast it as 6/8, 3/8, or even as 4/4, with four triplets per measure.  All would have been more confusing than the 12/8 tempo as originally written.  Just remember that each measure contains four groups of three notes each, with the stress on the first note of each group, and you’ll do fine.  The lyrics naturally stress the lines properly.

I have replaced the introduction in the book with my own. If you don’t like it, you are free to replace my introduction with whatever you feel works better.  My intro is just arpeggios in C.  It’s brief, to give the audience just enough time to get used to the rhythm, without overwhelming the rather simple melody line.  The only difficult part of the introduction comes right at the end, when you have to switch from leading with your right thumb to leading with your right middle finger, ring finger, etc. (bass lead to treble lead).

The tab is straightforward and needs no explanation, for the most part.  An exception is at the end of the third line.  I have specified the GIII chord, rather than the normal G, because it makes for a very fast chord change to the CVIII chord that starts the next phrase.  Both chords are just barred E-shapes, so all you have to do is move your hand from the III position to the VIII position.  This would be a much harder chord change if you also had to change fingering at the same time.

In the first measure of the fourth line, you’‘ll have to stretch your left pinkie two frets up the neck to hit the high B at the 12th fret.  Don’t worry, the frets are really close together in this part of the neck, and the stretch isn’t difficult. 

The FVIII in the next measure is just a barred A-shape, one of the most standard barre chords around.  Fret it the same way you would fret an A-shape in the III space, because you’ll be going there soon.  The FVIII to CIII transition is accomplished by maintaining the finger shape and moving the entire hand along the neck, similar to the E-shape transition in the third line.

There’s another pinkie stretch in the first measure of the finale. This time, it’s only one fret, so even though the frets are farther apart near the nut, it’s not as great a stretch as the one at the 12th fret.  You will have to switch back to thumb lead in the next measure.  The arpeggios which make up the last 1-1/2 measures of the verse are all exactly the same.  Then go right to the beginning of the first measure in the next verse, skipping the Introduction.

The finale of the last verse is NOT the same.  The first measure is identical to the corresponding measures of Verses 1 and 2, but the arpeggios are different, as is the ending.  Slow down for the final three notes and chord.  You may  substitute a C/G chord final C, if you wish, by fretting the #6 string with your pinkie in the 3rd space while playing the C chord.  This gives it a fuller sound.

This song is not in the public domain.  The copyright is held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  The guitar arrangement and tablature are mine.

Rejoice, the Lord is King!

Another one by Charles Wesley.  If the name sounds familiar to you, it should.  He also wrote five other hymns in the hymnal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as well as six thousand others not found in the LDS hymn book.  The five are:

Jesus, Lover of My Soul,
Ye Simple Souls Who Stray,
Christ the Lord is Risen Today,
Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,
Come Let Us Anew. 

The guy’s a heavyweight poet and lyricist for sure.  Not only that, he was also an Anglican minister, a contemporary of George Washington, and his big brother John was the founder of the Methodist church.  Not surprisingly, Charles grew up to be a minister, like his father and his brothers.  So did his son, and grandson.  How would you like to grow up in a family like that?

Rejoice, the Lord is King! was written as a poem, to celebrate the kingship of Jesus, as mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments, the only books of scripture available to Wesley at that time. We don’t know exactly when it was written, but it was first published in Wesley’s book, Moral and Sacred Poems, in 1744, and had been set to music as a hymn by 1770. It has since become a favorite of Christians around the world.

As the hymn gained in popularity, it attracted other composers including George Handel and William E. Fischer. Different churches have standardized on three separate tunes. The one most Mormons are familiar with is called, “Jubilate,” and was written in 1894 by Horatio W. Parker, an American organist, choirmaster, and composer who began composing at age 15. He composed “Jubilate” when he was 21, and already successful on both sides of the Atlantic.

Play this song rapidly. The metronome setting shows 160 eighth-notes per minute, but you may wish to count it in quarter-notes, as written in Hymns. I recast it in 8/8 time, to simplify the counting of sixteenth-notes. It was written in the key of C, which makes it easy to play. Only one chord is played in an unusual way. 

Play the Dm as it is shown in the chord chart, to ease the transition to the following notes. Instead of showing the position of the left-hand fingers in the chord chart with zeros, as usual, I have used the numbers 1 - 4, to show which finger goes where, with 1 = index finger, 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, and 4 = little finger. As a rule, I just use zeros, as it doesn’t really matter which finger goes in which spot as long as you are comfortable, and using finger numbers gets confusing. But this time it’s important, so I have broken my rule. Fret the Dm in the refrain the same way, but play it as a broken chord. Do not strum or pinch it. That is why it is shown in lightface, italic type.

In the next-to-last measure, hold the single D note with lots of tremolo.  Since this note is found at the third fret, you can get a much better tremolo effect by vibrating the string across the neck, rather than along it, as you normally would. Notes fretted in the first three frets require this technique to achieve a strong tremolo.

This song is in the public domain.