Guitar piece in Open D (DADF#AD, low to high) after John Fahey's John Henry Variations. In place of some of Fahey's I wrote my own sections, indicated below by asterisks * and the time of occurence. I begin with the main John Henry theme, then (at :57) the see-sawing theme that I think of as his Heart, keeping steady rhythm. Then a short bluesy bit (* 1:27) that is his Worried Wife (because John Henry is going to go up against that terrifying steam hammer). Then a jouncy bit (* 1:42) that is his Devoted young Daughter. Then the descending clusters (1:53) which I think of as the warm strength of the Henry Family. (Fahey does very fast arpeggios through these position changes, but I discovered and really like my thematic variant, here.) I use the 4th fret for the third of the descending clusters instead of the 3rd fret, as Fahey does. I wanted a less-dark tone. This section shows off the possibilities of fretted strings against open ones to make interesting melodic lines. Note the slight difference in the second cluster during different runs-through.)The there is the Machine theme (*2:18), which I wrote, wanting a relentless and somewhat demonic sound. Then the piece goes back to a repeat of these themes. Playing for people, I can make the machine first be powerful and relentless, but later, by choking the Machine theme cluster, and other tweaks, pretend that it is the machine breaking down and failing. Then John Henry's theme, first a bit weary but gathering triumphal ... Low Price Resmed Escape Cpap
