Shenandoah - C6th lap steel - Johnny Smith arrangement

Written music for steel guitar

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Andy Volk
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Shenandoah - C6th lap steel - Johnny Smith arrangement

Post by Andy Volk »

Shenandoah is my favorite American folk song. There are many beautiful versions out there. I arranged it in the key of C for my "C6th Gold" book. One of my favorite versions is by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith, whose playing I've admired for years. An essay on Johnny is in my book "Guitar Dreams." Jo Stafford's version with Paul Weston's string arrangements is probably unsurpassed but for instrumental versions, Johnny's is right up there with the best ever.

Here's my transcription of Johnny Smith's arrangement of the melody to Shenandoah in the key of E from his LP "Man with the Blue Guitar" translated to solo C6th lap steel. I only added the final maj7 chord- the rest is all Johnny Smith. This is a computer-generated file of the arrangement:
https://soundcloud.com/aev/shenandoah-key-of-e-johnny
Here a link to Johnny's recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udcmBrdeQH4

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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com
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Bob Shilling
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Location: Berkeley, CA, USA

Post by Bob Shilling »

Thanks, Andy. I agree, that's a beautiful song. I enjoyed the tab.
Bob Shilling, Berkeley, CA--MSA S10, "Classic"
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