In the Bleak Midwinter

[pawlowski6132]

@Guyboden

Thanks, but just to be clear; this isn't my arrangement, I am playing the original choir arrangement from Gustav Holst.

I just copied the choir score onto treble clef and transposed it up an octave for guitar.

The OP posted the choir score and wanted to learn it himself or see if anyone else would like to attempt to play it as written.

I changed very little other than arpeggiating some chords and anticipating/delaying some bass notes etc..

What I find interesting is how "good" voice leading on the piano is mostly small smooth physical movements, whereas due to the nature of the guitar this leads to some very large stretches and hence makes playing legato more difficult.

Give it a try and you will see what I mean! (I have already worked out usable fingerings for you)

Hey man, thanx for doing this, i was just about to give up on this thread.

Yeah, I wanted to compare approaches and results with someone so thanx.

You did an awesome job and it sounds great. We ended up with many similar voicings.

So, you did what I did, 1) Re-write all in treble cleff 2) Workout the best voicings on the guitar.

I tried really hard to just play it exactly as is but, certainly tried and experimented with a few aspects of this. Here's what I learned:


1. You're right, while this sounds beautiful in a choral arrangement, not so much on guitar. I found most of the chords could 'comfortably' be played in two positions. I mixed both ways as much as I could in my rendition.

2. This REALLY exposed how horrible my technique was. I was constantly having to pay attention to my thumb position and even had to elevate my right knee to be able to land on the chords cleanly. Even with all that, you can obviously hear it's really sloppy still.

3. I also really struggled with my right hand; Should I play all finger style? Hybrid picking? Strumming? In this video, I didn't play legato or arepeggiate anything but, played hybrid pick style. I think on my guitar, it sounded really good most of the time letting the chord ring out only playing with a pick but, some of the shapes were so spread out, it sounded stupid trying to mute the A, D and G. Just too wide of intervals.

4. Even though I re-wrote this in treble, I found I never used it. As I worked through it, I learned it was super easy to just transpose from bass to treble cleff on the fly.

Anywho, it was a good exercise to learn the fretboard and shapes. I also took the time to try to understand what chords I was playing by name and to recognize the progression. Many shapes I recognized some I had to name but, pretty easy.

Anywho, I hope someone else can give it a shot, try it.

[ragman1]

Question -

This isn't Guy but I do see that you've done exactly what the OP wanted. Terrific effort.

I did work some of it it out but realised it was going to be hard to play and, frankly, it seemed a bit like hard work. Also, I don't have your dexterity and probably wouldn't ever be able to play it without risking significant wrist strain. So I made my excuses.

Anyway, again, well done. Superb.

[GuyBoden]

@Guyboden

Thanks, but just to be clear; this isn't my arrangement, I am playing the original choir arrangement from Gustav Holst.

I just copied the choir score onto treble clef and transposed it up an octave for guitar.

The OP posted the choir score and wanted to learn it himself or see if anyone else would like to attempt to play it as written.

I changed very little other than arpeggiating some chords and anticipating/delaying some bass notes etc..

What I find interesting is how "good" voice leading on the piano is mostly small smooth physical movements, whereas due to the nature of the guitar this leads to some very large stretches and hence makes playing legato more difficult.

Give it a try and you will see what I mean! (I have already worked out usable fingerings for you)

Your playing in the video is excellent. Well done.

[Question]

@pawlowski6132

Thanks.

There are a few mistakes in your chart that might make it easier to play if you correct them.
The first full measure (that appears three times within the tune) has a "C" in every chord.
The second chord is voiced in 4th's G-C-F-Bb- and not a Gminor7. (I think you play it that way in the first measure)

When you say "voicings", I think you mean "fingerings". The voicings are in the arrangement, the fingerings are on the instrument.
Also if I may make a suggestion; there are several places that if you alter the fingering, it might feel awkward at first, but it will allow you to make a more efficient movement, which will make the legato easier.

This is all easier said than done!

Anyway, well done, and I would definitely have more trouble playing it on a steel sting acoustic like you are using.

[pawlowski6132]

@pawlowski6132

Thanks.

There are a few mistakes in your chart that might make it easier to play if you correct them.
The first full measure (that appears three times within the tune) has a "C" in every chord.
The second chord is voiced in 4th's G-C-F-Bb- and not a Gminor7. (I think you play it that way in the first measure)

When you say "voicings", I think you mean "fingerings". The voicings are in the arrangement, the fingerings are on the instrument.
Also if I may make a suggestion; there are several places that if you alter the fingering, it might feel awkward at first, but it will allow you to make a more efficient movement, which will make the legato easier.

This is all easier said than done!

Anyway, well done, and I would definitely have more trouble playing it on a steel sting acoustic like you are using.

Good catch, yes, my chart wasn't accurate but, as I worked it out, I used the original. I had to double check but, I think I got the first four chords OK. I re-listened, I can 'hear' where you're coming from.

I did catch the 'C' in all four. The second chord is actually Gm11 (G-C-F-Bb / 1, 11, 7, 3b) or, maybe in context here, calling it a C7sus makes more sense. Anywho, chalk it up to my shitty technique. Here's what I played if someone wants to try. I played different fingerings the second and last time around.




Also if I may make a suggestion; there are several places that if you alter the fingering, it might feel awkward at first, but it will allow you to make a more efficient movement, which will make the legato easier.
Yes, you are so right. I learned that's one of the keys to this type of exercise, continue to wok to find the 'best' fingerings, not voicings :^) , that work for you. I picked up a couple watching your approach.

Actually, the second time around using the fingerings up the neck were easier to play Legato as they were more closed.

[Tom Karol]

Prior to this thread, I'd only heard it on a James Taylor XMas album - I think it was sort of a promotional thing we got at a Hallmark store years ago. Anyway, I enjoy playing a simple arrangement of it on Octave Mandolin.

[pawlowski6132]

Prior to this thread, I'd only heard it on a James Taylor XMas album - I think it was sort of a promotional thing we got at a Hallmark store years ago. Anyway, I enjoy playing a simple arrangement of it on Octave Mandolin.

i’d love to hear it if you have it recorded

[pawlowski6132]

I created some core diagrams for the voicings I used because I’ll forget in a couple days.

Also, i'm not sure what the correct term is, someone pointed out earlier that the composer created the voicings for the harmony already and the chord charts were the fingerings. Well, they're not really fingerings because, I'm not telling you which fingers to use and there are multiple ways to finger at least 1/2 of the chords here. I still think of it has how I've decided to voice these notes for the guitar, which strings to use, which frets, etc. I'm sure there's a more accurate term for it, I just can't think of it. Arrange?

[AllanAllen]

It struck me today. You said this was a holiday song, but the holiday is 4 days into winter. Hardly midwinter. The bleakness of winter is being over it and realizing we still have 5 more months of this.

[pawlowski6132]

It struck me today. You said this was a holiday song, but the holiday is 4 days into winter. Hardly midwinter. The bleakness of winter is being over it and realizing we still have 5 more months of this.

Yikes. You're right. I think yesterday was Winter soltice, right.

The good news is, days are gettling longer???

[AllanAllen]

Yeah days are getting longer again. Last week was brutal I think we had 6 hours of light most days.

[GuyBoden]

Apparently, 2025 has been the warmest UK weather on record. Global warming?

So, maybe the song needs a rewrite:

In the Warm Midwinter (And, even more warmer Winters to come.)

[AllanAllen]

To me, a warm winter is even more bleak.

[ragman1]

It's 3.30pm here, mild, and very nearly dark.

To me, a warm winter is even more bleak.

Yes. Now there's a man with some heart :-)

[Woody Sound]

He sang this in Church for Christmas Eve service.