Never actually seen this song played before - great guitar part.

Bucket

This guy on YouTube has a fair few Nick Drake covers up, and I think he absolutely nails it. His voice is a little different, but in terms of delivery I think he's spot on, and his guitar playing is lovely as well.

Obviously there are no videos of Drake ever playing it, so the thing I hadn't realised was how complex and multi-layered the guitar part is. I knew Drake was a great player, but in the album version it's kind of buried under strings and so on - you can hear the plunking bass strings driving the rhythm along, but not so much of the upper parts. Interesting to hear the song with just guitar and vocals. I love the arrangements on Bryter Layter, but this tune is just as good without them.

bigjon

That's just lovely

richardhomer

Lovely player.... Nick Drake's guitar playing is oddly 'muscular' by comparison to his voice - and clearly very technically demanding. I agree - this guy's nailed it.

BigLicks67

Tuning is CGCFCE is you are looking to work it out.

Veganic

Too fast?

Bygone_Tones

BigLicks67 said:

Tuning is CGCFCE is you are looking to work it out.

It also sounds great in CCCCCC. The more C's you can get in there the better.

A_T_W

I love Pink Moon so much and I think I never gave Bryter enough of a chance due to the massive difference in production styles. This has made me really want to go back and listen lots more, just stunningly pretty (but not in a boring, bland way).

prowla

It's good to see he's enjoying himself!

usedtobe

Chuffin' 'ell!

richardhomer

Bygone_Tones said:

BigLicks67 said:

Tuning is CGCFCE is you are looking to work it out.

It also sounds great in CCCCCC. The more C's you can get in there the better.

John Martyn's favourite tuning was CFCCGD - so he managed it with 50% of his strings....

beed84

It's stuff like this that makes want to make do with a simple life and go all acoustic. Really nice indeed.

guitarfishbay

Cool stuff.

Bucket

A_T_W said:

I love Pink Moon so much and I think I never gave Bryter enough of a chance due to the massive difference in production styles. This has made me really want to go back and listen lots more, just stunningly pretty (but not in a boring, bland way).

The arrangements are quite prominent - I love them, but I can see how others might find them a little incongruous. I also think they're very much of their time - solo acoustic guitar and vocals is quite a timeless sound, whereas these kinds of flowery arrangements do serve to date the album to the early 70s a bit more.

I personally couldn't care less, because the music is just wonderful. Hazey Jane I, Northern Sky and Poor Boy are my favourites. Say what you will about the strings etc, but one thing that I think REALLY adds to it is the saxophone on some of the tracks.

close2u

Great find and share

english_bob

Bryter Layter was the first Nick Drake album I heard, so that's what I thought of as his sound. It's probably my favourite of his albums still - Five Leaves is like a less good Bryter Layter in terms of sound, and Pink Moon is so sparse and inseparable from its history for me. 

There's a good Nick Drake tab site here, which is the current incarnation of one I discovered when I discovered Nick Drake's music and learned a few of his songs from. I don't think I attempted Hazey Jane I, but I did manage to get my fingers around At The Chime Of A City Clock, One Of These Things First and Fly. Northern Sky and Pink Moon too, although they're strummed rather than fingerpicked which makes them much easier. 

I don't find his fingerpicking style as difficult as the Merle Travis / Chet Atkins school- more in the Bert Jansch, Jimmy Page tradition, but very idiosyncratic. Nobody really plays like him. Any fingerstyle method is a leap if you're used to playing purely with a pick, but IMO Drake is less of a challenge than some.