I am not a big Abba fan, but I think this is one of the great commercial tunes of all time. Personally I think learning to play tunes likes this might help give me an insight into how they are constructed.
Obviously it's a piano piece, but I have a feeling it might transpose well to an acoustic.
My question is what is peoples advice best way to get go about it? I was going to start by plucking all the individual notes in the melody, rather than strumming the chords. Once I have got this down I would then work on the rythm/timing aspect.
I have got a song sheet in standard notation but it is also accompanied by some fretboard diagrams. Although the tune seems decepetively simple , it's note sheet seems quite complicated.(it's copyright material so I can't post it)
Any responses appreciated.
Comments
Then figure out if you're going to stay in the original key and/or use a capo and/or use a different tuning.
You want to be thinking about chord voicings that let you reach the melody/harmony notes that you need...and, ultimately, you need that top line to sit nicely while the bass and chords do their thing underneath without too much disruption (if that makes sense).
I spent two minutes on the intro...
- starts on F#...I hear a sus4...I start thinking about a D-shape...so I put a capo on fret 4 and see where that goes
- F#sus4 > F# > A#/D > D#sus4 > D#m ...nope...I don't like the D#m...so I move the capo to the 6th fret and try starting on a C-shape
- Feels a lot more 'under the fingers now'...using these shapes: C > E (first inversion) > Am > D# (first inversion...x4765x [relative to capo]) > Dm > G
Now it's pretty recognisable I'd listen deeply to the recording and start picking up details, e.g. I had imagined that the intro melody was one note longer, what's the middle voice doing on the piano, etc.I'm no expert at this but you've got to think about where you can take the tune on a single guitar so you might want to hold bits back until a second verse. Often, in classical pieces, you get a second pass where the melody is in a different register or, God forbid, played with harmonics (looking at you Miguel Llobet!).
My arrangements are in a strumming style with the hooks worked in, trying to keep the feel and groove from the original recording (Dancing Queen, Mammia Mia, Name Of The Game, SOS). The capo generally gets used to make it easier to pick out a melodic hook on top whilst strumming the rhythm with open chords. I'll often try a few positions to see what feels and sounds the best.
I should really try a few fingerstyle.
Here's the rough bass & melody framework:
Abba had some great arrangements
Both ABBA and the Bee Gees have a strong classical influence to their song writing, I think that's what makes them interesting and fun to play on guitar, whether it's strumming to a voice or working out a solo fingerstyle arrangement.