Certifiable Tommy Emmanuel Takes Us “Halfway Home”
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LESSON CERTIFIABLE TOMMY EMMANUEL TAKES US “HALFWAY HOME” BY VINNIE DEMASI PROUDLY INLAID AT THE 12TH FRET He has twice been chosen by GP read- “Halfway Home” highlights Emmanuel’s of Tommy Emmanuel’s Maton acoustic ers as Best Acoustic Guitarist, received formidable Travis picking chops, evidenced guitars are the letters C.G.P. It’s shorthand two Grammy nominations, played before by the driving alternate bass-note pat- for “Certified Guitar Player.” This honor- an audience of millions at the closing terns shown in Examples 1a and 1b. You ary title came from no less an authority ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Summer can sound the bass notes with your bare than Chet Atkins, and was one of only Olympic Games, and is an Order of Aus- thumb, with a thumbpick, or, as Emman- four such certifications the late, great tralia (AM) medalist. I recently caught up uel does, using a slight palm mute on the maestro bestowed in his lifetime. No sur- with the awe-inspiring Aussie backstage bass strings throughout. prise that Atkins saw a protégé and kin- before a sold-out Manhattan show where Ex. 2 details the song’s four-bar intro dred spirit in the Australian native; both he shared the secrets behind the first few based around an F5 to Dm progression. rank among the elite of fingerstyle virtu- sections of “Halfway Home,” the lead-off Dig the clever cascade voicing of the osos, deftly combining amazing technical track from his 2010 album Little By Little ascending scalar run in the second half ability with innate musicality. Emmanuel [Favored Nations]. of the last bar. started his career as a session ace and Emmanuel plays the song in dropped- The first phrase of the song’s main member of the popular rock group Dragon D tuning with a capo on the 3rd fret, plac- theme is shown in Ex. 3. Admittedly the before going the solo-acoustic route, and ing it in the key of F major, a key he said, voicings of the descending F11 to Fmaj7 through years of relentless touring and “Just felt right.” I’ve transcribed the music on the top strings in the first bar requires recording has built up a dedicated fol- notation as such, but with the tab rela- some expansive fretting-hand stretches. lowing of admirers worldwide. tive to the capo. Still, you’ll want to hold these shapes down and let the notes ring out against Ex. 1a Ex. 1b each other. (Hint: Emmanuel grabs the dyad on the second and third strings = 112-120 = 112-120 first, then adds his first finger on the top Capo III string for the high Bb and high A notes 4 as needed.) In the phrase’s last two bars, the Bb-A melody notes are doubled in the p p bass. Grab these with your 4th and 3rd p p p fingers respectively. E B G T D A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A B 0 0 D 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ex. 2 = 112-120 Capo III F5 Dm F5 2 4 4 let ring - - - - - - - - - E 0 B 3 3 3 3 0 G T 2 4 4 2 6 7 D A 0 0 0 0 0 7 A B 2 2 0 D 0 0 0 0 0 86 GUITARPLAYER.COM/NOVEMBER 2014 .