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The Scotsman Over the Border Key of D, standard tuning
The strumming style is the same as that of the standard version of the previous tune. The A chord employs just one finger on the D string, 2nd fret, thus giving you the note E. This is for expediency; remember to hit those two strings only. I am using a modal (or open) version of D again; traditional musicians usually refer to open chords as modal chords because they can be used in a major, minor or modal context. |
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The Scotsman Over the Border Dropped D Tuning
The chords in this version are pretty much the same as in the standard version though there are naturally some positional changes. Also notice that in this version that I have moved to the penultimate G chord one bar earlier: these last two bars could be played G, D, G, D, with the last D continuing into the first half of the last bar, but I prefer the tension-resolution effect of this approach.
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The Scotsman Over the Border Dropped D tuning with Substitutions
The second chord is also D major but with the F# in the bass: this is called a first inversion of the chord because it is the first note above the root note (D), and not the root itself, that is in the bass. This gives the feeling of movement without actually changing chords. The third chord is an e minor (the relative minor of G) followed by an A sus4 and an A major on the seventh fret because it's very easy to do there. This pattern is then repeated but this time the first inversion of the D chord becomes an F# minor chord.
The E minor that begins the second four-bar phrase in the second part is quite a strong statement because it is at the start of a phrase and it continues for two bars. As was mentioned earlier the melody in the second of these two bars would suggest a G and a D chord but I prefer to create some harmonic tension instead; replacing the D at the start of the phrase with the E minor takes this one step further.
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