About the Song

I wrote this song back in 2011 and it is still one of my personal favorites. The song simply announced itself one Sunday morning at home, when I was noodling about a bit in Orkney tuning. A few melody lines came up that laid the foundation of the tune, and it was so inspiring that I finished the essentials of the song in less than half an hour. 

Someone on the Acoustic Guitar Forum once called The Mayo Jar “a most inappropriately named, awesome song”. If you agree with this statement, I recommend you Google for "the story of The Mayo Jar". This will put you in the right mood when you learn to play it.

Tuning

This song is played in Orkney Tuning, C-G-D-G-C-D:

• High E string one step down to D
• B string half a step up to C
• The two strings in the middle remain unaltered
• A string one step down to a G
• Low E string two whole steps down to a C

If you have never played in Orkney tuning before, this Masterclass will be extra interesting for you. Just like other alternate tunings, Orkney tuning brings new possibilities that can never be played in standard tuning. However, unlike most other alternate tunings, Orkney tuning is almost as versatile as standard tuning and does not have the intrinsic restrictions of most other alternate tunings, which makes everything you play sound the same. Orkney is great for fingerstyle instrumentals with a strong emphasis on melody (and those are always the best), and is a perfect fit for Celtic guitar, country and particularly also pop music. 

Tuning the low E string down to a C is quite a stretch. Or actually it’s exactly the opposite, because the string may get quite sloppy and be quickly pushed off the fretboard if you’re not careful. It might also buzz, lose its tone or get a poor intonation. Most of this can be prevented by adapting your playing style. However, if you have your guitar always tuned to Orkney tuning, you may want to replace your low E string by a string that is 5-10% heavier than the one in a standard set of strings.

TMA Score

Technically this song ranks three stars. It should not be too hard to play, except from one or two chords that require a finger stretch, which may more than what you're used to, and one or two fingertwisters. In this Masterclass I will point them out in detail and also provide you with with tips on how to deal with them. 

Musically I gave it four stars. In order to get everything out of this song, you need quite a good feel for music. Some performances I heard from my students were technically correct, meaning that all the correct notes were played in the appropriate order, but crucial details were sometimes missed. This can happen when people learn from tablature, in stead of by ear.  

For its arrangement I ranked this song two stars. It’s quite short, and there are some repetitions too. 

General Playing Tips

• The hardest thing about this song is to stick to the notes as I play them in the recording, and as they are written in the tablature, You must refrain from adding all kinds of little notes in between. This may sound like a strange advise, but I see it happen all the time. If you’re not careful, the fingers of your right hand (in particular the thumb) will start playing notes by themselves, notes that are not written in the tablature, while you’re not aware of it. This happens because the right hand patterns of this song are based on traditional, standard patterns, but some notes have been taken out. It is an example of the 'less is more' principle. By leaving short sections of silence in the song, the remaining notes will sound much better. If you are not aware of that, and start adding your own notes, it does not sound right. It will be very hard to take them out again once you can have learned the song, so be aware!
• This is not an upbeat song, however, it is very imporant to tap your foot all the time. This will give you a solid reference for a steady groove. Feel free to play with the timing of the individual notes (lag behind, or play on anticipated beats), but make sure you always get back in phase with your foot tapping, which should be steady and as regular as possible.
• The notes between brackets (in the tablature) must be played very softly, or you may even omit them. All pull-offs should be played very fast, as fast as you can. In the tabs they are indicated by small numbers (grace notes). 
• It’s better to play this song too slowly rather than too fast.

As we go over the entire song in the rest of this Masterclass, I will make sure to point all above points out to you again.

Are you ready?

Lets get started!