From: Harlan L Thompson
BEST GUESSES ON NICK DRAKE TUNINGS:
--SONG--------------------------TUNING-----------CAPO?--------AT OLGA?--
----FIVE LEAVES LEFT----
Time Has Told Me D A D G D F# 3rd fret yes
River Man standard 3rd fret yes
Three Hours D A D G D F# ? no
Way To Blue standard no
Day is Done D A D G A D ? no
Cello Song D A D G D F# 1st fret yes
The Thoughts of Mary Jane D A D G D F# 1st fret
Man in A Shed D A D G D G ? no
Fruit Tree D G D D A D 2nd fret yes
Saturday Sun standard no yes
----BRYTER LAYTER----
Introduction D A D G D F# ? no
Hazey Jane II C G C F C E no yes
At the Chime of a City Clock standard down 1 fret yes
One of These Things First standard ? no
Hazey Jane I D A D G D F# no
Bryter Layter D G D D A D ? 3st fret ?
Fly D A D G D G 1st fret yes
Poor Boy standard ? no
Northern Sky D A D G D F# 1st fret yes
Sunday D G D D A D ? 1st
----PINK MOON----
Pink Moon D A D G D F# 1st fret yes
Place to Be D A D G A F# 3rd fret yes
Road D G D D A D 3rd fret yes
Which Will C G C F C E no yes
Horn standard down one
Things Behind the Sun D G D D A D 6th fret yes
Know standard no yes
Parasite D A D G D F# 2nd fret yes
Ride C G C F C E no
Harvest Breed D A D G D F# 1st fret yes
>From the Morning C G C F C F no yes
----TIME OF NO REPLY----
Time of No Reply standard down 2 frets
I Was Made to Love Magic D G D G A D ? no ?
Joey D G D G A D 5th fret yes
Clothes of Sand D G D G A D 3rd fret yes
Mayfair standard ? 3rd fret
Been Smoking Too Long standard 2nd fret
Strange Meeting II standard 2nd fret
Rider on the Wheel standard ? down one ?
Black Eyed Dog standard 3rd fret
Hanging on A Star C G C F C E down 1 fret
Voice From the Mountain standard no yes
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/d/drake_nick/tunings_tab.html ]
NOTES: This list is nothing more than a best guess at this point. I
don't no actually know how to play any of the songs that are not marked
as being at Olga. Some of these are marked with a ? which means I really
am best guessing and some are not which means I'm fairly certain but
could still be wrong. It's impossible to tell until the song is actually
figured out cos some of the tunings (DADGDF# and DADGAF# for instance)
are so similar to each other. Hopefully in the future this list can be
corrected and eventually most Drake songs actually figured out (someday!).
NOTES ON D A D G D F# AND IT'S VARIATIONS: Note that this tuning and
DADGDG are the same as CGCFCE and CGCFCF, just two half-notes apart. If
you try tuning to DADGDF# and/or DADGDG, I warn that your odds of
breaking a string are quite good. Personally I always tune to CGCFCE
and/or CGCFCF- then I can strap a capo on the second fret and it's
exactly the same as DADGDF# and/or DADGDG. This is probably what Nick
Drake often did- one song (Hanging on a Star) is even tuned lower than
that!
TUNING TO C G C F C E
Note that the 1st string (E) is already where you want it. NEVER change
this string and it will be easier to get back into standard tuning later.
To tune the other strings, I would recommend tuning the 4th string (D)
down to C first. This can be done by checking with other C notes on
other strings, such as the 9th fret of the first string or the 1st fret
of the second string. Then, drop the 6th string (E) down four frets to C
and raise the second string (B) up one fret to C. So now just the 5th
and 3rd string are off. The nice thing about having the 4th string in C
early is that the relationship between this string and the 5th and 3rd is
the same as before, just two frets lower. So, you can use harmonics and
the usual 5th string / open string test to bring the 5th and 3rd string
into line. Both the 5th and 3rd string need to go down two half notes.
So to make sure everything is okay at the end of your tuning, you can play-
6th and 5th strings: 7th fret note (6th string) with open note (5th string)
5th and 4th strings: 5th fret note (5th string) and open note (4th
string) plus the 5th fret harmonic (5th string) and 7th fret harmonic
(4th string)
4th and 3rd strings: 5th fret note (4th string) and open note (3rd
string) plus the 5th and 7th harmonics as in the string before.
3rd and 2nd strings: 7th fret note (3rd string) and 2nd string open note.
2nd and 1st strings: 4th fret note (2nd string) and 1st string open note.
Some double checking techniques:
3rd and 1st strings: the open third string should be the same as the 1st
fret note of the first string.
Obviously, make sure all three C strings sound good together.
The 12th fret harmonic on the 6th string should sound good with the open
note of the second string.
Once you're in CGCFCE, getting to CGCFCF is a piece of cake- just tune
the first string up one, by comparing it with the open third string.
GETTING BACK: Once you're in CGCFCE, getting back isn't so tough, if the
1st string E has not been tampered with. Using this E, tune the 6th
string (now at C) way back up to E. Once that is done, getting the 5th
string up to A should be easy (same technique as normal tuning), then the
4th string can follow and so on. After you've done this awhile, it's
better to work on several strings at once rather than one at a time so
you don't move too quickly on any one string and break it (ditto with
tuning down).
FINAL NOTES: Comments and/or improvements on this tuning list are greatly
appreciated. I hope this inspires those who have never done so before to
try and figure out Nick Drake songs themselves. As far as the songs I've
posted go, I'm better at figuring out chord shapes than figuring out picking
patterns, so I hope some other people can improve on those especially. Also,
Drake tends to through in all kinds of extra notes and tricky bits- if any
one can post these kinda things, much less figure them out, my hat's off
to you.
Harlan (at harlant@hawaii.edu)
