The Steel Guitar Forum

This may be the wrong forum for this post. Please move it, if necessary.

This is the intro to You're Still On My Mind by The Byrds. At least... I think it is. I'm trying to figure out if I've heard the notes correctly and placed them right. At first, I thought I was hearing more notes, but I think most of it is only 2 notes at a time.

Sorry for the poor tab attempt... it's missing some grace notes and slides and stuff!

Thanks very much!

Marty

Marty, I really like this song, so it was fun trying to work out the intro....as well as much needed ear training. I spent a lot of time listening closely trying to hear not only the exact notes, but how they were voiced/attacked. Slowing it down in Audacity helped a lot. Here's what I came up with. There are certainly other ways to hit the same notes, so this is probably completely different positions from where JD played it. Still, I think the notes are correct.

Here's an audio clip of my humble interpretation of the tab.
https://soundcloud.com/tommymc-4/youre- ... mind-intro

This is how Ricky Davis tabbed it out some few years ago for our Rebelâ„¢,Ricky & Jeff website.

Your still on my Mind/Intro/Key of A/E9th pedal steel
(Intro over the 5 chord(E)ends on 1 chord(A)
[tab]
1.______________|_________________|________________|
2.______________|_________________|________________|
3.______________|_________________|_7b_~9b_7b~~__5b|
4.______________|_10~~~~~~9~__7~~~|______________5~|
5.____7a__10~10a|_10a~10~~9~__7~7a|_7a_~9__7~7a____|
6._7b___________|_________________|________________|
7.______________|_________________|________________|
8.______________|_________________|________________|

1._________________|______________________
2._5~____________5~|__________________5___
3._5b___~7b__5b__5b|_5____~7b__5b~5___5__5
4.______~7___5_____|_5____~7___5~~~~_____5
5.____5____________|___5__________________
6._________________|______________________
7._________________|______________________
8._________________|______________________
[/tab]

Awesome! That helps a bunch.

Thanks to you both.

What a great tune! I gotta listen to the whole album again now.
Tommy, I thinks yours is right, except the beginning of the 3rd bar is like Ricky's: [tab]
1.|___________________|
2.|___________________|
3.|_7b_~9b_7b~~__5b~~_|
4.|______________5~5L_|
5.|_7a_~9__7~7a_____5_|
6.|___________________|
7.|___________________|
8.|___________________|
[/tab]
(I added the 5L and string 5 at the end which wasn't in his tab but was in yours).
I definitely hear that 5th string staying on the same note and couldn't get it till I saw Rickys tab here, so simple!.

The very end I hear like this (though its very hard to hear that first slide and its almost out of tune in a way):
[tab]
1.|__________________|
2.|__________________|
3.|___5~6___5~~~~5___|
4.|___5~6R__5~5L~5___|
5.|_5________________|
6.|__________________|
7.|__________________|
8.|__________________|
[/tab]

Great job Tommy, thank you. And thanks Graham and Ricky for the answer!

I have always wondered about a part in this song at 1:35 or so it sounds like some unison bends right at the end of the lead. Does anyone have any idea how they pull that off? Is it done on a steel or is that the guitarist jumping in?

Mark, here's how I hear the 2nd solo. I think the unison part is done using the C pedal on 4th string with the 1st string in unison. As long as you're using the C pedal, it kind of makes sense to play the first part on the B&C pedals, although the same lick can be done (and feels more natural to me) on A&B. I tabbed out what I think I hear both ways.



You could also play it like this using A&B pedals.



In either case, you want to end up on the 5th fret because there's an ending tag (that I didn't tab) that's played on the 7th and 6th strings using the A pedal. Anyway, I think all the elements are here to mix and match however it works best for you.

(Note: edited tab 6/5)