Chords for Scott Nygaard "Angeline the Baker" Lesson from Acoustic Guitar

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Hi, _
[F#] I'm Scott Nygaard, editor of Acoustic Guitar.
Today we're going to play through
a classic fiddle tune known as Angelina Baker.
The origin of this tune is a bit of a mystery.
Many people credit it to Stephen Foster, and the chorus of Foster's song, Angelina Baker,
has a few bits of melody in common with the lower B section of this arrangement, although
the higher part seems to have come from somewhere else entirely. _
The tune became popular in
the 1970s old-time revival, thanks in part to recordings by West Virginia fiddler Franklin
George and mandolinist Kenny Hall.
Fiddler Stuart Duncan and David Greer both recorded
it in the 80s and 90s, and those seem to be the primary sources for contemporary bluegrass-oriented
string bands.
So here's Angelina Baker.
[E] _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [Em] _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ [D] _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
[D] _ _ [C#m] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ Okay, let's slow it down a little bit now and look at a few things that I'm playing.
This version owes as much to fiddlers as guitar players, and the A part's melody is similar to the way a fiddler like Stuart Duncan would play it.
So here's the A part played slowly. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ [F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
So there are [F#] a couple things in that part.
There's one little run down here where I go _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ [E] jumping up here to the fifth fret, _ _ [Am]
and I'm using the [E] open E string to get down. _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ [B] You can kind of [C] throw a little bit of a bluesy thing in there by when you go down, using the F natural.
I do that [D] _
[F#] sometimes. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ So there's the major, _ _ _ _ and then just a little hint of flat third bluesiness.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _
Now let's try the B section slowed down.
You'll notice that I actually start on the fourth beat of the preceding measure, kind of a little anticipation into that section.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ [A] _ _ [F#m] _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [F#] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ So those were the first two sections, A and B, in the octave that a fiddler mandolin player would play [D] it.
But on the guitar, we can tune our E string down to low D to get drop D tuning.
If we do that, we can play the whole thing down an octave.
So now we're going to play the A section and the B section slowly [F#] down an octave. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Em] _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] So that A section repeats.
You can just play that again exactly the same one more time.
Now here's the B section played slowly. _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [B] _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ So you probably noticed a bunch of low D notes in there while we're playing the tune.
I've thrown those in there to fill out the sound a little bit.
So let's look at what I'm doing there.
_ On that first run up, [F#] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ what I'm doing, [F#] _
_ [A] _ _ so I'll [D] run up that scale, _ _ actually using the G sharp instead of the G there.
Slide into that A, [F#] _ _ [D] _ and then I get a low D right after [F#] it.
_ [D] _ _ And you'll notice the picking, it may look a little [B] awkward to be jumping [D] back down and getting that D there,
but the way the picking works is down, [F#m] up, down, [G#] up, and then a slide [D] in, _ and then an up down here.
[G#m] What happens is since I do an upstroke here, I [D] slide, it gives my pick time to get back down for that low D. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ [D] _ _ _
[B] So you notice how my pick is sort of traveling [A#] down there [F#] while I'm doing that slide.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ Now the next little phrase is a little bit, kind of sliding around a little bit to get parts of the melody, and then I'll just go over that.
[F#] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I'm kind of sliding from the fifth fret on the D string to the fourth fret, _ _ _ _ _ and then fourth string, and then fifth string.
Fourth fret on the A string, and to the fifth fret. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ [A] _ _ [D] _
So you'll notice those low D notes, they're not really coming in regular order like on the downbeats.
They're kind of just coming in the holes in the melody to fill out the sound a little bit.
_ So that's Angela and the Baker.
For Acoustic Guitar, I'm Scott Nygaard.
[N] _ _