Capo Inventions

Other guitarists have been asking Harvey Reid for years for transcriptions of his solo instrumental guitar work, and it has taken a long time for him to make a book of them, but it is finally done and available Dec 1 2006 from Woodpecker Records. This is an important work for solo guitar, and contains the first published arrangement in Asus configuration, another of Harvey's unique contributions to the guitar that have been overlooked by the guitar media in general.

Here is a close-up of the most common use of the Esus partial capo, that Harvey first introduced on his 1984 LP "A Very Old Song."

"Capo Inventions" features 10 of Harvey's original guitar compositions and 4 traditional arrangements that use the Esus/Open A partial capo. There are dozens of musically useful ways to use the partial capo, and it is something Harvey first pioneered in the 1970's, and that is now becoming widespread. The "Third Hand Capo" is a universal device that does all combinations on all guitars, but most players seem to use the Esus capo. Harvey published a book of guitar arrangements for the Third Hand Capo in 1983 (still in print) called "Sleight of Hand" though he has not recorded all the tunes in it and it does not include a CD.

We carry both books, and both kinds of partial capos, and all are available on our order form.

The book contains a CD and is done in both TAB and standard notation, with a lot of notes, tips, fingerings and helpful commentary. He spent a great deal of time, carefully working to make sure that all fingerings are shown just the way he plays them, and every effort was made to make sure the information is as accurate as possible. There are thorough discussions of the notation and other issues unique to the partial capo.

All the tunes are for fingerstyle guitar, except Arkansas Traveler, which is a much-requested solo flatpicking arrangement that will be of great interest to flatpickers.

$19.95 + $3 shipping from Woodpecker Records

The 14 transcriptions include some of his best-known pieces, progressing in difficulty from intermediate-level tunes to some of the really fancy ones--

The Skye Boat Song
The Highwire Hornpipe
A Windy Grave
Hard Times (Come Again No More)
The Unknown Soldier
Suite in F (Part I)
The Arkansas Traveler
The Minstrel Boy
Red in the Sky
Prelude From The Minstrel’s Dream
Norway Suite: Part 1 (The Waterfall)
Norway Suite: Part 2 (The Fjord)
The Star Island Jig
Macallan’s Jig