Bert Jansch - Blues Run The Game

Описание: ‘Blues Run The Game’ written by Jackson C. Frank and performed here by the brilliant Bert Jansch is one of the many great songs to come out of the 1960’s Folk song era. The lyrics are full of melancholy and regret not imagined but earned through a tragic moment in his life.
Jackson C. Frank (nee. Jones) came to England in the early 1965 from America and quickly established himself in the Folk scene. His song writing and performances were quickly recognised as being special which ultimately led to Paul Simon producing his first and only album in England, self entitled ‘Jackson C. Frank’. Apart from the notable ‘Blues Run The Game’ many other of his songs from this album have been covered by other artists over the years.

Insights:
In the key of Bb playing out of an open G chord capoed at the 3rd fret. This is a 14 bar verse format with the vocal starting on the ‘and’ of beat 1 in every verse which enables the importance of the lyrics by starting on an off-beat. The guitar arrangement is deceptively simple to accompany the story as it unfolds. I have included the chord names to show the overall harmony structure which in parts is quite sophisticated. If you learn the guitar arrangement of the first verse you could repeat this throughout the song (even the intro) and it would stand up as an accompaniment but, there are a lot of subtleties that makes the arrangement superb. Here are a few pointers:-
In bar 2 there is a double pull-off that appears regularly but, the rhythmic figure changes throughout the song.
In Bar 3 there is a hammer-on from the open G string to 2nd fret.’ Most times it lands on the down beat but, in bars 15, 19, 29, 43 & 117 they hit just before the down beat.
In bar 22 Bert uses his index finger (sometimes supported by middle finger) to brush up through the string(s). I have put an up arrow in the bars these appear in.
In bar 136 there is a wrong note played (just to show he’s human) at the 3rd fret on the G string. It should have been the 2nd fret on the same string which fits with the previous bars.
In bar 143 there is an x. The 12 fret (from the capo) harmonic on the second string is missed.
Enjoy.
Footnote:
If you would like a free pdf copy of this arrangement just send a request to [email protected]