Thursday, March 2, 2017

"Barnyard"

Yester-day I listened to the second disc of The SMiLE Sessions [Deluxe Edition Box Set], and I noticed that in "Barnyard," there's a piano phrase that nearly doubles the vocal melody (I think it leaves out a few notes).  It sounded easy, so I figured it out.  I also noticed that the bass has double stops, where in my previous recording, I'd played just single notes.  While I was correcting that, I discovered that the bass part changes about halfway through the song.  First, it's just quarter notes:


But then about halfway through, it changes to a dotted rhythm:


I referenced the version on the 2004 SMiLE, and it doesn't have that dotted section; it maintains the quarter notes throughout the song.

When I recorded my new version, I tried the guitar part on electric twelve-string, which sounds a bit closer to what the original recording has.  I referenced The SMiLE Sessions booklet for details about the instrumentation on the track, and it seemed equally confused about whether it's an electric or acoustic guitar.