MITCH DALTON
The studio guitarist’s guide to happiness and personal fulfilment, as related by our resident session ace. This month: You can run but uke can’t hide!
It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day. It’s a new life. And it’s a new Strictly Come Dancing - The Live Arena Tour 2023. And although the show opens with the lyrics of the Bricusse/Newley classic ringing out loud ‘n' proud, I’m not feeling that good, to be honest. “But why!”, I hear you cry. “Luxury coaches, five-star hotels, catering by Eat To The Beat. Wardrobe ladies to attend to every sartorial need, a top TV band with which to play. And money. What’s the problem?”
Well, here’s the thing. If you are naive enough to imagine that all that’s required is to turn up, tune up and drop D, read on.
On day one of rehearsals, I open the folder containing the many and various musical items that feature in this year’s populist entertainment to discover the following ditties. Bring Me Sunshine, but not as associated with Morecambe And Wise. In fact, this arrangement is a transcription of The Jive Aces’ cover, performed in the style of Louis Prima. It happens to feature the ukulele, solo for the first eighteen bars. While whipping out my instrument, so
Bb to speak, I notice the unhelpful key signature. No worries. Having been in Showbiz all day, I retune my handcrafted Paul Hathway model up a semitone and play as if in the key of A, with lots of nice open chord shapes. Always remembering that the tuning is
G#-C#-F-Bb, now necessitating the need to play shapes as if you’re in the key of E. How delightfully straightforward is that? We move on to Can’t Help Falling In Love by Mree. It’s in D, but requires the employment of a capo at the 2nd fret so that one can play folksy fingerstyle open chords as if in C. Every arpeggiated note of every bar has been meticulously written out by David ‘Amadeus’ Arch for my sonic pleasure. I am therefore playing chords that sound D, G, A, B Minor, E Minor and G Minor 6 but with ‘simple’ C , F and G shapes etc.
Among other embarrassments, I find myself repeatedly hitting the open fifth string in the expectation of producing an A bass note. Which is now a B, obviously. General mirth and derision abound. Ho hum. We move on. Next up, Livin’
"THE TRIP HAZARD IS THE TENDENCY TO HIT WRONG STRINGS"
La Vida Loca, featuring the PRS baritone guitar. Once again, the trip hazard is the inevitable tendency to hit the wrong strings since the thing is tuned down a 4th (B-E-A-G-B). Never mind. It’s not as if the lines are prominently featured or anything. Dearie me. However, my own favourite is Mein Herr, from Cabaret. For the tenor banjo that I don’t possess. Yet. The part won’t work on a regular instrument and the ominous printed instruction says “Play as it sounds, not as written.” That is to say, an octave higher than a conventional guitar, which is a transposing instrument, as any fule kno. This translates to a wee riff that sits two and a bit octaves above middle C. I discover that there are three tunings in this esoteric world - Irish, Chicago and Viola. It seems that it is the latter (tuned C-G-D-A) that will produce the desired result. I’m provided with two parts - one in the sounding key of C Minor, the other transposed to G Minor, to assist the search for chord shapes. I reach for my Neurofen Extra Strength. And so the day meanders onwards, taking in Survivor (detune fifth and sixth strings) and Cry To Me, the Solomon Burke classic featuring an A triad played improbably at the 22nd fret, where few have ventured voluntarily. Just occasionally, there’s a piece that calls for a normal guitar tuned in standard fashion, appearing like a musical oasis in a dance desert.
And so, after a number of visits to Bill ‘Meticulous’ Puplett for thorough setups and miscellaneous forensic attention, seven instruments plus a rack to hold ‘em, two amps (including a spare), a pedal board, two accessory cases and a plectrum in a pick tree are loaded into a lorry and trundle away to Birmingham.
“It’s a right old game”, as they used to say darn The East End.
For all I know, they still do.
For more on Mitch and his musical exploits with the Studio Kings, go to: www.mitchdalton.co.uk