Dança dos Montanheses

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I was reading my favourite guitarist and guitar teacher Woody Mann's book "Just Play", in which he describes the people he considers his mentors - such as Reverend Gary Davis and Lennie Tristano - and read about his meeting with Portuguese guitarra player Carlos Paredes. Woody described the man and his music in such glowing terms that I just had to investigate further. How glad I was that I did. Carlos Paredes was and is something of a national icon in Portugal and his music is superb. He was imprisoned by the Salazar regime and, during his imprisonment, walked up and down his cell, composing music in his head - which he began to play in earnest when he was released.

I've chosen a fairly simple tune from his repertoire - "Dança dos Montanheses" or "Dance of the Hills" - to play on the tenor guitar, with some backing on conventional 6-string guitar. I couldn't find any music for this piece so I went through his recorded version, note by note, writing it down a little at a time, and trying out various chords as the backing track. When I was satisfied, I recorded the lead tenor first, to get the pace and expression, and then fitted the 6-string guitar to it. It's in G so, to get the fingering I wanted, I capo'ed on the 2nd fret and voiced it in F.

The guitars were made by Ian Chisholm (http://ianchisholm.co.uk/). You can get the music, chords and tenor tab from my website.

www.willflyguitar.com