I made a whistle - a Low F - for a guy who is in a secluded community. He enjoys playing his whistle, and is happy that I’ve set out some whistle-tab tunes for him. He doesn’t read music, and nobody is likely to play along with him.
He is in his mid-twenties - about twenty years younger than me. Folk is a dirty word to him, and he can’t seem to get his head around the “diddley”. He would like me to make up some whistle tab of pop and rock, that he would know the tunes.
I’m stumped. I mention Rolling Stones and it’s like the Dark Ages as far as he’s concerned. Tom Paxton? Who is he? Bob Dylan? That was last century, man.
I can do him some pub favourites, like Yellow Submarine, but something more up-to-date would be good.
So, could anyone propose a few modern pop/rock tunes that might be playable on a solo whistle? If there was any place I could pick up the stave or the ABC, that would be a plus, but I’ll buy the sheet music I have to.
When I say “modern” I mean tunes of the last ten years or so. If you please?
You need to ask him which songs he would like the tab for. Those will be the songs that are familiar to him.
I listen to my MP3 player while I’m grocery shopping and the cashiers and the baggers regularly ask me what I’m listening to. So far, they have not heard of Simon & Garfunkel or The Moody Blues ("I don’t listen to the blues much.) Any guessing on our part would be a complete shot in the dark.
Reminds me of a story. I wasn’t there, but some of the local fifers were messing around and decide to play “Wipe out” by The Surfers.
The real problem is that you have to know the instrument before you can play other tunes on it. Think about the way Johnny Cash sang hurt, or the entire Fade to Bluegrass album.
Oops I did it again
Poker Face
I’ll stand by You
Is this the way to Amarillo?
La Vida Loca
I got these from a list of No 1 hits in the UK this century. Here it is.
I did pick and choose though. I was trying to pick things that had a bit of a tune. Something one could whistle. Some of the hits are not that great in that respect.
At this point I might get a little irritated with the chap. “I’m not going to try to read your mind if you won’t tell me what you want”, would be in my thoughts and may actually escape from my lips. After all, there are a lot of songs and tunes out there, and I don’t have the time or patience to play a guessing game with someone.
He’s an Aspie. Badger an Aspie and they’ll clam up. He probably doesn’t know what he wants anyway, other than, “Well, there’s that one that goes dundundahdunduhndah… no wait, that’s a different one…”. Teasing it out of him could take a year.
Thanks Ben. The hits of the century was the sort of thing I should have thought of. And yes, the Macarena will do nicely.
OK, well my daughter is an Aspie. She likes (lives for!) They Might Be Giants. I’ve got you covered. With that in mind, may I recommend “Bird House in your Soul,” “Snail Shell,” Sleeping in the Flowers," “Do Not Forsake Me,” “The End of the Tour” and, my personal favorite, “The Mesopotamians”:
Actually, he did come up with some suggestions of his own. I’ve dredged up stave (or dreamed it) and set out whistle-tab for the following:
Good King Wenceslas
Ode to Joy (Beethoven)
Great Gates of Kiev
The Star Wars Theme
Star Wars Jazz (in the Cantina, Episode IV).
The Star Wars theme is going to give him difficulty. There are a couple of descending arpeggios with cross-fingerings, that I have difficulty with myself.
He asked for “The Model” by Kraftwerk and “The Only Girl in the World” by Rihanna.
This last to settle an argument of some kind.
I managed to render them in ABC (so as to get them into whistle tab). The Kraftwerk one is quite nice.
The Rihanna one is beyond awful. I thought they might not go down too well at TheSession, but I knew you guys would appreciate them.
