The Scottish tune "The Mist-Covered Mountains of Home" is a great song of longing for one's homeland. My involvement with this wonderful tune represents a true folk journey, with some interesting twists and turns in the road. In this article, I will share my own history with the tune, and some comments on my arrangement in dropped-D tuning (DADGBE) as found in my brand-new book for Mel Bay Publications- The Art of Dropped D Guitar. Warren Haskell, the guitarist who recorded the companion CD for this book will then comment on the tune from a player's perspective.

I first learned of "The Mist-Covered Mountains of Home" in the mid 1980's when I heard guitarist John Renbourn's captivating version. John arranged the tune in open G-minor tuning -- DGDGBbD. That was a powerful setting for the tune, and I set about to learn it.

I actually had some difficulty learning it at the time, because John played the melody in the bass with the RH thumb, and the RH fingers provided an arpeggiated accompaniment. I was coming from the alternating-bass world, where the thumb kept the beat going and the fingers played the melody. That arrangement was my introduction to the world of arpeggiated guitar! I remember getting it in a rush on Labor Day in 1989. I proceeded to play the thing for hours that day for fear that I would forget how to do it. My family and neighbors got a full dose of the tune on that holiday!

Playing it a la John kept me going for a few years. In the interim, however, I discovered the playing of guitarist Dave Evans in a strange but wonderful tuning - CGDGAD. (I later found out that this tuning is a Hawaiian slack-key tuning called C Ni`ihau.) Dave had independently arrived at that tuning by starting with open G and open G minor tunings, then tuning the bottom string down from D to C, and finally tuning the 2nd string to A.

So, I arranged "Mist-Covered Mountains of Home" in CGDGAD tuning, and that arrangement, along with the Renbourn version, appears in Mel Bay's Complete Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar Book (MB95217BCD). That tune is also on my 1996 recording, Playing Favorites.

Years passed. (That sounds dramatic!) I retired from my law firm to seek fame and lucre as a touring folk guitarist (or as a comedian, one might say, after that statement). At that time, I had the great pleasure of touring for several years with guitarist Larry Pattis and one gig found us at a house concert in Orem, Utah, sponsored by the Mark Davis family. Members of that family comprised an acoustic band called Fiddlesticks

The band played some tunes before our show, and proceeded to blow my mind with an amazing version of "Mist-Covered Mountains", with minor chords and a mood of intense longing. (Their version is on their CD called, ironically, "Playing Favorites"!) After hearing the Fiddlesticks arrangement, I told them, with mock annoyance, that they had just involuntarily retired my version!

I repaired to the woodshed and redid my version to try to capture some of that feeling, and my revised version is on my CD called "The Lea Rig," from 2001. My talented friend Kate MacLeod from Utah accompanied me on fiddle on that track.

The saga continues. Although I had written many books for Mel Bay on my arrangements in CGDGAD tuning, I came to realize that many players are reluctant to make radical changes in tuning their guitars. For optimal results, they might even have to change to different string gauges! They rightly conclude that it can take a significant effort to learn note and chord positions in different tunings, and they wonder why changing tunings might be desirable. Although I felt that I could convince them otherwise (!), I did understand that thinking.

I discovered that with the help of a computer program I could take my finished arrangements in CGDGAD and put them into another tuning. Dropped-D started to emerge as a tuning that accommodated the sounds and voicings that I found so compelling in CGDGAD tuning.

The conversion process was not easy. It involved careful experimentation (or intuition) as to keys; then finding the "right" key (or "a" right key); then transposing the arrangement; and, finally, changing the guitar tuning and the associated fingerings. The result was "raw" and preliminary at that point, because the changes so far had been mathematical and robotic, relying on the consistency of tone intervals. (In fact, at that stage, the tune may not even have been playable by a human being, due to the fingering stretches that the computer-transcribed arrangements required!) Nevertheless, even with that qualification, the wondrous result of that process was the liberation of music from a particular guitar tuning, and its journey to another.

The results in dropped-D are unusual fingerings and string choices, including extensive use of upper position notes on the lower strings. One could analyze each of the chords as containing "pieces" of more traditional chords from standard tuning, but that isn't really necessary because the notes and fingerings I've selected are for the purpose of presenting something beautiful, or joyful, or mournful, from the standpoint of my own ears and harmonic sensibilities.

Turning to my arrangement of "Mist-Covered Mountains"- the approach is obvious in the first few measures, particularly measure 5, measures 20-21 and measure 25. The fingerings are akin to those in open tunings, and the open strings are used where fretted, first-position notes might ordinarily be employed. Sometimes sequential notes in a scale are sounding on strings that are one or two strings apart! In addition, slides may be employed to position the left hand to catch a note in an odd position up the neck. See measure 12, for example. Sometimes too, the approach requires a hinge barre, employing the LH index or ring finger, bent to barre three strings with the first joint of the finger. (See measure 7.)

Now, I would like to share some insights from guitarist Warren Haskell, who played the music on the CD for the benefit of the student learning the arrangement from the dropped-D book:

El's arrangement of Mist-Covered Mountains is my hands-down favorite in the book. In fact, when I was putting a solo recital together for a mini-tour of Northern California and New Zealand, I knew that I wanted to include it on the program along with his version of the great Jay Ungar tune "The Lover's Waltz". There is something about a song in a minor key that just pulls me into it and "Mist Covered Mountains" is particularly haunting. It also proves to be fertile ground for El's unique touches with ornament, color and harmony.

The arrangement is comprised of a "tune" that is played through 4 times. The highest note that is used in the arrangement is the G that sits on top of the treble clef, and students of harmony may recall that a good melody uses its highest note with care and usually sparingly. El is likewise respectful of that guideline and is very careful not to overuse that climactic note throughout the course of his additional 3 verses. Notice how "right" it feels whenever it's heard.

Then there is the special way that El will harmonize a given melody note. In measure 4, there is a high E in the melody. I suspect that this would most often be harmonized with a C chord and, in fact, all but one of the notes throughout the measure support that logic. But it is the second note, the bass note, where El chooses a low F creating a beautiful FMa7. Perfect. And in the next measure, an A in the melody is placed against a low G, a ninth lower and in my opinion, the loveliest interval in all music-dom.

But it is the final measure of the first time through the song, measure 17, that is truly magical. The melody ends on an A, the tonic of the key, and one fully expects an A-minor chord to complete the cadence. El manages a beautifully subtle surprise with the placement of a low open D on the bottom that both completes the phrase and moves you forward into the next section.

And of course there are the singing cross-strung voicings that he uses in his flowing, almost improvisatory lines that make one glad to be a guitarist. As a committed note reader, I was somewhat thrown off balance to realize that I was actually going to have to rely on the tab to play the piece the way that El intended it to be played. My effort was well rewarded, however, as the overlapping harp-like sonorities spin out of the instrument and linger on the ear.

These are just a few of the riches that can be found within these mist-covered mountains. Play it for yourself and you'll discover these little gems on every page. Enjoy!

Warren Haskell

Thanks to Warren for those kind words. It's nice when a truly learned person converts my intuitive trial-and-error approach into something that looks intelligent!

If the reader can stand it, there is actually more to the story of this tune. One day I was listening to my arrangement on the computer and was playing it through various MIDI voices, including odd choices like marimba, honky-tonk piano, and "bird tweets" -OK, maybe I don't have enough to do- when I used the "String Ensemble" MIDI setting. I was blown away by how the tune sounded arranged for bowed instruments. So, if this is simply Divine Intervention, I'm sorry-- it is! I, who have never played any of these instruments and had to learn about the clefs, range, keys, etc. on my own-- wrote a book of arrangements for string trio (violin, viola and cello) and that book includes, what else but "Mist-Covered Mountains"! The book is available here...

The beat goes on!

Warren and I hope you enjoy playing the arrangement. If the approach resonates with you, there are over 30 of my arrangements in the Dropped D book, which is available through my website http://www.elmcmeen.com/dropdbook.htm, by direct order through Mel Bay Publications (Bayside Press) or through your local music dealer.

Warren Haskell holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Classical Guitar performance from the University of Southern California, where he studied regularly with James Smith and in Master classes with Christopher Parkening and Pepe Romero. He also received instruction from renowned harpsichordist Malcolm Hamilton. As an undergraduate, he was awarded the Jack Marshall scholarship for three years in a row and in 1975 he performed the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Concerto in D with the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. From 1982-1984 he acted in the capacity of teaching associate at USC while pursuing graduate level studies. Also at that time, he was guided by Duke Miller, the head of the guitar program at USC, on many essential ideas concerning guitar pedagogy that heavily influenced Warren's own teaching style.

While residing in Los Angeles, Warren was very active in the freelance music scene, working as a soloist and ensemble player. In 1987 he made his first recording of solo guitar music - Handmade - and in the spring of 1991 he completed Emergence, a recording of jazz, blues and Latin selections with vocalist Renee Safier. In November of 1995, he released a CD recording of solo guitar music - Warren Haskell Plays Andrew York. Warren recorded the CD accompanying El McMeen's acclaimed Mel Bay book, The Art of Dropped D Guitar (MB 20467BCD).

Warren has taught beginning and advanced guitar classes in both classical and popular styles at East Los Angeles College and Mission College, and has served as the head of the guitar performance program at California State University at Chico. He has numerous private students of all levels, and has performed internationally.