BIA in A minor

[JF]

I am writing an article on my blog about BIA album for it's 25th release anniversary on wednesday

I remember that on 2013 or 2015 tour, (not sure which one) Mark played the song BIA on the blue Les paul in A minor position,with the guitar tuned half-step down (to math the G#m key)

I searched on You Tube but can"t find any video with that blue Les Paul nor any close-up with Mark's left hand to see the chord position

I think that Guy talked about that, I searched on his forum, but can't find any clue neither

Does anyone here remember this ? and does anyone have a link to a video ?

many thanks in advance

[Rolleyway Man]

He did indeed play ‘Brothers in Arms’ in A minor during the early stages of the European tour with Bob Dylan in 2011. The blue Les Paul was tuned up by a semi-tone. I never saw this for myself as by the time the tour reached Bournemouth, the song had returned to its original key with Mark reverting to the ‘58. I did wonder why Mark didn’t just play it on a Les Paul in standard tuning and simply play everything one fret higher. I asked Guy about that at the time and he said it was all to do with feel. I also suspect that he was so used to playing it in G# minor that there would have been a distinct possibility of hitting lots of wrong notes during the solos!

[JF]

He did indeed play ‘Brothers in Arms’ in A minor during the early stages of the European tour with Bob Dylan in 2011. The blue Les Paul was tuned up by a semi-tone. I never saw this for myself as by the time the tour reached Bournemouth, the song had returned to its original key with Mark reverting to the ‘58. I did wonder why Mark didn’t just play it on a Les Paul in standard tuning and simply play everything one fret higher. I asked Guy about that at the time and he said it was all to do with feel. I also suspect that he was so used to playing it in G# minor that there would have been a distinct possibility of hitting lots of wrong notes during the solos!

thank you !   
I was searching the wrong tours !

[JF]

He did indeed play ‘Brothers in Arms’ in A minor during the early stages of the European tour with Bob Dylan in 2011. The blue Les Paul was tuned up by a semi-tone. I never saw this for myself as by the time the tour reached Bournemouth, the song had returned to its original key with Mark reverting to the ‘58. I did wonder why Mark didn’t just play it on a Les Paul in standard tuning and simply play everything one fret higher. I asked Guy about that at the time and he said it was all to do with feel. I also suspect that he was so used to playing it in G# minor that there would have been a distinct possibility of hitting lots of wrong notes during the solos!

just to be sure : the key has always been G# minor for the whole band
it's just that Mark played it in A minor position (with teh guitar tuned up by a semi-tone) , but the song key didn't change

[yontwocrows]

yes, i think so. guy mentioned it in his diaries: https://guyfletcher.co.uk/2011dylan_10th_oct_2011_-_manchester/

[quizzaciously]

So strange to see a man who've been playing this song for like 25 years or so suddenly deciding to play it in Am. Only Mark could've done something like that

[quizzaciously]

yes, i think so. guy mentioned it in his diaries: https://guyfletcher.co.uk/2011dylan_10th_oct_2011_-_manchester/

Wait a minute... Why 1 half-step UP? Look: The song is in Ab or G# or whatever, you tune the Les Paul to F tuning or whatever (+ 1/2 step). If you play in "Am" the song ends up being in A# (Bb), which is not the case. To play the song in Am the tuning is 1/2 step down how I remember it. Not 1/2 step up.

Tu summarise: the original song is in  G# minor, 4th position pentatonic, you tune the guitar 1/2 step down and to account for that shift the whole soloing 1 fret up to Am. So it can't be half step up by any measure. As far as I remember Mark also played Song For Sonny Liston on this LP and to account for the tuning shifted the capo to 5th fret, which also indicated the Eb tuning.

[quizzaciously]

Capo 5th fret... Sonny, is that you?

Could be Why Aye Man as well, but in standard tuning. Videos also shows Sonny in standard tuning, so looks like this guitar has gone standard after tuning experiments.

[JF]

yes Pavel, of course you are right, the guitar was tuned half step DOWN not up
I guess Guy meant that Mark played it half step UP in term of position on the neck


I searched videos for my article and I found these ones :


Glasgow 8/10/2011 (2nd show of the tour) : Mark is joking about the song in Am. and he clearly hesitates for the first note




Nottingham 11/10/2011 : Mark goes back to the standard tuning, and he hesitates for the first note again !






oh and another think (thanks to Wolfgang) : of course tomorrow is BIA's 35th anniversary, not 25th as I wrote in my first post 

[Rolleyway Man]

Oops. I was always under the impression that the key of the song was actually changed up to A minor. Obviously he was just looking to give the lead guitar part a slightly different feel, but soon decided it didn’t really work and reverted to standard tuning after only a few shows. Still, always good to change things up and try different approaches with songs to keep them fresh.

[quizzaciously]

Oops. I was always under the impression that the key of the song was actually changed up to A minor. Obviously he was just looking to give the lead guitar part a slightly different feel, but soon decided it didn’t really work and reverted to standard tuning after only a few shows. Still, always good to change things up and try different approaches with songs to keep them fresh.

Quite interesting from the perspective of the man who've played this song for 25 years at the time. After 25 years this man goes on stage and thinks "Hmmm, maybe I should try to play it in Am by retuning a guitar". Maybe it was someone's [as it turned not so good] advice.