Merlin Smith Plays Scott Joplin
Volume 1
The Entertainer
"So here it is. Perhaps the most important Joplin composition ever transposed to Fingerstyle guitar. This was famously played by Chet Atkins and thus he was awarded a grammy in 1976 for 'Best Country Music Performance' however I was unaware that the arrangement was done by John Knowles C.G.P until I met him in Nashville last year. When speaking to John about it he also told me of another Joplin arrangement of which I will soon visit. This arrangement opened the doors for me in terms of how well Ragtime can work in Fingerstyle. Enter Richard Smith, one of the worlds best Fingerpickers and someone who's Joplin arrangements I will be frequenting. He comes along and proceeds to arrange the entire piece.
The Easy Winners
"I am proud to present my rendition of 'The Easy Winners' as arranged by Richard Smith, however I have made some small changes to more closely match the original sheet music. I have also tuned down to play in the original key, something I will hopefully employ in the series from now on. I am taking a great deal of inspiration from Phillip Dyson's rendition, which you can see from the embellishment in the final section. I also like the tempo he plays at as well as the general 'concert' feel to his performance. A beautiful rag from 1901 and one of Joplin's most popular, this was the second ever Joplin rag I decided to learn and it is incredibly fun to play!"
Pineapple Rag
"The third Joplin rag arranged by Richard Smith, 'Pineapple Rag' is one of my all time favourites. I had the pleasure of playing this one with Richard and it was interesting having him walk me through it and point out parts of his own arrangement that he thought didn't work and other passages that he liked. This arrangement also showed me the cool trick of tuning to drop D for the modulated sections, a technique I have since used in my own Joplin arrangements. Thought to be named after Joplin's favourite fruit, 'Pineapple Rag' is often regarded as one of his finest works and upon its release gave Joplin a good income for the proceeding year."
Weeping Willow
"Released in 1903, this was the second Joplin rag I decided to arrange and it holds a very special place in my heart. I even named my cat Willow because of this song. I had recently been experimenting with playing the guitar using nails however they had become slightly too long and as a result made an unpleasant tapping sound on the guitar strings. On the day of filming I decided to trim them however accidentally did them too short leaving me playing with just my finger flesh which after months of playing with nails caused volume imbalance over the strings. In the few hours I had left leading up to filming I had to quickly try and work on my technique to counteract this and feel I did quite well in the end however there are definitely some notes that are inaudible in the final modulated sections. Also thank you to Richard Smith for giving me the idea to tune down to drop D in between sections."
Swipesy Cakewalk
"One of two Arthur Marshall songs, 'Swipesy' is a classic piece of the ragtime era and perhaps the most popular piece published under Joplin's name whilst being a collaboration. A delightful piece to play, I found it really feels best when played with a capo on the 2nd fret. I then tuned a half step down in order to get to the original key. "
Magnetic Rag
"I am very proud to present my arrangement of 'Magnetic Rag'. This arrangement is based on the version by John Knowles and recorded by Chet Atkins. I built upon this rendition and tried to make it as close to the piano version as possible, including adding the final minor section before the return to the A section."