Hey there everyone,
I've got a student that has been introducing me to indie music. The group Of Monsters and Men is an Icelandic pop group that had huge success with the song Dirty Paws. This tune encourages us to talk about using a new tool for the guitar, some new techniques and clever composition techniques.
As I spent time with the tune I realized that they were playing with a capo. A capo is a tool that shortens the fingerboard by using a spring to grip down on all six strings at any fret of choice. I haven't seen much in regards to official practice in transcribing guitar with a capo on, so I went about it two ways.
I've written it out in the original key of C minor and also in the "open" key of A minor. What I mean by this "open" key is that in this present key we utilize many of the open strings to play the A minor chord, C major chord. If we compare this to actually fretting a C minor chord and Eb major chord, it is much easier to play. To simplify this we can place a capo on the 3rd fret and play the same chord shapes as the "open" key of A minor.
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The technique that is required in this tune is called a hammer on. The hammer on is where we use the grip of our left hand to strike a string with a finger hard and quick enough to make it audible. It's a very useful technique because we can then make sounds with our left hand independent from our strumming hand. It will take practice and strength. Be patient and practice the method outside of the context of the song. The hammer ons are marked with slurs and an H.
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The composition technique that I enjoyed is present in the B section of the song. We find two extra beats in the last measure for the final chord. This gets resolved during the repeated passage by using an extra measure of 4/4. The second time we come to this B section towards the end of the tune they use the additional two extra beats to play the chords from the beginning of the B section. This is a nice variation that gives extra momentum into the refrain.
The refrain is an additional version of the main theme. It's common in pop music to use the same chord progression for multiple melodies. We find it here with a "shout" chorus and a guitar lick that plays over the same progression as the verses.
Original Key
Transposed Key
And here is a final transcription of the original key.
You can download the sheet music here.
Take your time, enjoy the process and keep playing.
Christopher
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