Notice
"The Water Garden" was written to capture the feel of slowly shifting reflections of light on the surface of water. In that spirit, the notes should feel like they are floating and bending over a slow pulse. The CGDGAD tuning allows for some interesting inversions of harmonies you might find in standard tuning. The low string tension and the low C note allow for lots of vibrato and subtle manipulation of pitches that I find very useful in conveying the image of the music. The melody is characterized by long notes linked together by a faster moving counter-melody. The melody, and sometimes the bass, often anticipates the downbeat, creating an understated swing or rock ballad feel.
The X's in the tablature denote slapping the string with the thumb. After the slap, the thumb rests on the string, muting it until it is time to play the next bass note. In measures 4 and 13 the vibrato marking denotes a slow vibrato applied to the whole chord. In measure 10 the right index finger should slap the 19th fret, so as to sound the harmonics of both the open strings and the A {at the seventh fret} along with the fundamental pitches of that part of the chord being held with the left hand. Pay close attention to the note durations and string stops; they will help clarify the performance.
A.G.
