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This is one of my favorite straight fingerpicking songs. I usually include it in the first part of my live show because it energizes audiences. It is also one of the songs most often requested by my guitar students.
"A Day At The Races" is played in dropped - D tuning, which I find to be one of the most versatile altered tunings because it retains the advantages of standard tuning while offering the droning bass characteristic of open tunings.
This song features a rapid, staccato cross-string run that makes extensive use of open strings, pull-offs, and hammer-ons; and an orchestral-style buildup that incorporates a moving bass line and 'wall of sound' triplet picking.
"A Day At The Races" is mean't to be played fast, but you should learn it in pieces. It is a rhythmic song, and it is important that you feel what's going on rhythmically. To do that, you should go slowly at first.
P.R.
