Guitar Tuning Long Distance...

bout a week after Travis and Tony moved down to Texas, I received a phone call. Tony was on the line and wanted to try something! I fired up my old Kurzweil Keyboard and we attempted to tune his guitar over the phone lines.

As it turned out, he had already tuned the first string perfectly to the right pitch of "E", so he would have been able to continue tuning the other five strings. There is a way to tune from string to string if you have the first pitch right.

Tony had not been sure if that first string was right, so he called and we had fun tuning his guitar over the phone lines. From there Travis will be able to tune his guitar and TnT can practice their guitars. I think that a tuning fork might be a great Christmas gift!!!

There are 6 strings on a regular guitar and they need to be tuned to an exact pitch so that when you strum your guitar with your right hand and play the chords with your left, the sound is melodic. I found this online guitar tuner over at guitarforbeginners.com and Wikipedia has a great article on How to tune a guitar!


Artwork Copyright 2007 by Phyllis Mae Richardson Fisher. The Music 'n' Sunflower Letter was created by Janey Loree with copyrighted artwork.

Song History...I Will Always Love You...

Written and sung by Dolly Parton in 1973, the country song "I Will Always Love You" was a huge success. It is the first song to show up on the songs charts four times. Sung by many different singers in many different genres that include jazz (Horace Silver), folk (Linda Ronstadt) and soul (Whitney Houston), The Fisher Family Singers welcome you to hear our version recorded in 1998 on our "Gathered Memories" tape.

History of the song

FFS is #44 on Top 100 Music Sites!!!
Artwork Copyright 2007 by Phyllis Mae Richardson Fisher

Song History...Harbor Lights...

UPDATE: This post has been entered in the "England Goes Gonzo" Blog Carnival being held on October 1st. For carnival details contact Naomi over at Diary From England!

Even though Harbor Lights originated in 1937 and was the background theme in a 1940's movie, it was not until the 50's that this song became popular. Written in England by Wilhelm Grosz and Jimmy Kennedy, Harbor Lights is a hauntingly beautiful song that my father, George Harvey and I, Janey Loree, sing for you here. BTW...my father was born in 1937!

History of the song
Note of interest: FFS is #68 on Top 100 music sites!
The "England Goes GONZO!" banner was created by Kilroy over at Fear and Loathing - The Gonzo Papers.
Artwork Copyright 2007 by Phyllis Mae Richardson Fisher.

Song History...A String of Pearls...

Janey Loree plays A String of Pearls on the keyboard.

In researching the origin of this song I could not
find much that would give statistics on this song.
A String of Pearls was written by Eddie De Lange and Jerry Gray. I remember listening to "Big Band Music" on LP. The Glenn Miller Band's instrumental version of A String of Pearls was always one of my favorites.

Over at the guitarguy.com, I did find the words that
I can remember my mother reciting to me when we first
started working on this song!

Ba - by, here's a five and dime,
Ba - by, now's a - bout the time
For a string of pearls a - la Wool - worth.

Ev' - ry pearl's a star a - bove,
Wrapped in dreams, and filled with love --
That old string of pearls a - la Wool - worth.

Til that hap - py day in Spring
When you buy the wed - ding ring,
Please, a string of pearls a - la Wool - worth.

Ba - by you made quite a start,
Found the way right to my heart
With a string of pearls a - la Wool - worth.

Wait til the stars peek - a - boo,
I've got some - thing just for you --
It's a string of pearls a - la Wool - worth.

I found a love so sub - lime,
Right in that old five and dime
With a string of pearls a - la Wool - worth.

Artwork Copyright 2007 by Phyllis Mae Richardson Fisher (my mother!)

Setting up the new "Music Room"...

We are in the process of setting up the new "Music Room"! The sad part about it is that Travis and Tony moved out of this room and to Texas and they will not be practicing with us. However, they took their guitars with them and will be practicing on their own. I will be sending them the new songs that we are working on and they will reciprocate with the new songs they find!!!

I included a picture that Tony took of their living room because it has his guitar leaning up against the saddle rack!


Artwork Copyright 2007 by Phyllis Mae Richardson Fisher (my mother!) Photographs by Janey Loree Fisher & Tony.

As I am writing this post, I am listening to an instrumental tape that I recorded with some of my favorite songs. I will be adding an "Instrumental Song List" to the right column. I am getting that ol' nostalgic feeling mixed with sadness for missing my sons.