Wooden Horses: A Ragtime Tune

Overview: "Wooden Horses" is a ragtime tune in standard tuning, primarily in C major. However, it incorporates numerous key changes and has a delightful carousel flavor.

Opening Phrase

Before diving into the main sections, there's a little opening phrase.

• The breakdown is pretty straightforward. Just watch out for:
  • A wide stretch.
  • The movement of a C shape up the neck.

This section repeats seamlessly.

Last Phrase

In the last phrase, I'm bouncing off the open strings. Then, I transition to:

• E flat (measure 16)
• C minor
• D flat
• B flat minor to A flat in C minor

Next, I follow with a chromatic rundown using diminished seventh chords and return back to the beginning.

Review Section

Let's review that sequence one more time:

• E flat to B flat 7 chord
• F minor to A
• G over B
• C minor to D

Then, moving up:

• A
• B flat
• E flat again
• D flat

Now, pay attention to this transition:

• B flat minor chord
• The next bass note is the open A

After this, we continue with a repeat of the previous section.

Next Section

At measure 34, I'm changing keys to F sharp minor:

• F sharp
• A
• C sharp 7 (sharp 9 and flat 9). The open E on top gives you the sharp nine.

Then the progression continues:

• G sharp minor
• G sharp
• G minor
• F sharp minor
• B augmented

Now, I'm moving into the key of E to keep things interesting.

Transition and Tricks

This section can get a little tricky:

• I've got G sharp and G natural.
• Moving to the A chord involves shifting the whole shape back a fret and then up again.

Also, on F sharp in measure 48, it's a bit challenging. Then on B, I repeat:

• Here in measure 50:
  • F sharp minor 7 flat 5
  • B 13 to a B 9 on the bottom four strings
  • Then shift to E6

You might recall that I've used the E6 shape in "Maple Avenue Strap" too.

Coda

Finally, as we return to the main tune, we head into the coda. Let's emphasize this again.

• Measure 56:
  • Sliding down here and using the right hand to grab the sixth and fourth string to slide up and finish the tune.