Fields Of Gold by Sting - acoustic
An acoustic guitar lesson on how to play "Fields Of Gold" by Sting, from the "Ten Summoner's Tales" album released on March 9th, 1993. This is my own finger-style arrangement.
Here's a quote from Sting about the origins of the song: "In England, our house is surrounded by barley fields, and in the summer it's fascinating to watch the wind moving over the shimmering surface, like waves on an ocean of gold. There's something inherently sexy about the sight, something primal, as if the wind were making love to the barley. Lovers have made promises here, I'm sure, their bonds strengthened by the comforting cycle of the seasons." This has always been one of my favorite songs by Sting. It's a toss up between this and Shape Of My Heart as to which one I like best, although he's written so many great songs, it's hard to choose. My arrangement is pretty straightforward, so if you've been playing a while it shouldn't be too hard to get, but it's important that you let the strings ring. I had to really focus to not mute out the strings throughout when I recorded my demo. I tried a bunch of different versions of my arrangement for this. I started out on the acoustic in drop D, but then moved onto my Les Paul also in in drop D, with lots of chorus, delay and reverb. While that was OK, it just didn't sound right. I tried it slow and fast, with a click track, without a click, with a drum track and without but I just couldn't get a vibe I was happy with. I went back to the acoustic and eventually dropped the high E down to a D and that's what did it for me. To have that high D ringing made all of the difference, so that's what I went with. I didn't play to a click as I found that too restrictive. There's a couple of parts that I rushed a bit, but overall I think it has more feel when it's played freely. I really enjoyed working on this song. It has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I hope that you get something from the video. Cheers Andy |
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