FiftySix

This page is a guide to learning Ali Farke Toure's song FiftySix on a tapping instrument such as the Chapman Stick or the acoustic Dragonfly DFA.

There is a score/tablature, fretboard diagrams, and (to be done) youtube video instructions, that will help you along the way.

A bit of background about the piece

Wikipedia Entry
Take a listen to a few versions of this piece. This version by the illustrious Derek Gripper, is what I loosely based this transcription on

Musescore score with tabs

The Score (and tabs) to go along with the diagrams below is available Here even if you can't read music well (or at all), Bringing up the score is very useful. I can't emphasize this enough... why?

you can play/loop a range of measures (phrase) in the score
view the diagram associated with those measures
play along with the loop until you've got the phrase down

Even if you don't use the same tuning as the one the score/diagrams. the shapes in the diagram will generally be the same. so you can go a long way with those resources even with a different tuning

Throughout the instructions i also have links to Musescores that contain broken out parts of the main score to make it easier to bring up and loop on

Some tips

The piece is in Bb Major (G minor) throughout.
It doesn't figure in the intro, but once you tackle that, muscle memorize the bass "loop phrase" until you you can play it without thinking about it (it's just three notes) You can also just put this phrase in a looper as it runs thoughout the entire piece after the Intro Section.

Bass loop phrase

Song Summary

Once you get all the individual parts down, as diagrammed below. You have to string them together. Below is a summary of the structure of the song as written in the score.

Keep in mind, you can arrange these parts as you like. Playing the entire thing can be a workout so feel free to start with a condensed version, like the one below, and then work up to playing the whole thing

Or just have fun at the start by playing an extended version of the intro like I do in the clip below.

summary
----
Intro AA

B  CC  S  E
B  S   E  FF

GG G-outro
HH
BE BC
GG G-outro

FF
C-bar1,2 G-outro-bar1,2

Example shorter version
----

Intro AA

B  CC  S  E(1st half)
B  S   E(1st half)

GG G-outro
FF
C-bar1,2 G-outro-bar1,2

Intro

Traditionally, the intro is improvised. Here's an example one

In the score, I have written out an intro section for use use as a starting point. I've diagrammed some of the bass chords I tend to use when improvising the intro section you may find useful. These chords are used in the written out intro. You'll want to get comfortable moving between them. They typically arpeggiate upwards.

Intro: Primary Bass Chords

Intro: Additional Bass Chords

Intro: Phrase resolution chord.svg

I tend to use this Bb drone chord (Root Octave Octave+5) at the end of a phrase in the Intro/Iprov section when i want to resolve/emphasize back to base Key (Bb) of the song

Intro: Bars 1-4

Bring up the score and use the loop button to the right of the play [>] button to set the start measure to 1 and end measure to 2. Then use the play button to loop those two bars. Use this procedure for each diagram as you go.. You can use the slider next to the watch icon to slow down the loop.

Intro: Bars 1-2

Intro: Bars 3-4

This fingering allows you to hold the last three notes. Sliding down into A from Bb is a nice ornamentation.

Intro: Bars 5-8

Intro: Bars 5-6

Intro: Bars 7-8

Intro: Bars 9-10

Play the full chord on the Cm7 and arpeggiate the Bb drone chord. On a 'Classic' tuning you'll have to move the pattern down one string and 5 frets closer to the bridge to avoid clashing with the CM7 bass chord

On to the Song Proper!

Keep in mind, in this song you can slice and dice the order of all the different riffs as you like. Each riff in the score is marked with a letter marker

Part A

The musescore for part A

Part A is a riff that you can repeat as you see fit. If you are playing with a drummer you might want to vamp on it and let them have an introductory bit of solo-ing over it.

It also doubles as good way to practice to get that Bb Eb -Bb bass riff down pat, as the rest of the song gets a bit more challenging after this section and this riff continues on thoughout the song.

Part A: Bars 1-4

Part A: Bars 5-8

Part B

The musescore for part B
For the rest of the song, the Bass side just plays the Eb Bb -Bb "motor" pattern thoughout the song, so i'll leave out the bass side of the diagrams from here on out for conciseness.

note the (notes, notes, notes) format in the diagram captions below. The two commas group the notes into the 3-3-2 rythmn pattern of the song

Part B: Bar 1

Part B: Bar 2

Part C

The musescore for part C

Part C: Bar 1 and 3

Same phrase in both bars

Part C: Bar 2 and 4

Same phrase in both bars except for last note

Parts S & E

The musescore for parts S & E

Part S: Bars 1-2

Second bar is a rest

Part S: Bars 3-4