Chords for John Williams meets Greg Smallman

_ _ I'm going to see Greg [D] Smallman, great Australian guitar [D#] maker.
Very strange, after 12 years I've kept on _ [D#m] planning to come [E] up and see him and I've never been yet.
So [C#m] I've seen photographs of the place, _ [N] _ quite a rough road in bits and I've been told about that. _ _ _ _ _ _
He's got this wonderful guitar which I saw back in April when we met in Sydney.
And I just wanted to hang on to it for a bit to check a few things.
Of _ [A] course the main reason I'm coming up now, but [C#] _
_ _ it's exciting, is [D] actually [D#] seeing this [G#m] part of the country which I've also never been to.
[D] _ [G] Seeing Greg.
_ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G#] _ _ _ [D] _
Is this one of the ones I tried in [G] April?
Yes.
In Sydney?
Yes.
Is it the one I preferred then?
I shouldn't ask you that.
Yes it is.
_ [D] _
_ _ _ I thought [D#] so. _ _
_ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ Absolutely beautiful.
I mean without trying [Bm] my old one, it seems to have that [N] same clear magic-y thing I always used to say.
Just for now, before I have a proper look, _ I'll show you with mine which is settled down a bit.
I mean this is [D] what, 3 or 4 years old. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] But the overall, _ [C#] you'll just always have that lovely silky thing. _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ [C#] _
_ _ So many lovely high harmonics _ _ _ shimmering in there, a little bit Australian.
Because I identify it with that shimmer of [Bm] gum tree leaves, you know. _ _ _
And it always comes out in little [D] chords like_ _ _ _
The guitar has been due for a long [Em] time for a re-evaluation [A] of the way it's made.
It's not like a violin or a cello which was made [D] and designed hundreds of years ago and is perfect.
It just does what it's supposed to do, [A] even if it's not a Stradivarius, it still sounds and works properly.
The guitar doesn't as a musical instrument. _
_ [D] _ _ [N] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ God, _ there they all are. _ _ _ _
So which is the latest thing you're doing with the Edge that you're saying, you know the one_
Oh, what, is that an un-sort of unfinished grid?
Raw lattice.
Raw lattice. _
I'm very inquisitive as to how things really work.
Can you move that like the top works or do you have to be on the top?
Just exactly the same.
I'll break it so you do it.
[A] And I started to get very interested in the way the top of the guitar works.
Because that's crucial to the [D#m] playing.
It's almost like touching your own [N] skin or someone else's skin.
Right.
And this way we're getting no movement there.
Right.
And lots there, there and there.
Right. _
_ _ That's a traditional soundboard.
Right.
It uses [D] a system of strutting called fan struts.
The [F] thickness of the top and the size of the struts is [D] the most important thing.
[F] But you'd still rather have the old light [F#] wood that you were talking about before?
Oh yes, yes.
Like this particular sort of soundboard [G#] that I make.
Right.
[F#] _ The middle is [G#] much stiffer.
Right.
The edges are much more flexible.
Right.
[N] And the whole thing is much, much lighter.
Yeah.
I get a lot more sustain from this soundboard.
Do you know, I've never seen that either.
That's incredible.
I had no idea it was like that.
I've been playing.
That is_ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ The interesting, wonderful thing about Greg Swann and [A] his approach is he starts [Em] off from
admiring the traditional, not knocking it, but [G] admiring it, wanting to know is it possible
to improve it in some way.
And that he quite clearly [A] has for me.
[D] And he's basically made the guitar a more [D] musical instrument. _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ [A] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [N] _
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[C#] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] I'm very good on my [E] own.
I don't like travelling to see places, but I like, or certainly did like, the travelling
I did on tour, you know.
But I'm [N] a sociable person. _ _ _ _ _ _ _