Ashokan Farewell by Jay Ungar (played on acoustic guitar by Alex Farran)

[@JohnnyRebKy]

Fantastic! I love how you kept it simple. No extra fill in licks and fancy stuff. Just pure melody 🎵. Guitar players get so fancy that the melody is often lost in a sea of rapid fire notes. But you sir nailed it 👍🏻. I tend to always prefer the most basic version of a song

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks Johnny, I really appreciate that! I’m with you and always tend towards the most melodic rendition of a song, and typically that ends up being simple and to the point. This melody is so perfect, there’s really no need to add a single thing other than playing every note with feeling. Thanks for watching buddy

[@scottbookman]

Jay is an incredible musician and you do him proud because your an incredible musician too

[@emersonlangstaff1527]

So clean...great rendition! That Martin just evokes an earlier era...

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thank you! 🙏🏻 Indeed!.. this Martin is as inspiring as it gets 👌🏻🧡

[@williammdust3432]

I really liked it, you captured a lot of the feeling and mood that Mr Unger had when he played ashoke farewell in ken burns film he civil war!!

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thank you! 🙏🏻 Really glad you enjoyed it. I love that documentary on the Civil War 🧡

[@caniwim12]

Really nice work, like the job on the rhythm / backing track too!

[@karenbarr6617]

You have kept the essence of the tune ,speed & feeling , which is perfect. thank you you've done my soul good today

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Ah thank you Karen, I’m glad you liked it 🙏🏻🧡

[@italianguy607]

absolutely beautiful! Thank you!

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks for watching! 🙏🏻

[@martinlindsay9838]

Beautiful as always Alex. It’s such an evocative piece….can’t wait to learn it 😉

[@752brickie]

Beautiful rendition my guitar playing friend !!! Absolutely beautiful !!!! Love the D 28 sound ! You have a great guitar !!! Plus a boatload of talent !!!

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Ah thank you Thom, that’s so kind of you. Yes I do love this guitar, it’s so “alive” and the neck is just super comfy!

[@bluewidow1302]

Flawless.

[@edgwatson1]

Really nice

[@GeorgeIreton]

Thank you for this Alex. Your arrangement is exactly what I hoped to find. I can do this. It will sound great. The melody stands strong on its own. No need for embellishments. Thanks again!

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks so much George, so glad you’re up for learning it! Enjoy playing this beautiful piece!

[@johnbrennan3779]

That was so Nice. Thanks.

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

My pleasure! Thanks for the comment

[@MikeyLee789]

Loved it. So very clean.

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thank you!🙏🏻

[@kennethriley9475]

love it

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks Kenneth! 🙏🏻

[@scotimotti]

Nice...clean and clear..just the way that song should played.

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks mate, I appreciate that 🙏🏻

[@gloriaburton9764]

Missed seeing the rhythm guitar, though you could not play both at once. The players will notice that more probably. Nice sound to a favorite classic of Jay’s - like your country presentation. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

Thanks for watching and commenting 🙏🏻🧡

[@mhero6865]

A+++

[@lynguist]

hey alex is this material included in your patreon ?

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

It is indeed. I posted this as a Patreon bonus just a couple of weeks back funnily enough. (Full chords and melodic transcription too)

[@lynguist]

@@AlexFarranGuitarnice, see you there i guess!

[@joepalooka2145]

Great video, but in fairness, let's get it straight about who wrote this song. Jay Ungar gets a songwriting credit, but in fact he took it directly from the classic Scottish fiddle tune, Neil Gow's "Lament For The Death Of His Second Wife", composed in 1805. Ungar changed a few notes but there's no doubt he got it directly from Neil Gow. The original is greater than the guitar version, in my opinion. Ungar has become famous as the "composer" and makes a lot of royalty money, but I guess this what they call show business.

[@gam1471]

I have in front of me the published music score for 'Ashokan Farewell'. I've also listened to Gow's 'Lament For The Death of His Second Wife' - here's the link, together with the on-screen score for what's being played: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p36aeHyrZrmWY5o Unless the music on this clip is radically different from Gow's original published version (unlikely, I would think), I can't see where you're coming from. Ungar's composition bears no resemblance to Gow's piece. No other version of Gow's lament I've listened to on KZbin sounds like Ungar's composition either.

[@ParaBellum2024]

@@gam1471 I agree! I can't identify any part of Ashokan Farewell in "Lament For The Death Of His Second Wife".

[@AlexFarranGuitar]

I have to say that I’m totally with you on that. I did some digging after receiving this comment initially and came to the same conclusion. There are certain “folk” elements in both tunes in a very vague, ambiguous way.. but only in the way that you’d find common ground between 2 jazz standards for example. So I think to claim that Jay stole this is absolutely way off the mark!

[@patrickmacleod2415]

@joepalooka2145 You have no idea what you are talking about. These two tunes are not even remotely the same. Certainly not close enough to be considered copying. They are both slow airs, and they are both beautiful. That’s about the end of the similarity. I get sick of people trying to find copying in everything. There are songs that have gone to court with the verdict that it was NOT copyright infringement that are far more similar than these two tunes. Musicians, song writers, composers have to get inspiration from each other and those who came before them. Very few things are created in a vacuum without inspiration and similarity to something else. But this doesn’t even qualify for that kind of similarity.