It has been a while since I posted in here. Here is a video link in which I have tried to present the Guitar Chords arrangement for the Tamil Christian Song, Sandhosham Pongudhae:
The video ended up being little choppy as I tried recording it little differently this time. However, I have repeated the lines of the song multiple times to avoid loss of information and continuity. Hopefully this is useful.
This song is a joyful celebration of the salvation and abundant life given to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Here, I am presenting a video to primarily illustrate the usefulness of Djembe in small Christian groups and family gatherings. This was done during a casual get together during Christmas time (2016). As for the chords, the song involves very simple chords such as C, F, G7, Am and Dm7. Paul Krupakar was on the Djembe. As we can hear, a variety of tonal variations can be derived from this single portable drum through careful control to blend well with any instrument. Here is the video:
I am presenting here, a link to a video of the song, Aadhi Thiruvaarthai Dhiviya that we did during the 2016 Christmas at In Christ Tamil Church at Washington DC. The chords arrangement that have been used here is similar to the version available in the Tamil Christian Songs pdf file. I hope that this is useful here though this is not a typical instructional video. Kingsly was playing the djembe along with me. The bass part of djembe is not audible in this video due to unknown technical reasons. But Djembe is a classy African drum very useful for all types of Christian songs. Especially, in small Christian groups or in family get together, this instrument can effectively be used to completely fill the percussion part of songs along with any acoustic instrument.
As I was trying to get some songs together for a time of carol rounds, I was reminded of an old meaningful song - Aarivar Aaraaro. The words of this song once again reminds us about the most precious and wonderful gift of God to mankind (Jesus Christ) and what He has done for us. Here is the video:
This song is also a great song to learn using the 7th and the 7th diminished chords. For convenience, I am including here the diagrams of the not so familiar chords used in this song.
As always the chords will be available in the pdf file which can be accessed by clicking the Chords - Tamil Christian Songs tab at the top of this page.
It has been a while since I posted here. I just uploaded a video showing chords for the song, Unnadhamaanavarin uyar maraivil. The pdf file containing the chords (You can also click the tab named Chords-Tamil Christian songs at the top of this page) has also been updated with chords for few more songs.
Over the past week, I have posted two instructional videos for the song, "Enna En Aanandham". The first one is similar to previous videos discussing the chords arrangement for the song.
For convenience, I am also including chord diagrams of the relatively uncommon chords used in the videos here.
The second video is more about the variations that can be introduced using electric guitars/keyboards for such songs. Songs like Enna en aanandham do not have a separate chorus (just the stanzas). While playing such songs as a team involving multiple instrumentalists during worship sessions (say a team involving an acoustic guitarist, an electric guitarist and a keyboard player), it may be good to introduce variations in sounds/rhythm patterns for the various stanzas of the song. In the video illustration, I have attempted to start the song with a reasonably mild sound patch and build the momentum as we proceed through the stanzas of the song. I start the first stanza with a simple piano patch with a mild strings background (using a guitar synthesizer) and progressively increase the momentum of the sound and rhythm pattern utilizing increasing intensity of distortion and strumming.
If there are no piano/keyboard players, one can substitute the initial piano part using an acoustic guitar with the electric/bass guitarists joining later and raising the momentum in the following stanzas. Alternatively, this video also illustrates some possible tonal (utilizing available gadgets/amplifiers) and strumming variations that can be used in any simple song even if you are the only instrumentalist in a small praise/worship session. The simplest tonal variation can be achieved by simply changing the position of the pick-up switches or the tone knobs in an electric guitar. Typically, increasing the gain/drive on any common guitar amplifiers will facilitate crunchy distorted tones. Additional effects such as delay, chorus, phaser and reverbs can be added based on available options on guitar amplifiers or through effects/multi-effects foot pedals. Nowadays even complex layering of various tones can be achieved utilizing more recently available compact amp modelling systems and guitar synthesizers.
Instrumental gadgets used:
For this song, I am using a regular Fender Stratocaster guitar fitted with a GK-3 hex pick-up connected to Roland GR-30 guitar synthesizer (which provides the piano tone). The GR-30 synthesizer is in-turn connected through MIDI out to a Roland SH-201 synthesizer (which provides the mild strings tone). The guitar out from the GR-30 is connected to Fender Mustang IV guitar amplifier which provides the amp modelling options and guitar effects such as delay, reverb, chorus and distortion. With this set-up, simultaneous layering of up to four instruments can be achieved while playing a single guitar. Such a set-up though complex can be useful to generate rich variety of tones when we don't have many instrumentalists.
I have added a new video showing the chords arrangement for the song "Ennai Marava Yesu Naadha". The song has been done in C major. The written chords can be found in Tamil Christian songs and Tamil Transliterated songs pdf files that can be downloaded from the corresponding tab links on top of this blog page. For convenience, I am adding the chord diagrams for the chords used in the video at the end of this post.
In the pdf files, I have also added chords arrangement for the songs "Aadhi Thiru Vaarthai", "Enna En Aanandham", "Kaappaar Unnai Kaappaar" and "Kalvari Maamali Oram". Recently, there have been requests for more videos. I will try to add more videos based on these requests as and when I get some free time. Please continue to check my youtube video channel regularly or subscribe to the channel for to get notified for future updates.
There have also been requests for keyboard notes. Though I am giving the chords for guitars, the same can be used for keyboards. The notes can be derived for keyboard chords from the guitar chord diagrams. In each chord diagram in the pdf files, there are notes shown at the right hand side of the diagram. If you combine the notes and play those notes on the keyboard, you will get to play the keyboard version of the chord given there. For example, here is a guitar chord diagram of the chord, G7:
On the right hand side, we can see the notes G, B, D and F (repetitive notes can be disregarded). In the keyboard, playing these four notes together will give the G7 chord. On the left hand, one can choose to play the root note (in this case, G) and any of the other three notes as per the style of playing. Hopefully this hint is helpful for keyboard players.
Here are the chords for the song, Ennai Marava Yesu Naadha:
I have added a new video showing the chords arrangement for one of my favorite songs "Kuyavanae Kuyavanae" The song has been done in E major. The written chords can be found in Tamil Christian songs and Tamil Transliterated songs pdf files that can be downloaded from the corresponding tab links on top of this blog page. For convenience, I am adding the chord diagrams below the video here.
Since my last blog post, I have added chords for more songs in Tamil Christian Songs file (Ennai Maravaa, Ennai Nithayathodu, Kaapaar, Ootridume, Ootru thannirae, Paareer Gethsamanae, Ratha Kottaikullae, Sandhosham Pongudhe, Siluvai sumandha, Singara Maaligayil, Thollai Kashtangal, Thirupaadham, Thooya, Thooyadhi Thooyavarae, Urakkam Thezhivom). This file now contains chord arrangements for more than 100 songs. Currently, chord arrangements are available for all of the first 100 songs in this file.
I am also introducing a new pdf file known as Tamil Transliterated songs in this blog page. The link to this file is also available along with the links to the other files in the tabs at the top of this blog page. This file contains the chord arrangements for Tamil songs written with English letters (transliterated). This file will be useful for those who may have difficulty reading in Tamil. This file is the transliterated version of Tamil Christian Songs pdf file and therefore the songs and the song list in both theses files are the same.
