Me Melican Man (A Pigtail Rag)A .J. Weidt (1913)Transcribed byTablEdited by Patrick Grant & Tom Thomason (1998)[d '  IIII I@I`I I$CI HIF@HIFI  I0  0@ 0`)0 0L LLL`I&F@  F I@ F  F@ F I0  0 f@ f   i0` i0 i0 i0i0i0i l0l@li li i0`i0i0i0 l0l@lPl`ii00i0 i0@0`i0i0i0` )@ )LLLLL)0L)f@f i0`i0i0i0i0i0i l0l@l`ii0 li i0`i0i0i0I I@`IIIII I@`I I0 I0@ 0` I0 !)!!)0!i!i!i")0 #)0#)0#)0$f@$f %i0`%i0%i0%i0&i0&i0'i 'l0'l@'l''i0' l'i (i0`(i0)i0)i0* *l0*l@*lP*l`*i**i0**i+ +i0@+0`+i+i0+i0`, -)-)-l-i-i.)0.l`.i.)00I0I0I1I 1I@1I`1I1I2$C3I3 3HIF@3HIF3I5I`5)06l6 6l6l6l`7i7&7f9F:i@:F: :F@;F;i0<l@<lP<l`<l<l<l=i>i?i ?l0?l@?i`?lp?l?i?i@@ @fAfBl Bl0Bl@BPBlBlBlBlCpClCfDfEi El@Ei`ElEiElEiElFfGfHl0Hl@HHlHlHlHlHlpIlIfJfK KI@KI`KKILIL)MDN@Nl0PNl0NlNlNNl0pOl0O&0Q QIQIQIQRIR)SD0Tl@TlPTl`TlTTlTlU&Wi Wl0Wl@Wi`WlpWlWiWiX XfYfZl Zl0Zl@ZPZlZlZlZl[p[l[f\f]i ]l@]i`]l]i]l]i]l^^f_f`l0`l@``l`l`l`l`lpalafbfcI cI@cHIF`cHIFcIcIdI dIe(I0e(I0eFfI fI@fHIF`fHIFfIfIgI gIh(I0h(I0hFiI0i&L@i(L`i&IiIi)Li)LjIjFk(I0 k'I0lI0ll@llPll`lllIllllmIm 0nI0oI@oIoIoIpI p @pI`p pI@qIqIqIrI rL0rL@rI`rIrrIrI@sI`sIstI0 tI0@tFuLuL uL0uL@uIuI@vI`v wI0 wI0@wIy,z, z,0z,@z`z,z,@{)H{{)|&@|)`| |)@})})~I ~I@~`~ ~~II I@`I! CI I@FIIFI I@F0@FI0ll l0l@Pl`llf@f0l@lllЇllplffI I@!II I@`ICI I@FIIFI I@F0@FI00l@lllАllplff&0l@`IllIll`IfI0I0`L%L &L0$L@PLF#LFp#LF@%FI L0L@`IF@I0`I0L LLLМL`LFL@FI0L@LПLLpLFFI I@` !II I@`ICI I@I`LpLIIII I@I0@FI0LL L0L@XШLI`II0 0III DiB@DiB`DiBIIII@FIFI@FI "I@FI I@FID`FIDIII II0 I0#I I@FFDIII II0 I0l lllзlifflllкli0l@ff@DIB`DIBIII I$I0$I0I I@DFB#II$I I$I0I0$LLLLLL@!L@#L !L@p#L $F )@,H), )@,PLpL)0L!I0 )$II I@%`I"F#FF@PLpL)0LI0)0 0II I`IFF`LpLҞ F@)0$I0$&0I L0L@I``I$D L0L@)` @ 0`)0  @)0)0)0`)0 DIB@DIB`DIB )0 0I I@` II I@`I! CI I@FIIFI I@F0@FI0ll l0l@Pl`llf@f0l@lllllplffI I@!II I@`ICI I@FIIFI I@F0@FI00l@lllllplff&0l@`IllIll`IfI0I0`LL L0L@PLLLLpLF@FI L0L@`IF@)0`)0L LLLL`L&L@FI0L@LLLpLFFI I@` !II I@`ICI I@I`LpLIII I I@ I  0@ F0 I0 l l l0 l@ `  l i` i i0  0 i0 i i0@ ))))@)) ) )@%$&:+9;[IntroFirst sectionSecond section InterludeThird sectionFourth sectionThird section (repeat) T See NotesGmaj|||||||||||||B7j|||||B7F - -C -D# 7 dim +@+F#7in/5+-C - 7F - -C -D7F - -C -G M6 6&{D76FD{BB2E617C-0920-1D7/9 6 -C -0-B7FD-00C04FD70Dm7n 7D7GmajG (b6)m7GmajCmajF7 dimA(M7)DmG7 dimD7CmajC7F - -C - Cmaj- -C -EmC sus 4/5+C (6)4/5+E7AmF9+mG: It gave me great pleasure when Patrick Grant sent me the rough version of this tablature. It's one of those rarities that inspires you to go out and actively look for new tunes. I say "rarities" because this rag was written directly for the guitar rather than being a guitar arrangement of a piano rag. "Me Melican Man - a Pigtail Rag" was written in 1913 by A.J. Weidt and first appeared in the magazine "Cadenza" which was published in Boston, Massachusetts between 1894 and 1924. Mr. Weidt is said to have contributed a number of pieces to this magazine including one entitled "Cold Molasses Rag". Patrick and I are still looking for other period rags composed for our beloved instrument. "Melican Man" is fairly easy to play as it stands. There are, however, a few places where other fingerings might be used and a couple of alternatives for endings, etc. The treble notes on the last 8th of the opening chord sequence are, for example, marked as open strings. The same is true of the 3 (4), 4 (5) notes first appearing in the first measure of the first section. We felt that playing these notes as fretted strings provided more control over their durations without making the passages more difficult to play so we changed them. A close inspection of the piece clearly reminds us that the piece was written with a 12 fret neck in mind, probably of classical width. This means that certain chord inversions have been avoided, notably the second ending of the second section. Where the original uses two first position G chords for this ending, the longer neck of a modern steel string guitar (especially in the case of those models with a cutaway) would allow the second of these chords to be taken as 4 string barr at the 12th fret with the little finger fretting the G note at the 15th fret. A "C shape" barr at the 7th fret could also be used but this is a bit more awkward to get to rapidly. We've left the original chord in place out of consideration for those of you playing short-necked classical guitars. A special note concerning measures 50>51. The use of the barr shape for the F7 dim at the end of 50 nicely sets up the move to the long A shape in the beginning of 51. Nevertheless, the speed of the A figure can be a little bit tricky. In fact, when you change to the A chord, you should drop *all* of your fingers into place at the same time. Little finger at the 5th fret, ring finger at the 4th and middle finger at the 3rd. This change becomes more natural if you make use of the fact that your ring finger is already on the 4th fret, 1st string in the F7 dim chord. When you switch chords, make sure not to move that ring finger and you'll find that your little and middle fingers fall right into place. The final C chord we've indicated is not the original. The original ending consisted of double first position C's. We felt that this sounded sort of lifeless and took it upon ourselves to make a suitable alteration. We had two (very standard) options, the one presented here or that of playing a bass G on the second 1/8th and sliding this up to the 8th fret to play a standard C chord in that position. As it turns out I (Tom) have chosen to play a combination of these two variations by playing the bass G as the second 8th and ending with the chord indicated in the tab. Tom Thomason & Patrick Grant April, 1998cw %).38%).38