Music and Songwriting/The Songwriter's Grooves Project - A Guide to Singing and Playing Guitar/The Travis Picking Song Series/Treetop Flyer
Treetop Flyer - Stephen Stills edit
This song has something of a cult following among singer-songwriters who have taken notice of its artful lyrics and creative guitar work. To many performing artists this song is a flagship creation in the craft of singer-songwriter performance. It's been recorded and performed by many artists other than Stills, and Ray Lamontagne has been quoted as saying it's the song that inspired him to start his career.
Performance/Recording Links edit
Original Recording on the album "Stills Alone."
Live at the "Daylight Again" Concert
Bootleg from the "Just Roll" tape
Cover Performances edit
Playing tips edit
Lessons edit
Basic edit
Outline of the song by Steve from the Music Room
This lesson doesn't go into a lot of detail, but gives a good simplified idea of how the song goes. Not everyone plays in the double drop D tuning taught here, but it certainly can work.
Intermediate edit
Jon Michael Swift's Intro to playing the Verses
This lesson gives some examples of the common patterns Stills uses to comp the song.
Advanced edit
Video Link
This is a lesson on the transcription of the "Daylight Again" live performance, note-for-note, by Jon Michael Swift.
Song stats edit
Notable techniques
Original Key
Tempo
Tuning
Key fingering
SWG Level/Sequences
Practice logs edit
Name Previous Experience Current Playing Level Minutes in Practice Room
sequence links