"Venus In Furs", from The Velvet Underground's 1967 self-titled debut album, is a song that I have always loved. The first time I heard it, it sounded different from anything else I had heard before - there were guitars, but not quite like any other guitars. There was... a violin? It sounded like one, but not quite (it was John Cale's electric viola, as I would later find out). And the bass and drums - not like how you'd expect them to be played on a rock song.
It is a haunting song, mainly due to the droning quality of the guitar and viola. Lou Reed is probably using some strange tuning - some people believe he was using the "ostrich" tuning, where all strings are tuned to the same note, others claim he simply detuned his guitar ½ step, maybe with his first string tuned differently... I stuck to standard tuning on this version, but I did want to get some of that drone quality to my arrangement. I recorded two guitar tracks, one for the main melody and harmony, the other for John Cale's viola part, slightly panned to the right on the mix.
I hope you enjoy it!
Equipment notes:
I used a Yamaha APX 600 in standard tuning. The guitar was plugged to a Hotone Ampero for processing and interfacing with my computer, where I used Logic Pro for recording and final sound mixing.
🎼 Guitar Tab - www.dropbox.com/s/s2o9m686ce6...
🎵 Soundslice - www.soundslice.com/slices/cycMc/
#fingerstyle
#thevelvetunderground
#acousticguitar
#yamaha
#apx600
#hotone
#ampero