Level: 2/3
Tuning: Open D

The American composer Henry Clay Work wrote this infectious Civil War melody with some contemporary twists in 1866. One distinction about this song is that it was the first to sell one million copies of sheet music. An interesting anecdote related to the song is that it was the first known publicized account of the expression "earworm", coined by General William T. Sherman, whose march through Georgia the song was written about, due to the fact that he couldn't get the melody out of his head!

I arranged this piece in open D tuning (D A D F# A D) which really captures the old-time parade feeling of this song. The arrangement has a lot of syncopation and counterpoint, and also highlights the use of diatonic bass lines to support the melody, right hand cross picking, and also a cool false ending. It is a tour de force and a great study for guitarists exploring open tunings.