Clinch Mountain Backstep

Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'Clinch Mountain Backstep' in the key of A.

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Recordings 
Ralph Stanley - key of A 
Clinch Mountain Backstep

Bluegrass '96 - key of A
Clinch Mountain Backstep

Blue Highway - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTEF5keaPhk


Jam Videos
Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com)


Progression
The chord progression for the A-Part is:
1115
1151
 
The chord progression for the B-Part is the same, except that there is an extra 'half-measure' of the '1' before the first '5'.  If one is counting the beats in the first line of the B-Part in cut common time (2/2), one would count it as: 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,1,2.
(On the sheet music attached here, I have written the first line of the B-Part as 3 measures in 2/2, followed by a measure in which the time signature changes to 1/2, followed by a measure that returns to 2/2.)


Melody & Key
Although the melody of Clinch Mountain Backstep consists only of the notes of the Am pentatonic scale, it is called at jams in A (Major) rather than Am because the '1' chord that is used in the chord progression for the song is an A Major Chord rather than an Am Chord ('1m'). To call Clinch Mountain Backstep in A Minor instead of in A (Major) at a jam would imply that 1m Chords are to be played in place of 1 Chords.

In the attached melody sheet for Clinch Mountain Backstep, I have used the key signature for Am (no sharps or flats, same as the key signature for C Major, the Relative Major of Am) instead of the key signature for A Major (3 sharps) to avoid the need to write natural signs in nearly every measure. I hope that my doing this makes the sheet music easier to read than if I had used the key signature for A Major.

The notes that make up the Minor Pentatonic Scale, or as I like to call it sometimes 'The Clinch Mountain Scale', are: 

                    1, b3, 4, 5, b7
Key of A:    A  C   D  E  G
Key of G:   G  Bb C  D  F
Key of D:    D  F   G  A  C
etc.


Song List
14 songs were played at last night's jam: 8 from the main list, and 6 from the additional songs list:

Beautiful Brown Eyes - D
Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Cluck Old Hen - A
Gold Watch And Chain - E
Long Journey Home - D
New River Train (played twice) - B & G
She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain - D
Way Down Town - C
Buffalo Gals - A
Cripple Creek - A
I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes - B
I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling - G
Sweetheart, You Done Me Wrong - G
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - D

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Files:
Clinch Mountain Backstep - Banjo tab
Download File

Clinch Mountain Backstep - Guitar tab
Download File

Clinch Mountain Backstep - Mandolin tab
Download File

Clinch Mountain Backstep - Melody in A
Download File