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Gathering Flowers From The Hillside

3/9/2017

0 Comments

 
Hi,
The song of the week is 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside' in the key of G.

'Gathering Flowers' is just one of  thousands of simple and straightforward bluegrass songs that, for that very reason, tend to work well at almost any bluegrass jam, irrespective of how many people at the jam have ever played or even heard the song before. Keep your ears open for these types of songs if you are looking for ways to more rapidly increase your repertoire of songs to introduce into the jams you play at. 

The chord progression for 'Gathering Flowers' is:

1111
1155
1111
1511
(Prog. V1 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout)

In the key of G: 1 = G; 5 = D. The G chord consists of the notes G, B, and D. The D chord consists of the notes D, F#, and A.

Notice the relation between the progression for 'Gathering Flowers' (V1) and the progressions used to play 'Mama Don't Allow' (V2), 'Foggy Mountain Top (V6), and 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' (V7). V1 simply stays on the '1' chord in all the spots where these other progressions have a '4' chord. In all four of these progressions, the locations of the '5' chords are the same (measures 3 and 4 of line 2, and measure 2 of line 4), and in all these progressions, measures 1 and 2 of lines 1, 2, and 3, and measures 1, 3, and 4 of line 4 have the '1' chord.

Here are a few versions of 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside' to take a listen to. The first one is just good old straightforward traditional bluegrass. The second one is from an old-school country artist I have always enjoyed listening to whose music could be described (albeit somewhat anachronistically) as somewhere between country and bluegrass. And the third one is the version that I learned the song from.

Earl Taylor & Jim McCall - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zErVDmaffwc

Wilma Lee Cooper - key of C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wliYjs8WdlM

Hylo Brown -  key of F
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YK1Sv9oft4

Remember, the melody sheets provided here in the attachments are just that and nothing more. They do not show you how to play bluegrass-style breaks on your instrument. So, why do I include the melody sheets in the song of the week emails? Because, to a significant extent, creating a break that sounds like it belongs in the song (and this is especially true of intro breaks, i.e., the break that is played before the singing starts and which identifies what song is being played even before the singing starts, or in the case of an instrumental, just simply the first break) involves surrounding the melody notes in the song with appropriate choices of other notes: and, in order to do this, one needs to have a fairly clear idea of what the melody of the song is. 

There are countless ways to play a break for any given song, and how one plays a break for a song depends upon several factors, including stylistic preference, level of technical ability on one's instrument, and even things of the nature of what tempo the song is being played at. But, once one is past the very beginner stages of learning to play 'lead' parts, attempts should be made - with the help of a teacher if need be - to play in a way that involves more than just copying on one's instrument the melody of the song as sung. 

Concerning Pickup Notes into a break for Gathering Flowers. Instead of playing only the 2 pickup notes (B and C) that are sung in the vocal melody (see the attached melody sheets) to lead into the first complete measure of your break, it is often more effective at jams to add a 3rd quarter note, a C#, after these two notes, especially if you the one kicking off the song with an intro break. The chromatically ascending sequence of pickup notes: B, C, C# to lead to a D note on a G chord is commonplace on good Bluegrass records (good examples of this are at the beginning of the banjo intro break and at the beginning of the fiddle break on the first youtube link given here for Gathering Flowers). Three-quarters of a measure, rather than just half a measure, worth of pickup notes gives everyone at the jam a better sense of what the tempo of the song will be, so that they can all start playing backup confidently behind the person playing the intro break at the beginning of the first complete measure of the break. This is a good case in point illustrating how it is sometimes better to make modifications to the melody as sung, rather than to follow the melody slavishly, when creating melody-based breaks. 

Note: Many melodies do not have any built-in pickup notes leading into their first complete measure; in these cases one needs to create a pick-up measure to have an effective intro break for the song. This can be done by borrowing pickup phrases from other songs in which the first full measure of the song starts with the same note and same chord as the song in question, or one can learn common generic pickup phrases used on Bluegrass records for each specific situation: e.g., a generic pickup phrase leading to a B note on a G chord, a generic pickup phrase leading to a C note on a C chord, etc.

Happy Pickin',
Jason

For your listening pleasure, here is the Flatt and Scruggs live version of 'Long Journey Home', called on the album 'Lost All My Money', that was the very first song I heard Flatt and Scruggs play. You can find all the rest of the songs on the same album by searching for 'Flatt and Scruggs" "Live At Vanderblit" on youtube

Lost All My Money · Flatt & Scruggs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j36uEgzfer4

Here is the really fast Monroe Brothers version of the same song (recorded in 1936) that I also mentioned at last night's jam:

​My Long Journey Home · The Monroe Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ZLjumc8x0

Gathering Flowers - Banjo tab
File Size: 296 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Gathering Flowers - Guitar tab
File Size: 296 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Gathering Flowers - Mandolin tab
File Size: 249 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Gathering Flowers - Melody in G
File Size: 296 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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    ​Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2017 - 2018


    ​with
       Jason Homey

    Picture
    ​Songs regularly called at the Beginner Bluegrass Jam and links from Jason's "Song of the Week" emails.  (from Renee)

    ​

    Songs

    All
    All The Good Times
    A Memory Of You
    Angeline The Baker
    Beautiful Brown Eyes
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    Bury Me Beneath The Willow
    Clinch Mountain Backstep
    Cluck Old Hen
    Columbus Stockade Blues
    Cripple Creek
    Down The Road
    Foggy Mountain Top
    Gathering Flowers From The Hillside
    Good King Wenceslas
    Handsome Molly
    I Can't Feel At Home
    I'll Fly Away
    I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand
    In The Pines
    In The Sweet By And By
    Leaning On The Everlasting Arms
    Liberty
    Little Birdie
    Little Cabin Home On The Hill
    Lonesome Road Blues
    Long Journey Home
    Mama Don't Allow
    Mountain Dew
    My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains
    New River Train
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    Old Joe Clark
    Reuben
    Shortnin' Bread
    Silent Night
    Soldier's Joy
    Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong
    Swing Low Sweet Chariot
    Take This Hammer
    Way Down Town
    We'll Meet Again Sweetheart
    Will The Circle Be Unbroken
    Will You Be Loving Another Man
    Worried Man Blues
    Wreck Of The Old '97
    X- 30 Add. Jam-Friendly Songs
    X Basic Chord Progressions
    X- Basic Chord Progressions
    X-Bluegrass Artists And Bands
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  • Home
    • About
    • Join Us
    • Donate
    • IBA Newsletter
    • Our Logo
  • Articles & Podcasts
    • Podcasts >
      • ​Jeremy Garrett Interview
      • Keith Reed Interview
      • Jason Homey Interview
      • Becky Smith Interview
      • Marv Quinton Interview
      • Rue Frisbee Interview
      • Donna and Mike Bond Interview
      • Honi Deaton Interview
      • Dennis Stokes Interview
      • Gary Eller Interview
    • Articles >
      • Glen Garrett - The Golden Years
      • Sammie Bush - came to Weiser
      • Mark O’Connor - My History at Weiser
      • Barbara Lamb - Fiddler Extraordinaire
      • Charlie Simmons -The Idaho Bluegrass Association from 1975 to 1985
      • Idaho's 19th century Fiddlers
      • Weiser Fiddle Champions ​ 1950s & 1960s
      • ​Byron Berline
      • Dave Frisbee
      • Weiser Fiddle Champions from 1970s and 80s
      • Megan Lynch Chowning
      • Fiddle Champion ​in 1990s and 2000s
      • Tashina and Tristan Clarridge
    • Snap Shot - Videos from IBA members
  • Events
    • Calendar (BCBB)
    • Open Mic
    • SpringGrass 2023 >
      • Springfest 2022
    • Winterfest
    • IBA Concert Series
    • Virtualgrass
    • Other Bluegrass Events
  • Jam
    • Idaho Jams
    • Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2021 - 2022
    • Jason's Intermediate Jam Blog 2021 - 2022
    • All of Jason's Songs
    • Old Blogs from Jason >
      • Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2019 - 2021
      • Jason's Intermediate Jam Blog 2019 - 2021
      • Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2017 - 2018
      • Jason's Intermediate Jam Blog 2017 - 2018
      • Songs in 2016
  • Camps & Contests
    • Idaho Bluegrass and Banjo Camp
    • Banjo Contest
    • National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest
  • Idaho Bands
  • Teachers
  • Classified
  • Links
    • General
    • Learning
    • Specific Instruments