Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm at Powderhouse! If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp). This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one.... The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows). A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Sunday. Have fun jamming :)
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Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm at Powderhouse! If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp). This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one.... The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows). A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Sunday. Have fun jamming :) Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm at Powderhouse! If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp). This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one.... The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows). A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Sunday. Have fun jamming :) Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm at Powderhouse! If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp). This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one.... The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows). A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Sunday. Have fun jamming :) Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm at Powderhouse! If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp). This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one.... The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows). A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Sunday. Have fun jamming :) Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm at Powderhouse! If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp). This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one.... The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows). A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Sunday. Have fun jamming :) Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm at Powderhouse! If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp). This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one.... The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows). A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Sunday. Have fun jamming :) Hi everyone,
After the jam on Tuesday June 7th, I'll be taking my Summer break from leading the beginner jams. I intend to resume leading the beginner jams on the Tuesday after Labor Day (Sept. 6th). You are welcome to continue jamming on Tuesday evenings at the Powderhaus over the Summer: but, the default location for the jams should be outdoors rather than indoors, since the Powderhaus has many indoor events booked over the Summer months. Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'Way Down Town' in the key of E. Recordings The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Doc Watson - key of D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4boKwvWNZc Tony Rice - key of D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u326dPx_5U Doc and Merle Watson - key of E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACAFvj42xY4 Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of E (starts at 3:31) Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys, IBA Open Mic, 6_25_19 - YouTube Jam Videos Here are four youtube jam videos I have made for Way Down Town. In the one listed second, I am on guitar, and play the song in the key of E. Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com) Progression The chord progression for Way Down Town is: 4411 5511 4411 5511 This is Progression W10 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout. Notice that: 1) the progression starts with the 4 chord rather than the 1 chord; 2) the two halves of the progression are identical; 3) the chord changes occur consistently once every two measures; and 4) each line of the progression ends with 2 measures of the 1 chord. In the key of E: 1=E, 4=A, 5=B In the key of D: 1=D, 4=G, 5=A In the key of C: 1=C, 4=F, 5=G Etc. The notes that make up the E chord are: EG#B The notes that make up the A chord are: AC#E The notes that make up the B chord are: BD#F# Together, these 7 notes make up the E major scale: (four sharps:) EF#G#ABC#D#. Pickup Notes An effective way to lead into a melody-based break for Way Down Town in the key of E is to play the same set of pickup notes that I have recommended in previous song of the week write-ups for Down The Road and Mama Don't Allow when played in the key of A: E F# G# leading to A (the first melody note) Key of E: 1 2 3 4 Key of A: 5 6 7 1 When Way Down Town is played in the key of E and Down The Road (or Mama Don't Allow) is played in the key of A, they share the same starting melody note (the A note), and the same starting chord (the A chord) Transposed to the key of D (for Way Down Town) and G (for Down The Road/Mama Don't Allow): the pickups become: D E F# leading to G (the first melody note) Key of D: 1 2 3 4 Key of G: 5 6 7 1 Transposed to the key of C (for Way Down) and F (for Down The Road/Mama Don't Allow): the pickups become: C D E leading to F (the first melody note) Key of C: 1 2 3 4 Key of F: 5 6 7 1 Fiddle & Mandolin: Easy Double Stops Notice that, in first position, in the key of E, the melody (see the files at the bottom of this write-up) is carried on only the 2nd and 3rd strings. It is convenient that the 1st string on the fiddle and on the mandolin is tuned to an E note, for both the E and the A chords contain that note. Therefore, the open first string can be played along with the melody notes that occur on the 2nd string during the E and A chord measures to create double stops. Fill-in Licks Way Down Town has dead spaces in its melody on the 1 chord measures that occur at the ends of lines 2 and 4. These are the same spots where the dead spaces occur in I'll Fly Away, Mountain Dew, Nine Pound Hammer, Bury Me Beneath The Willow, Blue Ridge Cabin Home, Foggy Mountain Top, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, All The Good Times Are Past And Gone, and too many other songs on the song lists to name here. To fill up some of these dead spaces, try to make use of the simple E chord fill-in licks provided in the PDF file at the bottom of this write-up when playing your breaks and when playing backup if you do not already have fill-in licks in your repertoire of licks that work for playing over an E chord. Banjo: Capo 2, Spike 9 I recommend that banjo players try to play this song with the capo on the 2nd fret and with the fifth string capoed, or spiked to a 'b' note, i.e., 9th fret, playing as if in the key of D. This way the melody can be located on the 3rd and 4th strings at the very same locations as is most common for melody notes for songs played in the key of G (or with a capo, A, Bb, etc.) See the banjo tab melody sheet at the bottom of this write-up. Guitar: Capo 2 or 4 Guitar players will probably want to capo either to the second fret to play as if in D (1=D; 4=G; 5=A) or to the fourth fret to play as if in C (1=C; 4=F; 5=G). The latter option will work better for those who wish to play a Carter-style break for Way Down Town, but the first option lends itself more easily to the use of 'blue notes' (b3 and b7 notes: in the key of D, these notes are F's and C's: called b3 and b7 respectively because they are each a half step lower than the 3rd and 7th notes of the D Major Scale, namely F# and C# notes) which can also sound good when used in appropriate spots in breaks for this song. Therefore, I have included two melody sheets in guitar tab at the bottom of this write-up. Lyrics The set of lyrics that I sing for the chorus of Way Down Town are given on the melody sheets in the files at the bottom of this write-up. The three verses I sing for the song begin as follows:
Song List 18 songs were played at last night's jam: 11 from the main list, 3 from the additional songs list, and 4 that are on neither list: Down The Road - B Foggy Mountain Top - G Leaning On The Everlasting Arms - A Lonesome Road Blues - G A Memory Of You - A Mountain Dew - A New River Train - F Nine Pound Hammer - A Old Joe Clark - A Way Down Town - E Wreck Of The Old '97 - D Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A Columbus Stockade Blues - Bb Hand Me Down My Walking Cane - C Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy To Me - A Home Sweet Home - D O Susanna - G You Are My Sunshine - A Happy Pickin', Jason Way Downtown - banjo tab Download File Way Downtown - mandolin tab Download File Way Downtown - guitar tab 1 Download File Way Downtown - guitar tab 2 Download File Way Downtown - melody in E Download File E Chord Fill-in Licks Download File Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'Wreck Of The Old '97' in the key of D. Recordings Flatt & Scruggs: key of Bb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=732g2a7pmpM The Osborne Brothers: mandolin intro break and verses in the key of E; fiddle break in the key of A; banjo break in the key of B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XSTYrVV4Pc Mac Wiseman: key of D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_vt-s3aYl8&list=RDD_vt-s3aYl8 Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of D Wreck Of The Old ’97 - Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys - YouTube Jam Videos Here are four youtube jam videos I have made for Wreck Of The Old '97. In the one listed second, I am on guitar, playing the song in the key of D. Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com) Progression & Melody Wreck Of The Old '97 uses the most commonly recurring chord progression in bluegrass, the 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' progression. 1144 1155 1144 1511 (Prog. V7 on the Basic Chord Progressions chart.) In the key of D: 1=D, 4=G, 5=A. The D chord consists of the notes: D, F#, and A The G chord consists of the notes: G, B, and D The A chord consists of the notes: A, C#, and E. Together, these notes make up the D major scale: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, and the melody of Wreck Of The Old '97 uses all the notes of the scale, with the lowest note in the melody being a D (the root note of the key), and the highest note in the melody being the E that is one octave plus one whole step higher than the lowest note in the melody. Wreck Of The Old '97 has no chorus. There are 6 verses for the song, but it is common for only 5 verses to be used for the song. While Wreck Of The Old '97 uses a very common chord progression - the most common of all progressions in bluegrass, there are some things about its melody that are uncommon in bluegrass. For instance, in the second line, at the point where the change to the '5' chord occurs ('A' in the key of D), the melody hangs on the 7th note of the scale ('C#' in the key of D), whereas it is far more common in songs for the melody to go the 2nd note of the scale ('E' in the key of D) at this point instead when the second line of the progression for a song is 1155. Melody Sheets In the attachments, I have included 2 guitar tabs of the melody: one written in the key of D, and one written in the key of C. The locations of the melody notes on the fretboard in the 'C' tab make the 'C' tab more conducive than the 'D' tab to working out a Carter-style break for the song. If for this reason, or some other reason, you choose to work with the C tab instead of the D tab, you will need to capo the 2nd fret in order to be playing the song in D. I have also included 2 banjo tabs of the melody, one in D and one in C. Since the lowest note of the melody is the 1st note of the scale (a 'C' note in the key of C, a 'D' note in the key of D), you will need to tune the 4th string of the banjo down to a 'C' note if you choose to work with the key of C banjo tab of the melody given here. Capoing to the 2nd fret will then raise the pitch of the 4th string back up to a D note. (In the banjo youtube jam video, I play in C tuning, capo 2 for D. On the Snake River Boys recording, I play in G tuning, no capo, but still with the 5th string raised up to an A note. In both cases I am playing in the key of D.) Points of Interest If you are interested in learning about the history of the song, and the event that the song is about, check this out: The Wreck of the Old 97 - History and Music Video - YouTube For those who are interested, here are a few non-bluegrass versions of Wreck Of The Old '97 (all referenced in the youtube video above) that I was familiar with before I got into bluegrass music. The second one is the second-oldest recording of the song, dating from 1924, and was the first million-seller 'Country' record. The B-side of the record is 'The Prisoner's Song', another old 'pre-bluegrass' classic that has been adopted into the standard bluegrass repertoire. Johnny Cash: key of Bb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lza4Li_0o78 Vernon Dalhart: key of D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T06xJJth0Y Hank Snow: key of A THE WRECK OF THE OLD 97 by HANK SNOW - YouTube Song List 18 songs were played at last night's jam: 11 from the main list, 4 from the additional songs list, and 3 that are on neither list: Cluck Old Hen - A Down The Road - B Foggy Mountain Top - G In The Pines - C Long Journey Home - A A Memory Of You - Bb Mountain Dew - A New River Train - F Old Joe Clark - A Worried Man Blues - Bb Wreck Of The Old '97 - D All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - G Cripple Creek - A Gold Watch And Chain - D Soldier's Joy - D Lonesome Feeling - G Fireball Mail - G A Girl From West Virginia - A Happy Pickin', Jason Wreck Of The Old '97 - banjo tab D Download File Wreck Of The Old '97 - banjo tab C Download File Wreck Of The Old '97 - guitar tab D Download File Wreck Of The Old '97 - guitar tab C Download File Wreck Of The Old '97 - mandolin tab Download File Wreck Of The Old '97 - melody in D Download File Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'New River Train' in the key of F. Recordings The Monroe Brothers - key of D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyWMFjly24o Tony Rice and Norman Blake - key of D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y36HCn4Ivws The White Brothers - key of E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eLjdbN1xdg Roland White - key of E (New River Train ends at 2:28) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZCsTzPb2k Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of F (starts at 4:02) Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys, IBA Open Mic, 4/23/19 - YouTube Jam Videos Here are four youtube jam videos I have made for New River Train. I recommend starting with the one listed second. In that one, I am on guitar, and am playing the song in the key of F. Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com) (Note: On a laptop, you can slow down youtube videos to 75% or 50% speed by going to settings and then clicking on 'playback speed'. Doing this does not change the pitch of the recording.) Progression The chord progression for New River Train is: 1111 1155 1144 5511 This is Prog. W2 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout. In the key of F: 1=F, 4=Bb, 5=C. In the key of E: 1=E, 4=A, 5=B. In the key of D: 1=D, 4=G, 5=A. In the key of C: 1=C, 4=F, 5=G. etc. This chord progression differs by only one measure from the progression that is used to play 'Mama Don't Allow', 'She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain', 'When The Saints Go Marching In', 'Will You Be Loving Another Man', etc.: 1144 1155 1144 1511 (Prog. V2 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout.) In order to avoid accidentally playing Progression V2 in place of Progression W2 for New River Train at the jam, some may find it helpful to remind themselves before the song starts that in the last half of the progression for New River Train the 4 chord is followed immediately by the 5 chord (instead of returning to the 1 chord first before going to the 5 chord). Capo Chart for Guitar and Banjo Guitar & Banjo Banjo 5th string tuned to Key of G No capo, play in G G Key of A Capo 2, play as if in G A Key of Bb Capo 3, play as if in G Bb (=A#) Key of B Capo 4, play as if in G B Key of C No capo, play in C G or Capo 5, play as if in G C Key of D Capo 2, play as if in C A or No capo, play in D A Key of E Capo 4, play as if in C B or Capo 2, play as if in D B Key of F Capo 5, play as if in C C or Capo 3, play as if in D C For beginner level 3-finger style banjo players, I recommend the 'Capo 3, play as if in D' option for playing New River Train in the key of F. This is why the banjo tab melody sheet in the attachments is written in the key of D. For guitar players who like to play Carter-style breaks (i.e., melody carried on the lower-pitched strings of the guitar, with strums placed between melody notes: e.g., Tony Rice's opening break on the Blake & Rice recording given here), I recommend the 'Capo 5, play as if in C' option for playing New River Train in F. I have included guitar tab melody sheets in the attachments written in both C and D. (For a clearer recording of Tony's intro break, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5vOsAwIYU Note for Banjo Players: Tuning the fifth string up to A, Bb, B, and C notes is usually done with the help of either a 5th string capo or spikes. For the A note, the 5th string is capoed or spiked at the 7th fret. For the Bb note, the 5th string is capoed or spiked at the 8th fret. For, the B note, the 5th string is capoed or spiked at the 9th fret. For the C note, the 5th string is capoed or spiked at the 10th fret. For banjo players who use spikes but, like me, do not have 8th and 10th fret spikes, for the Bb note, spike the 5th string at the 7th fret and then manually tune it up a half step to a Bb (A#) note, and for the C note, spike the 5th string at the 9th fret and then manually tune it up a half step higher to a C note. Caution: If you try to tune the 5th string up to B and C notes without the help of spikes or a 5th string capo, don't be surprised if the string breaks. Even tuning the 5th string up to A and Bb notes without the help of a spike or a 5th string capo can be risky, especially if your strings are old. Also, tuning one string up manually a whole step or more will put the other four strings out of tune enough on most banjos that you will likely need to retune all five strings in order to be reasonably in tune. Key of F: Tips for Fiddle & Mandolin Players Some may find it helpful to think of a less familiar key in relation to a more familiar key. One way of approaching playing in F is to think of the key of F in relation to the keys of C and Bb. F and C are closely related keys: they share 6 of their 7 Major Scale notes in common: F Major Scale: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E (6 naturals, 1 flat) C Major Scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, B (7 naturals, 0 flats) F and Bb are also closely related keys: they also share 6 of their 7 Major Scale notes in common: F Major Scale: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E (6 naturals, 1 flat) Bb Major Scale: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A (5 naturals, 2 flats) The same is true of any two keys that are separated from each other by an interval of a perfect 5th or a perfect 4th. The keys of F and C share two of their 1,4,and 5 chords in common: 1 4 5 Key of F: F Bb C Key of C: C F G The key of Bb also shares two of its 1,4, and 5 chords in common with the key of F: 1 4 5 Key of F: F Bb C Key of Bb: Bb Eb F (Bb and C, on the other hand, are not closely related keys. They are separated from each other by a whole step, an interval of a major 2nd. They share only 5 of their 7 Major Scale notes, and only one of their 1,4, and 5 chords, in common with each other.) Melody The melody of New River Train uses the first six notes of the Major Scale. In ascending order of pitch, these notes are: 1 2 3 4 5 6 do re mi fa sol la Key of A: A B C# D E F# Key of Bb: Bb C D Eb F G Key of B: B C# D# E F# G# Key of C: C D E F G A Key of D: D E F# G A B Key of E: E F# G# A B C# Key of F: F G A Bb C D Key of G: G A B C D E Fill-in Licks in Breaks and Backup There are three 'dead spots' in the melody of New River Train that last long enough for a fill-in lick to be played in them. These spots are in measures 3 to 4 of lines 1, 2, and 4. In lines 1 and 4, the dead spots occur while a 1 chord is called for in the progression, while in line 2, the dead spot occurs while a 5 chord is called for in the progression. In the files (scroll down to the very bottom of this song of the week write-up), I have included F and C chord fill-in licks for fiddle and mandolin, for F and C are the 1 and 5 chords for the key of F. Notes in parentheses are not part of the fill-in lick proper and may be omitted or replaced with another note. To show how one might get in and out of these fill-in licks in the context of playing a break, or playing backup, I have included in the files a sample mandolin break and a mandolin backup part. I recommend that fiddle, guitar, and banjo players, not just mandolin players, take a look at these mandolin tabs, for even if you do not read mandolin tab, so as to be able to decipher what notes are represented on the tab, you can still see the time values of the notes, and where within the measures and in the lines of the progression the fill-ins occur, so as to draw the application to the instrument that you play. I have also included in the files, C, G, and D chord fill-in licks for guitar. For those who choose the 'Capo 3, play as if in D' option for playing New River Train in F, the D chord fill-in licks, presented in the context of 2 complete measures of backup playing, are for measures 3 and 4 of lines 1 and 4. For those who choose the 'Capo 5, play as if in C' option for playing New River Train in F, the C chord fill-in licks, presented in the context of 2 complete measures of backup playing or a Carter-style break, are for measures 3 and 4 of lines 1 and 4, and the G chord fill-in licks, presented in the context of 2 measures of backup playing, are for measures 3 and 4 of line 2. (If used in this same spot in the context of a Carter-style break, the first note of the 2 measures would be changed to the open 4th string, since that is the melody note in the song at this point.) For a D chord fill-in lick on banjo that will work well in both breaks and backup for New River Train in lines 1 and 4, refer back to the files in the song of the week write-up for Bury Me Beneath The Willow: scroll down to the very bottom of the following page: https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/bury-me-beneath-the-willow Lyrics The lyrics of 'New River Train' are quite repetitive and easy to memorize. For this reason, this is one of the songs I recommend learning to sing to those who wish to lead a song at the jam, but do not have much experience yet in doing so. For most of these songs, you need not know any more than three verses (in addition to the chorus for the songs that do have a chorus) in order to be ready to sing and play a complete arrangement of them at the jam. Notice the number of verses sung on each of the recordings of New River Train given here: two (The White Brothers), three (Roland White; Blake & Rice studio recording), four (Blake & Rice live recording), five (Snake River Boys), and six (The Monroe Brothers). In general, the slower that a song is played the more desirable it becomes to limit the number of verses sung. Notice, for instance, that the version with six verses is played at a faster tempo than the other versions given here. The set of lyrics I use for the chorus of New River Train are the same as those sung for the first, third, fifth, and sixth choruses on the Monroe Brothers recording. Song List 14 songs were played at last night's jam: 8 from the main list, 5 from the additional songs list, and 1 that is on neither list: Cluck Old Hen - A (played twice) Leaning On The Everlasting Arms - A Liberty - D Lonesome Road Blues - G A Memory Of You - A Old Joe Clark - A Will You Be Loving Another Man - A Wreck Of The Old '97 - D Columbus Stockade Blues - A Hand Me Down My Walking Cane - G I'll Fly Away - A Soldier's Joy - D Wildwood Flower - G Wabash Cannonball - G Happy Pickin', Jason Sheet Music: New River Train - banjo tab in D Download File New River Train - guitar tab in C Download File New River Train - guitar tab in D Download File C, G & D fill-in licks for guitar Download File New River Train - mandolin tab Download File New River Train - sample break in F (mandolin tab) Download File New River Train - backup in F with fill-ins (mandolin tab) Download File New River Train - melody in F Download File F & C fill-in licks for fiddle and mandolin Download File Hi everyone, The song of the week is 'Cluck Old Hen' in the key of A. Cluck Old Hen is an old-time tune that has made its way into Bluegrass circles. Although there are lyrics for Cluck Old Hen, it will be played as an instrumental when I call it at the jam as the song of the week. Recordings Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxGjLIPBOLs Fletcher Bright & Bill Evans - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE2zPlDtKyg Ralph Stanley - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEqpuvBwLIk Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of A Cluck Old Hen - Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys - YouTube Jam Videos Here are three youtube jam videos I have made for Cluck Old Hen. In the one list listed first, I am on guitar: Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com) Form & Progression Like Shortnin' Bread and Cripple Creek, Cluck Old Hen follows the form AABB (i.e., there are two parts, each of which is repeated before the next part is played), with each A Part and each B Part being 4 measures long. The progression we use at the jam for playing Cluck Old Hen is: A-Part: 1 1/4 1 5/1 B-Part: 1 1/b7 1 5/1 In the key of A: 1 = A; 4 = D; 5 = E; b7 = G. In the key of G: 1 = G; 4 = C; 5 = D; b7 = F Melody & Breaks While the chord progression for Cluck Old Hen uses only major chords, the melody is not major, but minor. There are 7 melody notes in the version of the melody given in the attachments for Cluck Old Hen. In ascending order of pitch, these are: G, A, C, D, E, G, A. A,C,D,E,G are the notes that make up the A Minor Pentatonic Scale. (By contrast, the A Major Pentatonic Scale consists of the notes: A,B,C#,E,F#). Even if one is not playing the melody per se in one's break, sticking to the notes of the A Minor Pentatonic Scale, and playing no other notes in one's break will make the break sound like it 'belongs' in the tune. For those with instruments usually capoed to the second fret for playing in the key of A (guitar, banjo, dobro), you will need to lower each note in the preceding explanation by a whole step in order for the information to correspond with what you see on the melody sheets in the attachments written in guitar and banjo tab. So, for instance, in place of "A,C,D,E,G are the notes that make up the A Minor Pentatonic Scale. (By contrast. the A Major Pentatonic Scale consists of the notes: A,B,C#,E,F#)", think: "G,Bb,C,D,F are the notes that make up the G Minor Pentatonic Scale. (By contrast, the G Major Pentatonic Scale consists of the notes: G,A,B,D,E). This does not mean that one should never include notes from the A Major Scale that are not in the A Minor Pentatonic in one's breaks for Cluck Old Hen (Ralph Stanley, for instance, includes several C# notes and a few F# notes in his breaks on the recording given here), but only that one needs to be careful about using those notes. It is common in Bluegrass for breaks to contain notes from both the Major Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scale, even when the melody of the song is either entirely major or entirely minor, so long as the chord progression is major (i.e., the progression uses 1 chords rather than 1m chords). On the other hand, if you are playing 'Cluck Old Hen' in the context of an Old-time jam you may find that you have less leeway to make use of notes outside the Minor Pentatonic Scale than what you do when playing the tune in the context of a Bluegrass jam. In connection with this, one may observe that, for playing Cluck Old Hen, most Old-time (clawhammer) banjo players tune their 2nd string up a half step from where it would normally be tuned when in G tuning (capo 2 for A) precisely to avoid the resonance of the distinctively major scale note that is on the open 2nd string when in G tuning, whereas Bluegrass banjo players (at least when playing in a Bluegrass context) tend not to do this. If tuned this way (G modal tuning: GDGCD capo 2 for A = AEADE), then, in reading the banjo tab melody sheet in the attachments, just simply substitute 0's in place of the 1's that are written on the line representing the 2nd string. Key Although the melody of Cluck Old Hen consists only of the notes of the Am pentatonic scale, it is called at jams in A (Major) rather than A Minor 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 Cluck Old Hen 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 standard notation melody sheet for Cluck Old Hen, 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. Song List 16 songs were played at last night's jam: 11 from the main list, 4 from the additional songs list, and 1 that is on neither list: Cluck Old Hen - A Foggy Mountain Top - G Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G Liberty - D Lonesome Road Blues - G Long Journey Home - A A Memory Of You - A Old Joe Clark - A Will You Be Loving Another Man - A Worried Man Blues - Bb Wreck Of The Old '97 - A All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - C Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A Bury Me Beneath The Willow - A Forked Deer - D Lonesome Feeling - G Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'Will You Be Loving Another Man' in the key of A. This classic bluegrass song was written by Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt during WWII, and then recorded after the war in 1946 by the original bluegrass band, Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, which consisted at the time of Bill Monroe on mandolin, Lester Flatt on guitar, Earl Scruggs on banjo, Chubby Wise on fiddle, and Howard Watts on bass. Recordings Here is the original 1946 recording of Will You Be Loving Another Man, with Lester Flatt on lead vocal and Bill Monroe on harmony vocal during the choruses: key of A: Will You Be Loving Another Man? - YouTube Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of A WIll you be loving another men - Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys - YouTube Jam Videos Here are three youtube jam videos I have made for Will You Be Loving Another Man: Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com) Progression The chord progression for Will You Be Loving Another Man is: 1111 1155 1144 1511 (Prog. V2 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout.) This is the same progression that is used to play Mama Don't Allow, She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain, The Crawdad Song, and When The Saints Go Marching In. Harmony Notice the use of the b7 (flat-seven) note in the tenor harmony in the second measure of the third line of the choruses on the recordings. (That is, the measure that consists of the syllables '-turn will you be'). In the key of A this is G note. In the key of G, it would be an F note. The singing of the b7 note in the harmony part here turns the A chord being played at the time into an A7 chord, which leads the ear to want to hear a D chord next (transposed to the key of G, it would be a G chord being turned into a G7 chord leading to a C chord), and adds interest to the harmony part. Breaks Notice on the Bill Monroe recording how each of the breaks differ from each other. The short mandolin intro break (half the length of a full intro break: it uses the last half of the progression) states the melody of the song in a simple manner, making use of drony-sounding double stops in connection with the main melody notes. In the first fiddle break, there is a lot more going on than what there was in the mandolin intro break, yet the melody is never lost sight of at any point in the break: its influence on the break is there from beginning to end. The banjo break zeros in on only the most essential notes of the melody and fills up the space between them with 8th notes that, for the most part, are notes that are part of the chord being played at the time. Finally, the second fiddle break, after its first four measures, contains almost no trace of the melody at all. The last 3/4 of this break is made up entirely of non-melody-based licks (which have gone on to become standard - one might say 'cliche' - bluegrass fiddle licks), fitted to the chord progression of the song. On the Snake River Boys recording, I start the song off with a full-length intro break on banjo that follows the melody of the song closely, but not slavishly. But, in my banjo break near the end of the song, I deviate more and more from the melody as the break goes along, taking a similar approach to my break as what Chubby Wise did in his second fiddle break on the Bill Monroe recording. The fiddle break on the Snake River Boys recording that follows that banjo breaks carries on where I left off, being very lick-oriented, rather than melody-oriented, and then the mandolin break that follows that fiddle break reels the song back in with a melody-oriented approach to break playing, which ended up making for a good segway into the final sung chorus of the song. (This specific arrangement for the song was not rehearsed in advance: we all just did our part in making it up as we went along, playing off of each other.) The first fiddle break follows a more melody-oriented approach than the second fiddle break, and the first mandolin break follows a more lick-oriented approach than the second mandolin break. But, notice that in all of this, just like in the banjo breaks I played, the melody is never entirely absent in the lick-oriented fiddle and mandolin breaks, nor is the sung melody copied slavishly in any of the melody-oriented breaks. Song List 15 songs were played at last night's jam: 10 from the main list, 3 from the additional songs list, and 2 that are on neither list: Cluck Old Hen - A In The Pines - E Leaning On The Everlasting Arms - A Liberty - D Lonesome Road Blues - G Long Journey Home - A Old Joe Clark - A Will You Be Loving Another Man - B Worried Man Blues - Bb Wreck Of The Old '97 - D Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore - G Will The Circle Be Unbroken - G Canaan's Land - Bb You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - G Happy Pickin', Jason Will You Be Loving Another Man Banjo tab.pdf Download File Will You Be Loving Another Man Guitar tab.pdf Download File Will You Be Loving Another Man Mandolin tab.pdf Download File Will You Be Loving Another Man Melody in A.pdf Download File Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'Worried Man Blues' in the key of Bb. Recordings The Carter Family - key of Bb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcvWrxrNk4k Flatt and Scruggs - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKTEvgJN2gk The Stanley Brothers - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is4WK99hPcg Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of Bb Worried Man Blues -Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys - YouTube Jam Videos Here are four youtube jam videos I have made for Worried Man Blues. In the one listed second, I am on guitar, playing the song in Bb. Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com) Progression On the Carter Family, Flatt and Scruggs, and Snake River Boys recordings, the chord progression is: 1111 4411 5511 On the Stanley Brothers recording, the chord progression is: 1111 4441 1111 5511 If one is paying attention only to the lyrics when comparing the different versions of the song with each other, it would seem that to arrive at the 12 measure version (Carter Family/Flatt & Scruggs/Snake River Boys), you just omit the third line of the 16 measure version (Stanley Brothers). However, if one pays attention to the melody and the chord progression, then it becomes clear that the 12 measure version omits the second half of the second line and the first half of the third line of the 16 measure version rather than the whole third line of the 16 measure version. In this regard, notice the differing number of measures of the '4' chord in the 16 measure and 12 measure versions. When I lead the song at the jam, I almost always use the 12 measure version, but be prepared for the 16 measure version to show up sometimes when other people lead the song at the jam. On the melody sheets provided at the bottom of this write-up, I have shown the relation between the longer and shorter versions. The Key of Bb In the key of Bb: 1=Bb, 4=Eb, 5=F The notes that make up the Bb chord are Bb, D, and F. The notes that make up the Eb chord are Eb, G, and Bb The notes that make up the F chord are F, A, and C. Together, these notes form the Bb Major Scale: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, and A. The melody of Worried Man Blues uses only 6 of these notes: Bb, C, D, F, G, and A, which so happen to be the 6 notes that the Bb Major Scale shares in common with the F major scale (F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E). If you are fiddler or a mandolin player, and you already play songs or licks in F, then, provided that these songs or licks do not require using the 4th string, you can take your same fingerings for F and move them all one string lower in pitch, and you will be thereby be playing in Bb. For playing chop chords on the mandolin that use no open strings, if you move the chords shapes you use for playing in the key of A up by one fret, this will put you in the key of Bb. For playing in the key of Bb, bluegrass banjo and guitar players almost always capo to the 3rd fret, so that they can use the same fingerings that they would use for playing in the key of G. (In the key of G: 1=G; 4= C; 5=D.) Banjo players will need to raise the pitch of the fifth string to a Bb note (registers as A# on most tuners). This is done by capoing (with a 5th string capo, or 8th fret spike) the 5th string at the 8th fret. For banjo players who do not have a fifth string capo or an 8th fret spike (that includes myself), spike the 5th string at the 7th fret, and then tune it up a half step to a Bb (A#) note. This is best done by ear by playing the 5th string with the thumb while playing the 3rd string with the index finger, turning the 5th string tuning peg slowly until the 5th string sounds harmonious with the 3rd string. Pick-up Notes Like Bury Me Beneath The Willow, Foggy Mountain Top, Gathering Flowers From The Hillside, Lonesome Feeling, Lonesome Road Blues, When The Saints Go Marching In, etc., the first melody note in the first complete measure of Worried Man Blues is the 5th note of the Major Scale, but unlike in those other songs, the starting melody note of Worried Man Blues is the lowest note in the melody rather than the highest or one of the highest melody notes. When this is the case, I usually prefer to use a descending pickup phrase to lead into a break rather than an ascending pickup phrase. For songs like Bury Me Beneath The Willow, Foggy Mountain Top, Gathering Flowers..., etc., my choice of pickup notes usually is: 3, 4, #4 (e.g., B, C, C# in the key of G, or C#, D, D# in the key of A, or D, Eb, E in the key of Bb, etc.) leading up to the 5 (a D note in the key of G, an E note in the key of A, and F note in the key of Bb, etc.), but for songs like Worried Man Blues, Handsome Molly, I Saw The Light, Long Journey Home, Mountain Dew, This Little Light Of Mine, etc., my choice of pickup notes usually is 6, 6, b6 leading down to the 5 (e.g., E, E, Eb, leading down a D note in the key of G, or F#, F#, F, leading down to an E note in the key of A, or G, G, Gb, leading down to an F note in the key of Bb), for in all those songs the starting melody note in the first complete measure is the lowest note in the melody. 6 6 b6 Key of A: F# F# F Key of Bb: G G Gb Key of B: G# G# G Key of C: A A Ab Key of D: B B Bb Key of E: C# C# C Key of F: D D Db Key of G: E E Eb Song List 14 songs were played at last night's jam: 10 from the main list, 1 from the additional songs list, and 3 that are on neither list: Cluck Old Hen - A Down The Road - B Foggy Mountain Top - G Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G In The Pines - E Liberty - D Mountain Dew - A Nine Pound Hammer - B Old Joe Clark - A Worried Man Blues (played twice) - A & Bb Little Cabin Home On The Hill - C I've Lived A Lot In My Time - C Why Don't You Tell Me So - B Don't This Road Look Rough And Rocky - A Happy Pickin', Jason Worried Man Blues - banjo tab Download File Worried Man Blues - guitar tab Download File Worried Man Blues - mandolin tab Download File Worried Man Blues - melody in Bb Download File Hi everyone,
The song of the week is 'In The Pines' in the key of E. 'In The Pines' is in 3/4 time (a.k.a. 'waltz time': 3 beats per measure: guitar rhythm: boom-chuck-chuck), and is usually played at a slow tempo. Recordings Bill Monroe - key of F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_UkluxB7gc Boone Creek (Ricky Skaggs on lead vocal) - key of B. Notice that the chorus is shorter than on the previous version: this is the way (i.e., with the 'woo-woo-woos' mimicking the sound of the wind omitted) that I sing the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kjiRfqFhUM Peter Rowan - key of E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKh8XjgoQfc Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys - key of E In the Pines - Jason Homey and the Snake River Boys - YouTube Jam Videos Here are four youtube jam videos I have made for In The Pines. In the one listed first, I am on guitar, playing the song in the key of E. Jason’s YouTube Links – Alphabetical Listing – Parisology (cyberplasm.com) Progression The chord progression for In The Pines is: 1141 1511 In the key of E: 1=E, 4=A, 5=B Melody & Breaks The melody of In The Pines uses only the first 5 notes of the major scale. In the key of E, these notes are, from lowest to highest: E, F#, G#, A, B. However, In The Pines lends itself well to being played with more of a lonesome or bluesy feel to it than what would seem to be implied by the notes that the melody consists of. So, in both my backup playing and in my breaks, I tend to make a lot of use of b3 and b7 notes. In the key of E, those notes are G and D respectively. For instance, when playing a melody-based break for the song, I will tend to substitute G notes in place of some of the G# notes, and in my fillin licks - both in my breaks and in my backup playing - I will tend to use D notes in spots where I would much more often use C# notes instead. Many of my fillin licks, and other licks that I might use in a break when I am not attempting to stick close to the melody, will consist solely of the notes that make up the minor pentatonic scale. The E minor pentatonic scale consists of the notes: E, G, A, B, and D To get a feel for how one might get started in doing this for a melody-based break for 'In The Pines', I have included in the files at the bottom of this write-up, in addition to the melody as I tend to sing it (which consists of just E, F#, G#, A, and B notes), a modified 'melody' that adds 3 additional notes into the mix: G, A#, and D. When I am really going for a 'bluesy' feel in a break or in a fillin lick for 'In The Pines', I will make frequent use of the A#/Bb note as a passing note between A and B notes, whether ascending: A, A#, B, or descending: B, Bb, A. If you choose to make use of this note, be careful about how long you linger on it, for it clashes severely with all three of the chords in the song. The 'modified melody' in the files is only a basic example of how one might go about making use of the three extra notes to give a lonesome or bluesy sound to one's breaks. There are many more ways in which one might make use of these notes in one's breaks (and also in one's backup playing), so I suggest experimenting with these notes a bit. You might, for instance, take some licks you already know, and try modifying them in various ways to include one or more of these notes in them. In doing this, you might find it helpful to listen closely to the Boone Creek and Snake River Boys versions of 'In The Pines' to use as a point of reference for the kind of 'sound' or 'feel' to aim for. Due to its slow tempo, you might find that playing 'In The Pines' at the jam affords you with a good opportunity to try to get more 8th notes - and even 8th note triplets (see the explanation below if you are not sure what 8th note triplets are) - into your breaks than what you otherwise tend to play. You might also like to use the song as an opportunity to work on improvising (i.e., making up a break on the fly), since the slow tempo allows one a bit more time to think about which note or combination of notes one might like to play next. Swung 8ths and 8th Note Triplets There are a couple of symbols on the melody sheets in the files here that you will not see often on the melody sheets I provide for the songs of the week. The first one, at the top of the pages, consists of a pair of 8th notes followed by an equals sign followed by three 8th notes of which the first two are tied together and the numeral '3' occurs above the three 8th notes. This means that whenever you see a pair of 8th notes in the written music, the first of the two notes is held twice as long as the second one, but together, they take up the same amount of time in the measure as what two 'ordinary' (evenly spaced) 8th notes take up. To get the feel for this, sing (or play) the melody along with the sung choruses on one of the recordings given here, making sure that your 8th notes line up with the vocal phrasing. The numeral '3' which is placed below the staff under the group of three 8th notes in the second to last measure of the 'modified melody' indicates a triplet. Each note of an 8th note triplet lasts one-third the length of a quarter note; so, together, these three notes last the same amount of time as a single quarter note. Guitar Tab Melody Sheets For playing in the key of E, Bluegrass guitar players most often capo either to the 2nd fret and then play as if in D or capo to the 4th fret and then play as if in C. But, for In The Pines, as well as for many other songs in which it is desirable to make use of a lot of 'blue notes' (i.e., b3 and b7 notes) in one's playing, the 'capo 4 play as if in C' option can make doing this more awkward than what it needs to be, so I have not included a key of C melody sheet in the guitar tab files. (In the key of D, the b3 and b7 notes are F and C, whereas in the key of C, the b3 and b7 notes are Eb and Bb.) However, in addition to the key of D guitar tab melody sheet, I have included a key of E melody sheet in the guitar tab files, since playing in the key of E without a capo lends itself at least just as well to the use of blue notes as what the 'capo 2 play as if in D' option does. If you have never tried playing a guitar break in the key of E without a capo, but would like to, I suggest that In the Pines is a good song to start with. Note: When playing in the key of E without a capo, Bluegrass guitar players tend to play a B7 rather than a B for the '5' chord. Banjo Tab Melody Sheet Both the range of the melody for In The Pines and the desirability of using many 'blue notes' in one's breaks and backup playing for the song make the 'capo 2, play as if in D' option more practical than the 'capo 4, play as if in C' option. Therefore, I have included a key of D banjo tab melody sheet in the files, but not a key of C tab. For banjo players using the melody sheet as a guide for creating a break: for successive 8th notes in the melody, or in fill-in licks, there is no need to avoid picking the same string two or more times in a row with the same finger: the song is played slowly enough to allow one to be able to play smoothly even while temporarily breaking away from typical banjo picking patterns in cases where doing so ends up being a more straightforward and simpler option. Song List 17 songs were played at last night's jam: 12 from the main list, 3 from the additional songs list, and 2 that are on neither list: Cluck Old Hen - A Down The Road - B In The Pines - E Leaning On The Everlasting Arms - A Liberty - D Lonesome Road Blues - G Long Journey Home - A Mama Don't Allow - A Mountain Dew - A Nine Pound Hammer - E Old Joe Clark - A Will You Be Loving Another Man - C All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A Angeline The Baker - D Before I Met You - C Faded Love - D I've Lived A Lot In My Time - A Here's a good live bluegrass recording of I've Lived A Lot In My Time that I suggest listening to: Key of B: same chord progression as for 'Little Cabin Home On The Hill' and 'Before I Met You'. I've Lived A Lot in My Time - Green Mountain Bluegrass Band at Bluegrass From the Forest 2016 - YouTube Happy Pickin', Jason In The Pines - banjo tab Download File In The Pines - mandolin tab Download File In The Pines - guitar tab (D) Download File In The Pines - guitar tab (E) Download File In The Pines - melody in E Download File |
Jason's Beginner
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