​Hi,
The song of the week is 'Canaan's Land' (a.k.a. 'Where The Soul Never Dies') in the key of F.

Reasons for the specific song choice for song of the week include:
1) We are getting better at singing harmony at the jam, and Canaan's Land is all about the harmony singing.
2) I sing Canaan's Land most comfortably in the key of F, and Canaan's Land, for at least two different reasons, is more friendly than most songs are for playing in the key of F on bluegrass instruments for which a capo is not normally used, (and even for the instruments for which a capo is more often than not used for playing in the key of F), and,
3) in the recent past, we have begun to see the key of F show up at the jam more often than it used to.

Ability to play satisfactory bluegrass-style backup and breaks in the key of F is an essential intermediate-level bluegrass jam skill. And, for people who like to sing a lot at jams, the ability to find harmony parts to sing is also a crucial skill to continue developing. For the phase that the jam is currently in, these are more important things to make priorities than, for instance, rote memorization of breaks that contain a lot of song-specific moves in them, or working on being able to improvise one's way through songs that have chord progressions that have little in common with the progressions used for any other songs that are likely to be played at the jam any time in the near future. 

Recordings
Here are three versions of Canaan's Land to take a listen to. The third one is not a bluegrass version, but the vocal arrangement is so good that I couldn't help but include it here. It is well worth listening to and learning from, after you have listened closely to at least one of the first two versions. 

Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice (key of E)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_mJxXFxcy4

Jim and Jesse (key of G)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaKnnbtb37E

The Oak Ridge Boys (key of F, final choruses modulate to the key of Bb)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0jEQypbhsY

Harmony & Lyrics
I advise getting solid on of the first two versions first, to the point that you can clearly distinguish between the lead part and the tenor harmony part, and then study the third recording for additional harmony parts that might be better suited to your vocal range than the tenor harmony part.

Canaan's Land' is an interesting song to sing harmony on. The set of lyrics used for the harmony part(s) on the chorus, and on the repetitive parts of the verses, is different than the set of lyrics used for singing the lead part (i.e., the melody).

Here is how the two set of lyrics line up with each other for the chorus. Try singing the lyrics for the harmony parts for the chorus along with your favorite of the youtube links:

Lead:       No     / sad                 /      fare / wells        /           no       /
Harmony: Dear / friends there'll / be no   / sad   fare / wells, there'll 

Lead:       tear    /         dimmed / eyes  /     where /
Harmony: be no / tear-dimmed / eyes  /      where /

Lead:        all    /            is    / love      /          and the /
Harmony: all is / peace and / joy and / love, and the /

Lead:        soul    /          never / dies. /       /
Harmony: soul of / man never / dies. /       / 

The repetitive parts of the verses (lines 2 and 4 of each verse) line up in the same way as line 4 of the chorus.

I know 5 verses for Canaan's Land, but at jams I usually only sing 3 of these:

Verse 1 is given on the melody sheets attached here.

The non-repeating parts of my second verse are:
(line 1) The love light beams across the foam
(line 3) It shines to light the shores of home

The non-repeating parts of my third verse are:
(line 1) A rose is blooming there for me
(line 3) And I will spend eternity

Learning the Lyrics
I strongly advise against printing lyrics off the internet as a starting point for learning lyrics to songs. People who habitually do this tend to not do nearly as well with memorizing the lyrics than people who write them out by hand while listening to a record. Printed lyrics on the internet are good to consult in cases in which you find yourself uncertain as to what the words being sung on the records are, but in doing this, be sure to look at several versions of the lyrics, for alternative versions that may not correspond closely with the recordings you are learning the song from, not to mention outright errors, abound on the internet.

Make for yourself a cheat sheet that consists of the bare minimum number of words that you actually need to see in order to jog your memory as to what the lyrics are if you are concerned that you will likely forget some of them in the moment when singing at a jam. The most common spots in songs for people to forget the lyrics to when singing at a jam are the first line of the verses that come after the first verse. If you think you are likely to forget the chorus, or if you think that jogging your memory as to how each verse of the song begins will not be enough to cause you to remember in the moment how the rest of the verse goes while singing it, then you probably have not listened to the song enough, or practiced singing the lyrics enough for it to be true for you to say, in the context of a jam, that you know the song.

Progression
The chord progression is the same as for 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside', 'Fireball Mail', 'Bringing In The Georgia Mail', the original version of 'I'm Goin' Back To Old Kentucky' and the verses of 'Feast Here Tonight':

1111
1155
1111
1511

In the key of F: 1 = F and 5 = C.

Melody Notes
The melody uses the major pentatonic scale, and therefore, in the key of F, it contains no notes that are not also part of the C and Bb major scales. F and C are closely related keys, F and Bb are closely related keys. But, C and Bb are not closely related keys. The 5 notes of the F major pentatonic scale are: F, G, A, C, and D. (The 7 notes of the C major scale are: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The 7 notes of the Bb major scale are: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, and A. Each of these scales share 6 notes in common with the F major scale, but the C and Bb major scales only share 5 notes in common with each other. The 7 notes of the F major scale are: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, and E.)

Guitar: Capo Options
The two most common options used by bluegrass guitar players for playing in F are: 1) Capo 5 and play as if in C. In the key of C: 1 = C and 5 = G; and 2) Capo 3 and play as in D. In the key of D: 1 = D and 5 = A. In the attachments, I have included 2 melody sheets for guitar, one written in C and the other written in D.

Banjo: Capo and Tuning Options
On banjo, there are many ways to play in the key of F, but I think that for 'Canaan's Land', played in Scruggs-style, the 3 best options are: 

1) Capo 3 and tune the 5th string up to a C note (i.e., use your 10th fret spike if you have one, or, if not, then use your 9th fret spike and then tune up the extra half-step to a C note manually). and play as if in D. See banjo tab #1 in the attachments.

2) Tune the 2nd string down to an A note, tune the 3rd string down to an F# note, capo the 3rd fret, then tune the 5th string up to an A note (i.e., use your 7th fret spike), and play as if in D. Your 'open' strings will now register on your tuner as the notes belonging to the F chord: AFACF. See banjo tab #2 in the attachments.

3) Play in F without a capo, but tune the 5th string up to an A (i.e., use your 7th fret spike) so that the 5th string is tuned to a note that belongs to the '1' chord.  

Of these options, I prefer the 2nd and 3rd. The 2nd option allows one to use more open strings than the other options, and favors the use of slides and pull-offs to the same degree as key of G Scruggs-style playing. The 3rd option allows one to play a break within the first 3 frets of the banjo. When played in F, 'Canaan's Land' contains no chords or melody notes that are not also shared in common with key of C playing. So, if you are accustomed to playing in C, but not F, without a capo, I suggest that 'Canaan's Land' might work well for you as a way of introducing yourself to playing in F without a capo. 

Happy Pickin,
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is the old Carter Family classic 'Gold Watch And Chain'.

For the next 3 intermediate jams, Gold Watch And Chain will be played in the following keys, and probably with a different person singing lead each time:

Apr. 27: Bb
May 4: C
May 11: D

The chord progression is the same as for 'This Land Is Your Land', 'Way Down Town', 'Back Up And Push', 'Rubber Dolly', the B-Part of 'Red Wing', and the chorus of 'How Mountain Girls Can Love':

4411
5511
4411
5511

Here are a few versions of the song to take a listen to:

Key of B: Ralph Stanley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2DcpQOgGKk
 
Key of D: Mother Maybelle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8szdi1D7OE
 
Key of G: Doug Dillard Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJvVqsdrjYQ

Bluegrass Open Mic
In preparation for the first Bluegrass open mic at Liquid, scheduled for the evening of May 23rd, the opportunity will be given at the intermediate jam two Thursdays from now (May 4th) for you to perform one or two songs with your act (minimum 2 people per act) with the rest of the jam group being your audience. Even if you don't intend on participating in the open mic on May 23rd, I still encourage you, if you are a regular at the jam, to put together an act that can perform one or two songs at the jam on May 4th. Especially if you have never performed for an audience before, doing so can be a valuable learning experience. 

Please let me know as soon as you are able to, whether you wish to perform a song or two at the jam, so it can be determined how much of the evening will be taken up by performances, and what the maximum time length needs to be that each act is allotted. 


Transposing in Whole Steps
The notes of the Bb, C, and D Major Scales correspond with each other as follows:

1    2    3    4    5    6    7
Bb  C   D   Eb  F    G    A
C    D   E   F    G    A    B
D    E   F#  G   A    B    C#

The melody of Gold Watch And Chain uses only 6 of the 7 notes of the Major Scale. The 4th note of the scale (i.e., Eb note when in the key of Bb, F note when in the key of C, and G note when in the key of D) does not occur in the melody.

The preceding chart also shows the relation of the 1, 4, and 5 chords for each of the three keys, but here they are in isolation from the rest of the information:

1    4    5
Bb  Eb  F
C    F   G
D    G   A

The 1 chord consists of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the Major Scale.
The 4 chord consists of the 4th, 6th, and 8th (=1st) notes of the Major Scale 
The 5 chord consists of the 5th, 7th, and 9th (=2nd) notes of the Major Scale

Here is a chart showing these relationships:

                      1   3   5          4   6   1          5   7   2
Key of Bb    Bb D  F         Eb G  Bb       F   A   C
Key of C       C   E  G         F   A  C         G   B   D
Key of D       D   F# A       G  B   D         A   C#  E

D has the same relation to C that C has to Bb. C is a whole step higher than Bb; and D, in turn, is a whole step higher than C. 

In terms of the number of sharps or flats in their Major Scales, C (0 sharps/flats) is exactly half way between Bb (2 flats) and D (2 sharps). 

'To capo or not to capo'
For playing in the key of Bb, bluegrass guitar and banjo players almost always capo to the 3rd fret so that they can play with the same fingerings they would use for playing in the key of G without a capo. (With the 5th string on banjo spiked/capoed/tuned up to a Bb note.)

The two most common options for bluegrass guitar and banjo players for playing in C are either to play in C without a capo, or put the capo on the 5th fret so  that they can play with the same fingerings they would use for playing in the key of G without a capo. When the 2nd option is chosen by a banjo player, the 5th string is spiked/capoed/tuned up to a C note.

For the key of D, one may sometimes wish to play without a capo, and at other times one may wish to capo the 2nd fret so that one can play with the same fingerings that one would use for playing in the key of C without a capo. These two options both sound and feel different from each other, and more so on certain songs than on others. For playing Scruggs-style banjo in the key of D, whether capoed to the 2nd fret or not capoed, the 5th string is most commonly spiked/capoed/tuned up to an A note. A third option, capo 7 and play as if in G, rarely ever produces satisfactory results for playing in the key of D within a bluegrass context, and therefore is best avoided, except perhaps occasionally when playing a hard-driving song at a break-neck speed. 

For most songs, including Gold Watch And Chain, it tends to work better for a Carter-style guitar break to play with the fingerings that one would use for playing in the key of C without a capo, rather than with the fingerings that one would use for playing in the key of G or the key of D without a capo. This is the reason for the low octave key of C guitar melody tab that is included in the attachments. (Note: this is not an invitation to put the capo on the 10th fret of the guitar for playing Gold Watch And Chain in the key of Bb!)

The capo 5 option for playing in the key of C will produce a brighter, crisper sound than the no capo option - especially on banjo. You may find this quite desirable for some songs you play (especially up-tempo hard-driving breakdown type songs), but less desirable for other songs in your repertoire (e.g., slow songs that have a relaxed feel to them). Gold Watch And Chain - at least as it is commonly played by bluegrassers - falls somewhere in the middle between these two types of songs, with some versions leaning more towards one end of the spectrum, and others leaning more towards the other end of the spectrum.

Transposing in Fourths 
The notes of the D, G, and C Major Scales correspond with each other as follows:

1    2    3    4    5    6    7
D    E   F#  G   A    B    C#

G    A   B   C    D    E    F#

C    D   E   F    G    A    B

The melody of Gold Watch And Chain uses only 6 of the 7 notes of the Major Scale. The 4th note of the scale (i.e., G note when in the key of D, C note when in the key of G, and F note when in the key of C) does not occur in the melody.

The preceding chart also shows the relation of the 1, 4, and 5 chords for each of the three keys, but here they are in isolation from the rest of the information:

1    4    5
D    G   A

G    C   D
C    F   G

The 1 chord consists of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the Major Scale.
The 4 chord consists of the 4th, 6th, and 8th (=1st) notes of the Major Scale 
The 5 chord consists of the 5th, 7th, and 9th (=2nd) notes of the Major Scale

Here is a chart showing those relationships:

                     1   3    5          4   6   1         5    7    2
Key of D     D   F# A         G  B   D        A   C#  E
Key of G     G   B  D          C   E  G         D   F#  A
Key of C      C   E  G          F   A  C         G   B    D


G has the same relation to D that C has to G. G is 5 half steps higher than D; and C, in turn, is 5 half steps higher than G. 

In terms of the number of sharps or flats in their Major Scales, G (1 sharp) is exactly half way between D (2 sharps) and C (0 sharps/flats).

Note for Guitar and Banjo Players
For guitar and banjo players who are not yet able to transpose from one key to another quickly without a capo, I recommend getting more experience with transposing up and down in 4ths (G up to C, C down to G, G down to D, D up to G) before trying other transpositions. 

For the octave in which the melody is written on the key of G banjo tab attached here, transposition down a 4th (i.e., down to D) is not possible, so I have not included a D banjo melody sheet here. On guitar, transposition down to D of the G melody tab involves nothing more than shifting all the fingerings down one string lower in pitch, so I felt no need to include a D melody sheet for guitar in the attachments.

Hi,
The song of the week is the Flatt and Scruggs classic 'Head Over Heels' in the keys of Bb and G The song of the week cycle is now four weeks long instead of only three. 

Here is the original recording of the song, and I recommend using this version as your main point of reference for playing it at the jam:

Flatt and Scruggs - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRUSn94Nk9U

Form & Arrangement
'Head Over Heels' has very short verses and choruses, much like 'Nine Pound Hammer', 'Sitting On Top Of The World', and some versions of 'Handsome Molly'. The verses and the chorus are half the length of a typical verse or a typical chorus for a bluegrass song. For this reason, breaks for this song are played over both the verse and then the chorus progression - and most often by a single instrument. Half a break goes by fast enough in this song to make it difficult to cue split breaks at a jam when leading the song.

Progression
The progression (for a verse and chorus together) is:

1111
1511
4411
1511

[In the key of Bb: 4 = Eb, and 5 = F. The Bb chord consists of the notes Bb,D, F. The Eb chord consists of the notes Eb,G,Bb. The F chord consists of the notes F,A,C. Together, these notes make up the Bb Major Scale: Bb,C,D,Eb,F,G,A,(Bb)]

This is not a very common progression. But each of its halves are part of other more common progressions. The first two lines of the progression are identical with the last two lines of Progressions V1 (e.g., Gathering Flowers From The Hillside), X1 (e.g., the chorus of I'm Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open) and V3 (e.g., I'll Fly Away) on the Basic Chord Progressions handout. And the last two lines of the progression are identical with the last two lines of Progressions V4 (e.g., You Are My Sunshine), and V10 (e.g., Little Darling Pal Of Mine). 

As another way of relating this progression to other progressions you may be already more familiar with, it might help to notice that this progression differs by only one measure from the progression used to play 'Hand Me Down My Walking Cane', which is:

1111
5511
4411
1511

Ending
In order to lengthen the song on the recording, notice how Scruggs goes into a banjo break after the last verse and chorus, but only gets 3/4 of the way through a complete break until Lester comes in singing the last line of the chorus to finish the song. (On the next link below, only 1/2 a banjo break is played near the end, allowing the song to end with a complete chorus.) 

A more straightforward alternative to these ways of ending the song when one wishes to lengthen it is to simply sing the first verse and chorus in full after a final complete break.

I would like for us to try all three of these ways of arranging the ending of the song at the jam during its song of the week cycle.

Banjo Breaks
Banjo players might notice that Earl's breaks consist almost entirely of some of his most commonplace licks. Due to that characteristic of the banjo breaks in this song, playing these breaks can sometimes make for a good warm-up exercise for me. Because of that same characteristic, I suggest that banjo players who do not already play Scruggs' breaks for this song, and who have very little experience in learning breaks from records, might find trying to learn Earl's breaks by ear a helpful exercise in learning from records. 

Guitar 
Guitar players might notice how frequently Lester makes use of the G run in this song. Observe how the last note of the run really 'pops'.

Another Great Version
Here is the first version that I ever heard of 'Head Over Heels'. It has a somewhat different feel to it than the original, and is a really good example of a bluegrass band covering a classic bluegrass song in a way that both displays their familiarity with and respect for the original version, and showcases their skill for arranging a song in a way that makes it uniquely their own.

When I look at the individual differences between the Boone Creek arrangement and the Flatt and Scruggs arrangement, there is nothing that I find that is peculiar to Boone Creek: unless I have overlooked something here, all the individual components of the arrangement were commonplace in bluegrass prior to Boone Creek: so it is not the individual elements of the arrangement that distinguish it as a Boone Creek arrangement, but rather the cumulative effect of the way these components are put together.  I have found over the years that arrangements like this, namely, ones that are neither carbon copies of the original, nor are idiosyncratic, bur rather are somewhere close to the middle between the two extremes, tend to be the kind of arrangements that have the most success in terms of becoming popular amongst bluegrass jammers as arrangements that have staying power as a main point of reference for the song.

This version is on the Boone Creek record titled 'One Way Track'. It is one of the first bluegrass records I ever listened to, and it is still one of my very favorites. 

Boone Creek - key of Bb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmPqwmvVvYM

Have a happy Easter!
Jason

Hi,
Excellent jam on Thursday! 
The song of the week is 'Homestead On The Farm' (a.k.a. 'I Wonder How, The Old Folks Are At Home') in the key of G. 

When it was the song of the week 2 months ago, it was played in the key of A, in the attachments, In the attachments here, I have included the same melody sheets that were given at that time (http://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/intermediate-jam/category/homestead-on-the-farm​)

Transposing from A to G
In the present context, transposing from A to G involves nothing more than simply lowering every note by a whole step.

The guitar and banjo tabs are written in G with the instruction to capo 2 for A. So to play them in G, just ignore the instruction to capo to the 2nd fret.

To transpose the standard notation melody sheet from A to G, all you need to do is to change the key signature from 3 sharps to 1 sharp, and then lower each note on that is on a line on the staff to the space immediately below that line, and lower each note that is in a space on the staff to the line immediately below that space. (Note: The accidentals in measures 6 and 14, i.e., the G natural and the C natural notes become F natural and Bb respectively when transposing from A to G: Bb, not B, is the note that is a whole step lower than C, for there is no note between B and C. Both accidentals must remain accidentals in the transposition process.)

To transpose the mandolin tab from A to G, do the following:

• Subtract 2 from every number you see on the key of A tab. In cases in which the difference is zero or greater, then there is nothing more to do for transposing the notes in question.
• In cases in which the difference is less than zero, the following two steps must then be added: Add 7 to the difference. Then move the resulting number (the sum) down one string lower in pitch. E.g., All zeros on the 2nd string become 5's on the 3rd string. For: 0 - 2 = -2, -2 + 7 = 5,  and, the 3rd string is the string that is one string lower in pitch than the 2nd string. 

Blank staff paper and a blank mandolin tab sheet are here for the convenience of those who would like to rewrite the melody sheets in G instead of transposing on the fly while reading the key of A melody sheets. And, for those who have little or no experience with writing sheet music or tab, I have also included partially filled in sheet music and mandolin tab papers for Homestead On The Farm in G to help get them started for writing the notes in. 

In all my years of experience with learning songs/tunes, which is by now well into the thousands - number of songs/tunes, not number of years! - ,I have always found that writing the music out by hand rapidly speeds up the memorization process.

Tip for getting the form and progression down pat: 
Pay attention especially to how long you need to play the '2' chord for each time it comes around in the song arrangement, and to how long you need to play the '5' chord that follows the '2' chord each time that it comes around in the arrangement.

Some may find it best to scroll down immediately at this point to the section of this write-up that starts with the header: 'Form, Progression, and Arrangement of the song'  before listening to the youtube links and before reading anything else in this write-up.

History and Recordings of the Song
'Homestead On The Farm' was recorded by the Carter Family in 1929, but in bluegrass circles, this song tends to be more closely associated with Mac Wiseman, who first recorded the song more than 20 years after the Carters. On the points where Mac Wiseman's arrangement differs from the Carter Family's arrangement of the song (chord progression, melody, etc.), bluegrass players have tended to follow Mac.

Mac Wiseman, who at the age of 91 is still active in music, played guitar and sang harmony on Flatt and Scruggs' Mercury Sessions recording of 'Someday We'll Meet Again Sweetheart', which was one of the very first records Flatt and Scruggs made together after they left Bill Monroe's band. And, in the role of lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Mac Wiseman was Lester Flatt's immediate successor in Bill Monroe's band. Mac, for instance, is the lead singer on the original 1949 Bill Monroe recording of the popular bluegrass standard 'Can't You Hear Me Calling'. 

Here are two of Mac's recordings, and one live performance, of 'Homestead On The Farm':
key of Bb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6uxNzkH1Vc

key of A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_0ui4taWI

key of A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBzQXXDC6w4

Form, Progression, and Arrangement of the song
The chord progression I use for Homestead On The Farm is the same as the one that Mac Wiseman usually used:

Verse:
1411
1144
4411
2255

Chorus:
1411
1144
4411
2511

(In the key of G: 2 = A. In the key of A: 2 = B. That is, the '2' chord is always a whole-step higher than the 1 chord.)

Notice that the verse ends on the 5 chord, instead of the 1 chord. This requires the verse progression to be followed by the chorus progression in order for the song to sound resolved. Since the verse ends with one being left hanging on the 5, the chorus may easily come across as though it were simply the second half of a really long verse. For this reason, the parts of the song (breaks, verses, choruses) are usually arranged in such a way that the verse progression is never played twice back to back without the chorus progression intervening.

A typical jam arrangement of the song is:
Intro break - played over the chorus progression, (so that the intro break sounds resolved)
Verse 1
Chorus 
Break - played over the verse progression
Break - played over the chorus progression (by a different instrument than the one that played the immediately preceding break)
Verse 2
Chorus
Break - played over the verse progression
Chorus

If more breaks are needed than this, another break over the verse progression followed by another break over the chorus progression may be inserted right before Verse 2, and/or another break over the chorus progression followed by another break over the verse progression may be inserted right before the final chorus.

The '2' Chord
In a previous song of the week write-up ('I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore'), I discussed the '2' chord at length, and then added more information relating to this chord in yet a more recent song of the week write-up ('Cry Cry Darlin''):
http://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/intermediate-jam/category/i-cant-feel-at-home
and
http://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/intermediate-jam/category/cry-cry-darlin

More on the '2' chord:
Just as one may substitute a dominant 7th chord (usually called just simply a 7th chord) in place of a major chord when a 5 chord is called for (e.g., D7 in place of D when playing in the key of G; G7 in place of G when playing in the key of C), so the same is also true for '2' chords (e.g., B7 in place of B when playing in the key of A; D7 in place of D when playing in the key of C; E7 in place of E when playing in the key of D). 

Notice on the Mac Wiseman live performance included here, Mac is playing a B7 instead of a B: and this is common practice for bluegrass rhythm guitar when a B chord shows up when playing in any key without a capo in which the B chord functions as the 5 chord (key of E), the 6 chord (key of D), the 3 chord (key of G), or, in this case, as the 2 chord (key of A). 

However, B7 in place of B would not work well if the B chord were functioning as the 1 chord (key of B), except when used as a transitional chord to lead from the 1 to the 4 (in the key of B, one might for instance play the first half of the I'll Fly Away progression as: BBBB7EEBB), and would not always work well for the 4 chord either (key of F#), and would almost never work for the b7 chord (key of C#). Most bluegrass rhythm guitar players need not concern themselves with this since most of them would never consider playing in any of these keys without a capo, and the two latter keys are not among the 8 Major keys that bluegrass songs are commonly played in at jams. But, it is good for all to be aware - regardless of which instruments they play - that there are only certain chords for which it is 'safe' to habitually substitute dominant 7ths in place of majors. 

When playing in the key of G in standard G tuning, banjo players may often automatically play a dominant 7th in place of a major for the 2 chord (in the key of G, an A7 chord in place of an A chord) without being consciously aware that they are doing so, for the 5th string - the short string - on the banjo is tuned - when in G tuning and when not capoed - to a G note (banjo players rarely ever fret this string), and this is the very note that when added to an A chord makes it into an A7 chord. (This same A7 chord will also often show up in place of an A for the 6 chord when banjo players are playing in C without a capo.)

To make any major chord a dominant 7th chord, all that one does is add to the chord the note that is a whole step lower than the note that has the same letter name as the chord: this is the b7 note/scale degree on the Nashville Number System Chart handout.

I think it sounds best if only some of the players at any given time, rather than all at the same time, in a band, or at a jam, use the dominant 7th in place of the major when playing over 2, 3 and 6 chords. On 5 chords, I like to hear the dominant 7th used even more sparingly.

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Little Willie' in the key of A.

Although 'Little Willie' has much in common with his sister 'Little Maggie', she is much more well-known in the Bluegrass world than what he is. And, 'Little Willie', for some reason that is difficult for me to pinpoint (though I have heard some interesting ideas on this recently that might at least partly account for it) can't, and/or doesn't really want to, keep up to pace with his sister.

Here are two versions of 'Little Willie' to listen to:

Ralph Stanley - with whom the song is quite likely still most closely associated in Bluegrass circles, much as Little Maggie also tends to be (or at least once was): key of B 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpvwPOp4nSQ
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Note: The melody sheets attached here are based upon how Ralph Stanley sang the song on an earlier recording by the Stanley Brothers. On this recording, which was available on youtube for a brief while in the recent past, but is not currently available there, Ralph sang it in the key of A (a whole step lower than B), and this is the recording that I learned to sing the song from. (I have it only on an old grainy cassette tape.)

However, if my memory serves me right - this was many years ago - the first time I heard 'Little Willie', it was sang by Trisha Gagnon, who is (and has been for many years) the bass player for the great BC-based Bluegrass band 'John Reischman & The Jaybirds'.  I knew Trisha before she even played bass, or at least before she played bass in public (I have known her for about 26 years now), and I always loved to hear her sing. When I was a 'rascally kid' - as Trisha well put it when I spoke with her on the phone last week - there was a time when for well over a year, I used to listen to her sing in person usually twice a week, not too far from where I lived (about 15 miles).

At that time, Trisha and her sister Cathy-Anne sang with one of the most aggressively-playing banjo players I have ever heard, Chris Stevens. For reasons that I couldn't explain at the time, but that I think I now have a fairly good understanding of, I found that my best banjo playing tended to occur immediately after I returned home after listening to and watching Chris closely for 2 to 3 hours; so, being the smart boy that I was, I quickly learned to grab my banjo and start playing as soon as I got in the door.

Trisha's voice still sometimes sends shivers down my spine when I listen to her sing: such a haunting sound that I think is so perfectly suited for a song like 'Little Willie'. 

For The Jaybirds' version of Little Willie (key of C), with Trisha singing solo, see the attached mp3 file. 
I assure you, this is really worth taking the time to listen to more than once.