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Gathering Flowers From The Hillside

1/13/2017

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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. (If you opened the attachments in last week's Beginner Bluegrass Jam song of the week email, you may have noticed that I have included 'Gathering Flowers On The Hillside' on the new version of the Beginner Bluegrass Jam 'Top 20' list.) 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. 

See if you can identify the chord progression for 'Gathering Flowers' by listening to the versions given in the links below, before you take a look at the attached melody sheets. What other songs do you know, or recall playing at the jam, that use either the same chord progression or a closely related chord progression? How much of the melody can you figure out by ear before looking at the attached melody sheets? Do you recognize certain parts of the melody as being the same, or almost the same, as parts of the melodies to other songs that you are more familiar with than this one?

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

As one gains experience, and advances beyond the beginning stages of being a bluegrass musician and jammer, this need not always entail looking for more and more complex songs to learn; it can also involve working on getting faster at expanding one's repertoire (and what better to start with for this than simple songs that already have a somewhat familiar sound to them?), and 'updating' your way of playing songs that you learned when you were first getting into jamming and playing bluegrass: adding more 'frills' to your breaks and backup parts when and if appropriate for the song. Even the classic so-called 'beginner' fiddle tune 'Boil The Cabbage Down', which you won't hear played at many non-beginner jams (and at many jams would be somewhat out of place to play) can be played (and has been recorded) in ways that have nothing 'beginnerish' about them. 

Remember, the melody sheets provided here 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. And, at the 'intermediate' level of bluegrass lead playing, one is well beyond these initial, not-always- successful, attempts to add 'stuff' around the melody: at this level, one has at least a few generally reliable, even if musically simple, ways to do this in one's musical 'bag of tricks'.

Disclaimer: Even at the most advanced levels, being a bluegrass musician or jammer does not always involve being able to play breaks. There are many top-notch bluegrass guitar players, for instance, who only play rhythm (backup). Becoming a great bluegrass rhythm guitar player can be just as challenging as - or possibly even more challenging than - becoming a great flatpicker.

Happy Pickin',

Jason
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 Intermediate Jam Blog 2017 - 2018

    started as Beginner Jam in Jan 2015
    with
    ​Jason Homey

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

    Songs

    All
    Are You Missing Me
    Auld Lang Syne
    Banks Of The Ohio
    Beautiful Brown Eyes
    Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
    Big Spike Hammer
    Bill Cheatham
    Blue Ridge Cabin Home
    Canaan's Land
    Cherokee Shuffle
    Cheyenne
    Christmas Carol Progressions
    Christmas Songs
    Clinch Mountain Backstep
    Cry Cry Darlin
    Cryin' Holy
    Devil's Dream
    Dooley
    Down In A Willow Garden
    Down The Road
    East Virginia Blues
    Fireball Mail
    Foggy Mountain Breakdown
    Gathering Flowers From The Hillside
    Gold Rush
    Gold Watch And Chain
    Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
    Head Over Heels
    Homestead On The Farm
    How Mountain Girls Can Love
    I Can't Feel At Home
    I Know You Rider
    In The Pines
    In The Sweet By And By
    I Saw The Light
    John Henry
    Keep On The Sunny Side
    Left Over Biscuits
    Little Cabin Home On The Hill
    Little Darling Pal Of Mine
    Little Maggie
    Little Willie
    Love Of The Mountains
    Love Please Come Home
    Nine Pound Hammer
    Old Home Place
    Old Joe Clark
    O Little Town Of Bethlehem
    On And On
    Over The Waterfall
    Poor Wayfaring Stranger
    Red Haired Boy
    Red Wing
    Reuben
    Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms
    Roving Gambler
    Sally Goodin
    Salty Dog Blues
    Shuckin' The Corn
    Steel Rails
    Turkey In The Straw
    We'll Meet Again Sweetheart
    Whiskey Before Breakfast
    Why Don't You Tell Me So
    Wildwood Flower
    Wreck Of The Old '97
    X-Hits And B-List Songs Of 2016
    X Music Theory
    X New Song List 2018
    X- Song List 2018
    X-Songs Of The Week Of 2017
    X- The Mercury Sessions
    X-The Original And Great Carter Family

    All of Jason's Songs
    in alphabetical order


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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