Hi everyone,
Here's the fifth batches of jam songs and tunes. I hope you will enjoy jamming along with these.

Happy Pickin'.
Keep safe and well.
Jason


Intermediate Jam:
I Saw The Light - Bb
John Henry - D
Little Willie - A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ifck2wj8R0

Hi,
I hope you had a happy Easter, and that you are doing well.
Here are some more songs to jam along with.
Happy Pickin'.


Intermediate Jam
Down In A Willow Garden - G
Gold Watch And Chain - Bb
Homestead On The Farm - A
https://youtu.be/awXL1kAq0Y8

Keep safe and well,
Jason

Hi,
​here are yet a few more songs to jam along with.
Happy Pickin'.

Cherokee Shuffle - A
Cryin' Holy - G
Dooley - B
https://youtu.be/KS-AZnXLs4o

Keep safe and well.
Jason

Hi,
here are a few more songs to jam along with.
Happy Pickin'.

Cabin In Caroline - G
Canaan's Land - F
Cry, Cry Darlin' - G
https://youtu.be/wtM_tICKi8E

Keep safe and well.
Jason

Hi everyone,

Since it may be awhile until we can all get together again at the Pioneer Building to play together, and also to try to offer something in the meantime to all of you who have been very mindful and supportive of me and my family during this time, I got the idea to record a few songs each week from the beginner and intermediate jam lists and put them up on youtube with me leading them much like I would at the jams, for those of you who might like to play and jam along at home.

When calling the breaks, instead of calling out 'everybody', 'banjo', 'fiddle', etc., I have substituted 'together' and 'your turn'. 

This is my first attempt at 'leading' a jam while playing alone, so I sometimes found it hard to remember in the moment to call out the next break or to signal the end of the song, so I apologize about many of the cues coming later than what they ordinarily would at the jam. I hope my future attempts at this will be better than this first one.

Also, I may have started some of these songs off a bit on the fast side of things, so if need be, you may find it desirable to slow some of the songs down to 75% of the recorded speed. You can do this on youtube on a laptop, but not on a phone, by going to settings, and the clicking on 'playback speed'.

Intermediate Jam:
Angel Band - Bb
Are You Missing Me - G
Bill Cheatham - A
https://youtu.be/6d7A59unVGc

I hope that this email finds you well, and I hope that you will enjoy playing some of the songs here along with me.

Also, for all you banjo players out there, Bill Evans (who was going to be one of the instructors at Weiser Banjo Camp this year until it was cancelled - but he'll be there for the 2021 camp) is teaching a free Facebook Live online workshop this coming Saturday (tomorrow) at noon Mountain Time on “Working Up Scruggs-Style Solos.” This page is set to “Public,” so anyone with a Facebook account can view. Here’s the Facebook link: www.facebook.com/BillEvansBanjo

Keep safe and well.
Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is the Bill Monroe classic from the 50s 'On And On' in the key of G.


Recordings
Bill Monroe - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf3gsWqmL3c

Tony Rice - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd0NIeCTTsc


Tempo and Feel
The Tony Rice version is noticeably faster than the original Bill Monroe recording. (I like to play On And On somewhere between the two tempos), but notice what the two versions have in common: the playing and singing is crisp, clear, and punchy. In Bluegrass, all these elements are important in the delivery of a song. Listening frequently to good quality Bluegrass recordings, and playing and singing along with them can go a long ways to help develop the right feel for playing and singing Bluegrass. 

Sing and play your breaks on top of the beat, keep a driving and percussive rhythm going when playing backup, don't allow your notes, strums, syllables, etc., to blur together. In traditional Bluegrass, there are no drums: to keep a steady pulse and well-defined beat going during a song requires that all the instruments and the vocals do their part to fill this percussive 'void'. 

Attack the strings sharply and swiftly, and play close enough to the bridge to avoid a mushy tone. Finding just the right distance from the bridge to play on your instrument to get the desired amount of percussive element in your playing can do a lot for eliminating mushiness from the sound of your playing. (The closer to the bridge you play, the more percussive your playing will tend to sound, but if you get right up to the bridge, you will lose tone and volume.) Aim to get from your instrument the same quality of sound and feel that you are familiar with from listening to good Bluegrass records.


Progression, Melody, and Breaks
'On And On' uses one of the most common chord progressions in Bluegrass:
1141
1155
1141
1511

...and its melody has a fair bit in common with many other songs that use the same progression. Of songs that have been played regularly at the jam, Foggy Mountain Top has the most similarities to On And On. For recordings and melody tabs of Foggy Mountain Top, go to:
http://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/beginner-jam/category/foggy-mountain-top

If you already familiar with Foggy Mountain Top, try coming up with a melody-based break for On And On by listening to the recordings of On And On before taking a look at the melody sheets for On And On provided in the attachments. 

The challenge here is to come up with a way of recycling a lot of the same moves/licks you use for a melody-based break for Foggy Mountain Top but without your break for 'On And On' sounding like it is a break intended for Foggy Mountain Top. 

For melody-based breaks that do not follow the melody slavishly, the first deviation between a melody-based break for 'On And On' and a melody-based break for 'Foggy Mountain Top' need not occur until measures 4. Take advantage of the deviation between the melodies for the two songs that occur in measures 4 and 5 to distinguish what otherwise might be nearly identical breaks.


Harmony and Lyrics
On the standard recordings of 'On And On', harmony is sung on both the verses and the choruses, rather than only on the choruses. At a jam, there is no need to sing harmony on the verses, but if one wishes to do so, it would not be out of place, given the precedents for this on the standard recordings of the song. 

But you need to be singing the same set of lyrics as the lead singer, and these need to be sung from memory, so you can watch the lead singer to make sure you are lining up with his phrasing. (Make a cheat sheet consisting of the first line of each verse to help jog your memory in the moment as to what the next verse is: if and when you need to, look at this cheat sheet before the verse in question begins, not while singing the beginning of the verse.) 

You might have noticed that there are a few slight differences in the lyrics on the two recordings given here.  As I sing them when leading the song, the lyrics are:

Verse 1:
Trav'lin' down this long lonesome highway
I'm so lonesome I could cry
With mem'ries of how we once loved each other
And now you are saying goodbye.

Chorus:
On and on I'll follow my darlin'
And I wonder where she can be
On and on I'll follow my darlin'
And I wonder if she ever thinks of me.

Verse 2:
I've cried I've cried for you little darlin'
It breaks my heart to hear your name
My friends they all so love you my darlin
And they think that I am to blame

Verse 3:
I had to follow you little darlin
I can't sleep when the sun goes down
By your side is my destination
The road is clear and that where I'm bound


Song List
18 songs were played at last night's jam:

Angel Band - C
Cry, Cry Darlin' - A
Dooley - B
Homestead On The Farm - A
I Saw The Light - Bb
Love, Please Come Home - A
On And On - G
Roving Gambler - A
Steel Rails - C
Turkey In The Straw - G
Wabash Cannonball - A
Wildwood Flower - D
Dear Old Dixie - G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MuUeQRLRBc
Lonesome Pine - G
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - A
Sick, Sad And Lonesome - A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I34C3TV84-Q
Ashes Of Love - B
Foggy Mountain Breakdown - G

Happy Pickin',
Jason
​

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Wildwood Flower' in the key of D.


Recordings
Flatt & Scruggs - key of D instrumental
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7U3pD_0yX8

The Carter Family - key of Bb: original recorded version with vocals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4xjqpARrHM

Mother Maybelle Carter - key of F# with vocals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE80Ed59uCY

Progression
The chord progression for Wildwood Flower is:
11511
11511
1141
11511
Notice that the 1st, 2nd, and 4th lines of the progression are each 5 measures long.


Vocal or Instrumental?
Before moving to Boise, I was much more accustomed to playing Wildwood Flower at Bluegrass jams as an instrumental rather than as a song with vocals. But, despite the difficulties involved in singing Wildwood Flower, due to the wide range of the melody and the nature of the lyrics, there have been enough people at the beginner and intermediate jams over the past few years who like to sing Wildwood Flower that it has rarely been played as an instrumental when called at the jams. So, in making Wildwood Flower a song of the week for the intermediate jam, I have chosen to sing it rather than leading it as an instrumental.

When played as an instrumental at a bluegrass jam, Wildwood Flower is most often played either in the key of C or the key of G, with guitar players tending to prefer C and banjo players tending to prefer G.

When Wildwood Flower is sung at a jam, one can expect it to be played in any of the 8 standard bluegrass keys: G, A, Bb, B, C, D, E, or F. Because the melody of the song has an unusually wide range (it spans an interval of a major 10th: that is, one whole octave plus a third of an octave), one may find it difficult to find a key that one can comfortably sing the song in, and once one has identified a comfortable key to sing it in, one may discover that that is the only key that one feels comfortable singing the song in. 


Lyrics
Since my early childhood, I have been familiar with set of lyrics for Wildwood Flower on the classic 1928 Carter Family recording (a recording that has greatly influenced most subsequent versions of the song), but have found the lyrics difficult to memorize, as some of the lines make little sense. As far as I can tell from listening to the old record, the lyrics on it are as follows:

Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair
With the roses so red and the lilies so fair
And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew
The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue.

I will dance, I will sing and my laugh shall be gay
I will charm ev'ry heart, in his crown I will sway
When I woke from my dreaming, my idols was clay
All portion of love had all flown away.

Oh, he taught me to love him and promised to love
And to cherish me over all others above
How my heart is now wond'ring no misery can tell
He's left me no warning, no words of farewell.

Oh, he taught me to love him and called me his flow'r
That's blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hour
Oh, I long to see him and regret the dark hour
He's won and neglected this pale wildwood flower.

If one compares these lyrics with the original set of lyrics published in 1860, one can see the full extent to which some of the lines got butchered in the transmission process that eventually resulted in the Carter Family version. The original lyrics are:

I'll twine 'mid the ringlets of my raven black hair
The lilies so pale and the roses so fair
The myrtle so bright with an emerald hue
And the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue.

I'll sing and I'll dance, my laugh shall be gay
I'll cease this wild weeping, drive sorrow away.
Tho' my heart is now breaking, he never shall know
That his name made me tremble and my pale cheeks to glow.

I'll think of him never, I'll be wildly gay
I'll charm ev'ry heart, and the crowd I will sway.
I'll live yet to see him regret the dark hour
When he won, then neglected, the frail wildwood flower.

He told me he loved me, and promised to love
Through ill and misfortune, all others above
Another has won him, ah! mis'ry to tell
He left me in silence, no word of farewell.

He taught me to love him, he call'd me his flower
That blossom'd for him all the brighter each hour
But I woke from my dreaming, my idol was clay
My visions of love have all faded away. 

The way I sing the song is based on the original set of lyrics, but is influenced by my familiarity with the Carter Family version. For instance, I sing only 4 verses, by combining verses 2 and 3 together into a single verse. I omit the last three lines of verse 2 and the first line of verse 3.

Guitar & Banjo Melody Tabs
Without a capo, the key of C works much better than the key of D for working up either a Carter-style or a crosspicking guitar break for Wildwood Flower, which are the two main traditional approaches to playing guitar breaks for the song. For this reason I have not included a guitar tab melody sheet written in D in the attachments. To play a break in D based upon the key of C guitar melody sheet provided here, you will need to capo the 2nd fret of the guitar.

Two banjo tabs of the melody are given in the attachments, one written in the key of C with the banjo tuned to C tuning (GCGBD): capo 2 for D, and one written in the key of D with the banjo tuned to D tuning (F#DF#AD). These are the two options that I believe work best for working up basic Scruggs-style breaks for Wildwood Flower in D. (For clawhammer players, I advise tuning to double C tuning: GCGCD, capo 2 for D. To convert the C tuning melody sheet to double C tuning, all you need to do is to change the 1s to zeros on the line that represents the 2nd string.)

Song List
21 songs were played at last night's jam:

Are You Missing Me - G
Cherokee Shuffle - A
Cry, Cry Darlin' - A
Dooley - G
Homestead On The Farm - G
I Saw The Light - Bb
John Henry - D
Love, Please Come Home - A
On And On - G
Red Wing - G
Roving Gambler - A
Turkey In The Straw - G
Wabash Cannonball - A
Wildwood Flower - D
Old Joe Clark - A
Love Me Darling Just Tonight - A
Cripple Creek - A
Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms - B
Little Cabin Home On The Hill - A
Mountain Dew - A
Reuben - D

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Wabash Cannonball' in the key of A.


History
Originally recorded by the Carter Family in 1929, 'Wabash Cannonball' has gone on to become a Country classic, and has been recorded by many notable Country and Bluegrass artists, including Johnny Cash, Hank Snow, Willie Nelson, Flatt & Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and Claire Lynch. But perhaps the most well-known version of the song is still the 1936 recording by Roy Acuff - many people in both country and bluegrass circles still associate the song especially with him. and this record is one of the less than 40 singles to have sold more than 10 million copies. 'Wabash Cannonball' also happens to be the oldest song on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.


Recordings
Mac Wiseman - key of A: good banjo and fiddle breaks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8HHFCDRFBk

Note; In place of an intro break that follows the melody and chord progression of the song, a quote from another old well-known 'train' song 'The Orange Blossom Special' is used instead. Also, immediately after the fiddle break, Mac goes into another 'Carter Family' song 'Homestead On The Farm' (a.k.a., 'I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home'), which in bluegrass circles has become more associated with Mac than with the Carters.)

Doc Watson: key of G (includes guitar, dobro, fiddle, and banjo breaks):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoJwNwB2N9E

Norman & Nancy Blake: key of A: good guitar breaks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4RwJWXQYAU

...and for those interested:

Roy Acuff: key of A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i435ovKX9aE

Notice that no two of these versions use exactly the same set of lyrics, and that there are also differences among them in notes that make up the melody, and in the case of the Acuff recording, the chord progression as well (1144 for lines 1 and 3, which works with the notes that Acuff sings here, but would not fit well with other versions of the melody)


Progression
The chord progression that I use for 'Wabash Cannonball' is:

1114
5551
1114
55511

(In the key of A: 1=A, 4=D, 5=E. In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, 5=D.)

Of the progressions on the 'Basic Chord Progressions' handout, this progression is most similar to progression W8, which is the progression used for 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home', 'Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong', 'We'll Meet Again Sweetheart', etc.:

1144
5511
1144
5511

The order of chord changes for Wabash Cannonball is the same as in Prog. W8, just the timing of the changes is different; the change to the 4 occurs a measure later in Wabash Cannonball, as does the change back to the 1 after the 5.


Melody
The melody sheets attached here correspond to how I usually sing the first verse of the song, with one exception. In the banjo tab of the melody, measures 4 and 12 have a higher starting note than what is given on the other melody sheets. The only reason for giving this alternative melody note here is because, in the octave in which the melody is written in the banjo tab, the note on the other melody sheets is inaccessible on the banjo when playing in G tuning with the capo on the 2nd fret for the key of A.

​
Song List
23 songs were played at last night's jam:

Angel Band - Bb
Canaan's Land - E
Cherokee Shuffle - A
Cry, Cry Darlin' - G
Dooley - A
Down In A Willow Garden - G
Homestead On The Farm - A
I Saw The Light - A
Little Willie - A
Love, Please Come Home - A
Red Wing - G
Roving Gambler - A
Steel Rails - G
Turkey In The Straw - G
Wabash Cannonball (played twice) - G & A
Your Love Is Like A Flower - A
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
Down The Road - B
Mountain Dew - A
Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Reuben - D
Golden Slippers - G
Don't This Road Look Rough And Rocky - G

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is the old-time fiddle tune 'Turkey In The Straw' in the key of G. The melody sheets attached here show the form (AABB) and chord progression for the tune.

​
Recording
Berline, Crary & Hickman - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd_jOlT7RAY


Melody & Breaks
The melody sheets attached here for fiddle, mandolin, and guitar do not require anything to be added to them to make intermediate level breaks for Turkey In The Straw. They contain a good balance of quarter and 8th note, and very few of the melody notes are lingered on long enough to lend themselves well to the typical Bluegrass embellishments. The version of the melody given here, played as is as a break, is suitable for an intermediate level player to work with for getting his playing on the tune up to speed. Aim to get up to 120 beats per minute. (2 clicks, not 4 clicks, of the metronome per measure). 

While you may need to eliminate a few notes here and there at first in order to be able to play your break up to speed, be careful not to take too many notes out: otherwise, your break will start to sound more like a beginner level break rather than an intermediate level break. With enough repetitions through the break, isolating and looping the passages you find most difficult, paying attention to your right and left hand technique, seeking to eliminate any and all unnecessary motions of the fingers that could slow you down, and pushing your speed with the help of a  metronome, your ability to play at faster tempos will improve.

The first banjo tab attachment contains almost all the same notes that are given on the melody sheets for the other instruments. It is a melodic-style arrangement. Unless you already play in melodic style, I recommend referring instead to the second banjo tab attachment which contains a skeletal version of the melody that can be used as a guide for creating a Scruggs style break by putting rolls and left hand techniques (slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs) around the most essential or main melody notes of the tune.


Strong Beginnings & Endings
Also in the attachments is a chart of 8 potato intros and double endings that will work well for Turkey In The Straw, since the use of these types of beginnings and endings are the most effective ways to begin and end most fiddle tunes at a bluegrass jam.

Since it is crucial to get a tune off to a good solid start, for this affects how the whole song will be played, be sure to practice not only your 8 potato intros, but also the transition from the 8 potato intro into the beginning of your break. It is important to be aware that if you choose to begin your break with the two 8th note pickups written on the melody sheets, you will need to play these in place of the last quarter of the last measure that makes up your 8 potato intro, otherwise your timing will be off and the tune will get off to a bad start.

In practicing 'tack-on' endings (e.g., the double endings given in the attachments) that are played after the last note of the tune proper, be careful to hold the last note of the tune for exactly the right length of time before starting into the ending. And the same goes for the last note of the first half of a double ending. For otherwise, your timing will be off, and there are few things more anticlimactic at a jam than people being out of time with each other in playing their final note or chord for a song. 

For Turkey In The Straw, this means, among other things, that the last melody note played needs to be held as a half note before starting into the double endings given here. The reason why this melody note is written on the melody sheets as a quarter note instead of a half note is simply because the melody sheets show how long the last note would need to be held if one were to go into the beginning of the break again after playing the last note. They do not show what needs to happen in order to transition into a tack-on ending, for no tack on endings are given on the melody sheets. 

For figuring out the timing involved in going from an 8 potato intro into the beginning of a break, and the timing involved in going from the end of a break into a tack-on ending, just remember that, with the exception of specific spots in 'crooked' tunes (e.g., Down The Road, Clinch Mountain Backstep), all measures of a song, from the first full measure onward, need to be of equal duration. 


Song List
23 songs were played at last night's jam:

Bill Cheatham - A
Canaan's Land - B
Cry, Cry Darlin' - A
Dooley - B
Homestead On The Farm - A
I Saw The Light - A
Little Willie - A
Love, Please Come Home - A
Roving Gambler - A
Steel Rails - G
Turkey In The Straw - Bb
Wabash Cannonball - A
Wildwood Flower - C
Green Rolling Hills Of West Virginia - D
Gold Rush - A
Mountain Dew - A
Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Foggy Mountain Breakdown - G
Flint Hill Special - G
Wreck Of The Old '97 - D
How Mountain Girls Can Love - C
Soldier's Joy - D
Reuben - D

Happy Pickin',
Jason