Hi,
The song of the week is 'Mountain Dew' in the key of A.

Recordings
Ralph Stanley II - key of B
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1exisbsLSU

Flatt and Scruggs with Merle Travis - live at Carnegie Hall - key of A 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khFkNsBbmAQ

Stringbean - key of A 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZBUDQsI6m8

Grandpa Jones - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtjoRpmOjc

Progression
Mountain Dew uses the 'I'll Fly Away/Will The Circle Be Unbroken' chord progression:

1111
4411
1111
1511

Tempo
Mountain Dew is often played at a fast tempo. The song does not lend itself well to being played as slowly as what we have often played many other songs at the jam. Mountain Dew should be one of our faster songs within the range of the tempos that we play at.

Speed Building
Here are some things to try to help you to play faster:

For rhythm guitar: focus on the bass notes, think of the strums as though they were a mere afterthought. Keep the strums between the bass notes relatively quiet; between bass notes, the strums should be a single, rapidly executed, and compact downstroke with the pick aiming for no more than just the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings. The pick should not need to change the angle at which it hits the strings between strums and bass notes, and there should be no more than the bare minimum amount of motion from the hand and arm needed for playing rhythm.

For banjo: don't get locked into doing the same right hand picking pattern over and over again; repetitive motions are difficult to maintain even for a short time at fast tempos. Leave some of the less important notes out of the rolls: various mixtures of quarter notes and 8th notes are not only easier to play at fast tempos that a steady stream of 8th notes, but also tend to sound better.

For bass: when playing along with records, make sure that you are able to play on top of the beat, rather than behind it. Can you push the beat just a little bit without speeding up or falling out of time with the record? Test yourself on this with moderate tempo songs before attempting to play along with fast songs on a record.

For guitar and mandolin breaks: for fast songs, tend to play fewer notes per measure than what you would do for moderate tempo songs; the faster the song is, the less need there is for so many notes in order for your breaks to be satisfying to the ear.

For fiddle: when you wish to include measures consisting mostly of 8th notes in your breaks, you might try to find places where it is convenient to play 3 or 4 notes back to back with a single bow stroke, rather than using a separate bow stroke for each note.

For all instruments: when practicing with a metronome, set the metronome just a couple beats faster than the fastest tempo that you feel comfortable playing at, and make yourself keep up to it. Isolate and loop any spots that you find yourself tending to slow down on or stumble over (starting at a slower tempo than what you had the metronome set to, building back up to that speed), or find ways to simplify what you are playing in those spots. Once the metronome speed feels comfortable to play at, set it yet another couple of beats faster, and repeat the same process.

Lyrics
I know six verses for Mountain Dew, but usually use only four or five of them at a time when singing the song at a jam. Among the four recorded versions given here, all six of these verses are accounted for. Three verses is enough to know for the sake of leading the song at a jam. But, the advantage of knowing more verses for the song than what you would sing at any one time at a jam is that if, in the moment, you forget one of the verses, you are less likely to need to repeat a verse you already sang.

The first words of each of the six verses I know are:

1. There's a big holler tree down the road here from me...
2. Mr. Roosevelt told me just how he felt...
3. My Uncle Mort, he is sawed off and short...
4. My Aunt June bought some new perfume...
5. The preacher rode by with his head heisted high...
6. My Brother Bill's got a still on the hill...

The verses that I tend to almost always use when singing the song are the first, third, and sixth on the list, and the one that I leave out more often than any of the others is the fourth. But, the faster the song is played, the more inclined I am to sing more verses.

Song List
16 songs were played at the jam on Wednesday: 

Blue Ridge Cabin Home - Bb
Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Cry, Cry Darlin' - G
Homestead On The Farm - D
I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand - A
In The Pines - A
In The Sweet By And By - D
Liberty - D
Little Cabin Home On The Hill - D
Little Liza Jane - D
Mountain Dew - A
Nine Pound Hammer - A
Old Joe Clark - A
Wildwood Flower - G
Will You Be Loving Another Man - G
Temperance Reel - G

The chord progression used for Temperance Reel was:
A-Part:
1    1    6m  5
1    1    6m  5/1

B-Part:
6m  6m  5     5
6m  6m  6m  5/1 

Happy Pickin',
Jason


Mountain Dew - banjo tab
Download File

Mountain Dew - guitar tab
Download File

Mountain Dew - mandolin tab
Download File

Mountain Dew - melody in A
Download File

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Cry, Cry Darlin'' in the key of G.

Recordings
Bill Monroe: key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P0aM1Y7Tk0

Alison Krauss: key of C (starts at 0:55)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8ijOit4CdI

Ricky Skaggs: key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A39AXsav5Js

Dolly Parton: key of C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEk3iTRaRJc

Notice how the last two versions, while falling within the parameters of the Bluegrass genre (at least as it is now commonly understood), lean the song in a decidedly Country direction. If one considers how many artists associated with other genres of music come from Bluegrass backgrounds, how many Bluegrass artists have been heavily influenced by other genres, and how many elements of other genres were put together to create Bluegrass in the first place, it should come as no surprise that the dividing line between Bluegrass and certain other genres is at some points quite thin, and that in many of these cases, it will not always be clear where the Bluegrass genre ends and another genre begins or vice versa.

Progression
The chord progression for the verses and breaks of Cry, Cry Darlin' is the most common of all progressions in Bluegrass:
1144
1155
1144
1511

The progression for the chorus is:
5511
2255
1144
1511
Notice that the last two lines of the chorus progression is the same as the last two lines of the verse progression.

Other songs that have 55112255 for the first two lines of their chorus progression which are then completed by the second half of their verse progression include 'Old Home Place', 'I'd Rather Die Young', 'Next Sunday Darling Is My Birthday', and some versions of 'My Little Home In Tennessee'. Other instances in which 55112255 shows up in songs include the first half of the third verse of 'Sunny Tennessee', and the first half of the pre-chorus of 'Tall Pines'.

2 Chord Review
The root note of the 2 chord is one whole step higher than the root note of the 1 chord, and is named using the letter of the musical alphabet that immediately follows the letter that is used to name the 1 chord. Therefore: 

In the key of A, 2 = B
In the key of Bb, 2 = C
In the key of B, 2 = C#
In the key of C, 2 = D
In the key of Db, 2 = Eb
In the key of D, 2 = E
In the key of Eb, 2 = F
In the key of E, 2 = F#
In the key of F, 2 = G
In the key of Gb, 2 = Ab
In the key of G, 2 = A  
In the key of Ab, 2 = Bb
In chord progressions, the 2 chord is almost always followed by the 5 chord. 

The 2 Chord in Cry, Cry Darlin'
In the two other songs on the current song list for the intermediate jam that use a 2 chord in their progressions ('I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore', and 'Homestead On The Farm'), the 2 chord is not necessary to use in the progression for the song: one can find recorded versions of these songs that do not use the 2 chord that sound musically correct (though perhaps not always quite as interesting), and the same is true of many songs that are commonly played in Bluegrass circles with a 2 chord. The main reason for this is that, for a song that uses no notes in its melody other than that of the Major Scale, no Major chords other than the 1, 4, and 5  are needed to harmonize the melody, for together, these three chords contain all 7 notes that make up the Major Scale, and they are the only Major Chords that contain no notes that are not part of the Major Scale. 

In the case of 'Cry, Cry Darlin'', however, the main melody note in the 6th measure of the chorus (a C# note when the song is played in the key of G) forms a severely dissonant interval with the root notes of the 1, 4, and 5 chords, and also with one of the other notes in the 1 chord, and in the 4 chord. The note in question happens to be the one and only note in the 2 chord that is not part of the Major Scale. 

When played in the key of G, the first half of the chorus of Cry Cry Darlin' uses in its melody all, and only, the same notes that make up the D Major Scale. The three chords that are used for that part of the song when played in the key of G also happen to be the same chords that are the 1,4, and 5 chords for the key of D, namely D, G, and A. (Conversely, the 1,4, and 5 chords for the key of G are the 4, b7, and 1 chords respectively for the key of D. G and D are closely related keys: the G Major and D Major Scales share 6 of their 7 notes in common with each other.) For these reasons, it is possible that some people might find it helpful to think of the first part of the chorus of Cry, Cry Darlin' as involving a modulation to the key of D when we play it at next week's jam.

Song List
20 songs were played at last night's jam:
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - Bb
Columbus Stockade Blues - Bb
Cry, Cry Darlin' - G
Down The Road - D
Homestead On The Farm - E
I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand - G
Liberty - D
Little Cabin Home On The Hill - Bb
Little Liza Jane - D
Lonesome Road Blues - G
Mountain Dew - A
Nine Pound Hammer - B
Old Joe Clark - A
Turkey In The Straw - G
Lonesome Feeling - C
Hold Whatcha Got - B
How Mountain Girls Can Love - C
Cripple Creek - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - Bb
Keep On The Sunny Side - Bb

Happy Pickin'
Jason



Cry Cry Darlin - Banjo tap
Download File

Cry Cry Darlin - Guitar tap
Download File

Cry Cry Darlin - Mandolin tap
Download File

Cry Cry Darlin - Melody in G
Download File

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home' in the key of Bb.

Song of the Week Cycle
Starting this coming week, for the new intermediate jam, songs of the week will be played at 4 successive jams, rather than only 3. 

What this means for next week is that Nine Pound Hammer will be played at the beginning of the jam, since it was the song of the week for the jam two Wednesdays ago. Little Liza Jane (yesterday's song of the week) will be played right before the intermission. Blue Ridge Cabin Home (the current song of the week) will be played after the intermission. And, finally the following week's song of the week (which will be Cry, Cry Darlin') will be played at the end of the evening. 

This system worked very well for the previous incarnation of the intermediate jam, so I have decided to retain it for the new intermediate jam.

Recordings
Blue Ridge Cabin Home was originally recorded by Flatt & Scruggs, but in many Bluegrass circles, the Bluegrass Album Band (Tony Rice - guitar, vocals; J.D. Crowe - banjo, vocals; Doyle Lawson - mandolin, vocals; Bobby Hicks - fiddle; Todd Phillips - bass) version of Blue Ridge Cabin Home, released in 1981, has replaced the Flatt & Scruggs version as the primary point of reference for the song.

Blue Ridge Cabin Home - The Bluegrass Album Band - key of Bb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htxGouge9-g

For the phase that the Wednesday evening jam has just recently entered into (low intermediate), it is time for there to be more focus on observing and attempting to copy the nuances found on high quality standard bluegrass recordings of the songs that the jam group is already quite familiar with playing together. 

Listen to the recording a few times, listening first for the tempo, feel/groove, and overall rhythmic pulse of the song. Pay attention to where each of the instruments and the vocals are sitting in the mix (i.e., relative loudness) at various times within the song, and where they sit relative to the beat. Also notice the tone of the instruments and vocals.

Play along with the recording (without slowing it down). Crank it up good and loud, so you can clearly hear it above your playing, without having to restrain yourself from digging in to your instrument. Sing along with it also, being careful to copy the phrasing of the lyrics as closely as possible. Make sure to allow your playing to be influenced by the recording as you play along with it. Here I have in mind not so much your choices of notes, but the manner and energy with which you play your notes.

Finally, turn the recording off, and play the song by yourself, seeing if you can still channel the same overall feel in your playing that you were able to achieve when you were under the direct influence of the record in listening to it and playing along with it several times over.

Some specifics worthwhile observing on the recording:
1) The pickup measure, together with the first few notes that come after it, played by the banjo at the very beginning of the song, with attention not so much to the choice of notes being played, but rather to how the notes are being played: timing, tone, attack, degree of sustain, etc.
2) How the band as a whole sounds together with the banjo when the band first starts playing after the pickup measure.
3) The melody-based nature of the banjo intro break.
4) How the banjo and the fiddle take turns being the dominant/featured backup instrument during the vocal parts of the song, and the types of licks that they use when being featured versus when not being featured.
5) Where the instruments overall sit in the mix on the choruses, and how this differs from where they sit in the mix on the verses.
6) What the guitar does during the verses and choruses when there is a pause in the vocals
7) Which parts of the fiddle, guitar, and second banjo breaks are melody-based, and what types of licks are being played in the non-melody based parts of these breaks.
8) What the banjo does at the end of the guitar break right before the last chorus starts.
9) How the band as a whole sounds in ending the song (the last 2 measures).

Other things worthwhile taking the time to do: listen to the recording all the way through with your attention focused on the chop rhythm on the mandolin; listen to the recording all the way through with your attention focused on the bass.

Key of Bb Review
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.

If you are fiddler or a mandolin player, and you already play songs or licks in the key of 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 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 keyof G: 1=G; 4= C; 5=D.)

Here are the corresponding notes of the G and Bb Major Scales:
1   2   3   4  5   6  7
G, A, B, C, D, E, F#
Bb,C,D,Eb,F, G, A

Banjo players will need to raise the pitch of the fifth string to a Bb note (registers as A# on most tuners).  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. 

When playing up the neck on banjo in the key of Bb (capo 3, playing as if in G), you may find it helpful to use your 10th and 15th fret markers as your primary points of reference.

Progression & Melody
The chord progression for Blue Ridge Cabin Home is:
1144
5511
1144
5511

The notes that make up the melody for Blue Ridge Cabin Home are, from lowest to highest: 
                       5    6    7    1    2    3    5
Key of Bb:    F    G   A    Bb  C   D    F
Key of G:      D   E   F#   G   A    B    D

Song List
17 songs were played at last night's jam: 
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - Bb
Down The Road - B
I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand - A
In The Pines - G
In The Sweet By And By - B
Liberty - D
Little Liza Jane - D
Lonesome Road Blues - G
Nine Pound Hammer - B
Old Joe Clark - A
Reuben - D
Turkey In The Straw - G
Wreck Of The Old '97 - D
Angeline The Baker - D
Soldier's Joy - D
A Memory Of You - Bb
Foggy Mountain Top - G

Happy Pickin',
Jason


Blue Ridge Cabin Home - banjo tab
Download File

Blue Ridge Cabin Home - guitar tab
Download File

Blue Ridge Cabin Home - mandolin tab
Download File

Blue Ridge Cabin Home - melody in Bb
Download File

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Little Liza Jane' in the key of D.

Recordings
Alison Krauss: key of A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bASF3KMTLtk

The Nashville Grass: key of G:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nfXsvrGdw

Notice that in this version the order of the parts is the opposite of the Alison Krauss version. The order of the parts given in the attached melody sheets is the same as in the Alison Krauss version.  

Form
Little Liza Jane is a standard length two-part tune with an AABB form like 'Soldier's Joy', 'Liberty', 'Angeline The Baker', 'Turkey In The Straw', and 'Old Joe Clark'. That is, each part consists of 8 measures, and is repeated before going on to the next part.

Progression
The chord progression is identical for both parts of the tune:
1111
1151

Melody
The melody for Little Liza Jane uses only the notes of the Major Pentatonic Scale: i.e., the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th. and 6th notes of the Major Scale. In the key of D, this means that the melody notes are: D, E, F#, A, and B.

Transposing: Fiddle & Mandolin
Little Liza Jane is often played in the key of A, and sometimes in the key of G, but I prefer to play it in D. If you have a learned to play Liza Jane in A on the fiddle or the mandolin, grabbing the melody on the E and A strings, then by simply moving your same fingerings one string lower so that you are now grabbing the melody on the D and A strings, you will be playing it in the key of D. 

Transposing: Banjo
If you are a banjo player, and you have learned to play Little Liza Jane in G, grabbing the melody on the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings, then by retuning your banjo to D tuning: F#DF#AD and moving your same fingerings one string lower, so that the melody is now being played on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings instead of the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings, you will be playing in the key of D. 

As far as chords are concerned: the open strings of the banjo now make a D chord; and for the A chord measures in Little Liza Jane, you need not learn to form a full A chord in D tuning: it will suffice to simply zero in on starting your rolls with A notes for these measures (A notes are located in D tuning on the 2nd open string and on the 3rd fret of the 3rd string.) If you have never played in D tuning before, give it a try - it can be a lot of fun, and an easy way to start out with this tuning is to take songs you already play breaks for in G in which the melody does not require you to use the 4th string, for you can play these with the same fingerings you use when playing them in G, just by moving the fingerings one string lower in pitch. 

Melody Sheets: Banjo & Guitar
I have included 2 melody sheets for banjo in the attachments, one written for D tuning, and the other written for G tuning (with the 5th string spiked/capoed up to an A note to make it more compatible as a drone string for the key of D).

I have also included 2 melody sheets for guitar in the attachments, one written in D and the other written in C (capo 2 for D). If you wish to work out a Carter-style break for Little Liza Jane (i.e., a break in which strums are used to fill up the space between melody notes that are of a duration greater than a quarter note), working it out in C and then capoing the 2nd fret to raise you up to D is easier on the left hand than playing it in D without a capo.

Other Songs
Don't This Road Look Rough And Rocky - E 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSGs2jylzNQ    

Come Back Darling - C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAr8M-zD3-w

Little Georgia Rose - D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWQ74VMBRg0

The last three songs are not on the current main list for the jam, but there is no reason why they shouldn't be. They are bluegrass jam standards that are highly appropriate song choices for the new intermediate jam. For any of these songs that you are not already familiar with, I highly recommend taking the time to acquaint yourself thoroughly with them, starting with the youtube links I have provided, and then taking it from there.

Happy Pickin',
Jason



Little Liza Jane - banjo (G tuning modified for key of D
Download File

Little Liza Jane - banjo tab (D tuning)
Download File

Little Liza Jane - guitar tab (C)
Download File

Little Liza Jane - guitar tab (D)
Download File

Little Liza Jane - mandolin tab
Download File

Little Liza Jane - melody in D
Download File

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Nine Pound Hammer' in the key of B.

Recordings
Lonesome River Band - key of B
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tNA13W2cds

Tony Rice - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u964a0f38s

Progression
The chord progression for Nine Pound Hammer is:
1144
1511

In the key of B: 1=B; 4=E; 5=F#
The B chord consists of: BD#F#; the E chord: EG#B; the F# chord: F#A#C#

Breaks, Improvisation, and Scales
While the intro break for the song should follow the melody closely enough to make it clear what song is being played before the first verse is sung, Nine Pound Hammer lends itself quite well to lick-oriented improvised breaks that may deviate considerably from the melody. (See especially the second youtube link above for examples of this.) This is a good song to use as a means for practicing any licks that you may have in your repertoire that fit over a line of 1144 or a line of 1511 for the key that you are playing the song in.  

On mandolin and fiddle, a good place to get started with finding suitable notes on your instrument to make use of in licks for improvising over Nine Pound Hammer in the key of B is to run through the B Major, B Major Pentatonic, and B Dorian Scales:
B Major Scale = B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B
B Major Pentatonic Scale = B, C#, D#, F#, G#, B
B Dorian Scale = B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A, B

On guitar, banjo, and dobro, run through the equivalent G Scales with the capo on the 4th fret to raise your key of G playing up to the key of B:
G Major Scale = G, A, B, C, D, E. F#, G
G Major Pentatonic Scale = G, A, B, D, E
G Dorian Scale = G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F, G

Double Stops
For fiddlers and mandolin players who do not have much experience playing in B, I have included in the attachments a chart of double stops that will work well in breaks for many songs in the key of B. For best results when using these in a melody-based break, be sure that the melody note is the lower, not the higher, of the two notes in the double stop, and if lingering on a particular double stop, instead of using it merely in passing, be sure that it matches the chord that is being played at the time in the song. For this reason, I have written chord names above each double stop.  

Blue Notes
When playing without a capo in keys that have a lot of sharps in their key signature, I tend to try to find more spots than usual in my breaks for where I can make good use of 'blue notes': flatted 3rds and flatted 7ths (observe that these are the two notes in the dorian scale that differ from the notes in the major scale) but only to the extent these suit the song. The reason for this is that in these keys, flatted 3rds and flatted 7ths end up being notes that frequently occur in the more 'user-friendly' keys of C, G, D, and A. In the key of B, the flatted 3rd is a D note, and the flatted 7th is an A note. Unlike the 3rd and 7th scale degrees of the B major scale (i.e., D# and A#), both of these 'blue notes' (D and A when in the key of B) are part of the major scale for all the keys that I feel most comfortable playing in without a capo.

Nine Pound Hammer lends itself especially well to the use of blue notes in breaks, so even when playing it in keys that don't have a lot of sharps, I still tend to use about just as many blue notes in improvised breaks for the song. In the key of G, the flatted 3rd and flatted 7th notes are Bb and F respectively.

7th Chords
Closely related to the use of blue notes is the use of 7th chords. One can make good use of 7th chords in improvised breaks during a measure of the 1 chord that is followed by the 4 chord, and also during a measure of the 4 chord that is followed by the 1 chord.  7th chords are created by flatting the 7th major scale degree of the chord being played and adding that note to the chord.  E.g., the 7th scale degree of the B major scale is an A# note.  Flatting this note (i.e., lowering it by a half step) gives the A note.  Adding the A note to a B chord results in an B7 chord.  The 7th scale degree of the E major scale is a D# note.  Lower this note by a half step and you have a D note. Add the D note to an E chord and this creates an E7 chord. Adding an F note to a G chord makes it a G7, adding a Bb note to a C chord makes it a C7, etc.

Practicing with a Capo
For guitar, dobro, and especially banjo players who have much less experience playing in B than in G and A: I suggest making it a point to spend some practice time playing with the capo on the 4th fret (with the 5th string, on banjo, spiked/capoed at the 9th fret), for although the fingerings for playing in B will be the same as those for playing in G, the instrument will feel different to play: the frets will be closer together, and the strings will feel a bit tighter; and on banjo, it can get a bit confusing to see the 5th (short) string being located directly above one's left hand when one is playing in first position if one is not used to this.

Have a happy New Year!
Jason



Nine Pound Hammer - banjo tab in B
Download File

Nine Pound Hammer - guitar tab in B
Download File

Nine Pound Hammer - mandolin tab in B
Download File

Nine Pound Hammer - melody in B
Download File

Double Stops for Fiddle & Mandolin - key of B
Download File