Hi,
The song of the week will be 'I Saw The Light' in the key of Bb. 

Though not originally a bluegrass song, I Saw The Light has by now become a bluegrass jam standard. Everything about the song - its melody, its chord progression, its subject matter, etc., makes it perfect for bluegrass. I Saw The Light was written and originally recorded by Hank Williams.


Recordings
The Stanley Brothers - key of Bb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xO-v2x2nH4  

Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys - key of B
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhApr777YWY

For the sake of comparison and contrast, here is the original Hank Williams recording of I Saw The Light (key of G):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB-B_SpiF9Q  


Progression & Melody
The chord progression for I Saw The Light is:

1111
4441
1111
11511
Notice that the last line of the progression consists of five measures, instead of only four.

In the key of Bb: 1=Bb. 4=Eb, and 5=F. 
The Bb chord consists of the notes: Bb,D, and F
The Eb chord consists of the notes: Eb, G, and 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, but the melody of I Saw The Light, like many other songs, makes use of only 5 of these: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th notes of the scale  (In Bb, these notes are Bb, C, D, F, and G: these 5 notes form what is called the Bb Major Pentatonic Scale.)


Capo 3
For playing in the key of Bb, banjo and guitar players almost always capo the 3rd fret so they can play as if they were playing in the key of G. (Bb is 3 half-steps higher than G.) For this reason the melody sheets attached here for guitar and banjo are written in the key of G.

[In the key of G: 1=G. 4=C, and 5=D. The G chord consists of the notes: G. B, and D. The C chord consists of the notes: C, E, and G, The D chord consists of the notes: D, F#,, and A. Together, these notes make up the G Major Scale: G, A, B, C, D, E, F#. The 5 notes: G, A, B, D, and E form the G Major Pentatonic Scale.]


Harmony
I welcome harmony singers to sing not only the choruses with me, but also on the last line of each of the verses: "Praise the Lord, I saw the light" (the last line of the verses uses the same words and melody as the last line of the chorus.)


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

Are You Missing Me - G
Ashes Of Love - G
Cherokee Shuffle - A
Gold Watch And Chain - Bb
I Saw The Light - Bb
Little Cabin Home On The Hill - C
Little Liza Jane - D
Love, Please Come Home - G
Reuben - D
Steel Rails - G
Temperance Reel - G
Turkey In The Straw - G
We'll Meet Again Sweetheart - Bb
Wildwood Flower - A
Wreck Of The Old '97 - A
Long Journey Home - C
Red Wing - G
Roses In The Snow - C
Cabin In Caroline - G
Cluck Old Hen - A
Flint Hill Special - G 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ5SzHd8-gY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RIawIZXdfg  

Footprints In The Snow - G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNhQKoDWbdU  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvaVnE-qhEM 
 
Have a happy Thanksgiving!,
Jason

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
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 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.


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

Are You Missing Me - G
Ashes Of Love - G
Cherokee Shuffle - A
Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Cry, Cry Darlin' - A
Gold Watch And Chain - D
Homestead On The Farm - A
Little Liza Jane - D
Love, Please Come Home (played twice) - B & A
Reuben - D
Steel Rails - G
Turkey In The Straw - G
We'll Meet Again Sweetheart - Bb
Why Don't You Tell Me So - Bb
Wildwood Flower - A
I'm Satisfied With You - D
Red Wing - G
Little Darling Pal Of Mine - B
Over The Waterfall - D
High On A Mountain - D
East Virginia Blues - A
Old Joe Clark - A

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Steel Rails' in the key of G.

Recording
Alison Krauss - key of E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX_YZD-r-Qc


Progression
1   1   2m 2m
4   5   4    1    1
1   1   2m 2m
4   5   4    1    1

On the recording, the progression for the verses is slightly different: line 2 is played as 45111. I have jammed this song many times over the years with many different people, and not once do I ever recall a different progression being used for the verses than for the choruses and the breaks. So, to keep it simple, when I lead the song at the jam, I will use the same progression for the verses as for the choruses and the breaks, with line 2 consistently being played as 45411.

Even if the progression were 16 or 17 measures long instead of 18 measures long, and even if it did not contain 2m chords, it would still be an unusual progression for a bluegrass song, in that a 5 chord measure is sandwiched between two 4 chord measures. Of the 6 possible chord change sequences involving the 1, 4, and 5 (14, 41, 15, 51, 45, 54) 54 (a 5 followed by a 4) is the least common, and when this order does occasionally show up, the 5 is usually preceded by a 1 rather than by a 4.


Ending
Steel Rails ends with a vocal tag that follows the final chorus. The progression for the tag is:

2m 5 5 5 5
4 1 1
and there is a stop at the beginning of the fifth measure.


The 2m Chord
When 1=G, 2m=Am; when 1=A, 2m=Bm; when 1=Bb, 2m=Cm, when 1=B, 2m=C#m, etc. Just as the root note of the 2 (major) chord is always a whole step higher than the root note of the 1 chord, so by the same token, the root note of the 2m chord is always a whole step higher than root note of the 1 chord.


Minor Chords in Major Key Songs
The 2m (two minor) chord is the second most frequently used minor chord in songs played in a major key. The most common minor chord used in major key songs is the 6m, and the third most common (which only very rarely shows up in bluegrass songs) is the 3m. 

The 6m is the relative minor of the 1.
The 2m is the relative minor of the 4.
The 3m is the relative minor of the 5.

6m, 2m, and 3m are the only three minor chords that contain no notes in them other than the notes that make up the major scale that has the same letter name as the 1.

For example, the C major scale has no sharps or flats in it, but consists of the 7 natural notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B.

Just as the 1,4, and 5, when 1=C, are the only major chords that contain no sharps or flats in them: C = CEG; F = FAC; G = GBD, so also their relative minors: 6m, 2m, and 3m respectively, when 1=C, are the only minor chords that contain no sharps or flats in them: Am = ACE; Dm = DFA; Em = EGB.


History of Minor Chords in Bluegrass
The use of minor chords in major key songs shows up less frequently on bluegrass recordings from the 40s and the 50s than on recordings from the 60s onward. In the spots in where a minor chord would have been suitable to play, the older recordings more often than not have the major chord that is either the relative major or the parallel major of that minor chord. 

For instance, in the spots where it is now standard practice to play a 6m in Down The Road, the original Flatt & Scruggs recording used a 1 instead (1 is the relative major of 6m), and in the spots where it is now standard practice to play a 6m chord in Foggy Mountain Breakdown, a 6 chord was played on the guitar by Lester Flatt on the original recording, even though the 6m chord is so clearly outlined in the banjo breaks (6 is the parallel major of 6m). 


2m & 6m vs. 2 & 6
In contrast to the 2 (major) chord, which is almost always immediately followed by a 5 chord, the 2m chord may often be followed just as easily and naturally by a 1, a 4, a 6m, etc., as by a 5 chord. A similar observation may also be made about the 6m chord relative to the 6 (major) chord. The 6 (major) is almost always followed by a 2 (the most notable exception to this being the obsolete practice of sandwiching 6's  between 1's in playing Foggy Mountain Breakdown and certain other songs) but the 6m is often followed by a 1, a 4 or a 5. 


Song List
22 songs were played at last night's jam:
 
Are You Missing Me - G
Clinch Mountain Backstep - A
Down In A Willow Garden - D
Gold Watch And Chain - D
Homestead On The Farm - A
I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore - G
I Saw The Light - B
Little Liza Jane - D
Love Of The Mountains - A
Love, Please Come Home - G
Temperance Reel - G
We'll Meet Again Sweetheart - Bb
Wildwood Flower - A
Cripple Creek - A
Bill Cheatham - A
Where We'll Never Grow Old - F
Cabin In Caroline - G
Are You Teasing Me - A
Red Wing - G
Midnight On The Highway - E
The Girl I Left Behind Me - G
Foggy Mountain Top - G

Happy Pickin',
Jason