Hi, The song of the week is 'Mountain Dew' in the key of A. Recordings Flatt and Scruggs with Merle Travis - live at Carnegie Hall (key of A): banjo and fiddle breaks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khFkNsBbmAQ Stanley Brothers (key of Bb, tuned a bit sharp): guitar breaks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug8p5pVsj9U Stringbean (key of A): clawhammer banjo and dobro breaks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZBUDQsI6m8 ...and, included for historical reasons, Grandpa Jones (key of A, clawhammer banjo): more of an old-time version than a bluegrass version of the song (even more so than the Stringbean recording), but many bluegrass players associate 'Mountain Dew' with Grandpa Jones, and have been influenced by his performance of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtjoRpmOjc Progression Mountain Dew has the same chord progression as I'll Fly Away and Will The Circle Be Unbroken: 1111 4411 1111 1511 (Prog. V3 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout) 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. While I do not intend on playing it as fast at the beginner jam as it is played on the recordings provided here, it should still be one of our faster songs within the range of tempos that we play at. Speed Building Here are some things to try that might 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. Happy Pickin', Jason
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Hi, The song of the week is 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' in the key of G. Originally recorded by the Carter Family in 1927 (it was the first song they recorded), and then by the Monroe Brothers (Bill Monroe and his older brother Charlie) in 1937 (under the title: 'Weeping Willow Tree'), 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' has gone on to become one of the most common of bluegrass standards. Recordings Alison Krauss - key of E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzA68Ohwke4 The Stanley Brothers - sharper than F#, but flatter than G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohRY7WNqGJY Firebox Bluegrass Band - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La1TRQEmEVM Roseanne Cash - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVL8fIJLyYo for historical purposes, here are the Carter Family and Monroe Brothers recordings of the song: The Carter Family- Bury me under the Weeping Willow Tree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCniFuHlPG0 The Monroe Brothers-Weeping Willow Tree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRxz4OQ4yzc Changing the Pronouns? Notice that both the Monroe Brothers and the Stanley Brothers sing the song in the person of a woman, just like on the original recording of the song by the Carter Family, whereas the lead singer in the Firefox Bluegrass Band changed the pronouns 'he' and 'him' to 'she' and 'her' so that he would not be singing from the first person perspective of a woman. The practice of changing the lyrics to a song sung from a first person perspective to make them correspond to the singer's gender has been called by at least one Bluegrass writer 'the dreaded gender-switch'. It works okay for some songs, but not so well for others. But, either way, changing the lyrics in this manner is entirely unnecessary in Bluegrass. There are many good recorded examples of Bluegrass songs sung by men in the person of a woman, and many examples of Bluegrass songs sung by women in the person of a man. Just as one does not need to be a parent to sing 'Bring Back To Me My Wandering Boy' (a song that has often been recorded by male Bluegrass singers that is sung in the person of a mother: no one I have ever heard sing the song changes 'mother' to 'father' in the lyrics), or to be a murderer to sing 'Banks Of The Ohio', or to be a dying little child to sing 'Little Joe', so, for precisely the same reasons, one does not need to be a woman to sing Bury Me Beneath The Willow in the person of a bride-to-be whose fiance has abandoned her, nor does one need to be a man to sing a song like 'Will You Be Loving Another Man?' Progression The chord progression for Bury Me Beneath The Willow (on all the recordings given here except for the Monroe Brothers' version) is the most common of all progressions in bluegrass (Prog. V7 on the Basic Progressions handout): 1144 1155 1144 1511 Here's a short list of standard bluegrass songs that use this same progression: Wreck Of The Old '97 I Still Write Your Name In The Sand I'm On My Way Back To The Old Home Your Love Is Like A Flower Y'all Come Down Where The River Bends Lost And I'll Never Find A Way Come Back Darlin Why Did You Wander If I Should Wander Back Tonight I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone Road To Columbus Hold Watcha Got Blue Moon Of Kentucky (verse) Black Mountain Rag (C-Part) Flint Hill Special Rose Of Old Kentucky (verse) Tiny Broken Heart (verse) Little Annie (verse) White Dove (verse) Memory Of You In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, and 5=D The G chord is made up of the notes: G, B, and D. The C chord is made up of the notes: C, E, and G. The D chord is made up of the notes: D, F#, and A. Together, these 7 notes make up the G major scale, and the melody of Bury Me Beneath The Willow makes use of all of them. (See the melody sheets attached here.) Pickups into Breaks When played in the key of G, the first melody note of the first full measure of the verses (and choruses) is the D note above the G note that the melody resolves on. When this is the case, the most effective pick up notes to use to kick off the song are the B, C, and C# notes immediately below that D note. Use of this series of notes is equally effective on all the bluegrass lead instruments. Give it a try. Start by finding the B note on your instrument, and then ascend in half steps (on a fretted instrument, this means you will not skip over any frets) until you reach the D note, playing the B, C, and C# notes as quarter notes, and be sure to place a heavy accent on that D note, since it is the first note of the first full measure of the song. Transposed to each of the 7 other keys that we play in at the jam, the notes become: Key Pickup Notes Leading to: A C# D D# E note Bb D Eb E F note B D# E E# F# note C E F F# G note D F# G G# A note E G# A A# B note F A Bb B C note [The note named as E# in the context of the key of B pickups is the same note as the note that is in most other contexts is named as F.] Other songs played at the jam for which this same 3-note pick-up measure will work effectively, for the same reasons that it works so well for Bury Me Beneath The Willow include: 'Foggy Mountain Top', 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside', 'Lonesome Road Blues' and 'Wreck Of The Old '97'. In all these songs, the first melody note in the first full measure of the song is a perfect 5th higher than the root note. (The D above G when in the key of G, the E above A when in the key of A, the F above Bb when in the key of Bb, etc.) Little Cabin Home On The Hill Here is the original recording of 'Little Cabin Home On The Hill': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GbU45MyMFc Liberty Here's Flatt & Scruggs with Doc Watson playing 'Liberty': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ugu-QwHWaA Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'Lonesome Road Blues' (a.k.a. 'I'm Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad) in the key of G. Recordings Here is one of the first sung bluegrass versions of Lonesome Road Blues I remember hearing. It is a live recording of the Stanley Brothers, and it is played at quite a fast tempo: The Stanley Brothers - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNNeAMI1O9M Here is what is probably the most well-known instrumental bluegrass version of Lonesome Road Blues, played as a banjo-feature tune on the Flatt and Scruggs' album 'Foggy Mountain Banjo', and at a slower tempo than the Stanley Brothers' live version: Flatt and Scruggs - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4dgyx9Q850 Here is a sung version by Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music Bill Monroe - key of C https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0_s2hGkBAs Finally, another sung version in a live performance, by a young Japanese band. Since there are breaks in this version played on four different instruments - banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar, and they are all really good, I was happy to come across this version on youtube. Bluegrass Police - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNY0-xZV2iE Progression The chord progression used in the versions of Lonesome Road Blues on the recordings given here is the same one that I use when leading the song: 1111 4411 4411 5511 (Prog. W4 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout) ...though, I have heard it played at some jams with the last line played as 1511 (Prog. V4 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout), and/or with the third line played as 4416m. Blue Notes Notice the Bb note in measure 2 of lines 2, 3, and 4 on the melody sheets attached here. Relative to the key of G, the Bb note is the b3 (flatted third scale degree). Together with the b7 (for the key of G, an F note), making good use of this note will often add a 'bluesy' characteristic to your playing. Arrangement onesome Road Blues is one of those small handful of songs that at a typical bluegrass jam it would not be out of the ordinary for it to be played either with or without singing: I have no idea which way I have played it more often at bluegrass jams. Lonesome Road Blues is also one of those songs that may be sung either with or without a chorus. Other songs on the lists we use at the jam that are also like this include: Down The Road, Handsome Molly, Amazing Grace, and Little Birdie. When sung without a chorus, the set of lyrics that make up the chorus in the versions of Lonesome Road Blues that use a chorus will usually be sung as one of the verses in the song - usually as the first or as the last verse, or as both. For most of the songs that may be sung either with or without a chorus, I tend to choose to sing them without a chorus when I lead them at a jam, and this is how I sing Lonesome Road Blues. This arrangement allows more time for a greater number of breaks to be played without making the song unusually long. Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside' in the key of G. Jam-Friendly Songs '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. 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. Progression The chord progression for 'Gathering Flowers' is: 1111 1155 1111 1511 (Prog. V1 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout) In the key of G: 1 = G; 5 = D. The G chord consists of the notes G, B, and D. The D chord consists of the notes D, F#, and A. Notice the relation between the progression for 'Gathering Flowers' (V1) and the progressions used to play 'Mama Don't Allow' (V2), 'Foggy Mountain Top (V6), and 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' (V7). V1 simply stays on the '1' chord in all the spots where these other progressions have a '4' chord. In all four of these progressions, the locations of the '5' chords are the same (measures 3 and 4 of line 2, and measure 2 of line 4), and in all these progressions, measures 1 and 2 of lines 1, 2, and 3, and measures 1, 3, and 4 of line 4 have the '1' chord. Recordings 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=FmzbEGefFBc Wilma Lee Cooper - key of C https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKrXivVNF8o Hylo Brown - key of F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YK1Sv9oft4 Melody & Breaks Remember, the melody sheets provided here in the attachments 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. Pickup Notes Concerning Pickup Notes into a break for Gathering Flowers. Instead of playing only the 2 pickup notes (B and C) that are sung in the vocal melody (see the attached melody sheets) to lead into the first complete measure of your break, it is often more effective at jams to add a 3rd quarter note, a C#, after these two notes, especially if you the one kicking off the song with an intro break. The chromatically ascending sequence of pickup notes: B, C, C# to lead to a D note on a G chord is commonplace on good Bluegrass records (good examples of this are at the beginning of the banjo intro break and at the beginning of the fiddle break on the first youtube link given here for Gathering Flowers). Three-quarters of a measure, rather than just half a measure, worth of pickup notes gives everyone at the jam a better sense of what the tempo of the song will be, so that they can all start playing backup confidently behind the person playing the intro break at the beginning of the first complete measure of the break. This is a good case in point illustrating how it is sometimes better to make modifications to the melody as sung, rather than to follow the melody slavishly, when creating melody-based breaks. Note: Many melodies do not have any built-in pickup notes leading into their first complete measure; in these cases one needs to create a pick-up measure to have an effective intro break for the song. This can be done by borrowing pickup phrases from other songs in which the first full measure of the song starts with the same note and same chord as the song in question, or one can learn common generic pickup phrases used on Bluegrass records for each specific situation: e.g., a generic pickup phrase leading to a B note on a G chord, a generic pickup phrase leading to a C note on a C chord, etc. Happy Pickin', Jason
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Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2017 - 2018
Songs regularly called at the Beginner Bluegrass Jam and links from Jason's "Song of the Week" emails. (from Renee)
Songs
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in alphabetical order
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