Hi, There will be no beginner jam next week. The next beginner jam will be held two weeks from now, on Nov. 1st. The song of the week will be Little Birdie in the keys of Bb and C. I will call it in Bb before the intermission at the jam, and then in C after the intermission. Recordings Probably the most well known version of this song within bluegrass circles is Ralph Stanley's, on which he plays clawhammer (old-time) style banjo instead of the more common (for bluegrass) 3 finger style. Ralph's version of the song is 'crooked', meaning that there are extra half measures in the progression. This makes his version somewhat hard to learn or to play along with. Making things even more difficult is that the breaks do not follow exactly the same form as the verses. Here is a link for Ralph's version of the song. But this is not the version that I will use at the beginner jam, since it is not very jam friendly. Ralph Stanley (key of D) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80if-yp-tdc Here is a slower version of the song, and one in which the form is not crooked, and in which the form is the same for both the verses. the choruses, and the breaks. Notice that Ralph Stanley's version has no chorus. His first verse is used as a chorus in the version below. The Cartys (key of D) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkgi6k9LsPY This is pretty much how I intend on playing the song at the beginner jam, except that there will be no chorus, only verses, as in the Ralph Stanley version. Here is another version of Little Birdie which you may enjoy (and which, unlike the previous links, has a 3 finger style banjo break): Spinney Brothers (key of B) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk139nLQ2so Progression As it is played at the jam, the chord progression, for both the verses and the breaks is: 1155 5511 1155 5511 (first half of Prog. V9 - played through twice - on the basic chord progressions handout) In the key of Bb: 1 = Bb; 5 = F In the key of C: 1 = C; 5 = G Transposing in Whole Steps Fiddle and mandolin players, and players of other instruments on which a capo is not normally used, may find this section helpful. C is a whole step higher than Bb. The notes of the Bb and C Major Scales thus correspond with each other as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bb C D Eb F G A C D E F G A B The melody of Little Birdie uses only 6 of the 7 notes of the Major Scale. The 4th note of the scale (i.e., Eb note when in the key of Bb; F note when in the key of C) does not occur in the melody. The preceding chart also shows the relation of the 1, 4, and 5 chords for the two keys, but here they are in isolation from the rest of the information: 1 4 5 Bb Eb F C F G The 1 chord consists of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the Major Scale. The 4 chord consists of the 4th, 6th, and 8th (=1st) notes of the Major Scale The 5 chord consists of the 5th, 7th, and 9th (=2nd) notes of the Major Scale Here is a chart showing these relationships: 1 3 5 4 6 1 5 7 2 Key of Bb Bb D F Eb G Bb F A C Key of C C E G F A C G B D 'To capo or not to capo' For playing in the key of Bb, bluegrass guitar and banjo players almost always capo to the 3rd fret so that they can play with the same fingerings they would use for playing in the key of G without a capo. (With the 5th string on banjo spiked/capoed/tuned up to a Bb note.) The two most common options for bluegrass guitar and banjo players for playing in C are either to play in C without a capo, or put the capo on the 5th fret so that they can play with the same fingerings they would use for playing in the key of G without a capo. When the 2nd option is chosen by a banjo player, the 5th string is spiked/capoed/tuned up to a C note. The capo 5 option for playing in the key of C will produce a brighter, crisper sound than the no capo option - especially on banjo. You may find this quite desirable for some songs you play (especially up-tempo hard-driving breakdown type songs), but less desirable for other songs in your repertoire (e.g., slow songs that have a relaxed feel to them). To get maximum benefit from our song of the week exercise of playing Little Birdie in both Bb and in C, I recommend that guitar and banjo players who know how to play in C without a capo do so when playing Little Birdie in C at the jam while it goes through the song of the week cycle. One advantage for guitar players who choose to not use a capo when playing Little Birdie in C is that the melody can be dropped an octave lower onto the 6th, 5th, and 4th strings of the guitar, and a satisfying Carter-style break can be created from this. For guitar players who may wish to give this a try, I have included a low octave key of C melody sheet in the attachments written in guitar tab. Transposing in Fourths The information below is immediately relevant for guitar and banjo players, and players of other instruments for which it is common to capo to the 3rd fret for playing in the key of Bb. But, since there are other songs that are played at the jam in both the keys of G and C, this information is also relevant for players of instruments for which a capo is not used. C is two-and-a-half whole steps (or five half-steps) higher than G. The resulting interval is called a fourth, because it spans four consecutive letters of the musical alphabet (G, A, B, C). The notes of the G and C Major Scales thus correspond with each other as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 G A B C D E F# C D E F G A B The melody of Little Birdie uses only 6 of the 7 notes of the Major Scale. The 4th note of the scale (i.e., C note when in the key of G; F note when in the key of C) does not occur in the melody. The preceding chart also shows the relation of the 1, 4, and 5 chords for each of the three keys, but here they are in isolation from the rest of the information: 1 4 5 G C D C F G The 1 chord consists of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the Major Scale. The 4 chord consists of the 4th, 6th, and 8th (=1st) notes of the Major Scale The 5 chord consists of the 5th, 7th, and 9th (=2nd) notes of the Major Scale Here is a chart showing those relationships: 1 3 5 4 6 1 5 7 2 Key of G G B D C E G D F# A Key of C C E G F A C G B D Happy Pickin', Jason
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Hi, The song of the week is 'Cluck Old Hen' in the key of A. Cluck Old Hen is an old-time tune that has made its way into some Bluegrass circles. Although there are lyrics for Cluck Old Hen, it will be played as an instrumental when I call it at the jam as the song of the week. Recordings Here are three recordings of the song to take a listen to. The first one has a bit of singing in it, while in the second and third ones, Cluck Old Hen is played entirely as an instrumental. The first two versions preserve more traces of the old-time roots of the song than what the third version does. I recommend listening to at least one of the first two versions given here before taking a listen to Ralph Stanley's version, since it is easier to discern the basic underlying melody of the tune from the first two versions. Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxGjLIPBOLs Fletcher Bright & Bill Evans - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE2zPlDtKyg Ralph Stanley - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEqpuvBwLIk Form & Progression Like Shortnin' Bread and Cripple Creek, Cluck Old Hen follows the form AABB (i.e., there are two parts, each of which is repeated before the next part is played), with each A Part and each B Part being 4 measures long. To keep it simple for now, the chord progression we'll use at the jam for the next two weeks for Cluck Old Hen is the same as that for Shortnin' Bread and for the B Part of Cripple Creek: 1 1 1 5/1 (played 4x for each complete round through the AABB form) In the key of A: 1 = A; 5 = E. In the key of G: 1 = G; 5 = D. In the future, we may explore adding more chord changes into the song. For instance: A-Part: 1 1/4 1 5/1 B-Part: 1 1/b7 1 5/1 In the key of A: 4 = D; b7 = G. In the key of G: 4 = C; b7 = F. Melody & Breaks While the chord progression for Cluck Old Hen uses only major chords, the melody is not major, but minor. There are 7 melody notes in the version of the melody given in the attachments for Cluck Old Hen. In ascending order of pitch, these are: G, A, C, D, E, G, A. A,C,D,E,G are the notes that make up the A Minor Pentatonic Scale. (By contrast, the A Major Pentatonic Scale consists of the notes: A,B,C#,E,F#). Even if one is not playing the melody per se in one's break, sticking to the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale, and playing no other notes in one's break will make the break sound like it 'belongs' in the tune. For those with instruments usually capoed to the second fret for playing in the key of A (guitar, banjo, dobro), you will need to lower each note in the preceding explanation by a whole step in order for the information to correspond with what you see on the melody sheets in the attachments written in guitar and banjo tab. So, for instance, in place of "A,C,D,E,G are the notes that make up the A Minor Pentatonic Scale. (By contrast. the A Major Pentatonic Scale consists of the notes: A,B,C#,E,F#)", think: "G,Bb,C,D,F are the notes that make up the G Minor Pentatonic Scale. (By contrast, the G Major Pentatonic Scale consists of the notes: G,A,B,D,E). This does not mean that one should never include notes from the A Major Scale that are not in the A Minor Pentatonic in one's breaks for Cluck Old Hen (Ralph Stanley, for instance, includes several C# notes and a few F# notes in his breaks on the recording given here), but only that one needs to be careful about using those notes. It is common in Bluegrass for breaks to contain notes from both the Major Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scale, even when the melody of the song is either entirely major or entirely minor, so long as the chord progression is major (i.e., the progression uses 1 chords rather than 1m chords). On the other hand, if you are playing 'Cluck Old Hen' in the context of an Old-time jam you may find that you have less freedom to make use of notes outside the Minor Pentatonic Scale than what you do when playing the tune in the context of a Bluegrass jam. In connection with this, one may observe that, for playing Cluck Old Hen, most Old-time (clawhammer) banjo players tune their 2nd string up a half step from where it would normally be tuned when in G tuning (capo 2 for A) precisely to avoid the resonance of the distinctively major scale note that is on the open 2nd string when in G tuning, whereas Bluegrass banjo players (at least when playing in a Bluegrass context) tend not to do this. If tuned this way (G modal tuning: GDGCD capo 2 for A = AEADE), then, in reading the banjo tab melody sheet in the attachments, just simply substitute 0's in place of the 1's that are written on the line representing the 2nd string. Key Although the melody of Cluck Old Hen consists only of the notes of the Am pentatonic scale, it is called at jams in A (Major) rather than A Minor because the '1' chord that is used in the chord progression for the song is an A Major Chord rather than an Am Chord ('1m'). To call Cluck Old Hen in A Minor instead of in A (Major) at a jam would imply that 1m Chords are to be played in place of 1 Chords. In the attached standard notation melody sheet for Cluck Old Hen, I have used the key signature for Am (no sharps or flats, same as the key signature for C Major, the Relative Major of Am) instead of the key signature for A Major (3 sharps) to avoid the need to write natural signs in nearly every measure. I hope that my doing this makes the sheet music easier to read than if I had used the key signature for A Major. Shady Grove The chord progression for Shady Grove is: 1111 1151 Here is an excellent recording of Shady Grove to take a listen to: Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vjSyGWSN8w Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains' in the key of G. Progression The chord progression is: 1111 5511 1111 5511 This is 'Prog. W5' on the 'Basic Chord Progressions' handout. Notice that the second half of the progression is identical to the first half of the progression. Therefore, there are really only 2 lines (8 measures) to memorize. You should not need to look at a written copy of the progression while playing the song at the jam. Take a glance at the progression before the song starts, and just remember that every second line starts with 2 measures of the 5 chord. All other measures in the progression are 1's. Be prepared, however, to add an extra measure or two of the 1 chord to the last line of the progression for a break that occurs right before the singing starts up again, and the progression starts again from the beginning. This is common in bluegrass arrangements of songs - the Flatt and Scruggs version of the song in the youtube link given below has examples of this. Each of the 3 breaks on the recording are played as: 1111 5511 1111 55111 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. Flatt & Scruggs - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNapvXhcNS8 Melody From listening to the song in the version given here and/or from looking at the attached melody sheets, notice that the melody of the song has only 5 notes in it. In ascending order of pitch, these are: E, G, A, B, and D. (Note: to make the melody slightly more interesting, the banjo, in its intro break lowers the G note in measures 3 and 11 to the D below the E note that is the lowest note in the vocal melody; the dobro break which occurs in the song after the second chorus does this same thing in measure 3, but not in measure 11.) Make it a point to remember this sequence of notes, and be sure that you can locate them on your instrument: D E G A B D. There are many songs that, when played in the key of G, have this same range of notes (lowest note D, highest note the D an octave higher) and have no other notes than G's, A's, B's, D's, and E's. Songs like this on the beginner jam song lists include 'Foggy Mountain Top', 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken', 'Amazing Grace', Long Journey Home' and 'Handsome Molly'. Notice also that in the melody for 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains', the only notes that are dwelt on for half a measure or more are notes that make up the chord being played at the time: G, B, or D notes during G chord measures, and A notes during D chord measures. It is because of those A notes at the beginning of lines 2 and 4, that a chord change occurs at the beginning of those lines, for the A note is not part of the G chord. It is typical, in the key of G, for a D chord to be played when the melody of a song dwells on an A note, for of the 1, 4, and 5 chords for the key of G, namely, G, C, and D, the D chord is the only one that contains an A note. Breaks Observe that in the breaks on the recording, the measures that have only one or two melody notes in them sometimes have what sound like extra 'melody' notes added to them in addition to the many filler notes that are placed around the melody, whereas the measures that have 4 melody notes in them often have one or two of these notes deleted from them, and when not deleted, they sometimes get displaced within the measure. For a slow-moving melody, as this song has, it will not work well to play for your break only what you see written on the attached melody sheets. In order to maintain good control of the rhythm, tempo, and feel of the song during your break, so that everyone who is playing backup during your break can be following you rather than the other way around, your break needs to consist mostly of eighth notes and quarter notes, not half notes and whole notes. If you don't know what other notes would work to put around the melody, then for lack of anything else to do, keep to the melody notes, but - on guitar, mandolin, and fiddle - change half notes to a quarter note followed by two eighth notes, and for whole notes, do this twice: i.e., quarter, eighth, eighth, quarter, eighth, eighth. To see what this rhythm looks like when written out, refer to the 'guitar break' in the attachment. I have not included a 'fiddle break' sheet or a 'mandolin break' sheet in the attachments, because the 'guitar break' tab suffices to show for the sake of all 3 of these instruments what the rhythm is that is being applied here to the melody. The banjo is a different story (repeating the same note several times in a row doesn't work very well when playing with finger picks), so I have included a 'banjo break' sheet in the attachments. This is a very basic break (a lot more is going on in Earl Scruggs' intro break on the recording than in the banjo break given in the attachments) which is given here to demonstrate how one can take one roll pattern (in this case, the alternating thumb roll) and place it around the melody, turning quarter notes into a pair of eighth notes, half notes into a series of four eighth notes, etc. To avoid the monotony that results from playing nothing but eighth notes in one's break, I have substituted for the roll in a few places a single quarter note followed by a quarter note double stop (called a 'pinch' on the banjo). On the break sheets, I have also included a pickup measure for each of the 4 instruments. You will need to use these, or something like them, in order to kick off the song effectively on your instrument without having to count into the song. Remember these three notes: d, g, a. These will work well as pickups for nearly any song in the key of G in which the first complete measure of the melody starts with a B note while a G chord is being played. Lyrics The lyrics of 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains' are quite repetitive and easy to memorize. For this reason, this is one of the songs I recommend learning to sing to those who wish to lead a song at the jam, but do not have much experience doing so. Other songs on the beginner jam song lists that are fairly easy to memorize include: Mama Don't Allow, New River Train, Hand Me Down My Walking Cane, Lonesome Road Blues, Long Journey Home, This Little Light Of Mine, Take This Hammer, and Worried Man Blues. For most of these songs, you need not know any more than 3 verses (in addition to the chorus for the songs that do have a chorus) in order to be ready to sing and play a complete arrangement of them at the jam. Notice that in the Flatt & Scruggs version of 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains' there are only 3 verses sung (plus the chorus), yet, if you were to look online for lyric sheets for the song, you would come across some other verses for the song in addition to these 3. Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is Handsome Molly in the key of A. Recordings Here are 4 versions of the song to listen to. See how many differences you can notice among these in terms of form and arrangement. As you observe the differences, consider how these could lead to a great deal of confusion when playing the song for the first time at a jam in which some people are more familiar with one version, while others are more familiar with a different version. Flatt & Scruggs: key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ughi19PTkeY The Country Gentlemen - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdyRyQAlWNA Doc Watson: key of G http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ-wq5iq7OA Stanley Brothers: key of G http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icqVstEBN6c Progression, Form, and Arrangement The form and arrangement of Handsome Molly on the Doc Watson recording is the most straightforward of the four versions of Handsome Molly given here. So, let's use Doc's version as our starting point for thinking about the chord progression. On the Doc Watson recording, the same 8 measure sequence is consistently repeated all throughout the song: 1115 5551 (In the key of G: 1=G and 5=D. In the key of A: 1=A and 5=E) Each verse is 8 measures long, with 2 verses being sung back to back between the breaks. The breaks are 16 measures long (i.e., twice through the 8 measure progression). Notice that in Doc's version there is no room for fillin licks to be played at the end of any of the lines. In all the other versions, extra measures of the '1' chord are inserted into the progression for the breaks, and in some of them, during the vocal sections as well, so as to allow room for fillin licks to be played, resulting in a more typically Bluegrass-sounding arrangement of the song. I have written these extra measures where fillins can be played in bold print in what follows. On the Flatt & Scruggs recording, each verse is 8 measures long, but Doc's second verse ("While sailing round the ocean, while sailing round the sea, etc.") functions as a chorus here. The arrangement is highly unusual for a song that has a chorus in that there is one spot in the song in which two verses are sung back to back followed by a break rather than by a chorus. The chorus, like the verses, is 8 measures long, except for the last chorus which is 9 measures long, allowing for a typical 2-measure ending lick to be played on the instruments over the '1' chord: 1115 55511 The breaks are 10 measures long: 1115 555111 On the Stanley Brothers recording, the breaks are 18 measures long: 1115 5551 1115 555111 Each verse is 9 measures long, with 2 verses being sung back to back between the breaks: 1115 55511 On The Country Gentlemen recording, the breaks are 19 measures long: 1115 5551 1115 5551111 Each verse is 9 measures long, and each chorus is 9 measures long: 1115 55511 Just like in the Flatt and Scruggs version, so also in the Country Gentlemen's version, the arrangement is highly unusual for a song that has a chorus in that there is one spot in the song in which a break intervenes between two verses without a chorus coming before the break: the arrangement being: Break Verse Chorus Break Verse Chorus Break Verse Verse Break Verse Chorus The way that I lead the song at the jam uses the form that Flatt & Scruggs used for the verses and choruses (i.e., each verse is 8 measures long, and each chorus, except for the last one, is 8 measures long; the last chorus is 9 measures long), but, instead of the breaks being 10 measures long, they are 17 measures long: 1115 5551 1115 55511 Breaks Since the last line of the chorus (or verse occurring right before a break) is played in some versions as a 5 measure line (55511), and in other versions as a 4 measure line (5551), it is necessary at a jam to play your break in a manner that makes it clear as to where exactly your break has started, so as to help your fellow jammers avoid confusion as to when to change to the 5 chord during the first line of your break. When playing Handsome Molly in accord with the form that I use when leading the song at the jam, in which the last line of the chorus before a break is 5551, this can be accomplished by confidently playing three quarter-note pickup notes immediately after the last syllable of the chorus has been sung, and then following this by hitting the first melody note of the first complete measure of the break with extra force. (For the key of A, the pickup series I tend to use is: F#, F#, F, which leads down to an E note. For the key of G, the equivalent notes are E, E, Eb, which leads down to a D note.) In the event that 2 breaks are played back to back, be careful not to start into the second break a measure too early: allow the first break to end with a complete 5 measure line: 55511. When playing Handsome Molly in a version that uses a 55511 line for the last line of a chorus or verse occurring before a break, just simply insert a 1 measure fillin lick between the last syllable of the chorus and your three pickup notes, and this will make it clear where your break has started within this form. 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)
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in alphabetical order
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