Hi, The song of the week is 'I'll Fly Away' in the key of G. Keys Other keys besides G that the song has been played in at the jam within the past few months are Bb and C. Recording Of all the versions of I'll Fly Away that I have been able to locate on youtube, the following Del McCoury live performance is the one that comes the closest to how the song is usually played and sung at the jam when I lead the song, in terms of interpretation of the melody and the overall arrangement of the song. This is about as straightforward as it gets for a good solid Bluegrass arrangement of 'I'll Fly Away': Del McCoury - key of Bb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOAmHrzE8v4 Progression The chord progression for I'll Fly Away is: 1111 4411 1111 1511 (In the key of G: 1 = G, 4 = C, 5 = D. In the key of Bb: 1 = Bb, 4 = Eb, 5 = F. In the key of C: 1 = C, 4 = F, 5 = G.) This is Progression V3 on the 'Basic Chord Progressions' handout, and is the same progression that is used for 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken', 'Mountain Dew', 'Cryin' Holy', 'Ridin' The Midnight Train', the chorus of 'It's Mighty Dark To Travel', some versions of 'Sitting On Top Of The World', and many other bluegrass jam standards. Melody While the chord progression is the same for both the verse and the chorus of I'll Fly Away, the melody of the chorus differs from the melody of the verse. The spots that differ are the whole first line and the first two measures of the 3rd line. (in some versions, however, the melody for the 3rd line of the chorus is the same as the melody for the 3rd line of the verse: e.g., the Gillian Welch/Alison Krauss version on the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack). In the attachments, I have provided the melody for the verse as a guide for creating melody-based breaks for each of the instruments; but since the progression is the same for both the verse and the chorus, if you know the chorus melody and would like to play a break that is based upon the chorus melody instead of the verse melody, feel free to do so, just not at the beginning of the song for the intro break. This can make the song a bit more interesting, especially when two breaks are played back to back, or after several breaks have already been played in the song that have been based upon the verse melody, and it will work in the context of the collective breaks that we play at the beginner jam, since the chorus melody does not conflict with the verse melody. Harmony I welcome harmony singers to sing not only on the choruses, but also on the second and fourth lines of the verses (the 'I'll Fly Aways'): refer to the youtube link given earlier to hear how this works. Please remember though that when singing harmony, it is important to be focused on the lead singer as much as possible for the sake of timing, tuning, and phrasing. In the attachments, I have included a simple three part harmony arrangement for the choruses (the notes for the 'I'll Fly Aways' in the verses are identical with the notes for the 'I'll Fly Aways' in the choruses, so I have not included a harmony arrangement for those parts of the verses in the attachments.) There are much more interesting note choices that one could use for the harmony parts than what I have written here, but I thought that, for the sake of those who are just beginning to learn to sing harmony, I should keep the parts as simple and straightforward as possible. On the harmony sheet attached here, the notes for the tenor harmony are the highest of the groups of three notes on the staff, the notes for the baritone harmony are the lowest, and the melody is the middle set of notes. If it suits your vocal range better, you may drop the tenor harmony part an octave to create the harmony part that is known in bluegrass as the 'low tenor' (this is what I would need to do to sing this part, if the song were to be sung in a key a third or more higher than G), or you may raise the baritone harmony an octave higher to create the harmony part that is known in bluegrass as the 'high baritone'. (Most women will need to do this in order to sing this part, unless the melody is being sung in an unusually high range for bluegrass.) Pickup Phrases At the end of last night's teaching segment on 3-note pickup phrases used to start breaks (especially for intro breaks), I said that I would collect together in one place all the information I have provided on pickup phrases since the beginning of this year in song of the week emails for the beginner jam. For, within the past year's worth of song of the week emails for the beginner jam, all the most commonly recurring scenarios have been covered, and most of what I could say about pickup phrases for I'll Fly Away and other upcoming songs of the week would be little more than a repeat of things I have already said in connection with other past songs of the week. To see the collection go to X- Pick-Up Notes . Happy Thanksgiving!
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On the break sheets for 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains' 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." In the melody sheets attached for "Nine Pound Hammer" notice that the first three notes of the melody of 'Nine Pound Hammer' are quarter notes, and that they occur before the first complete measure of the tune. (In cut common time, i.e., 2/2 time, as well as in common time, i.e., 4/4 time, 3 quarter notes make up only three-quarters of a complete measure.) Make it a point to remember these notes, because they will be useful for starting your intro breaks for many other songs that, like 'Nine Pound Hammer', also have as their first melody note in their first complete measure the note that has the same name as both the key that the song is being played in, and the first chord played in the song. In the key of A, these three quarter notes are: E, E, F#, and the first note of the first complete measure is an A note. In the key of G, these three quarter notes are: D, D, E, and the first note of the first complete measure is a G note. In the key of B, these three quarter notes are: F#, F#, G#, and the first note of the first complete measure is a B note. Etc. The three quarter notes that make up the pickup measure that precedes the first complete measure in Nine Pound Hammer are [in Nashville Numbers]: 5, 5, 6, and this leads to the first note of the first complete measure, and the number name for that note is 1. "Notice Doc's choice of pickup notes to lead into the first complete measure of his intro break for Foggy Mountain Top: on guitar: G, B, C, which ascend to a D note. This is the same series of notes that the melody of 'When The Saints Go Marching In' begins with, and is much more effective for starting a break than if one were to use the D half-note as a pickup that is written on the attached 'Foggy Mountain Top' melody sheets. This is a good case in point illustrating how it is often not desirable to slavishly follow the sung melody when playing a melody-based break. An alternative choice of pickup notes to use to ascend into the D note that the first complete measure begins with is: B, C, C#, and this is the choice of notes that you will often hear played on banjo and fiddle on good bluegrass records as pickups to lead into a melody line that starts with a D note on a G chord. 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 [https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/beginner-jam/category/gathering-flowers-from-the-hillside]) 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. Buffalo Gals is one of the relatively few AABB-type fiddle tunes that I prefer not to start with an 8 potato intro at a jam, because the first melody note of the first measure is identical with the main note I would be droning in an 8 Potato intro (in the key of A, an A note that is in the same octave as the A note that the melody begins with), thus making it sound unclear where the intro ends and the tune begins. So, I start with three quarter note pickups instead that ascend into the A note (E, F#, G#: the 5th, 6th, and 7th notes of the A Major Scale: these notes are written on the fifth attachment provided here, but not on the melody sheets.) When you look at the sheet music attached here for Down The Road, observe that the first measure of the break begins two measures from the time that the last syllable of the verse is sung. Another way of looking at this is that there are two measures of the 1 chord that are played at the end of the verse before the break begins. If enough of us make it a point to observe and practice this, this will go along ways towards minimizing the confusion that can easily result (due to the unusual form of the song) when Down The Road is played at a jam. There are two things that one can do to help prevent confusion about when the break begins (i.e., when the form starts over again): 1) Use three quarter-note pickup notes for leading into your break. For a good choice of pickup notes, see the attachment: 'Down The Road - melody in A': the notes are E, F#, G#: which are located at frets 2, 4, and 6 on the 3rd string of the mandolin, and would usually be represented in guitar, banjo, and dobro tab as 0, 2, and 4 on the 4th string for the key of G, capo 2 for the key of A.) Dig into your three pickup notes really hard so as to draw attention to yourself, and then dig into the note that comes next (namely, the first note of the first measure of your break) even harder so that there can be no room for doubt as to where the first measure of the form begins. These three pickup notes should be played during the last three-quarters of the last measure of the form, and they should be spaced apart from each other evenly. When played in the key of G, the first melody note of the first full measure of the verses (and choruses) [of Bury Me Beneath The Willow] 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. Bury Me Beneath The Willow has been played at the jam almost just as frequently in A as in G. For the key of A, raise all the notes a whole step, so the pickup series becomes C#, D, D# leading to an E note. Two songs that so far have always been played in the key of G 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 are: 'Foggy Mountain Top', and 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside'. The same set of pickups are also good for 'Lonesome Road Blues' and 'Wreck Of The Old '97' (both on the additional 30 list) when played in G. 'Wreck Of The Old '97' has always been played in D so far at the jam. For the key of D, the pickup series becomes F#, G, G# leading to an A note. In the key of C, it would be E, F, F# leading to a G note. Key Pickup Notes Leading to: G B C C# D note 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.] Since the last line of the chorus (or verse occurring right before a break) of Handsome Molly 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. When played in the key of A, the first (full) measure of the melody [of A Memory Of You] begins with a C# note. On the Jim & Jesse recording [https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/beginner-jam/category/a-memory-of-you ], Jesse uses the following three pickup notes to lead into the C# note to start his intro break on the mandolin: E, F#, A, played as quarter notes. (Compare this with the similar - key of B equivalent - but more elaborate pickup measure, used at the beginning of the banjo intro break on the Bobby Hicks and Friends live performance of A Memory Of You.)
Other songs that, when played in the key of A, have a C# as the first melody note in their first (full) measure, and for which this same pickup phrase will work well, include: All The Good Times Are Passed And Gone Beautiful Brown Eyes Blue Ridge Cabin Home I'll Fly Away Leaning On The Everlasting Arms My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains Hand Me Down My Walking Cane I Still Write Your Name In The Sand Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms Ashes Of Love Transposed to each of the 7 other Major keys that songs may be played in at the jam, the pickup phrase and the note it leads to become: key of G: D, E, G, leading to a B note key of Bb: F, G, Bb, leading to a D note key of B: F#, G#, B, leading to a D# note key of C: G, A. C, leading to an E note key of D A. B. D, leading to an F# note key of E: B, C#, E, leading to a G# note key of F: C, D, F, leading to an A note Hi, The song of the week is 'A Memory Of You' in the key of A. Recordings Jim & Jesse - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebC9IQNkj7E Earl Garner & The Bluegrass Mountaineers https://youtu.be/BS0MM8xc0VM?t=1383 'A Memory Of You' is just one of many lesser-known Bluegrass songs that can be easily introduced into almost any Bluegrass jam, even when none of the other jammers have ever heard or played it before, because nearly everything about the song is ordinary, typical, and predictable for a Bluegrass song. If you are not familiar with this song, try playing along with one of the recordings before opening the attachments and before reading the rest of the song of the week write up, to see how much of the chord progression and the melody you can pick up by ear. Try improvising a break while playing along with the recording and see what happens. Progression The chord progression used to play 'A Memory Of You' is the one that is the most common of all progressions in Bluegrass: 1144 1155 1144 1511 (V7 on the basic chord progressions handout) Other common Bluegrass standards that use this same progression include: Bury Me Beneath The Wiilow Wreck Of The Old '97 Your Love Is Like A Flower I'm On My Way Back To The Old Home I Still Write Your Name In The Sand Y'all Come Lost And I'll Never Find A Way Come Back Darling If I Should Wander Back Tonight Why Did You Wander I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling Back To The Cross Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone Hold Watcha Got True Life Blues Road To Columbus Flint Hill Special Black Mountain Rag (C - Part) Rose Of Old Kentucky (verse progression) Blue Moon Of Kentucky (verse progression) Tiny Broken Heart (verse progression) Little Annie (verse progression) White Dove (verse progression) Cry, Cry Darlin' (verse progression) Melody Singers should observe that the melody for the chorus differs from the melody of the verses in measures 2 through 5. In these 4 measures, where the verse melody descends, the chorus melody ascends, and vice versa. In the attachments I have given the melody for the chorus rather than for the verses, because it feels to me more instinctive to use the chorus melody of 'A Memory Of You' as the point of reference for creating melody-based breaks, even though with most songs, one would typically use the melody for the verses rather than the melody for the chorus as the point of reference for creating melody based breaks when the chorus and verse melodies differ from each other. Pickup Notes When played in the key of A, the first (full) measure of the melody begins with a C# note. On the Jim & Jesse recording, Jesse uses the following three pickup notes to lead into the C# note to start his intro break on the mandolin: E, F#, A, played as quarter notes. (Compare this with the similar - key of B equivalent - but more elaborate pickup measure, used at the beginning of the banjo intro break on the Bobby Hicks and Friends live performance of A Memory Of You.) Other songs that, when played in the key of A, have a C# as the first melody note in their first (full) measure, and for which this same pickup phrase will work well, include: All The Good Times Are Passed And Gone Beautiful Brown Eyes Blue Ridge Cabin Home I'll Fly Away Leaning On The Everlasting Arms My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains Hand Me Down My Walking Cane I Still Write Your Name In The Sand Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms Ashes Of Love Transposed to each of the 7 other Major keys that songs may be played in at the jam, the pickup phrase and the note it leads to become: key of G: D, E, G, leading to a B note key of Bb: F, G, Bb, leading to a D note key of B: F#, G#, B, leading to a D# note key of C: G, A. C, leading to an E note key of D A. B. D, leading to an F# note key of E: B, C#, E, leading to a G# note key of F: C, D, F, leading to an A note Ashes Of Love The chord progression used for Ashes Of Love was: 1115 5551 (x2) but, if the song is called again at the jam in the near future, the progression will likely be changed to: 1 1 4/1 5 5 5 5 1 1 1 4/1 5 5 5 5 1 1 Jim & Jesse (live performance) - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJqG_b92Hd4 For the sake of comparison and contrast, here is a Country version of Ashes Of Love that I heard so many times when I was a child that it still remains as my primary point of reference for the song, even after so many years of playing it as a Bluegrass song. Dickey Lee - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-se45ncqU Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is Shortnin' Bread in the key of G. Form Shortnin' Bread is a two-part fiddle tune. Each part is 4 measures long, and - as is typical for fiddle tunes - is repeated before going on to the next part. This form (2 parts each repeated) is called AABB. 'A' stands for 'A-Part', i.e., first part, and 'B' stands for 'B-Part', i.e., second part. Progression The chord progression for Shortnin' Bread (both parts have the same progression) is typical for fiddle tunes that have 4 measure parts. The progression is: 1 1 1 5/1 That is, 3 measures of the 1 chord, followed by half a measure of the 5 chord, followed by half a measure of the 1 chord. In the key of G: 1 = G; 5 = D. Melody The melody of the tune consists of, in ascending order of pitch, the notes GABDEG. This set of notes is called the G major pentatonic scale, and is one of the most common scales used in bluegrass and old-time music. (Compare this with the set of notes used to play the melody for a previous song of the week 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains': in ascending order of pitch, DEGABD. Same notes, same letter names (G's, A's, B,s D's, E's), but a different range: D to D rather than G to G. Recordings You may notice in listening to the Flatt and Scruggs youtube link below that both the banjo and the fiddle breaks do not stick all that closely to the melody. (In the attachments, the melody given for Shortnin' Bread is the melody as it would be sung, albeit in a rhythmically simpler form that does not account for every sung syllable.) All the notes are there, however (GABDEG), but the fiddle and the banjo take liberties with the order in which these notes get played. For instance, taking the first measure of the A-Part, and ignoring the 'filler' notes, the melody being played by the banjo is GDED instead of GEDE. Flatt and Scruggs (live) - Shortnin' Bread in the key of G, tune starts at 0:49 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FgpQyk5ibw Notice that the AABB form is altered the second time through it. Scruggs plays four B Parts back to back, the first two of which are a variation on his basic B Part. For another take on the melody of Shortnin' Bread, here is a youtube link of the old-time string band 'The Freight Hoppers' playing Shortnin' Bread (key of A.) In the old-time tradition, all the lead instruments in the band (in this case fiddle and clawhammer banjo) are playing their 'breaks' together at the same time, instead of taking turns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfb_LddQ738 AABB Form Tunes Like almost every other traditional old-time, bluegrass, Irish, or Scottish AABB fiddle tune, the two parts of the tune are differentiated from each other primarily by the fact that one part starts with a higher note than what the other part starts with, and by the fact that the part that starts with the higher note tend to have a melody that is overall higher in pitch - in some cases only slightly higher on average, in other cases, significantly higher on average - than what the other part does. In old time and bluegrass fiddle tunes, the higher of the two parts is sometimes the A Part (i.e., the part that gets played first) - this is the case with Cripple Creek and Old Joe Clark - while other times it is the B-Part that is the higher of the two parts (e.g., Soldier's Joy, Boil The Cabbage Down, Buffalo Gals, and the vast majority of Irish fiddle tunes). Shortnin' Bread may be played either way, but I have given the higher of the two parts as the 'A-Part' in the attached melody sheets, since that is how I am most used to hearing it played, and it is the way I always play it when I am the one who calls and kicks it off at a jam. (Angeline The Baker is another jam-favorite fiddle tune which can be started with either its high part or its low part.) However, if someone else kicks off Shortnin' Bread at a jam, and they start with the low part instead of the high part, then I follow their lead and play my breaks the same way as they did: low part first, then high part. For, it is the person who kicks the tune off who determines which part is the A-Part and which part is the B-Part. Also, like many other AABB fiddle tunes, both parts end the same way. (on the melody sheets attached here, notice that the last measure of the B-Part is identical with the last measure of the A-Part) and the two halves of the A-Part begin the same way (notice that measure 3 of the A-Part is the same as measure 1 of the A-Part), and the two halves of the B-Part also begin the same way (notice that measure 3 of the B-Part is the same as measure 1 of the B-Part. 8 Potato Intro The most effective way to kick-off most AABB fiddle tunes at a jam is not by playing a pickup measure consisting of three quarter notes to lead into your intro break, but is by droning in a straight but rhythmic manner the root note of the key that the tune is in (often together with another one of the notes that also belong to the 1 chord) for four measures to lead into your intro break.This is called in bluegrass and old-time circles the '8 Potato Intro'. In the attachments, I have included a sheet that shows good ways to play on fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo, an 8 Potato Intro for the key of G. I have also included on the sheet, a simpler (unfortunately, also less effective when both are played correctly) way to play this type of intro on each of these instruments for those who are new to playing this type of intro, and may have difficulty playing the more developed forms of the 8 Potato Intros with the right feel and with rock-solid timing, since playing with the right 'feel' and timing are crucial to making the 8 Potato Intro an effective jam tool. If anything at all goes wrong with the timing or feel of the Intro or with the transition from the Intro into the Intro Break, the whole purpose for using it is thereby defeated. Keys Since Shortnin' Bread has been played just as often at the Beginner Bluegrass Jam in the key of A as it has been in the key of G, I have included in the attachments melody sheets for fiddle and mandolin written in A (in addition to the ones written in G), so that one can easily compare the notes used to play the melody in G with the corresponding notes used to play the melody in A. The notes used to play Shortnin' Bread in G (from lowest to highest): G, A, B, D, E, G The corresponding notes for playing Shortnin' Bread in A: A, B, C#, E, F#, A Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'Sweetheart, You Done Me Wrong' in the key of D. Recording This song was written by Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt, and was recorded in 1947 by the original bluegrass band, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, which at that time consisted of: Bill Monroe on mandolin. Lester Flatt on guitar, Earl Scruggs on banjo, Chubby Wise on fiddle, and Howard Watts on bass. On this song, as on most of the songs that Bill Monroe recorded with this lineup, Lester sings lead, and Bill sings the tenor harmony, i.e., the harmony part that is pitched directly above the lead part. Here is a link to the 1947 recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L668QuLYOnE Progression The chord progression and the melody for this song are both very simple. It is the same chord progression that is used for 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home', which is regularly played at the jam. and for many other standard bluegrass songs. 1144 5511 played through twice for a complete verse, or a complete chorus. Melody The melody consists of only 5 notes: A, B, C#, D, and E, and many of these notes are lingered on for a good length of time, so this song could make a good place to start for learning to pick up melodies by ear, and/or to make a first attempt at singing harmony. Nevertheless, I have attached melody sheets to this email. There are two for guitar, one in D, and the other in C since some guitar players may prefer to play this song in D by capoing to the 2nd fret and then using the same fingerings they would use for playing in the key of C. The banjo tab of the melody is written in C, and so to play it in D, banjo players will need to capo to the 2nd fret. The reason I gave a tab in C instead of D is because this allows for more melody notes to be located on the 3rd string rather than the 2nd while holding the basic chord shapes within the first 3 frets of the banjo in place, which allows for a wider variety of the basic roll patterns to be placed around the melody for creating a Scruggs-style break based upon the melody. Feel and Tempo As you listen to the recording, pay close attention to the feel of the song, before making an attempt to play along with it. Because the song has a different feel to it than most of the songs we play at the jam, I strongly recommend playing along with the recording after having listened to it a few times through. It is a slow song (about 84 beats per minute on the recording), and, at the jam, I may choose to play it even slower than the speed it is at on the recording. Be careful not to push the beat on this song - be mindful of this when practicing along with the record: otherwise it will tend to end up gravitating too much towards the tempo ranges that we play alot of other songs at the jam, and, at the same time, will lose its distinctive feel. If you are a guitar or a bass player, it may help you to maintain the right feel on this song if you dig in a bit more deliberately than usual into the first bass note you play in each measure while playing rhythm. Breaks (on all instruments) will also tend to work better for this song if one accents a little heavier than usual your first note at the beginning of every odd numbered measure, and additionally, also if one accents a little more than usual the last note of a fillin lick coinciding with the beginning of an even numbered measure. Breaks On the record, the breaks within the body of the song are only half the length of a verse, and the intro break is even shorter than that. At the jam, however, we will play full-length breaks (i.e., breaks that last the same length of time as one verse, in this case, as in most other songs sung at the jam, this is 16 measures). If you are a mandolin player, and you have found yourself copying the non-melody based break that Bill Monroe plays after the 2nd chorus of the song, and you wish to use it as part of a full length break for the song at the jam, something you might try doing is to play the first half of your break in a melody-based manner, and then, for the second half of your break, play how Bill plays it on the record. Song List 15 songs were played at last night's jam: 14 from the main list, and 1 from the additional songs list: 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
All
in alphabetical order
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