Hi, The song of the week is 'Little Birdie' in the key of C. This was one of the first songs I learned to play on banjo. 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. The chord progression, for both the verses and the breaks is: 1155 5511 1155 5511 In the key of C: 1 = C and 5 = G In addition to playing in C without a capo, there is another good option for playing 'Little Birdie' in the key of C on banjo and guitar, namely, capoing to the 5th fret and then playing as if you were in the key of G (In the key of G: 1 = G and 5 = D). See the attached melody sheets. On banjo, this will also mean raising the 5th string up to a C note by capoing at the 5th string at the 10th fret. If you do not have a 10th fret spike on your banjo for capoing the 5th string, then use the 9th fret spike, and then tune the string up the extra half-step from B to C. 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? Happy Pickin', Jason
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Hi, The song of the week is 'Shady Grove' in the key of C. The progression for the song is: 1111 1151 (In the key of C, 1=C, 5=G) Some guitar and banjo players will likely find that this song works best for them in the key of C if they capo to the 5th fret and then play as if they were in the key of G (1=G, 5=D), while others will prefer to play in C without a capo. I have included a live recording of Bill Monroe singing Shady Grove in C. In the performance, the song is played much faster than what would be appropriate for us to try to play it at at the beginner jam, but there are good fiddle and mandolin breaks in it to listen to. In the following link (also in the key of C), Hot Rize performs a mostly instrumental version of 'Shady Grove' that has a B Part which we will not use at the jam next week; but the tempo at which they play it is more jam friendly, and unlike the Bill Monroe recording, there are banjo and guitar breaks in it. If, in the breaks, you zero in on the A Part, and ignore the B Part, the breaks on this recording will hopefully be of use to you in helping you to come up with your own breaks for the song. Hot Rize - instrumental - Shady Grove https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUF6hQYA2kY These versions of Shady Grove are closely related to the old-time tune 'Susanna Gal', which also goes by the names 'Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss', and 'Western Country'. The melody for the A Part of Susanna Gal is virtually identical to that for Shady Grove. There is another old-time song called Shady Grove, that many of you may be more familiar with than the 'Shady Grove' that I have chosen as the song of the week. It has a very different melody and chord progression, but some of the same lyrics (more or less, depending upon which sets of lyrics for the two 'Shady Groves' are being used). If you go on youtube to find recordings a performances of Shady Grove, most of what you will find will be versions of this other 'Shady Grove'. It is not uncommon in old-time music for there to be two different songs with the same title, or for there to be two or more titles for the same song; and in many cases, it is not clear whether one is dealing with two different, but closely related, tunes, or just simply two different versions of the same tune. It also happens frequently that two or more different songs may share some of the same lyrics in common. All of these things are the natural results of the informal ways in which old-time music has traditionally been handed down from one person to another and from one generation to another. Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the month for October is 'Old Home Place' in the key of G The chord progression for the verses and for the breaks is: 1341 1155 1341 1511 The progression for the chorus is: 5511 2255 1341 1511 In the key of G: 1= G, 2 = A, 3 = B, 4 = C, 5 = D. Not only is the progression of Old Home Place unusual, but the arrangement also is. Two verses are sung back to back before a chorus, rather than the usual alternating pattern of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc. A typical arrangement for a recorded version of this song is: Intro Verse 1 Verse 2 Chorus Break Verse 3 Verse 4 Chorus Break Chorus When playing this song at a jam, it is best to stick to this form, with the exception that after the first and second choruses, several breaks (instead of just one break) may be placed back to back to accommodate as many lead instruments as necessary. The intro break is usually played on banjo; so, if you call this song at a jam, and there is a banjo player there who feels comfortable playing the intro break, it is advisable to invite him to kick off the song. Since the chorus starts on a different chord than the rest of the parts of the song, it is a good idea to signal when one is leading into the chorus (especially when leading into the final chorus, and even more so, if several breaks are played back to back right before the final chorus). This is done by playing a run that leads from the G to the D chord: for this purpose, a 3 note run is more effective than a 2 note run. Guitar players may use the ascending sequence B, C, and C# (on the A string) to lead from the G to the D chord. Banjo players may use the descending sequence F#, F, E (on the low D string) to lead from the G chord to the D chord. Bass players may do either. One may also wish to signal the change from the G chord to the A chord in the chorus by playing a 3 note run. Good notes to use for this are the ascending sequence: F#, G, G#. Here are a couple of youtube links for the song. The first is from J.D. Crowe and the New South, and is perhaps the most well-known recording of the song in bluegrass circles. The second is from the Dillards, and is the original recording of the song. Key of Bb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UChaXhy26Fc (In the key of Bb: 1=Bb, 2=C, 3=D, 4=Eb, 5=F) Key of A (somewhat sharp relative to A=440) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBJ0coP2Yik&list=RDMBJ0coP2Yik (In the key of A: 1=A, 2=B, 3=C#, 4=D, 5=E) [Note concerning the treatment of the '3' chord, and certain other 'off-chords', in bluegrass. In the key of G, the '3' chord is B. The B chord consists of the notes B, D#, and F#. By adding an A note to this, one creates a B7 chord. Bluegrass guitar players will usually play a B7 chord here instead of a B. When playing a break for Old Home Place, the A note is often the main note I play during the B chord measures. [The question sometimes comes up: When is it appropriate to use a 7th chord in place of a major chord? Recall to mind the order of letters in the circle of 5ths: F, C, G, D, A, E, B. For the major chords that are to the right of the 1 chord in the sequence (For the key of G, that would be the letters to the right of G), adding the note to the chord that makes it a 7th chord will almost never sound out of place. One reason for this is that the note that is added to these chords to make them 7ths is part of the major scale of the 1 chord. The further to the right of the '1', the more common it becomes to use a 7th in place of a regular major chord. For example, for a song in the key of G that has both an A and a D chord in it, A7 tends to be used in place of A more often than what D7 is used in place of D. [For the '1' chord itself, and the chords to the left of the 1 chord, the note added to make these chords 7ths is not part of the major scale of the 1 chord. The further to the left of the '1' that the chord is, the less occasion there will be to use the 7th in place of the regular major chord. For example, in the key of G, G7 will usually only be used as a transitional chord to lead the ear from a G chord to a C chord; C7, is used less often than G7, and will lend a 'bluesy' sound to the music, which may or may not be desirable depending upon the feel and mood of the song. And, by the time we get to F7, the resulting sound of using this chord when playing in the key of G will be, shall we say, 'too jazzy' to fit well into most traditional bluegrass.] Happy Pickin', Jason
For September, the song of the month is 'Gold Rush', a classic Bill Monroe bluegrass instrumental which is played in the key of A.
'Gold Rush', like many other fiddle tunes (e.g., Soldier's Joy, Old Joe Clark), follows the form AABB. This means that the tune consists of two parts, each of which is played twice before the next part is played. The chord progression for the A Part is: 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 The progression for the B Part is: 1 4/1 1 1 1 4/1 1/5 1 (Note: at some jams, it has become common to play the '6m' chord instead of the '1' chord for the 4th measure of the B Part.) Here are a couple of good recorded versions of the tune: Bill Monroe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGU2w6usjE0 Tony Rice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G89t4bo5kzU Try jamming along with these recordings. If you have never played this tune before, I recommend listening to it a few times before trying to play along with it. Then play along with it several times, and see what happens in your playing. Remember, on youtube, you can slow the recording down (without changing its pitch) by clicking on 'settings', and then on 'speed' within settings. If you do not already play a break for Gold Rush (or if you are looking for different things that you might do in your break in addition to or in place of how you tend to play your break for Gold Rush), check out the following links. Remember, there are countless 'right' ways to play a break for this tune or for any other bluegrass tune, so there is no need to try to learn to play the breaks exactly as they are played in the links. Even if you wish to learn to play a break for Gold Rush exactly as presented in one of the examples given below, if you come across a spot or two in the break that you are having particular difficulty playing or figuring out how to play, I recommend that you try to find something different to do in that spot of the break. Rely on your musical sensibility and knowledge of how music works to guide you in doing this. Gold Rush - guitar lesson (Tony Rice) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P2zYrKF-G0 Gold Rush - A Part - banjo lesson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OywtyEeBZuE Gold Rush - B Part - banjo lesson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na6ucWjrnUE Gold Rush - fiddle lesson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFVc0l6fw5Y Gold Rush - mandolin lesson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD0jfxvcfiY Gold Rush - Sheet music online www.hughcan.com/music/gold_rush/gold_rush_fiddle_notation_tab.pdf www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/american-mandolin-tab/the_gold_rush.htm Happy Pickin', Jason Hi, The song of the week is the old classic moonshine song 'Mountain Dew', the song that the soft drink of the same name was named after. Mountain Dew has the same chord progression as I'll Fly Away, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, and many other songs in the bluegrass and old time repertoire: 1111 4411 1111 1511 I sing Mountain Dew in the key of A. Mountain Dew contains the same melody notes as Long Journey Home, so the sheet music to tab conversion chart attached here is the same as the one that I provided when Long Journey Home was the song of the week. Like 'Shady Grove', last week's song of the week, 'Mountain Dew' is often played at a fast tempo. Here are some tips 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 of 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. Here are some youtube links to listen to. 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, if you have never seen or heard Grandpa Jones play and sing Mountain Dew, you might wish to check this link out for its entertainment value: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtjoRpmOjc Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is the Bill Monroe bluegrass standard 'Mother's Only Sleeping' in E Before reading the rest of this email, I recommend taking a listen or two to the attached mp3 file of the classic Bill Monroe/Lester Flatt recording of Mother's Only Sleeping. (Played in the Key of F on the recording.) In the attached melody sheet, I have written the music in 6/4 time. 6/4 means that there are 6 beats per measure, and that each quarter note (like in 3/4 and 4/4 time) receives one beat. Using dotted lines, I have divided each measure into two equal halves so that the music can be read in 3/4 time if desired. The primary reason why I have written the music in 6/4 instead of 3/4 is because, unlike songs that are unambiguously in 3/4 (waltz) time (e.g., Amazing Grace, In The Pines, All The Good Times Are Past And Gone: guitar rhythm: BOOM-chuck-chuck, counted as 1,2,3 with the 'pulse' or 'feel' of the rhythm being 'strong-weak-weak'), Mother's Only Sleeping has more of a pulse of strong-weak-weak-medium-weak-weak. Guitar rhythm: BOOM-chuck-chuck-boom-chuck-chuck, counted as 1,2,3,4,5,6. That is, it takes 6 beats instead of 3 to complete one cycle of the rhythmic pattern. Having said this, however, I think that playing in 6/4 (as opposed to 3/4) is best approached by simply 'feeling' the difference, instead of trying to think too much about it. For, it is such a subtle difference that most bluegrass players I know do not distinguish the two in theory, though they do distinguish the two in practise. (There are many excellent bluegrass players who have never heard of 6/4 time, let alone could explain how it differs from 3/4 time.) The very fact that a song like Mother's Only Sleeping tends to be played at a faster tempo than songs like Amazing Grace, In The Pines, or All The Good Times Are Past And Gone, is usually enough to incline bluegrass guitar and bass players to play the second of every two consecutive 'booms' noticeably weaker than the first of those two consecutive 'booms'. This in turn naturally leads the rest of the instruments to also deemphasize the 4th beat of every 6 beat cycle. So, even though it may seem to you that in playing this song you are not doing anything all that different from how you would play songs like Amazing Grace and All The Good Times, you should notice that somehow it 'feels' a bit different, even if you can't quite put your finger on what that difference is. If, in playing the song, you feel the difference in its pulse, that is a good sign that, rhythmically, you are playing it correctly, and, therefore, you need not concern yourself with thinking about the difference between 3/4 and 6/4. The progression (written in 6/4; one would need, therefore, to double the number of measures on each chord if one wished to rewrite the progression in 3/4) is: 1155 5511 1155 5511 In the key of E, 1=E; 5=B The notes that make up the E chord are: EG#B The notes that make up the B chord are: BD#F# For the key of E, bluegrass guitar players will usually want to capo either to the 2nd or the 4th fret. (Playing in E without a capo is also a viable option. In this case, it would be customary to play a B7 chord on guitar instead of a B chord.) If you capo to the 2nd fret, then the chord shapes will be the same as for the key of D: 1=D; 5=A. If you capo to the 4th fret, then the chord shapes will be the same as for the key of C: 1=C; 5=G. Those wishing to play a Carter-style break for this song will probably do better to choose the capo 4 option over the capo 2 option. Refer to the attached sheet music to tab conversion chart for 'Mother's Only Sleeping' in E. I recommend that banjo players capo to the 2nd fret and spike/capo the 9th fret of the 5th string. (Playing 'D' shapes.) That way all the melody notes needed for a break can be found conveniently on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd string, just like what is usually the case when playing in the key of G (most banjo players' favourite key). Refer to the sheet music to tab conversion chart attachment for help with locating the melody notes. Since Mother's Only Sleeping has only two verses, and since the melody and chord progression of both halves of a full length break for this song are identical, in order to give every type of instrument a chance at playing a break (in addition to a collective break in which everyone who wishes to can play a break at the same time) without extending the break sections too long, I intend on splitting each of the breaks (except the collective break) between two different types of instruments. I also intend on kicking the song off with only half of a full-length break. Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is the traditional fiddle tune 'Turkey In The Straw' in the key of G. (Occasionally you will find fiddlers who prefer to play Turkey In The Straw in D or A.) Turkey In The Straw is an AABB type fiddle tune, i.e., it has two parts, each of which is repeated before the next part is played. The progression for the A Part is: 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 5/1 The progression for the B Part is: 1 1 4 4 1 1 1 5/1 (In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, 5=D) In the attachments, I have included two melody sheets. The first one has considerably more notes in it than the second one; the first one roughly corresponds to how many fiddlers would play the tune. The second one has just enough notes in it for the tune to be recognizable: it corresponds roughly to the way that I might hum the tune (especially at a fast tempo), or how one might hear the tune played by an ice cream truck. I think it makes a good basis for creating a Scruggs-style banjo break. Mandolin, guitar, and dobro players might wish to mix together the two melody sheets, so as to come up with an interpretation of the melody that contains fewer melody notes than the first melody sheet but more notes than the second melody sheet. This can be a desirable thing for fiddlers to try also. In general, the faster the tune is played, the less need there is to play so many melody notes; the slower the tune is played, the more one will probably be tempted to put in extra non-essential notes. By mixing the two melody sheets with each other, one can come up with several different ways of playing the tune, simply by choosing differently each time which notes to add in or leave out, and this is good for varying the way you play the tune, because one's playing will tend to be more interesting if you don't play the tune exactly the same way every time. In the first link below, the fiddle carries the melody, while the banjo (as the sole backup instrument) provides a driving, rolling, Scruggs-style backup. The second and third links are guitar lessons for Turkey In The Straw, one using a simple version of the melody, much like the simpler of the two melody sheets I have provided here, and the other using a more complex version of the melody, much like the notier melody sheet I have included here. These should be useful to watch for the sake of comparison, regardless of which instrument you play. The fourth link is an up-tempo, somewhat comic version of the song, with complex mandolin and fiddle breaks (and even a bass break), with two mandolins playing in harmony at certain points, which I include for your listening and watching enjoyment, and to give you some ideas as to what kinds of things can be done with this tune other than just simply playing some version of the melody. fiddle and banjo duet in G: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BNd1mn4aGY guitar lesson: Turkey In The Straw in G: very few notes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHVCryqxu3Y guitar lesson: Turkey In The Straw in G: many notes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytU6zKcyMlo mandolin and fiddle: Turkey In The Straw in G: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0DsPX26_60 Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is the old Bill Monroe classic, 'Can't You Hear Me Calling' in G. Notice that the last line of the progression is a bit unusual: 1111 4411 4411 4511 (In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, 5=D.) Note: in some versions of the song, the last line is played as 5511 instead of as 4511, but the 4511 ending fits the melody better than the 5511 ending. I think that the most likely explanation for why some people use a 5511 ending for this song is because doing so results in a very commonly used progression in bluegrass. 1111441144115511 is the progression used for East Virginia Blues, Rambling Letters, some versions of Lonesome Road Blues, the A Part of Rawhide, and many other songs. As a result of using this progression, some people modify the melody of the first measure of the last line in order to make the melody fit better against the 5 chord that they are using in place of the 4 chord in this spot. This song has an unusually high range for a bluegrass song in the key of G. At the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd lines, on the change to the 4 chord, the melody jumps up to a high G note (like the beginning of the 3rd line of Fireball Mail), whereas most bluegrass songs that are commonly sung in the key of G have a D note or an E note as the highest note in the melody. (See the melody sheet attached to this email.) If I were to sing this song, it would be a bit of a stretch for me to sing it in G. I would likely want to lower it to the key of E. But, I think that the song sounds better in G than in E, so since Matt sings it in G, and does a really good job of singing it there, and it was Matt who introduced this song into the beginner jam, I have asked him to sing it as the song of the week. Because of its unusually high range for a song that is commonly played in the key of G (or A) in bluegrass circles, 'Can't You Hear Me Calling' is a song that may appeal (and has appealed) to some female bluegrass singers who would usually need to sing in the keys of C or D the songs that the male singers would ordinarily sing in G and A, because it allows them to comfortably sing in one of the two keys (G or A) that tend to be the favourite keys of many bluegrass jammers, and yet do not suit the range of many male vocalists for this particular song. Notice that the melody (in the key of G) contains some Bb notes, and in the 3rd and 4th lines these occur in the descending melodic sequence: D,C,Bb,G. The use of the Bb note in this context gives a bluesy character to the melody; and you may find that the sequence of notes: D, C, Bb, G (in numbers representing scale degrees: 5, 4, b3, 1) has a familiar sound from your having heard and played 'Clinch Mountain Backstep' at the jam (for the key of A, where Clinch Mountain is usually played, the corresponding sequence of notes is: E, D, C, A). The melody of 'Can't You Hear Me Calling' contains all the notes of the G major scale except for the F# note, which note, if added into the melody would have detracted from the bluesy character of the melody, and it contains all the notes of the G blues scale except for the F natural note, which note, if added into the melody would have made the song sound even more bluesy. The notes of the G major scale are: G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#. In numbers representing scale degrees, these notes are labelled as 1 through 7. The notes of the G blues scale are: G, Bb, C, Db, D, and F. In numbers, these are called: 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, and b7. (In the sheet music attached here, the Db note is written as a C# because of the context it occurs in. When 1=G, the number name for C# is 4#.) This way of combining the major scale and the blues scale is common in bluegrass songs that have a bluesy, or, one might say, slightly 'minor' - sound or feel to them. The first youtube link here is the first recorded version I ever heard of 'Can't You Hear Me Calling', and it is still one of my favourite recorded versions of the song even after years of hearing many other versions of the song. The second link is from a live performance by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, with special guest Ralph Stanley (singing lead on the song), at Bill Monroe's famous 'Bean Blossom' bluegrass festival in Indiana. Boone Creek: key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGMxaxdFJX8 Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley: key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqJcpQsDxlM Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, Good jam last night. The song of the week is 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot', an old spiritual that lends itself very well to being played as a bluegrass song. Jason Young introduced this song to the jam at the end of the jam last night, and I thought it was excellent song choice. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot has a familiar melody and chord progression. The progression is the same as for many other songs we play at the jam, including Foggy Mountain Top, the verse of Cotton Fields, the verses of Little Cabin Home On The Hill, All The Good Times, and Amazing Grace. The melody for the verses is quite similar to that of many first generation bluegrass songs and 'pre-bluegrass' songs, especially to the verses of Flatt and Scruggs' 'Little Girl Of Mine In Tennessee', and to the verses of the Carter Family's 'Lulu Walls'. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot will be sang and played this coming week in the key of G. The progression is: 1141 1155 1141 1511 (In the key of G: 1=G; 4=C; 5=D) Note: In some versions (examples are in the youtube links below), the second line of the progression is played as 1111 instead of as 1155. The reason why this works is because the melody note that is dragged over the last two measures of the second line is (in the key of G) a D note, and the D note is common to both the G (1) and the D (5) chord. Which chord is played at this point does, however, affect which notes would be sung by harmony singers at this point. The tenor harmony, for instance, would go to a G note if a G chord is played here, whereas it would go to an F# note if a D chord is played here. The melody for the chorus is a bit different than the melody for the verse, though the progression is the same for both. So, one could just as easily use the chorus melody instead of the verse melody as the basis for one's breaks, but in the melody sheet attached here, I have given only the verse melody, and I recommend basing your breaks off of the verse melody, as this is what would usually be expected for breaks. Del McCoury - key of B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBDrNGH9sg Bill Monroe - key of B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ZQVYXC76k Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'Away In A Manger' in the key of G. 'Away In A Manger' is played in 3/4 time, and the chord progression is: 1141 5511 1141 5151 In the key of G: 1=G; 4=C; 5=D. Like most Christmas carols, Away In A Manger has a very strong and memorable melody. So, when working up a break for this song, it is best to focus more on learning to play the melody cleanly and accurately, than upon figuring out how to make use of your favorite licks. The melody carries itself, and does not really require embellishment. But, once you have the melody down pat, then you might find a select spot here and there in which to add a double stop (i.e., playing a harmony note along with the melody note), a filler note or two between some of the melody notes, or a slide into a melody note. If you have tried adapting Christmas carols to bluegrass, then you may have noticed that some carols adapt more easily and naturally than others. Like 'Away In A Manger', most of the ones in 3/4 time are good candidates for attempts to play them with a bluegrass feel; but of these, the ones that tend to adapt best have fewer melody notes (on average) per measure and fewer quick chord changes relative to the ones that don't adapt quite as easily. For example, Silent Night and It Came Upon The Midnight Clear are more 'bluegrass-friendly' than The First Noel and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. The carols that are either in cut time (2/2) or in 2/4 (e.g., Jingle Bells, Good King Wenceslas) are natural candidates for being given a bluegrass treatment; while, on the other hand, most of the 4/4 carols (e.g., O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town Of Bethlehem) need to be converted to a cut time feel in order to be played as bluegrass songs; but this can be challenging to do if one is not yet very familiar with how this kind of conversion works, or if one has not heard enough examples of songs being played both ways. As being able to do this conversion is useful not only for creating bluegrass arrangements of Christmas carols, but also for many other songs from various different genres, I intend on explaining more about this, and demonstrating it, during next week's teaching segment at the jam. In addition to the melody sheet and sheet music to tab conversion chart attached here, here are a couple of youtube links for Away In A Manger: Ricky Skaggs (key of G for first two verses and break, key of A for third verse) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUMm1BAB-n4 solo banjo (key of G) - a good source of ideas for how one might go about playing more than just the melody for one's break, though, my own playing tendency is to use these kinds of additions to the melody much more sparingly than how it is played here, so as to enable the melody to stand out more prominently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxxI8FQAf-c Happy Pickin', Jason
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