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Foggy Mountain Top

10/7/2016

0 Comments

 
Hi,
The song of the week is 'Foggy Mountain Top' in the key of G.

The chord progression for 'Foggy Mountain Top' is one of the most common progressions in bluegrass:

1141
1155
1141
1511
(Prog. V6 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout. In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, 5=D.)

Other bluegrass standards that use this same progression include:

Live And Let Live
I'll Never Shed Another Tear
All The Good Times Are Past And Gone
On And On
Little Cabin Home On The Hill - verse prog. only
Before I Met You - verse prog. only
Cabin In Caroline - verse prog. only
Gonna Settle Down - verse prog. only
Little Girl Of Mine In Tennessee - verse prog. only
Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane - verse prog. only
Hallelujah, I'm Ready To Go - verse prog. only
Lovesick And Sorrow - verse prog. only
Greenville Trestle - verse prog. only
Keep On The Sunny Side - chorus prog. only

For people who are much less familiar with bluegrass than with other genres of music, some good points of reference for this progression might include: 

Amazing Grace
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Jesse James - verse prog. only
Cotton Fields - verse prog. only
My Old Kentucky Home (some versions) - verse prog. only

Note: With the exceptions of 'Hallelujah, I'm Ready To Go' and 'My Old Kentucky Home', all the songs listed here in which only the verses of the song use the V6 progression, the progression for the chorus is prog. X6 on the basic chord progressions handout:

4411
1155
1141
1511

Progressions V6 and X6 tend to show up together with each other in the same song much more frequently than any other pair of progressions on the basic progressions handout.

Compare the progression for 'Foggy Mountain Top' (V6) with the progression for the song that was the song of the week two weeks ago: 'I Still Write Your Name In The Sand' (V7):


1144
1155
1144
1511

Notice how similar these two progressions are. They differ from each other only in 2 of their measures, namely the last measure of line 1 and last measure of line 3.

Part of the practical value of observing how certain commonly recurring progressions are similar and different from each other is that by taking note of this, one can help oneself to avoid certain common mistakes.

In my many years of jamming experience, I have noticed that a lot of people tend to be more familiar with prog. V7 than with prog. V6. At large jams, whenever a song that uses prog. V6, I have found that it is typical to find at least one person playing prog. V7 for at least the first round or two through the progression. I count this as being one of the top half dozen or so errors involving wrong chord changes that occur at jams.  Yet, the opposite case - namely, someone playing prog. V6 during a song that uses prog. V7 - rarely ever occurs at jams.

Another way to put this is that when the first three measures are 114, there is a much greater tendency to assume that the fourth measure will stay on the 4 instead of going back to the 1.

This assumption should be avoided, because songs with the 'Foggy Mountain Top' (V6) progression are very common in bluegrass, even if not quite as common as songs with the 'I Still Write Your Name In The Sand' (V7) progression.

Here is a live version of Foggy Mountain Top to listen to, played in the key of G:

Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb5jGg_Q7sQ

Happy Pickin',
Jason
Foggy Mountain Top Banjo tab.pdf
File Size: 266 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Foggy Mountain Top Guitar tab.pdf
File Size: 292 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Foggy Mountain Top Mandolin tab.pdf
File Size: 246 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Foggy Mountain Top Melody in G.pdf
File Size: 293 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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    Past
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    Get In Line Brother
    Gold Rush
    Good King Wenceslas
    In The Pines
    I Saw The Light
    I Still Write Your Name
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  • Home
    • About
    • Join Us
    • Donate
    • IBA Newsletter
    • Our Logo
  • Articles & Podcasts
    • Podcasts >
      • ​Jeremy Garrett Interview
      • Keith Reed Interview
      • Jason Homey Interview
      • Becky Smith Interview
      • Marv Quinton Interview
      • Rue Frisbee Interview
      • Donna and Mike Bond Interview
      • Honi Deaton Interview
      • Dennis Stokes Interview
      • Gary Eller Interview
    • Articles >
      • Glen Garrett - The Golden Years
      • Sammie Bush - came to Weiser
      • Mark O’Connor - My History at Weiser
      • Barbara Lamb - Fiddler Extraordinaire
      • Charlie Simmons -The Idaho Bluegrass Association from 1975 to 1985
      • Idaho's 19th century Fiddlers
      • Weiser Fiddle Champions ​ 1950s & 1960s
      • ​Byron Berline
      • Dave Frisbee
      • Weiser Fiddle Champions from 1970s and 80s
      • Megan Lynch Chowning
      • Fiddle Champion ​in 1990s and 2000s
      • Tashina and Tristan Clarridge
    • Snap Shot - Videos from IBA members
  • Events
    • Calendar (BCBB)
    • Open Mic
    • SpringGrass 2023 >
      • Springfest 2022
    • Winterfest
    • IBA Concert Series
    • Virtualgrass
    • Other Bluegrass Events
  • Jam
    • Idaho Jams
    • Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2021 - 2022
    • Jason's Intermediate Jam Blog 2021 - 2022
    • All of Jason's Songs
    • Old Blogs from Jason >
      • Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2019 - 2021
      • Jason's Intermediate Jam Blog 2019 - 2021
      • Jason's Beginner Jam Blog 2017 - 2018
      • Jason's Intermediate Jam Blog 2017 - 2018
      • Songs in 2016
  • Camps & Contests
    • Idaho Bluegrass and Banjo Camp
    • Banjo Contest
    • National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest
  • Idaho Bands
  • Teachers
  • Classified
  • Links
    • General
    • Learning
    • Specific Instruments