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Hi, The song of the week is 'Liza Jane' in the key of D. 'Liza Jane' is a standard length two-part tune with an AABB form like 'Soldier's Joy', 'Boil The Cabbage Down', 'Angeline The Baker', and 'Old Joe Clark'. That is, each part consists of 8 measures, and is repeated before going on to the next part. The chord progression is identical for both parts of the tune: 1111 1151 In the key of D: 1=D and 5=A. The melody for 'Liza Jane' uses only the notes of the Major Pentatonic Scale: i.e., the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th. and 6th notes of the Major Scale. In the key of D, this means that the melody notes are: D, E, F#, A, and B. Liza Jane is often played in the key of A, and sometimes in the key of G, but I prefer to play it in D. If you have a learned to play Liza Jane in A on the fiddle or the mandolin, grabbing the melody on the E and A strings, then by simply moving your same fingerings one string lower so that you are now grabbing the melody on the D and A strings, you will be playing it in the key of D. If you are a banjo player, and you have learned to play Liza Jane in G, grabbing the melody on the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings, then by retuning your banjo to D tuning: F#DF#AD and moving your same fingerings one string lower, so that the melody is now being played on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings instead of the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings, you will be playing in the key of D. As far as chords are concerned: the open strings of the banjo now make a D chord; and for the A chord measures in Liza Jane, you need not learn to form a full A chord in D tuning: it will suffice to simply zero in on starting your rolls with A notes for these measures (A notes are located in D tuning on the 2nd open string and on the 3rd fret of the 3rd string.) If you have never played in D tuning before, give it a try - it can be a lot of fun, and an easy way to start out with this tuning is to take songs you already play breaks for in G in which the melody does not require you to use the 4th string, for you can play these with the same fingerings you use when playing them in G, just by moving the fingerings one string lower in pitch. I have included 2 melody sheets for banjo in the attachments, one written for D tuning, and the other written for G tuning (with the 5th string spiked/capoed up to an A note to make it more compatible as a drone string for the key of D). I have also included 2 melody sheets for guitar in the attachments, one written in D and the other written in C (capo 2 for D). If you wish to work out a Carter-style break for Liza Jane (i.e., a break in which strums are used to fill up the space between melody notes that are of a duration greater than a quarter note), working it out in C and then capoing the 2nd fret to raise you up to D is easier on the left hand than playing it in D without a capo. Here are a few good bluegrass versions of Liza Jane to listen to: Alison Krauss: key of A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bASF3KMTLtk The Nashville Grass: key of G: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nfXsvrGdw Notice that in this version the order of the parts is the opposite of the Alison Krauss version. The order of the parts given in the attached melody sheets is the same as in the Alison Krauss version. Happy Pickin', Jason
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