Hi, The song of the week is 'In The Pines' in the key of E. The chord progression is: 1141 1511 1141 1511 (This is the same as if one were to play the last 2 lines twice of the verses or choruses of many other songs, including Foggy Mountain Top, Amazing Grace, All The Good Times Are Past And Gone, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Cotton Fields, and Little Cabin Home On The Hill.) In the key of E: 1=E; 4=A; 5=B The E chord consists of the notes: E G# B The A chord consists of the notes: A C# E The B chord consists of the notes: B D# F# Together, these 7 notes (E F# G# A B C# D#) make up the E major scale. Since it is always a viable option - even if not usually the best option when playing bluegrass - to play the '5' chord in the song as a 7th chord, guitar players playing through this progression may wish to play a B7 chord instead of a B for the '5' chord measures. Because playing a B chord on guitar requires using a bar chord, and bluegrass guitarists have a tendency to avoid bar chords when possible, playing a B7 in this context is much more common amongst bluegrass guitarists than playing a B. For banjo players I recommend placing the capo on the 2nd fret and spiking/capoing the 5th string at the 9th fret. The fingerings then become just as if one were playing in the key of D: 1=D; 4=G; 5=A. Many guitar players will probably wish to capo to the 2nd fret also. Capoing to the 4th fret, and then playing as if in C (1=C, 4=F; 5=G) is also an option for banjo and guitar players for playing in the key of E, and works well on many songs, but not so well for 'In The Pines': the main reason being that the song favours the use of additional notes in breaks and backup licks that do not belong to the E major scale which tend to be more awkward to play in combination with the notes of the major scale when working out of 'C' instead of 'D' or 'E'. These additional notes give a 'bluesy' quality to the song which suits the 'lonesome' subject matter of the lyrics quite well. (To see which notes these are and where they are located on your instrument when playing in the key of E, see the melody sheet and the sheet music to tab conversion chart attached to this email.) An additional reason for avoiding capoing to the 4th fret to play In The Pines in E, is that the 'C' chord shape as played within the first three frets on guitar and as played within the first 2 frets on banjo tends to detract from the bluesy feel that the song lends itself so well to, and has a greater potential than what either the 'D' or the 'E' chord shapes that occur within the first 3 frets of guitar or banjo do to clash noticeably with some of additional notes being played by other instruments that give the song a bluesy flavour. For those who are relatively new to reading music, I would like to point out that there are a couple of symbols on the melody sheet attached here that you will not see often on the melody sheets for the song of the week. The first one, at the top of the page, consists of a pair of 8th notes followed by an equals sign followed by three 8th notes of which the first two are tied together and the numeral '3' occurs above the three 8th notes. This means that whenever you see a pair of 8th notes in the written music, the first of the two notes is held twice as long as the second one, but together, they take up the same amount of time in the measure as what two 'ordinary' (evenly spaced) 8th notes take up. To get the feel for this, sing (or play) the melody along with the sung choruses on the youtube link provided below, making sure that your 8th notes line up with the vocal phrasing. The second symbol that you will not often see on the song of the week melody sheets occurs in the pickup measure before the second note, and in 4 other measures as well, in the 'modified melody'. This is called a 'natural' sign, and simply means that you play a natural note (e.g., G) in place of the note that is indicated by the key signature (e.g., G#). When a natural sign occurs before a note, it temporarily overrides the key signature (just as when a sharp sign or a flat sign occurs before a note); both that note and all subsequent notes within the same measure that are written on the same line or space become naturals, unless a flat or a sharp sign occurs before a subsequent note written on the same line. After the measure ends, the key signature goes back into full effect. If you aren't sure that you understand this correctly, don't concern yourself too much with it, for I have written the letter names of the notes below each of the notes occurring in the 'modified melody', so you may use those to help you read the music correctly. In The Pines - Bill Monroe - key of F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_UkluxB7gc Peter Rowan - key of E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKh8XjgoQfc Boone Creek (Ricky Skaggs on lead vocal) - key of B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kjiRfqFhUM Happy Pickin', Jason
0 Comments
Hi, The song of the week is 'Leaning On The Everlasting Arms' in the key of A. The chord progression that is used on the Grascals' version of the song (see the link below) is: 1144 1115 1144 1151 (In the key of A: 1=A, 4=D, 5=E; In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, 5=D) The progression is a bit unusual when compared with the progressions for most of the other 1-4-5 type songs that are regularly played at the jam. The 5 chords all occur a measure later than what one would ordinarily expect to be the case. For this reason, both lines 2 and 4 are often played as 5 measure lines in bluegrass versions of the song. This is how it is played on Solid Blue's version of the song (see the link below), so as to allow for 2 measures of the 5 chord in line 2 (11155) and 2 measures of the 1 chord at the end of line 4 (11511), since this allows for fillin licks to be played by the instruments since a pause is thereby created in the vocal before the next line starts. 1144 11155 1144 11511 Since this song is commonly played at a fast tempo when played by bluegrass bands, these pauses in the vocal that result from adding the extra measures also allow the singers a moment to catch their breath in preparation for the next line. The way that I prefer to play the song, however, is to keep line 2 as a 4 measure line, while extending line 4 to being a 5 measure line. The resulting progression is: 1144 1115 1144 11511 This is how we will play the song at the jam when I lead it this coming Thursday. So, especially when two or more breaks occur back to back, keep in mind that we are using a 17 measure form for the song instead of a 16 measure form; otherwise, the beginning of your break (especially if you play pickup notes into your break) will overlap with the fillin licks that others may be playing at the very end of their break (or at the end of the chorus that occurs before your break). The Grascals - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsByGPoBBtQ Solid Blue - key of B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpHf0hn6otk Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'Lonesome Road Blues' (a.k.a. 'I'm Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad) in the key of G. Based upon my experience as a bluegrass jammer, I am inclined to rank this song right near the top of the list of songs that are bound to work well at almost any traditional bluegrass jam simply because they lend themselves remarkably well to being played in a jam setting. Lonesome Road Blues is one of the very few songs that I think of as being first and foremost a 'jam song'. There are only two other songs on the lists that we use for the jam that I would without hesitation place in this exact same category together with 'Lonesome Road Blues'. These two songs are: 'Mama Don't Allow' and 'Nine Pound Hammer'. Lonesome Road Blues is one of those small handful of songs that at a typical bluegrass jam it would not be out of the ordinary for it to be played either with or without singing: I have no idea which way I have played it more often at bluegrass jams. In this respect, it differs from other songs that may be played either way at a jam. For instance, Wildwood Flower is so often played at bluegrass jams as an instrumental, that it can strike one as being somewhat of a novelty to hear someone sing it at a bluegrass jam. Nearly all of the fiddle tunes we play at the jam have lyrics, but it is rare at a bluegrass jam for these to be sung. Lonesome Road Blues is also one of those songs that may be sung either with or without a chorus. Other songs on the lists we use at the jam that are also like this include: Down The Road, Handsome Molly, Little Birdie, The Crawdad Song, This Little Light Of Mine, and Wabash Cannonball. When sung without a chorus, the set of lyrics that make up the chorus in the versions of Lonesome Road Blues that use a chorus will usually be sung as one of the verses in the song - usually as the first or as the last verse, or as both. The way that Robert sang This Little Light Of Mine (no chorus) at last night's jam is a good case in point illustrating how what is the chorus in some versions of a song can function instead as the first and last verse in other versions of the same song. For most of the songs that may be sung either with or without a chorus, I tend to choose to sing them without a chorus when I lead them at a jam. The reason why I do this is simply to minimize the amount of time I spend singing between the breaks. As a bluegrass jammer who rarely ever sang at jams until I started leading the beginner bluegrass jam in Boise for the Idaho Bluegrass Association 4 years ago, I relate to the many, many bluegrass jammers who don't sing, and would rather not have to wait four minutes into the song before they get a turn to play a break, and who enjoy having the opportunity to play more than one break in the same song without this resulting in the song being played for an unusually long time. Here is one of the first sung bluegrass versions of 'Lonesome Road Blues' I remember hearing. It is a live recording of the Stanley Brothers, and it is played at quite a fast tempo: The Stanley Brothers - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNNeAMI1O9M Here is what is probably the most well-known instrumental bluegrass version of Lonesome Road Blues, played as a banjo-feature tune on the Flatt and Scruggs' album 'Foggy Mountain Banjo', and at a slower tempo than the Stanley Brothers' live version: Flatt and Scruggs - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4dgyx9Q850 Here is a sung version by Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music Bill Monroe - key of C https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0_s2hGkBAs Finally, another sung version in a live performance, by a young Japanese band. Since there are breaks in this version played on four different instruments - banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar, and they are all really good, I was happy to come across this version on youtube. Bluegrass Police - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNY0-xZV2iE The chord progression used for these versions of 'Lonesome Road Blues' is the same one that I use when leading the song: 1111 4411 4411 5511 (Prog. W4 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout) ...though, I have heard it played at some jams with the last line played as 1511 (Prog. V4 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout), and/or with the third line played as 4416m. Notice the Bb note in measure 2 of lines 2, 3, and 4 on the melody sheets attached here. Relative to the key of G, the Bb note is the b3 (flatted third scale degree). Together with the b7 (for the key of G, an F note), making good use of this note will often add a 'bluesy' characteristic to your playing. Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, Excellent jam last night, everyone! The song of the week is 'Old Joe Clark'. 'Old Joe Clark' is a two-part fiddle tune traditionally played in the key of A. The form of the tune is AABB. This means that each part of the tune (called the A-Part and the B-Part respectively) is played through twice before going on to the next part. The chord progression for the A-Part is: 1 1 1 5 1 1 1/5 1 The chord progression for the B-Part is: 1 1 1 b7 1 1 1/5 1 In the key of A: 1 = A 5 = E b7 = G With the capo in the second fret, the chord shapes become: 1 = G 5 = D b7 = F [Note: the way that many people, myself included, play the F chord on the guitar looks very similar to the fingerings used for the C chord. So, if you are following a guitar player for the chord changes for Old Joe Clark while at the jam, it can be helpful to keep in mind that there is no '4' chord in the progression.] Here are some youtube links of good bluegrass live performances of Old Joe Clark that I hope you will enjoy: Carolina Bluegrass Express: The fiddle breaks are my favorite part of this performance. The basic melody of the tune can be heard very prominently in the banjo break, since the banjo player not only accents the melody notes loud and clear, but also does not put quite as many extra notes around the melody as what a lot of other banjo players tend to do with this tune. In contrast to this, the guitar break is a good example of non-melody-based playing on a fiddle tune. For the final break, the fiddle is playing a harmony part while the melody is carried on the mandolin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYu_FdJWDs0 UK98 Bluegrass Band: good mandolin, banjo and guitar breaks; notice how in the guitar breaks, the A Parts of the breaks consists of little more than the basic melody carried on the low strings of the guitar, which is then contrasted with higher pitched non-melody-based playing for the B Parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReZZtchOL3E&nohtml5=False Gravel Road Bluegrass Band: I really like the breaks these kids play: the basic melody always remains discernable in these breaks, even in the spots where there is a lot more going on than just sticking to the basic melody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0zfsmYjj9E In the attachments, I have given not only a version of the basic melody, but also breaks for fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo in which notes are added around the basic melody. All these sample breaks are similar to each other, except for the banjo break, because the banjo break is a Scruggs-style break, and it is characteristic of Scruggs-style that it involve making use of certain patterns of note sequences that are very different from the types of patterns that are typical in bluegrass fiddle, mandolin, and guitar breaks. Each break given here is just an example of one way in which one might play a break for Old Joe Clark that involves more to it than replicating a version of the basic melody. With the exception of the banjo break, I wrote these breaks with the beginner jam specifically in mind. Out of the many banjo breaks I have written for Old Joe Clark over the years, I chose the one that I think comes the closest to being at the same level of difficulty as the fiddle, mandolin, and guitar breaks. It also happens to be a break that I rarely ever give to my banjo students. If you want to use one of the sample breaks given here as a basis for the break you play at next week's jam when Old Joe Clark is called, I suggest that if you come across a passage in one of the breaks that you don't see yourself as being ready to include in your break at the jam, that you either default back to the basic melody at that point in the break, or work up a way of playing that part of the break that is somewhere in the middle between the basic melody and the sample break. For those who are interested in these kinds of things, here's a bit of music theory that relates to the tune Old Joe Clark: The basic melody of the tune is based upon the mixolydian scale. This scale, which shows up frequently in the traditional music of the American South and the British Isles, and in Gregorian Chant, is in all respects like the major scale that we are all familiar with (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do), except that the seventh scale degree ('ti') is lowered by a half step. The result is that a mixolydian scale always has one less sharp (or one more flat) in it than the major scale that shares its same letter name. Since the A major scale has 3 sharps (F#,C#,G#), the notes of the A major scale being, in ascending order of pitch: A B C# D E F# G# A, the A mixolydian scale (like the D major scale) has 2 sharps (F#,C#), the notes of the A mixolydian scale being: A B C# D E F# G A. Since the G major scale has 1 sharp (F#), the G mixolydian scale (like the C major scale) has no sharps. The G major scale is: G A B C D E F# G. The G mixolydian scale is: G A B C D E F G. For a melody in A mixolydian, I would usually write it with a key signature of 2 sharps (the same key signature that is used for music written in D major and B minor), which is how one will often see A mixolydian tunes written in Irish session tune books. In the case of the melody and fiddle break sheets for Old Joe Clark attached here, I have chosen to give the key signature for A major instead (3 sharps), because elaborations on the basic melody often make use of the G# note at some point in them that belongs to the A major, but not to the A mixolydian scale (see measure 7 of either of the parts of the tune as written in the attachment titled 'Old Joe Clark - fiddle/mandolin break'), and the prominence of '5' chords in the chord progression for the tune gives Old Joe Clark less of a mixolydian sound, and more of a typically major sound, than is the case with many other mixolydian tunes (e.g., Red Haired Boy, June Apple). Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'Sweetheart, You Done Me Wrong' in the key of D. 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 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. 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. 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 86 beats per minute on the recording), and, at the jam, I may choose to play it slower than the speed it is at on the recording to more clearly distinguish its tempo from that of the moderate tempo and fast songs that we play at the jam, since we often play those at slower speeds than what one would more commonly hear them be played at on a typical bluegrass record. Be careful not to push the beat on this song - be mindful of this when practicing along with the record I preparation for playing it at the jam: 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. Some guitar and bass players may find it helpful to make it a point to play a bit more deliberately than usual on their first bass note of the measures of the song in order to better maintain the right feel for the song and to avoid pushing the beat. For playing breaks (on all instruments) the same might be the case for some players, especially on the last note of their fillin licks. 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. Happy Easter!, Jason
Hi, The song of the month for March is Red Haired Boy. Red Haired Boy is a two-part fiddle tune (AABB form) that is traditionally played in the key of A. Like 'Soldier's Joy' and 'Temperance Reel', 'Red Haired Boy' is one of those handful of fiddle tunes that shows up not only at bluegrass jams, but also at old-time jams and at Irish sessions. Here is an excellent bluegrass version of 'Red Haired Boy' to listen to, but which, unfortunately, has no banjo in it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0EkURtpyRg While 'Red Haired Boy' ranks high on the list of fiddle tunes commonly played at bluegrass jams, and has for quite sometime now, it was not until the 1960's that fiddle tunes of the 'notier' or 'Irish-sounding' type (of which 'Red Haired Boy' is one of the best examples) became popular in bluegrass circles. The two factors that contributed the most to this change were the introduction into bluegrass in the early 60's of Doc Watson's 'flatpicking' guitar style, and Bill Keith and Bobby Thompson's 'melodic' banjo style, for both of these styles lend themselves well to duplicating note-for-note, on guitar and banjo respectively, the types of fast-moving melody lines that fiddle tunes like 'Red Haired Boy' consist of. Here is Bill Keith playing 'Red Haired Boy' and 'June Apple' (both in the key of G) in melodic style on banjo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxEFqKJj-fI For those who may be interested, here is an Irish version of Red Haired Boy (key of A): Red Haired Boy / Concertina Reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX-F8s0DDEU ...and a version from the Clumsy Lovers, the Celtic-Bluegrass-Rock band that I have played banjo and mandolin in since 2001: This medley of tunes, which we call 'The Boycot' Set' begins and ends with 'Red Haired Boy' (key of A): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0LkabIQr6k Like many of the pre-bluegrass fiddle tunes that are common in bluegrass circles, and almost always played as instrumentals (no singing) at bluegrass jams and on bluegrass recordings, there are lyrics for the tune of 'Red Haired Boy'. Versions with lyrics usually go by the name of 'The Little Beggarman' or 'The Jolly Beggarman', rather than by the name of 'Red Haired Boy', and are often sung and played in D rather than in A. Here is an example to listen to: definitely not a bluegrass version: Makem & Clancy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5o8XlucwpQ The chord progression that we will use at the jam for Red Haired Boy is the one that I have found over the years to be the most common for the tune when played at bluegrass jams: A-Part: 1 1/4 1 b7 1 1/4 1 5/1 B-Part: b7 4 1 b7 1 1/4 1 5/1 (In the key of A: b7 = G. In the key of G: b7 = F.) Notice that the chord progression for the B Part differs from that for the A Part only in the first one-and-a-half measures. The same is true of the melody of the tune. If you keep this in mind, it should be easier for you to learn the tune and to commit it to memory. In the attachments, I have offered two melody sheets for Red Haired Boy: the first one has fewer notes than the second one. For those who have difficulty playing up-to-speed several measures of music in a row that consist mostly of 8th notes and for banjo players who do not have much experience playing in melodic-style, I recommend playing the first version of the melody, or something similar to it. For everyone else, I recommend playing the second version, or something similar to it, as your default version, and then using the first version as a guide to help you to eliminate some notes from the melody when you wish to do this for the sake of variation, so that all your breaks don't sound exactly the same. Note: In the sheet music to tab 'conversion chart' for Red Haired Boy, the fretboard locations for the notes on banjo correspond to those that are needed for playing the tune in 'melodic' style, in which the objective is to avoid - whenever feasible - playing two consecutive notes on the same string when the first of the two notes is an 8th note. This is why the banjo tab on the conversion chart diverges from the guitar tab more so than what has usually been the case with conversion charts I have given for other songs in the past. In the attachments, you might notice on the sheet music for Red Haired Boy that, although I have specified that the tune is written in the key of A, there are only two sharps in the key signature, instead of three. This is because the melody of Red Haired Boy does not use the A major scale, but rather uses the A mixolydian scale, which has for its seventh scale degree a G natural note rather than a G# note, and therefore consists of the same notes as the D major scale. If in listening to the tune in the links given here, you find that 'Red Haired Boy' sounds slightly 'minor' to your ear, the reason for this is because the seventh note of the scale that the tune uses is a half step lower than the seventh note of the major scale, but is in all other respects the same as the major scale. 'June Apple' is another fiddle tune in A that sometimes shows up at bluegrass jams that uses the mixolydian scale. 'Old Joe Clark', also in 'A', is another and more popular one that uses the mixolydian scale; though in the case of Old Joe Clark, many versions of the melody are not purely mixolydian, and the prominence of '5' chords in the backup for most versions tend to make Old Joe Clark sound less mixolydian than Red Haired Boy and June Apple. (The E major chord, which is the '5' chord in the key of A, contains a G# note.) The A-Part of 'Over The Waterfall' (key of D) also uses the mixolydian scale for its melody. All of these are old-time fiddle tunes. While there are many more mixolydian tunes besides these that are played old-time jams, and there is an abundance of traditional Scottish and Irish fiddle tunes in the mixolydian mode, most of these are never played at a typical bluegrass jam, and almost always prove to be 'jam-busters' when someone tries to introduce them into a bluegrass jam. Happy Pickin', Jason
Another excellent jam last night! The song of the week is 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' in the key of G. As I play it, this song uses the same chord progression as I'll Fly Away (Prog. V3 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout): 1111 4411 1111 1511 Other progressions that have been used on recordings of the song include: 1111 4411 1111 5511 1111 4411 1116m 1511 1111 4411 116m6m 1511 (In the key of G: 1=G; 4=C; 5=D; 6m=Em.) Since the person leading the song is responsible for determining which progression will be used for the song, it is important at a jam to pay attention to the choice of chord changes being used by the person leading the song, so that you don't find yourself using a different progression than that used by the leader. Here are some youtube links to listen to of 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - on their classic 3-record 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' album: with Earl Scruggs on banjo, Vassar Clements on fiddle, Doc Watson on guitar, and Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, and Roy Acuff taking turns singing the verses: key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn8aruzfRAA Will The Circle Be Unbroken bluegrass version - Key of G: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQxTop7XtoA (Notice that this version uses the 6m chord in place of the 1 in the last measure of the 3rd line, and ends with an a capela chorus.) The Carter Family: Key of Ab http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHjm5sRqSA (I include this version for historical reasons - although it is pre-bluegrass, and is quite 'crooked' (1/2 measures being used in place of full measures in various spots within the song), and uses 5511 instead of 1511 for the last line of the progression. About the melody sheets attached here: notice that while the G major scale consists of the 7 notes G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#, only five of these notes are used for the melody of Will The Circle Be Unbroken; these are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th notes of the G major scale: G, A, B, D, and E. This 5-note subset of the G major scale forms what is called the G major pentatonic scale. Knowing which 5 notes of the major scale form the major pentatonic scale can be very useful when trying to find the melody of a song on an instrument, because there are many songs like Will The Circle Be Unbroken that have melodies that use only the notes of the major pentatonic scale, and even in songs that use more notes, the notes of the pentatonic scale tend to show up more frequently than the two major scale notes that are not included in the major pentatonic scale. Some other songs that use only the notes of the major pentatonic scale in their melodies are: 'Amazing Grace', 'Shortnin' Bread', 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains', 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot', 'Canaan's Land', 'Mountain Dew', 'All The Good Times Are Past And Gone', 'Down The Road', 'Nine Pound Hammer', 'Handsome Molly', 'Camptown Races', and 'Liza Jane'. Examples of songs on the top 20 and additional 30 lists that have one or two more notes in their melodies besides the notes of the major pentatonic scale, but which still have for the most part, a major pentatonic sound because these extra notes occur only once or twice in the melody and/or are used only in passing between two more prominent melody notes in the tune, include: 'I'll Fly Away', 'Mama Don't Allow', 'Shady Grove', 'Angeline The Baker' (some versions of the melody for 'Angeline The Baker' are entirely pentatonic), 'Leaning On The Everlasting Arms', 'Worried Man Blues', 'She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain', and 'This Little Light Of Mine'. Here is a comparison of the major scales and major pentatonic scales for the 4 keys we play in most frequently at the jam: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 G major G A B C D E F# G major pentatonic G A B D E A major A B C# D E F# G# A major pentatonic A B C# E F# C major C D E F G A B C major pentatonic C D E G A D major D E F# G A B C# D major pentatonic D E F# A B Happy Pickin', Jason
Hi, The song of the week is 'New River Train' in the key of D. The progression I use for this song is: 1111 1155 1144 5511 Note: Other versions of the song use the slightly different progression: 1111 1155 1144 1511 which is the same as the progression for 'Mama Don't Allow', 'When The Saints Go Marching In', 'The Crawdad Song', and 'She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain'. In the key of D: 1=D, 4=G, and 5=A For banjo players, I recommend playing this song without a capo when playing it in D, with the 5th string tuned/spiked up to an A note. This way you can find all the melody notes on the 4th and 3rd strings. (See the attached banjo tab of the melody.) Some guitar players may prefer to capo to the 2nd fret and play as if in C. This works well for doing a Carter-style guitar break for the song (i.e., a break in which the melody is carried on the bass strings of the guitar with strums in between the melody notes when there is time for them), for all the notes of the melody can be found within the first 3 frets on the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings. For this reason, I have included two guitar tabs of the melody in the attachments: one in D and the other in C. Since the melody of 'New River Train' spans less than one octave, and - in the key of D - the lowest melody note is a D and the highest melody note is a B, the melody can be played in first position on fiddle and mandolin in two different octaves. In the lower octave, all the melody notes can be found on the 3rd and 2nd strings; in the higher octave, all the melody notes can be found on the 2nd and 1st strings. For fiddle and mandolin, I have included both octaves in the attached melody sheets. You may wish to work up two breaks for the song: one in the lower octave, and the other in the higher octave, so that you need not always play the same break when it is your turn to play a break. Here are some youtube links of good versions of 'New River Train' to listen to: First, here is the classic Bill and Charlie Monroe recording from 1936, with just mandolin and rhythm guitar and two voices - key of D. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyWMFjly24o Tony Rice and Norman Blake - also in the key of D, and quite a bit slower than the Monroe Brothers recording: good guitar breaks on this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y36HCn4Ivws Here are a couple of full band versions of the song (both in the key of E) in which - of the main bluegrass instruments - more than just guitars and mandolins are represented for the breaks: The White Brothers - New River Train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eLjdbN1xdg Roland White - New River Train - Live at McCabe's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZCsTzPb2k The lyrics of New River Train 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 top 20 list and on the additional 30 list that are fairly easy to memorize include: Mama Don't Allow, My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains, Do Lord, Lonesome Road Blues, She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain, This Little Light Of Mine, When The Saints Go Marching In, and Worried Man Blues. It is important to sing from memory when leading the singing at a jam, because, whenever the lead singer is singing, he is the one who is primarily in control of the timing and rhythm of the song. So, he should be singing toward the group as a whole, and his lips should be clearly visible to the group, since the group is supposed to be following him. One cannot lead a song very effectively at a jam when reading the lyrics off a page. If the page is at eye level (for instance, on a music stand), then the page (and the stand) will form a barrier between the lead singer and his fellow jammers. If the page is below eye level (on the ground, or on one's lap), then the lead singer will be looking down, singing towards the ground, instead of towards the group. This does not mean that one should not bring lyric sheets to a jam. For, even when a song is memorized, it is very easy to forget - in the moment - how the 2nd verse (and subsequent verses) of a song starts. So, near the end of the break that comes right before another verse will be sung, it can be useful to be able to quickly glance at the lyrics to remind oneself, if one forgets. Observe, though, that this does not involve looking at the lyrics while singing. However, instead of referring to a page on which the lyrics are written out in full, it is better to just write out the first line of the 2nd verse, and the first line of each subsequent verse in large print, and then place the page on the floor in front of you. Many guitar players - myself included - will tape smaller versions of these kind of 'cheat sheets' to their guitars for songs that they fear they might forget the lyrics to, so that - if needed - they can take a quick glance at them before starting to sing the next verse. (This will also work for stand-up bass players.) If one needs to see more than just the beginnings of the 2nd and subsequent verses of a song in order to jog one's memory enough to be able to get through singing the whole song without serious errors, then this is usually a good sign that one does not yet know the song well enough to lead it effectively at a jam, and that one should give it some more practice at home before leading it at a jam. Happy Pickin', Jason
Happy New Year! The song of the week is 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' in the key of G. Originally recorded by the Carter Family in 1927 (it was the first song they recorded), and then by the Monroe Brothers (Bill Monroe and his older brother Charlie) in 1937 (under the title: 'Weeping Willow Tree'), 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' has gone on to become one of the most common of bluegrass standards. The chord progression for Bury Me Beneath The Willow is the most common of all progressions in bluegrass (Prog. V7 on the Basic Progressions handout): 1144 1155 1144 1511 Here's a short list of standard bluegrass songs that use this same progression: Wreck Of The Old '97 I Still Write Your Name In The Sand I'm On My Way Back To The Old Home Your Love Is Like A Flower Y'all Come Down Where The River Bends Lost And I'll Never Find A Way Come Back Darlin Why Did You Wander If I Should Wander Back Tonight I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone Road To Columbus Hold Watcha Got Blue Moon Of Kentucky (verse) Black Mountain Rag (C-Part) Flint Hill Special Rose Of Old Kentucky (verse) Tiny Broken Heart (verse) Little Annie (verse) White Dove (verse) Memory Of You In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, and 5=D The G chord is made up of the notes: G, B, and D. The C chord is made up of the notes: C, E, and G. The D chord is made up of the notes: D, F#, and A. Together, these 7 notes make up the G major scale, and the melody of Bury Me Beneath The Willow makes use of all of them. (See the melody sheets attached here.) When played in the key of G, the first melody note of the first full measure of the verses (and choruses) 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. Here are some youtube links to listen to: Alison Krauss - key of E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzA68Ohwke4 Chris Thile - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ishkstoPiSg Firebox Bluegrass Band - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La1TRQEmEVM Chris Thile and Michael Daves - key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCfzUZ3hklE Roseanne Cash - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVL8fIJLyYo Happy Pickin', Jason
Happy New Year!
The song of the month is 'Keep On The Sunny Side' in the key of G. Matt Monroe will lead the song at the jam. The chord progression that Matt will use for the song is as follows: for the verses and breaks: 1411 1155 5511 5511 for the chorus: 1141 1155 1141 1511 Note: Some play the first line of the chorus as: 1 1 4 4/1 and/or the last line of the chorus as: 1/4 1/5 1 1, or 1/4 5 1 1. But, as always, regardless of how you are most used to playing or hearing the song, follow the leader for the progression. Here are some youtube links to listen to. The Carter Family - key of B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbmQQ4RfzVE This is the original recording of 'Keep On The Sunny Side'. Though it is pre-bluegrass (1928), it is likely still the most well-known recording of the song amongst dyed-in-the-wool bluegrassers, and has directly influenced many bluegrass versions of the song. As on most Carter Family records, all the breaks are played on guitar, and are played 'Carter-style', which means that the melody is carried on the bass strings, with chords being strummed on the treble strings between melody notes when there is time for them between the melody notes. Although recorded in the key of B, the guitar is played here as if in the key of C. This means that each of the strings of the guitar were tuned down a half step when the song was recorded. It is common on old recordings for the instruments to be tuned either lower or higher than how we are used to tuning them. You might notice the odd timing between the end of the verses and the beginning of the choruses on this recording. The chorus starts a half measure earlier than what one would ordinarily expect. I don't recommend this way of playing the song (most of your fellow jammers will not appreciate it): most bluegrass versions of the song have the usual 2 measures of the '1' chord at the end of the verses that is so common in bluegrass songs. Flatt and Scruggs - key of F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCbhM_Ud3YA All the breaks are played on guitar, and in 'Carter-style'. Here the influence of the Carter Family recording is obvious. Mac Wiseman - key of A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZsCDXn7Oc Here are some good examples of breaks being split between two instruments. This is good for recordings and band performances, but not something that is usually desirable to do at a jam, except on the occasional slow song, especially when both halves of the break have the same chord progression (which is not the case with Keep On The Sunny Side). Also notice how short the intro break is: it is based upon the last 4 measures of the chorus. When a break is this short, it is called a 'turnaround'. Once again, at a jam, it is usually best to play a complete break to intro a song. (A complete break means the length of the verse - in this case, as in most cases - 16 measures, not the length of a verse and chorus together.) However, since it is fairly common on recordings for Keep On The Sunny Side to begin with a turnaround, it would not be an odd thing to do to intro it this way at a jam. Having said that, I still don't recommend starting the song with a turnaround at the jam while it is the song of the month, for the turnaround intro tends to occur mostly in versions which use 1/4 1/5 1 1 or 1/4 5 1 1 as the last line of the chorus (and as the progression for the turnaround), and not so much in versions which use 1 5 1 1 as the last line of the chorus. Instrumental Version: banjo, fiddle, dobro, guitar breaks: key of G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fb7ULaz3ec Here is a good source for ideas for breaks on banjo, fiddle, dobro, and guitar. Because this is an instrumental version, each break is the length of a verse and chorus put together. Keep in mind that in versions with vocals, it is far more common for breaks to be played only over the verse progression: at the jam, once you have played through the verse progression once for your break, your break is over: it is time either for more singing, or for the next person to start their break. As is the case for most songs played at the jam, if you are working up an intro break for the song, it is best to stick close to the melody. Subsequent breaks need not follow the melody all that closely. For instance, one approach that I like to take for playing a (non-intro) break for 'Keep On The Sunny Side' is follow the melody closely for the first half of the break, and then to disregard the melody for the last half of the break, playing 'stock' licks I know that fit well over the 5511 progression that the last two lines of the verse progression consist of. Give it a try and see if you come up with something you like. Sheet music: http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/american-mandolin-tab/keep_on_the_sunny_side_().htm (but different chord progression!) Happy Pickin', Jason |
Past
|