# Music by Genre > Old-Time, Roots, Early Country, Cajun, Tex-Mex >  What's your new fiddle tune?

## Mike Snyder

I'm making a concerted effot to ramp up the old learning curve. These are getting cleaner by the day. What have you been working on?
   Cherokee Shuffle
   Big Scioty
   Barlow Knife
   June Apple
   Nail that Catfish to a Tree
   Sal's Got Mud between Her Toes
   Squirrel Heads in Gravy (still kinda rough) 
A couple of those make me hungry.

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lflngpicker

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## JeffD

Spotted Pony
I Love My Wife As Well As Anybody, But When My Back's Turned, She's Hugging Everybody

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## John Flynn

I just taught myself "Quickstep to the Battle of Prague" off of the David Surrette recording. It's a really cool tune, can't get it out of my head.

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Jim Roberts

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## sgarrity

I've been working on Spotted Pony and Folding Down the Sheets. Squirrel Heads and Gravy.....glad you mentioned that one. I started on it a while back and never really got it down.

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## allenhopkins

_Jefferson and Liberty_

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## Tom Sanderson

I've been learning tunes out of the book " The Portland Collection" trying to get better at sight reading, so I'm constantly working on something. I've learned about 15 new tunes in the last 2 months. Right now I'm learning a tune called "John Bowes" in the key of C. Pretty cool tune.

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## Mike Snyder

I envy your ability to read, Tommy. I only learn this stuff by ear, and there's no slow downer on these web sites I use, so stuff goes pretty fast. I just do a lot of repeat, repeat, etc, etc....and it's real easy to wind up with a close VERSION of and old tune. It's a lot harder to get one spot on. But what fun I'm having trying to get up to speed for the Walnut Valley Festival next month. Fiddlers out the wazoo at midnight. Pretty close to heaven.

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## Tom Sanderson

> I envy your ability to read, Tommy


I learned to read notation in school band starting in 6th grade. I've never been a good sight reader, I usually stumble my way through, but I decided to get better. I've been working at it for a couple months and I've made a huge improvement. It's like anything else, hard work and determination.

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## Rick Schmidlin

Ragtime Annie from the Sam Bush DVD.

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## Clyde Clevenger

I just learned Bonaparte Crossing the Rocky Mts. and have been pairing it with Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine (thanks Skip Gorman) Hint: don't start off too fast on the Rhine or you will fall off the Rockies and could hurt something important.

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## Mike Snyder

So true, Clyde. I fell off Jerusalem Ridge once and it took me a month to recover.

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## Joe F

> I just learned Bonaparte Crossing the Rocky Mts. and have been pairing it with Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine (thanks Skip Gorman) Hint: don't start off too fast on the Rhine or you will fall off the Rockies and could hurt something important.


At the local Saturday old-time jam, we often pair "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" with "Bonaparte's Retreat." #In other words, he went there and then came back. #The two tunes do work very well together.

My band is currently working on learning "Breaking Up Christmas" and "Baby-O".

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## ALog

Marmadukes Hornpipe and Spanish Two step

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## woodwizard

My new tunes are:
Spotted Pony
Ten Miles To Deep Gap
Big Country
Mississippi Sawyer
and a cool Norman Blake tune "Bright Days"

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## bgjunkie

I've been working on tunes from Butch Baldassari's Mandolin Tunes for Practice and Repertoire:

Last Night's Fun (great version of this on More Ultimate Pickin)
Wild Rose of the Mountain (sounds like octave mando on the Appalachian Mandolin and Dulcimer CD version of this tune)
Woodchopper's Reel
Little Jackie Wilson

I can already do a passing job (meaning I can keep up with Butch on the CD) of:
Big Sciota
Big John McNeill
Cheep Mountain
Tater Patch

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## JGWoods

Hell Among The Yearlings from Alan Kaufman.
I'll get it on the mando eventually but I don't think I'll ever get it on the fiddle.

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## Tom Sanderson

[QUOTE]a cool Norman Blake tune "Bright Days"

I learned Bright Days a couple years ago, I love that tune.

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## JeffD

> #Squirrel Heads and Gravy.....glad you mentioned that one. #I started on it a while back and never really got it down.


Isn't that a fun one. A real find.

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## JeffD

> I've been learning tunes out of the book " The Portland Collection" trying to get better at sight reading, so I'm constantly working on something.


The Portland Collection is a great collection. And the versions of the tune in their is usually the one I want. 

For sight reading practice, however, I prefer a tune book with the tunes organized by type, like hornpipes, reels, jigs etc. That way I can grab the rythem right out of the gate. I'll sight read down several tunes of the same type and get farther than I do in a book with the tunes alphabetical. Right now my favorite is Ryans Mammoth Collection though I use many.

http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bay....&sr=1-1

I readily admit, though, that for looking up a tune I want to learn, the alphabetical listing has clear advantages.

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## BillD

Working on Big Sciota, Shove the Pigs foot a little closer to the fire and Drowsy Maggie.

Bill

McClanahan Via del Rosa

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## Clyde Clevenger

I've almost got Greenleaf Fancy, another Norman Blake tune, up to speed. It seems a little bent in the B part, but when I remembered about counting to 4 it all became clear.
Let's see, that's  1 and 2 and 3 and a duh 4. I've got it.

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Bill Cameron

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## minnedolin

I feel as though the fiddle tunes are getting up to snuff.. I particularly have "Whiskey Before Breakfast" "Cuckoo's Nest" and "Fisher's Hornpipe" well under my fingers and have been able to throw it in different gears, but have a bit of trouble goin off the map, so to speak, so that the melody is still there but is still far off enough to sound fresh.. Any suggestions/past threads on how to solo these tunes? Arpeggios, scales, runs,exercises, et al?

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## JeffD

> Any suggestions/past threads on how to solo these tunes? #Arpeggios, scales, runs,exercises, et al?


Well in a BG setting I guess you would want to improvise. 

But I play mostly in OT jams, where I (we) stick real close to the melody. Play it clean, using phrasing I hear in the fiddler's playing. Recently I have been putting in some double stop harmonies when taking a break or playing them solo or with a rhythm backup. I might do some small departures from the melody, to arrive at the end of the phrase from the bottom instead of the top for example, but nothing more than that. Nothing remotely like the fireworks expected in a BG jam.

One reason is I like the tunes so much. Especially Cuckoo's Nest - I love that tune as it is. I really cannot improve on it.

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JimY

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## sgarrity

I worked on Squirrel Heads and Gravy last night and got it back up to playing speed. #I feel another YouTube video coming on soon! # 

The video is posted!

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Pick&Grin

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## Mike Buesseler

So many mentions of my hero, Norman Blake. Anyone working on "Blake's March"? Absolutely wonderful tune. My tablature posted here in that section is pretty close to Norman's arrangement (forget the harmony part...I wrote it years ago. Passable, but not great. I was just learning how to do that....) 

The Montana Mandolin Society has a recording of Blake's March on one of their CDs that is also great.

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## Gary S

Ive been playing "Back Step Cindy" alot here lately...Gary

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## David M.

Been learning some Gene Goforth tunes lately, mostly on fiddle but still there for mando, for some dances we have scheduled in the near future: White River (AEAC# tuning); Gettin Out of the Way of the Federals (got it down and it's a fun tune); Wolves a Howlin'.

Also working on Sweet Little Julie, a cut from the Pilot Mtn. Bobcats and I have a good Kirk Sutphin version. This one's all right hand (bow in this case) technique that gives it the drive. Because of the bowing drive, it's fun to pick on mando to get some of that rhythm and timing going.

Also (like I need more to work on) working a tad on Five Miles of Ellum Wood off Bruce Greene's cd of that title. Great stuff on that cd.

Just got done gettin' down Old Virginia Reel off Kirk Sutphin's "Old Roots, new Branches" cd. Great stuff. 

Changing my version of Mississippi Sawyer to be a little less shuffle bowing and more old timey bowing.

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## woodwizard

MikeB Quote: So many mentions of my hero, Norman Blake. Anyone working on "Blake's March"? Absolutely wonderful tune. 
****
I love "Blake's March" I talked my band into performing that one reguarely. We've been doing it for a couple of years now. I never get tired of Norman. I usually have to pick his tunes by myself sadly because my band likes more bluegrassier stuff. Got to even visit with him awhile when he came though Arkansas not that long ago. He is awesome. My wife snapped a pic of me & him together. Needless to say that's hanging in my music room and makes me pretty proud every time I look that way.

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## Uncle Choppy

> So many mentions of my hero, Norman Blake. #Anyone working on "Blake's March"?


Not quite up to that one yet! 

I've done "John Brown's March" along with "Green Castle Hornpipe" and Nancy's "Father's Hall" - some of the simpler ones on the "Mandolin of Norman Blake" DVD.

Hopefully I'll get round to "Blake's March" at some point. Here's a link to the nice version mentioned by MikeB by the Montana Mandolin Society

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## Gary S

Sounds like your listening to some good music David M.You wont here any better fiddlin than Kirk Sutfin.IMHO

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## Gerard Dick

Angus Campbell #Whiskey before Breakfast and Over the Waterfall are in the works right now.

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## David M.

> Sounds like your listening to some good music David M.You wont here any better fiddlin than Kirk Sutfin.IMHO


Somewhere I have a VHS of "Appalachian Fiddling Today", a vid put out years ago by Fiddler Magazine. Several folks on it like Charlie Acuff, Hartford, Leftwich, Gellert, and others. Kirk's on there and he was about my favorite next to Bruce Greene. On there, Kirk plays Roscoe, Old Virginia Reel, and others. He's amazing.

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## JeffD

> On there, Kirk plays Roscoe, Old Virginia Reel, and others.


Roscoe is a great tune. I heard it in a jam the other day and instantly became addicted. Its on my list.

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## Don Grieser

Thanks for all the tunes to check out guys. I'm another Norman fan here. I've just about got "Bright Days" up to speed. Love to play "Greencastle Hornpipe" and some of the other tunes he teaches on his mando video. "Father's Hall" by Nancy Blake is another excellent tune to play. Nancy really plays a great version on Norman's mando video. Anybody work up any of the tunes on "Original Underground Music from the Mysterious South"?

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## sgarrity

For Blake fans, how about Muddy Creek and Callahan. Both fun, sprightly tunes.

Greenwillis is another good one...

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## Mike Snyder

JeffD, I think that you may be the devil. I,ve been obsessed with The Cuckoo's Nest since your post. I can't eat. I can't sleep. My fingers hurt. There may not exist a more perfect fiddle tune. Thank you for this exquisite torture.

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## Mike Bunting

Green Leaf fancy is a great Norman Blake tune also.

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## Aran

Damn...... I am at one of those stages where I just can't make up my mind which one to tackle next....

Hopefully the inspiration will come to me this weekend...

Vacancy for a muse available! Apply here

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## David M.

yeah, GreenLeafFancy is a good one. Crooked as all-get-out, which makes it cool. Learned that one about 6 months ago.

Worked on some James Bryan off his First of May and got Swedish Waltz, Star of Bethlehem, and Chicken in the Snowbank down. Chicken in the Snowbank is tricky.

So many tunes, so little time...

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## JeffD

> JeffD, I think that you may be the devil. I,ve been obsessed with The Cuckoo's Nest since your post. I can't eat. I can't sleep. My fingers hurt. There may not exist a more perfect fiddle tune. Thank you for this exquisite torture.


It is great. A perfect little short story in melody. Like oreos and milk, you just can't stop playing it.

I can't imagine improvising a break over Cuckoo's Nest. What am I going to add? It will just show me up as a pretentous chump. 

I mean, improvise all you want over Fisher's Hornpipe, Rickett's Hornpipe, St. Anne's Reel, Liberty, Soldiers Joy or any of the many stolid honest four square tunes so many of us play - heck I don't know if there is a "right" version of them. But but don't touch Cuckoo's Nest, Wild Rose of the Mountain, Cat Out of the Bag, Sandy Boys, or The Cat that Kittled in Jamies Wig - they are too good as they are.

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## woodwizard

quote: For Blake fans, how about Muddy Creek and Callahan. #Both fun, sprightly tunes.

Greenwillis is another good one... 
******
Also ...Valley Head, White Oak Swamp, Willow's Creek and Nancy's Hornpipe #are pretty fun ones to play. I especially like to play #Nancy's Hornpipe because of the cool 4 parts to it.  He has so many good ones.

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## Clyde Clevenger

School starts on Tuesday, so yesterday I was feeling a little down about my last Friday off for a while. Decided to pick a few on the front porch. I think the devil go into me as I grabbed my Weyman banjolin off the wall and hauled it out front. I started in playing a couple of old time sets and to my surprize, it sounded great, even the neighbor kids liked it. I've been bad-mouthing the little beastie for years and here comes Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine and the Rockies just pouring out like they belonged. I'm still stunned.

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## Jean Fugal

&gt;&gt;GreenLeaf Fancy is a good one. Crooked as all-get-out, which makes it cool. &gt;&gt;

I think it just sounds crooked. I could be wrong though.
Still, like you say "a good one"

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## Dan Krhla

Cherokee Shuffle from Butch's book. There is a phrase in the B part about 1/2 way thru that sounds ok when he plays it but seems unnatural & wrong when I play it. Seems like you get a little groove going then kill it with some odd-timed notes. 

Hoping to be able to play it more gooder one day.  

Also on the chords to that the F#m is a blast!

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## Clyde Clevenger

> &gt;&gt;GreenLeaf Fancy is a good one. Crooked as all-get-out, which makes it cool. &gt;&gt;
> 
> I think it just sounds crooked. I could be wrong though.
> Still, like you say "a good one"


Jean is right, it's not crooked, I just had ... to...learn....to.....count...to.ah... four. Once I got that counting business down, it all fits in the 4s.

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## tango_grass

The Mouth Of The Tobique, a traditional French Canadian tune, inspired to try it by Patrick Street, and the Celtic Fiddle Festival, a la Kevin Burke. Works great on mandolin.


http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/423

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## mandozilla

Cherokee Shuffle, June Apple, Lonesome Fiddle Blues, and Dixie Hoedown (or is that actually a banjo tune?). I've got a lot of irons in the fire right now...I'm so confused. #

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## Stephanie Reiser

St. Anne's Reel (the Canadian version)
Whiskey Before breakfast
Angeline The Baker
Red Haired Boy
Brilliancy (which may not really be a fiddle tune)

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## David M.

> Quote (jpf @ Aug. 30 2008, 10:18) 
> &gt;&gt;GreenLeaf Fancy is a good one. Crooked as all-get-out, which makes it cool. &gt;&gt;
> 
> I think it just sounds crooked. I could be wrong though.
> Still, like you say "a good one" 
> 
> Jean is right, it's not crooked, I just had ... to...learn....to.....count...to.ah... four. Once I got that counting business down, it all fits in the 4s.


Are yall sure? I just counted it in my head (no recording handy at the moment) and it's not coming out square in the B part. Something happens at the end of the B part that's not coming out square. A part is square, though. Maybe it's because I've not had coffee yet or something. Don't know.

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## Denny Gies

The "Arab Bounce" in the key of A.

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## Amandalyn

anybody play Limerock? Is it usually done in key A?

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## JeffD

Hope has her new tune of the month up - and its a beauty. I heard this at several OT jams last few festivals, sucked it all up with my digital recorder and saved it off on my lap top to learn it later. I think I will bump it up in priority.

So many tunes, so little time.

http://www.happyhollowmusic.com/tuneofthemonth.htm

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## PaulD

I was told at a jam last weekend that nobody wants to hear fiddle tunes. Oh well... that's not going to stop me from playing them! 

I don't know Salt Creek or Bill Cheatum, which seem to come up quite a bit so I want to learn them (started Salt Creek on the fiddle last night). I also need to learn Drowsy Maggie since every time I mention Irish/Celtic to non-Celtic players they seem to know that (it's harder to find someone to jam on The Kid On The Mountain or Atholl Highlanders).

I've also been constantly reworking Whiskey Before Breakfast... I've been playing it for years but I keep coming up with new ideas. I wish I were playing enough to be learning even 1 or 2 new tunes a month. When I do play it seems I spend quite a bit of time resurrecting tunes I used to be able to play at speed.

pd

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## Hallmark498

1. East Tennessee blues
2. Amandolin

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## Joe F

"Arkansas Pullet" has recently started making the rounds at the local old-time jams. #Great tune!

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## Kevin Briggs

I'm working on:

1. Brown County Breakdown (Kenny Baker version)
2. Four Leaf Clover

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## JeffD

> I was told at a jam last weekend that nobody wants to hear fiddle tunes. Oh well... that's not going to stop me from playing them!


I think there are folks who think that. But even the general public, when I out with a nice tune, responds with enthusiasm. Perhaps the truth is, nobody wants to hear a boring fiddle tune. But a good tune, with its own melodic drama, a little tension, a little resolution, who can resist?

We played Spotted Pony the other day, and it was shock and awe at the coffeehouse. We were hot. We committed spontaneous harmony. We played just that tune, for what seemed like an eon - we had the audience hypnotized. 

But then again, Spotted Pony is a great tune. My new obsession. A tune I can immediately get a lot of energy behind. I think when a tune by itself seems to energize the musicians, the audience (or in our case bystanders) can't help but love it.

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## PaulD

> Originally Posted by  (PaulD @ Sep. 03 2008, 08:38)
> 
> I was told at a jam last weekend that nobody wants to hear fiddle tunes. Oh well... that's not going to stop me from playing them!
> 
> 
> I think there are folks who think that. But even the general public, when I out with a nice tune, responds with enthusiasm.


I agree... I think the statement was actually being quoted as coming from another guy who's a decent guitar picker but prefers Bluegrass and old Grateful Dead songs. I think if you're putting together a set it's good to mix it up... songs, fast tunes, slow tunes, tunes with different timing, etc. 

I'll have to add Spotted Pony to my list of things to learn. I think I've got recordings of it, but I don't recall hearing it at local jams. Last night I worked on Langstrom's Pony a little bit (a jig in 4 parts) and then spent the rest of the evening trying to be disciplined and do FFcP exercises. So much for working on the jam tunes I listed above!

Paul

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## Joe F

[QUOTE= (JeffD @ Sep. 04 2008, 09:30)]


> But then again, Spotted Pony is a great tune. My new obsession. A tune I can immediately get a lot of energy behind. I think when a tune by itself seems to energize the musicians, the audience (or in our case bystanders) can't help but love it.


There's an interesting little twist I like to throw into "Spotted Pony". #I learned it a couple of years ago from one of the local fiddlers.

In the A part (or B part in some regions), there's a scale progression D-E-F#-G (0-2-4-5 on the D string). #Every once in a while, I'll play D-C#-C-B (5-4-3-2 on the A string) instead. #It adds an interesting contrast to the tune, and sounds pretty good with everyone else playing the "normal" way.

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## JeffD

> In the A part (or B part in some regions), there's a scale progression D-E-F#-G (0-2-4-5 on the D string). #Every once in a while, I'll play D-C#-C-B (5-4-3-2 on the A string) instead. #It adds an interesting contrast to the tune, and sounds pretty good with everyone else playing the "normal" way.


Woo hoo! I just tried it and I like it.

I like tunes that are deceptively simple. They are like elegent line drawings or charicatures, where a couple of lines and squiggles evoke a whole picture.

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## Uncle Choppy

> I like tunes that are deceptively simple. They are like elegent line drawings or charicatures, where a couple of lines and squiggles evoke a whole picture.


That comment eloquently summarises the Norman Blake stuff to me.

It seems almost overtly rustic, naive and straight ahead in it's joyous simplicity on first listening. Yet when you try and learn it, there's so much more than first meets the ear!

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## Mike Snyder

OP here, just wanting to thank all the posters to this thread for all the great tune suggestions. I may never have tried Spotted Pony or The Cuckoos' Nest without your tips, and that surely would have been my loss. Thanks. I'm a goin to Winfield next week to hang with the dulcimer crowd and try out my new licks.

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## sgarrity

How about Dubuque?  That's one I had forgotten about.  I still need to learn the Cuckoo's Nest.

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## raulb

Liberty
Swallow Tail
Red Wing
Around the Horn

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## Jon Hall

I've been learning "Cattle In The Cane" and "The Mineola Rag". "Cattle" is easy but the rag is fairly difficult for me.

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## John Ritchhart

Bonaparte's Retreat - Aly Bain

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## JeffD

> Bonaparte's Retreat - Aly Bain


I like the Emerson Lake and Palmer version - 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0FuFfcCZiE

 :Disbelief:

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## John Ritchhart

> I like the Emerson Lake and Palmer version


 Yikes that's sick. 180 from Aly Bain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNigFpaBBf8

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## Jonas

I've picked on:
Natchez Under the Hill
Cumberland Valley Reunion

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## evanreilly

*My latest fiddle tune project is "Waiting for the Federals".*

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## JeffD

Doesn't "Waiting for the Federals" have another name? I forget now, but I think I play it under another name, because someone once said, "oh, that is also called "waiting for the federals".

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## Mike Snyder

If fiddle rags is your thing, I can highly recommend The Old 78s. They are recording some very obscure and wonderful stuff these days and it is not your run-of-the-mill fiddle music. Usually just Curly on the fiddle and Carole Ann on a Baritone banjo that appears to have too many strings. I heard that they about wore the legs off of the contra crowd a week or so ago in Mtn View Ar. NFI. Visit them on the web. Carole Ann asked me my name on Thursday nite at Winfield and saw me on Saturday, ran me down, called me by name, and gave me a button/badge thingy. Really, really nice people with huge talent. Some of you must have been out in Oxford and learned some new tunes. Titles folks, give me titles!

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## Fred Keller

JeffD:

IIRC, Waiting For the Federals is also known as the Seneca Square Dance.

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## John Hill

The Fun's All Over (thank you Jim Richter)
Is Old Ebeneezer Scrooge a fiddle tune?

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## sgarrity

I learned The Fun's All Over thanks to Jim Richter too.  That's a great tune and Climbing the Walls should be required listening for any Compton fan.
Old Ebeneezer Scrooge is one of my favorite Monroe tunes.  That fourth part really gives the pinky a workout!

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## mandogreg2

I'm learning a nice version of Red Wing in G from Tony Williamson's cd My Rocky River Home. He puts in a lot of interesting double stops. Also working on Big Sandy River in A. Good sounding tune and not too hard to play.

Greg

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## Mike Buesseler

One of, if not my most, favorite tunes (it's newly written, but definitely old-time, IMO) is "Fred Digs Up A Hornet's Nest," written by our own Fred Keller.  You can hear it in the MP3 section.  There's tab floating around here somewhere, too.  Just a great tune!  I never tire of playing it (and I got to play it WITH Fred, himself!).

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## bgjunkie

MikeB:

If you find the tab for "Fred Digs Up A Hornet's Nest" can I get a copy of it?  What a great tune!

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## John Hill

> I learned The Fun's All Over thanks to Jim Richter too. That's a great tune and Climbing the Walls should be required listening for any Compton fan.
> Old Ebeneezer Scrooge is one of my favorite Monroe tunes. That fourth part really gives the pinky a workout!


Yeah, The Fun's All Over is...well...fun because there's so much room to interpret and kind of go crazy.

I cheat on the 4th part of Old Ebennezer Scrooge and have worked out a pattern using open strings instead of the 7th fret pinky workout. I can't get it smooth enough and sound like I'm falling down, plus I like the way it sounds on the open strings...noisesome in a pleasant kind of way.

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## JeffD

:Smile:   :Mandosmiley:  


> JeffD:
> 
> IIRC, Waiting For the Federals is also known as the Seneca Square Dance.


Yes yes, thank you. I love that tune.


Just like Western Country is also Sally in the Garden, is also Susananna Gal. Or at least they are the same tune when I play them.

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## Mike Crater

Paddy on the Turnpike
Done Gone
Billy in the Lowground
Monroe's Hornpipe
Kentucky Mandolin

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## Mike Scott

My latest is "Whiskey Before Breakfast" about to start on Cherokee Shuffle.  Just a newbie working through the "Fakebook".   :Mandosmiley:

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## woodwizard

Well yesterday and today it has been another great Norman Blake tune called "Callahan" 
Love it!

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## Stephanie Reiser

My newest fiddle tune project is Sedi Donka, which is a Bulgarian tune. I think it was Jamie Stanek who had posted the link to it, and I printed it out. Has the strangest tempo which I am still trying to solve:
SQQ.SQQ.QQSQQ
This reminds me of the one Thile and Marshall perform on their last record.

Edit: Whoops! I just perfromed a search, and found that JGARBER had posted that music.

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## sgarrity

Callahan.....another great tune.  I've never found anyone else to pick that one with.  But I still play it all the time.

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## AlanN

Soppin The Gravy (Little Betty Brown), in D chord. Deceptively simple, as all the good ones are. Allows for nice note selection, like a well-placed B note here and there.

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## Joe F

A G tune that's been making the rounds lately in old-time jam circles here is "Knock Around the Kitchen Until the Cook Comes Home."  It has an ABAC pattern;  the B part is a variation of the A part but an octave lower, and the C part is short and very crooked.  It can be heard on the Foghorn Stringband's CD "Boombox Squaredance."

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## OlderThanWillie

Two tunes that have me playing them over & over until I get them right: _Smokey Mountain Schottische_ from Skip Gorman's Monroesque CD and Norman Blake's _Spinning Wheel._

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## woodwizard

> Callahan.....another great tune.  I've never found anyone else to pick that one with.  But I still play it all the time.


***
Yep! I really like that one. It might just be me but doesn't that first part remind you of Grey Eagle just a little bit?  :Smile:

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## doc holiday

Cousin Sally Brown, taught to me on the guitar by Scott Nygaard & Bob Holt's  version of Acorn Hill Breakdown.

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## woodwizard

Been working on some variations of "The New Five Cents". That's a great traditional old time fiddle tune. I really like it.  :Smile:

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## Ivan Kelsall

Ricky Skagg's tune "Monroe Dancin' " of his 'Brand New Strings' CD. Of course it's a vehicle for Ricky's Mandolin playing,but it's mainly fiddle & a terrific tune. Another 2 that ARE  fiddle tunes,are one of my favourite Monroe tunes, "Big Sandy River" & another 'classic' by Jim & Jesse, "Dixie Hoedown". I've been playing both on Banjo for ever it seems, & as they are amongst my favourite tunes,it's only natural that i play them on Mandolin as well,
                                                                               Saska  :Mandosmiley:

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## WindinBoy

Working on *Dill Pickle Rag* from the fiddlers fakebook. Lays out well for the mandolin, and sort of fun.

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## David M.

> Been working on some variations of "The New Five Cents". That's a great traditional old time fiddle tune. I really like it.


I use to have a cool version of that tune that James Bryan did on fiddle.  Found it online somewhere, but can't seem to locate it there or on my computer.

It is a cool tune.

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## TWINGDAE

Tunes in Em... 
Pelican Reel
Unfortunate Rake
Ingonish Jig

And for Hallowe'en ...Peek-A-Boo Waltz

----------


## Tom C

Having fun with "Huckleberry Hornpipe"

----------


## AlanN

Town & Country Fiddler, using Bush's version as a guide.

Not for the faint-hearted.

----------


## JeffD

I have just started getting into "Waltz for Bill Monroe", a beauty from Butch Baldassari. 

The tune as some nice dramatic moments, and if I slow down and delay the resolution, it can really get to you.

----------


## woodwizard

Alright ... my new "old" ones now:  :Smile: 

Oklahoma Twister
Twinkle Twinkle
John Brown's March
Oklahoma Redbird (is the latest one I'm working on) Great Tune!
Got the first 3 up to tempo pretty good ... I'll get there on the last one before long.

----------


## Mike Bromley

> Oklahoma Twister


Isn't the second solo a real nutter where you do the run to the seventh fret, all on the E string....

My present fun-one is Parrot/Stiernberg's version of "Nova Scotia", with some lovely first-position antics.  Another one from the MP3 section of the Cafe, which induced me to purchase the CD.  Great stuff.

 :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Susanne

My "new" tunes are:

June Apple
Clinch mtn backstep
Western Country
plus I've been working on Pig Ankle rag for some time but don't seem to get it right... need to work some more :Smile: 

My next new tunes will, hopefully, be Black mountain rag and Grey cat on a Tennessee farm.

----------


## woodwizard

> Isn't the second solo a real nutter where you do the run to the seventh fret, all on the E string....


******************

I love that tune. It's just got a great feel. Yep! It's quick. As you mentioned before though it does have some cool rests in it before another charge.  :Smile:

----------


## JeffD

I do Pig Ankle Rag as a duet with a friend of mine on mandolin - she does chords and I do melody.

We have a lot of fun with it.

----------


## John Ritchhart

The Lover's Waltz by Jay Unger. Casey Willis' playing of this on YouTube was the inspiration to try and learn it. His tone and feeling are hard to match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay_kEmIX794

----------


## Mike Scott

Red Haired Boy and Ashokan Farewell (a beautiful tune imho)

----------


## PineTar

I seem to be drawn to Monroe tunes lately.  I'm currently working on Old Dangerfield and Come Hither to Go Yonder.

----------


## evanreilly

I heard a very good version of "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine' by ThatTharJonesy (?) on YouTube and it hooked me.  I love trying to get the drones and doublestops all in it. Great old-timey tune; thanks Jonesy!

----------


## bgjunkie

I went to the Nashville Old Time String Band Association's (NOTSBA for short) jam the other night and was able to record some of the tunes.  After listening to some I have picked the following to work on:

Old Molly Hare 
Westfork Gals 
Valley Forge

----------


## woodwizard

Well I finally have gotten pretty comfortable with  "Oklahoma Redbird" That's a great tune.
My newest is "Big Country" and working on "Lee Highway Blues"

----------


## Bernie Daniel

> EvanReilly: I heard a very good version of "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine' by ThatTharJonesy (?) on YouTube and it hooked me. I love trying to get the drones and doublestops all in it. Great old-timey tune; thanks Jonesy!


Yes that is a fine version and in fact ThatTharJonesy guy has a lot of good stuff on YouTube -- his body is in Sweden (I think) but his soul is in Kentucky!

I've been hooked on eagle tunes and have been learning:

Grey Eagle 
Tennessee Grey Eagle. and the
Golden Eagle Hornpipe

----------


## JeffD

I have heard something like three tunes that are all called Grey Eagle, and sound totaly different from each other. Not even derivitaves.

----------


## Bernie Daniel

> JeffD: I have heard something like three tunes that are all called Grey Eagle, and sound totaly different from each other. Not even derivitaves.


Yup!  At least three.

----------


## Miked

Sawing on the Strings.

I picked up the Homespun David Grisman Teaches Mandolin book and that's the first song.  It's forcing me to get a spastic pinky a little more under control.

----------


## Shelby Eicher

Garfields Blackberry Blossom
Dusty Miller
Old Dangerfield

----------


## sgarrity

Those are three good ones.  I really want to learn Garfield's Blackberry Blossom.  Mike Compton plays a great version on the NBB's 20 Year Blues recording.

----------


## WindinBoy

Blackberry Blossom and Devil's Dream are two tunes that I could never count among my favorites for some reason. Curious to hear some alternate version of BB. Devil's Dream is good in a medley but by itself I dunno.

----------


## sgarrity

Blackberry Blossom and Garfield's Blackberry Blossom are two different tunes.

----------


## RobP

I have been working on a tune called Raivlin Reel to play and record w/a group of highschoolers in our home school group.  I don't have a recording - had to learn it from the sheet music.  I almost have it up to the fiddle player's pace - boy I wish I could have played that well when I was 17  :Smile: 

Rob

----------


## Sean Greer

Currently working on Bury Me Beneath the Willow.  My instructor worked up a nice simple melody that features a good amount of tremolo, something that I'm just learning to incorporate into tunes.  Oh yea, Long Black Veil is another recent project.

----------


## Steve G

Banish Misfortune.  :Coffee:

----------


## John Ritchhart

I'm now doing Russ Barenberg's "Drummers of England". Not a fiddle tune per se but anytime Aly Bain is playing it's a fiddle tune to me. I love the sound of it and it's easy to play by ear.

----------


## JeffD

I have been playing Glass Island Reel. 

Its a fun tune to learn, but I am sure I will get tired of it soon. Its like Blackberry Blossom, Devil's Dream Hornpipe, Brilliancy, and a few others - fun but not enduring. More sizzle than steak. 

Whereas something like Banish Misfortune, mentioned earlier, or Wild Rose on the Mountain, or Kid on the Mountain, or Pig Ankle Rag, or Maggie Brown's Favorite, or any of a number of equally intense tunes are both flashy and meaty. And I never tire of them. Playing or hearing.

----------


## TWINGDAE

In the Holiday Spirit !
Tremoloooo-ing along...3 of my favorites:

O Little Town of Bethlehem
Away in a Manger
What Child Is This?

----------


## lenf12

I haven't read through this entire post yest but jbrwky mentioned Ali Bain which reminded me that I recently learned "Shove the Pigs Foot Further Into the Fire" from a really good rendition featuring Ali, Bruce Molsky, Phil Cunningham, Jerry Douglas and a bunch of other folks sitting around the living room, playing their hearts out. I think it's a youtube video if you want to do a search for it. It's really worth the effort to find and to learn. Good stuff!!

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

----------


## sgarrity

Do a search for Shove the Pig's Foot.....there's a whole thread about that tune.  It's one of my favorites.  I recorded it and put it on my YouTube page.  Not nearly as good as the Molsky version, but I'm tryin!     :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Stephanie Reiser

Angeline the Baker.

----------


## Mike Bromley

I'm in a Jethro Moment

Kelly Boy Rag

And, though rather not a fiddle tune, I've been stealing some classic Burnsisms from a couple of different versions of Chet Atkins' "Galloping Guitar" where Jethro does everything BUT play off the major scale in D. :Disbelief:

----------


## woodwizard

Shove the Pigs Foot... sure is a cool tune. Sounds pretty cool Shaun. I wish I could find some tab for it. Some new ones for me I've been playing most recently are.

Soppin' the Gravey
Witch of the Wave
Dusty Rose 
and 
Dry and Dusty

----------


## Sean Greer

Haven't been feeling well for the last few days, so I was able to put in some extra time.  I learned Turkey in the Straw over the last two days and began working on Chicken Reel today.

Looking forward to putting in a little less time (and feeling a lot better)...

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

Working on 3:
Soldier's Joy
St. Ann's Reel
Ragtime Annie.
Nice to know that there are more American tunes than just C&W and Bluegrass.....

----------


## Jon Hall

As a New Years resolution I'm learning some tunes that were always too difficult because of the pinky acrobatics. I've found that angling the mando about 45 degrees from my body and lifting the headstock about 45 degrees from horizontal allows me to reach with my pinky without getting tense and stressing my hand, arm and neck.

Rachel's Hornpipe
Forked Deer
Blackberry Blossom

----------


## Michael Barnett

> anybody play Limerock? Is it usually done in key A?


Ah, Limerock, used to play that a few decades ago. GREAT tune! I played it in A. Gonna have to work that one up again. Good luck with it!

Currently trying to improve on these, to play with my boss at our next team gathering in Feb:

Cuckoo's Nest -> Whiskey Before Breakfast is another fav that I've begun working on once again. First heard this medley by The Bonnie Phipps Ensemble before I ever played a note, and it inspired me to pick up the fiddle first, then the mandolin.

Paddy on the Turnpike -> Red Haired Boy

Cheers! 
Michael (who also wanted to name his daughter Amanda Lynn, but was shot down by her mom. Beautiful name!)

----------


## Mike Buesseler

Sandy River Belles, Ed Sweeney's version.  Not sure if this is a fiddle tune, really.  Lots of banjo versions out there.  Works great on mando, though!

----------


## Jim Nollman

jbrwky,

that is one finely produced music video of a truly gorgeous tune, that is exceedingly well played. It doesn't get any better, any where,  than what you guys have produced.

----------


## John Ritchhart

Beluga, I wish I could take credit. That comes from the Trans-atlantic sessions done for the BBC over several years. I think they've done three of them now. You can find them on YouTube. I think Barenberg's playing is great and he wrote Drummers of England which is fun to play. Glad you liked it too.

----------


## Mike Scott

As I continue my "mandolin journey" I thought I would venture into some celtic music so I am just beginning The Kesh Jig.  Seems like mostly all triplets which is kind of cool.  Also in keeping with my Old Time bent, I just started Campbells Farewell to Red Gap.  There is no method to my selections,  I just look at the tab and pick something to work on.   :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Mike Buesseler

> ....The Kesh Jig. Seems like mostly all triplets...


Hey, Mike, I wonder if you are new to jigs?  I never heard The Kesh played with all triplets.  6/8 time has sort of that quality, but you play it differently.  Maybe your version is different, but if not, search here for playing jigs.  It's the DUD DUD DUD (or something similar) picking pattern that you're after.  Volumes have been written here about this subject....  :Smile:

----------


## Mike Scott

Definitely new to jigs.  This is the first one.  I must be dumb lucky or something, because I am playing it dud dud dud etc.  It seemed the logical thing to do.  The tab isn't handy so I can't say if it is in 6/8 time or what.

----------


## Mike Buesseler

Good work! Definitely 6/8 time.  There are thousands of great jigs to play once you get the basic feel....

----------


## karlssoni

Virgin Pullets

----------


## AlanN

Miller's Reel in A chord. The first part can be substituted with the A part from Monroe's Hornpipe, with a tweak or 2.

And, to commemorate the day, 8th of January, such as Dawg's cool solo on T. Rice Rounder record. As a matter of fact, if they call out for requests tonight , I'll shout this one out:

On Thursday, January 8, the Pickin’ A Bluegrass All-Star Jam is coming to Raleigh. The lineup for this one-night only concert reads like a “Who’s Who” of bluegrass musicians, featuring almost 20 multi-award winning artists, including Rob McCoury, Terry Baucom, Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland, Josh Williams, Dale Ann Bradley, Steve Gulley, Kim Fox, Rob Ickes, Missy Raines, Alan Bibey, Mike Compton, Phil Leadbetter, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Tim Stafford, and Mike Bub. These incredible musicians will take the stage together in a song-circle format hosted by Cindy Baucom, the 2005 IBMA Broadcaster of the Year for the nationally syndicated radio show “Knee Deep in Bluegrass.”

----------


## bones12

Today it is  the Eighth of January, in two weeks it might be the Twenty-Eighth of January. Doug in Vermont

----------


## woodwizard

My new one is ... Sally Johnson ! ... I love that tune. There is a cool old b & w youtube out there of Clark Kessinger playing it. It's worth watching. As a matter of fact it looked like Jimmy Driftwood introducing him at a talent show. Anyway it sure did look and sound like him.  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Eric Platt

Hi,

First post here.  Working on Witch of the Wave from Ryan's Mammoth Collection.  Quickly discovered that it's different than Norman Blake's version, which I already play on guitar.  May end up with a hybrid of both versions by the time it's under my fingers.

----------


## woodwizard

Welcome to the cafe Eric. There's a cool tab version of "Witch of the Wave" at mandozines/tabedit. Norman style. 
Just finally learned a little simple tune I really like today after watching as many youtubes of it as I could find. "Shove the Pigs Foot a Little Further Into the Fire"

----------


## Eric Platt

Woodwizard,

Thanks for the welcome.  I've been playing Norman's version of "Witch" for years on the guitar.  Actually have a couple of different transcriptions of the tune.  But I was working on sightreading and grabbed my copy of Ryan's just to find a tune.

Oh, and thanks for the suggestion.  Just grabbed my Mid-Mo and got Shove that Pigsfoot back.  

FWIW, I used to play mando a few years ago.  Then quit due to hand issues and being too busy as a guitarist.  Now am trying it again.  So figure they'll be a lot of tunes that come back quickly.  Then will be the slow process of adding to that list.

----------


## Joe F

For the record, Eric is an excellent guitarist and a regular attendee at our local old-time jam circles.  If I'm ever confused about the chords of a new tune, watching Eric's fingers always provides the answer.

I'm glad you're picking up "Shove that Pig's Foot..."  We really need to work that one back into our regular tune rotation.

----------


## Eric Platt

> For the record, Eric is an excellent guitarist and a regular attendee at our local old-time jam circles.  If I'm ever confused about the chords of a new tune, watching Eric's fingers always provides the answer.
> 
> I'm glad you're picking up "Shove that Pig's Foot..."  We really need to work that one back into our regular tune rotation.


Thanks Joe.  Although I've been known to crib chords from you also.

It is somewhat surprising "Pig's Foot" isn't popular around here right now.  Maybe it's just the natural cycle of a tune.

----------


## woodwizard

Just learned a few more great old time fiddle tunes. Lovem'! They are: Swinging On A Gate, The Yellow Barber, Denver Belle and Black Mountain Aire. Wonderful tunes.  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Rick Schmidlin

Blackberry Blossom, I can play it on guitar and now I am learning Roland Whites version, next I will work on Sam Bushs. :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Kirk Pickering

Campbell's Farewell To Red Gap   (from Kenny Hall)

Black Hawthorne                          (Norman Blake)

----------


## mandozilla

Not a fiddle tune per se but right now I'm learning "Lonesome Moonlight Waltz" ala Big Mon...I like it and it's easy to play plus, I know I can irritate all the folks at some of the BG jams I attend who think only hyperspeed 2/4 time is BG music HaHaHa  :Laughing: 

 :Mandosmiley:

----------


## AlanN

LMW was a fave of Butch's. I heard him (and picked it with him) play it many times. He did something a bit different with it, too. Where it goes to F major after the 2 bars of Dm, he played the open A string - a small little touch that put his stamp on it.

The B part, rather un-Monroe-ish, was actually written in by Richard Greene (so I've been told).

Fun tune.

----------


## GALVEZMANDO

-The Blackest Crow: very simple to play but when do right it is very pretty

----------


## Mike Snyder

Hail Against the Barndoor, Comin' Thru the Canebreak, Rush In The Pepper. This is the only sensible thread I've ever started. Keep 'em comin', boys and girls.

----------


## WELSrev

My Little Home in West Virginia

The Lament for the Death of the Reverend Archie Beaton

Soldiers Joy ( D ) / Soldiers Sorrow ( B minor ) with Glasgow Reel

Jerusalem Ridge coupled with Elzics Farewell

----------


## ntbols

New Camptown Races in the closed position.

----------


## oldtimestrings

Just recently learned "Old French."  It's a good one.  There's not much room for embellishing the melody, but it's a good workout in arpeggios.

----------


## woodwizard

Uncle Hermans Hornpipe. Great tune! It kinda jumps around like Blackberry blossom but has three parts to it.  :Mandosmiley:   :Smile:

----------


## JeffD

> Just recently learned "Old French."  It's a good one.  There's not much room for embellishing the melody, but it's a good workout in arpeggios.


Thats a great tune. Not much need for embellishment actually.

----------


## doc holiday

"Crockett's Honeymoon"   I heard Scott Nygaard play it and then stumbled on a youtube  version www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FGerT21T6Y with Matt Arcara and several of the Claridge's on fiddle.
A real nice melody.  Lays out well on the mandolin but also sounds great in several octaves on the guitar.  Anyone know of any more classic versions?

----------


## AlanN

Yes to Herman's..always think of Herman Munster on that one.

My new FT today: Night in Tunisia   :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

Working out the kinks in a couple of Rags - Ragtime Annie and The Pig Knuckle Rag.  Fun, lively tunes...

----------


## TMitchell

Cherokee Shuffle.  After watching Spencer Strickland tear it up, how could I not give it a (very slow) go?

----------


## mandozilla

I'm working on *Paddy On the Turnpike*...the Monroe style version.  :Grin: 

 :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Joe F

*Bound to Have a Little Fun* has been making the rounds in the old-time jam circles here recently.  Fun tune, in G.  The B part has 12 bars instead of 8, making it a bit out of the ordinary.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Farewell to Longhollow and Sally Goodin, and I need to get to an old-time jam to re-inforce the learning of these tunes. It's impossible to lead these fiddle tunes off in a bluegrass jam, call out the chord changes, and not blow the picking when nobody knows and plays them. I know mando players that can teach tunes on the fly, but I'm just not in that league. With a little help, at a manageable speed, ok, but you get a banjo playing the wrong changes, no soap. I've got them onto St. Annes Reel, and some of them onto Cold Frosty Morning, but it's like pulling teeth. I miss Winfield.
Sorry for the whining.

----------


## Charles E.

I have been listening to Fiddlin Doc Roberts and as soon as I finish this response I plan to learn " take those lips away ". A great tune that he played on mandolin. After that , " Jackson Stomp " by Charlie McCoy.

----------


## Gary S

"Take those lips away" Great tune with Fiddlin Doc Roberts playing mandolin. Lately I have been playing Doc Robert's "Brickyard Joe"...Gary

----------


## Taube Marks

Like Clyde (some pages back) I have been listening to Skip Gorman (when is that man going to come to the UK?) and pairing Bonaparte Crossing the Rocky Mts. with Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine , and also am doing "Cowboy Waltz" which is a real sweet tune (you can find it in Kenny Hall's Music Book if you need the notation).


Taube

----------


## woodwizard

Smith's Reel and The Wise Maid are a couple nifty tunes I've just learned.

----------


## woodwizard

> .... it's like pulling teeth. I miss Winfield.
> Sorry for the whining.



I with you on that Mike

----------


## Jim Nollman

learning Morpeth Rant as a jig and then a reel. Maybe a waltz too.

A lot of fun for me, right now,  is taking two tunes, both newly learned, Jamey Allen and Jubilo, and deconstructing each into 4 bar sectons, then randomly mixing up the sections so they become one tune. Just about every combination works fine. Once I master that, I may trying adding St Ann's Reel, which also fits like a glove with these other tunes.

----------


## Stephanie Reiser

I recently added St. Anne's Reel (the Canadian version) that I play on both mando and violin.
My newest fiddle tune is The Musical Priest.

----------


## woodwizard

Sugar In the Gourd  ... A Great! fiddle tune... My newest.  Anybody else pick it?

----------


## Mike Snyder

Lord knows I've tried to pick Sugar, but it keeps turning into Waterbound! You'll have to teach it to me next September.

----------


## Gary S

I play Sugar in The Gourd. My advice is "The way to get the Sugar out is roll the gourd about".

Have a great day...Gary

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

This week it's Ashokan Farewell.  That tune resonates with my soul...

----------


## JeffD

I have renewed my acquaintance with La Bastringue. Great fun tune. That and Reel de Montreal.  Tunes I thought I forgot, and hadn't.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Faded love

----------


## JeffD

Hunting the Buffalo

Found it in Portland book this afternoon, and remembered where I had heard it - Clyde Curly's CD of old timey mandolin.  I can't get enough of this tune. I think I blew out my left index finger playing it.

----------


## Martin

Lonesome Fiddle Blues

----------


## JeffD

Hey folks. Check out Hope's tune of the month this month. Its an old timey classic. I play it, in a few renditions, on mandolin and its pretty awesome.


http://www.happyhollowmusic.com/tuneofthemonth.htm

----------


## Marion Rose

Chattanooga.

----------


## Harlan_55

Some great and downright fun fiddle tunes I have been working up

1. Candy Girl - once you get the groove on this one, you just cannot stop playing
2. Roaring River - great fiddle tune from Georgia, got that real bluesy old timey feel
3. Gallop to Georgia - another Georgia classic
4. Turkey in the Peapatch - Portland Collection Vol II
5. Granny, Will Your Dog Bite - New England Contra-dance tune
6. Hey Little Girl, Do What I Tell You - Portland Collection Vol II
7. Little Rabbitt - another barnburner endless looping
8. Hog Eye - don't know much about this but is fun to play
9.Georgia Railroad - another in the georgia theme 
10. Squirrle Heads and Gravy - it's making the rounds through all the jams here, fun tune

Celtic Fiddle tunes

1. Swallowtail Jig - Morrison's - Drowsy Maggie ( Em set played lots in local sessions)
2. Foxhunter's - The Kid On The Mountain  ( slides with a distinctive feel )
3. The Banshee - Blarney Pilgrim - Blackthorne Stick
4. Cooley's -Merrily Kiss the Quaker-Over the Moor To Maggie
5. Sid Chalmers - Mucking In Geordies Byer - Haste To The Wedding
6. O'Keefe's Slide - Road To Lisdoonvarna-Trip To Sligo
7. The Bucks of Oranmore
8. Caroan's Concerto
9. Balleydemonds - Breeches Full O' Stitches - Denis Murphy's - Egan's
10. The Butterfly - Drops of Brandy - Old Wife of Coverdale

----------


## JeffD

Sullivan's Hollow.

What a tune. Its got me in its tractor beam and I can't seem to do anything but play it over and over and over.

----------


## TWINGDAE

Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine

----------


## Gary S

Sullivan's Hollow...I was just playing that this morning...Gary

----------


## JeffD

> Sullivan's Hollow...I was just playing that this morning...Gary


Isn't a fun tune.

----------


## Pete Counter

The week before last I learned "Temperance Reel", Last week it was "Sailor's Hornpipe", This week I learned "Lost Indian". Im having a great time with fiddle tunes lately.

----------


## Kate D.

My current new old time fiddle tune is "Folding Down the Sheets". 
In fact I think I'll shut the lid on this laptop right now and play it!

----------


## Mike Buesseler

My favorite version of "Sullivan's Hollow" is played on fiddle by Uncle Earl.  I can never get that flavor, on a slower tune, played on mandolin.  Anyone care to post his/her version here for a little inspiration?

----------


## JeffD

> My favorite version of "Sullivan's Hollow" is played on fiddle by Uncle Earl.  I can never get that flavor, on a slower tune, played on mandolin.  Anyone care to post his/her version here for a little inspiration?


While I do love the playing of Rayne Gellert, the version of "Sullivan's Hollow that inspired me is from a CD called Mississippi String Bands volume 2, and the tune is played by Leslie and Hendrix Freeny of Freeny's Barn Dance Band, recorded in December of 1930.

Freeny plays it faster than Uncle Earl, but not fast by any fiddle tune standard. Just enough to go from meditative to moving, but not fast enough to change time zones.

I am still working it over and over. I use a lot of double stop tremolo on those longer crooked pauses.

I liken the tune to a spring creek, full of exhuberance but pooling up every 100 feet or so.

----------


## woodwizard

President Garfield's Hornpipe and President Grant's Hornpipe (2) Gooderns!

----------


## AlanN

> President Garfield's Hornpipe and President Grant's Hornpipe (2) Gooderns!



Oof....Garfield on the B part...Oof.

----------


## Barbara Shultz

> Hey folks. Check out Hope's tune of the month this month. Its an old timey classic. I play it, in a few renditions, on mandolin and its pretty awesome.
> 
> 
> http://www.happyhollowmusic.com/tuneofthemonth.htm


Hey, that's a cool site!  We play that tune, have just known it as "Sally in the Garden"..... it's one of our favorites!  I play it on either the mando or OM.... 

Barb

----------


## woodwizard

> Oof....Garfield on the B part...Oof.


hey Alan ...actually the A part was kinda tricky for me getting it up to speed  with that little down-down thing going on. The B part was pretty down-up down-up all the way. The B part is pretty tho ain't it? Both are fun President Hornpipes.

----------


## JeffD

> Hey, that's a cool site!  We play that tune, have just known it as "Sally in the Garden"..... it's one of our favorites!  I play it on either the mando or OM.... 
> 
> Barb


The most mournful version I have heard of this tune is on Kathy Mattea's album "Coal". Its a solo banjo, at a slow temp, and if you listen to the cuts off the album in order (who does that anymore?), you will experience some powerful stuff. The tune by itself is moving, but in context it really glues together the song before it and the one after.

----------


## AlanN

> hey Alan ...actually the A part was kinda tricky for me getting it up to speed  with that little down-down thing going on. The B part was pretty down-up down-up all the way. The B part is pretty tho ain't it? Both are fun President Hornpipes.



Exactly opp. for me. The A part is pretty straight; the B part, with the pinky getting heavy use, is...oof.

Tony Furtado cut a version of it with A. Steffey doing mandolin chores. 'No pinky' Adam does a very nice job on it.

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

Whiskey Before Breakfast... see thread in General Section....

----------


## Mike Bromley

> Whiskey Before Breakfast... see thread in General Section....


Funny!  Same here!

On the other side, Snowflake Reel.

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

Childgrove and Parson's Farewell - for that Renaissance feel...

----------


## JeffD

Childgrove is a great old tune. With some double stops and volume changes you can wring tears out of a rock.

----------


## Jim Nollman

This week learning Earl Haig and Hunting the Buffalo.

The former is real gem. Almost no rhythm to it.  I can imagine it set to a waltz, but I far prefer the "lament" rhythm. Very classical sounding, the B part sounds like something Bach might have used for inspiration. It uses up 3 octaves, just in the A part. Highly recommend learning it from he Alasdair Fraser recording.

The latter tune is very different, a mile-a-minute romp of what sounds (to my ears) to be a straightforward melodic hook. A "hook" is what we used to call such a simple repeated melody when I was writing pop and blues tunes.

----------


## sgarrity

Hunting the Buffalo.....I'm learning that one too.  I've got the A part down, just need to spend some more time listening to the B part.  Chords are the same for both parts.  Two good recordings of this one are Clyde Curley and the Oxymorons and Old time Barndance from Cracker Barrel with Compton on mando.  It's a catchy tune!

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Hunting the Buffalo is a fun tune indeed! Another one we're having fun with lately is Old Yeller Dog Come Trotting Through the Meeting House...very simple but infectiously fun to play.

----------


## AlanN

Miller's Reel.  Just kind of lays under the fangers rill nice....

----------


## sgarrity

Hey Tripp....Isn't Old Yeller Dog.......the same as the Old Grey Mare Came Tearin' Outta the Wilderness???  
I learned that one of off a Norman Blake album.  He's recorded it a few times.  It's a guitar tune for me.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Ola Shaun, welcome back from Mexico!  Yep, same tune only different  :Smile: ...related anyway...we learned it from Rayna Gellert who got it from her dad.  Chords are bit different and less notey melody than ogmctotw.
Blake's versions anyway.

----------


## JeffD

I love Hunting the Buffalo. I learned it from the Portland collection because it "looked" like it would be fun to play. 

I like the Clyde Curly recording - the harmonica really makes that tune come alive.

I do that tune in a duet with another mandolin doing chords and rhythm backup. Those harmonica dips can be immitated in the chords. The result is really fun.

----------


## woodwizard

"Rock the Cradle Joe" ... got it! ... now if I can only get it up to the speed that this dad burn fiddle player I know does it!  :Grin:  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Tripp Johnson

> now if I can only get it up to the speed that this dad burn fiddle player I know does it!


 :Mandosmiley:  :Mandosmiley:  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## woodwizard

> 


Yup!  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Jim Nollman

two more added to my growing agenda, picked up at a session last night:  Mistwald. It has a very catchy descending A part, with obvious classical overtones. Slowing it down to a crawl to learn the melody, and then accentuating certain notes, gives it the distinct feel of a minuet. I love these kind of tunes. Petronella offers a similar example of a classical sounding descending A part.

and then we did Pig Ankle Rag. another one of those mile a minute, chromatic scale tune, in the same ballpark as Ragtime Annie. Without knowing much about it, I'd speculate that it must be from the 1920s. Sounds like something you'd expect to hear on an old recording by Jelly Roll Morton.

----------


## Dennis Ladd

"Paige,"  by IIIrd Tyme Out's own Wayne Benson, I think. It sounds like a classical music study for the mando and uses more of the neck than I ever have before. Now that it's working for me, I can't seem to leave it alone. I'll post tab for it this month sometime. 

Sorry, can't remember what CD it's off of. Of which it's off?

----------


## Mike Buesseler

> Sorry, can't remember what CD it's off of. Of which it's off?


Hey, Dr. Ladd, how about, "which CD it's on?" (assuming it's still there!  :Smile:  )

----------


## TWINGDAE

A few more tunes added to our repertoire...

Little Burnt Potato
The Girl I Left Behind Me 
Under the Double Eagle

----------


## Denny Gies

McKinley's March by Bill Monroe in the key of C.

----------


## Dennis Ladd

Paige  by John Teer  is from "Chatham County Line's "IV" CD - YepRoc YEP-2157.

And it's tabbed right here at the mandocafe.

----------


## Rick Schmidlin

Blackberry Blossom

----------


## Charles E.

A north Alabama tune in the key of  C, ' Monkey on a Dogcart ', via Norman Blake, via Strippling Bro's? Any way great tune.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Shenandoah Falls 
Sandy Boys (by the way, a terrific tune to explore the mixolydian mode)

----------


## Charles E.

> Childgrove is a great old tune. With some double stops and volume changes you can wring tears out of a rock.


I learned Childgrove from Lorraine Duisit in the early 80's and this is the first time I ever heard of anyone else that knows it! Lorraine taught us a cross picking version, droning on the open E string. I love that tune.

----------


## Plectrosaurus

Falls of Richmond from the Mel Bay website. Minor chords and mandolins were made for each other!!!!!!

----------


## sgarrity

Trying to learn Off to California.

----------


## woodwizard

Bill's Dream and Santa Anna's Retreat

----------


## AlanN

Thonatossa by Aubrey Haynie

and Sam's take on Snowflake Reel.

----------


## Fred Keller

Forty Miles From Georgetown Without Any Whiskey.  Sometimes you just gotta learn a tune because of the title  :Laughing:

----------


## Jim Nollman

I play Childgrove in my contra dance band of two fiddles, concertina, piano, and mandolin. On that tune, my primary job on mandolin is to stagger short 3 and 4 note phrases to complement the fiddle melody, but only on the G and D strings, to provide a quasi-baroque counterpoint to the fiddles. My BRW 3-point oval-hole (to the left) is so loud and clear on the bass strings, that it works quite well. I don't think I could pull off those same bass runs with an F hole mandolin. Sometimes we play Childgrove as the first tune, in combination with Sculley's reel. Try it, you might like it.

----------


## woodwizard

Fred Keller quote: 
Forty Miles From Georgetown Without Any Whiskey. Sometimes you just gotta learn a tune because of the title. 

Yup! Aint that the truth... That's why I learned ... Shove the Pigs Foot a Little Further in the Fire and Nail That Catfish to a Tree.  :Smile:

----------


## sgarrity

Don't forget Squirrel Heads and Gravy!  Although it's more of a "new" old-time tune.  But so is Nail That Catfish......

----------


## Oliver R

I'm having a bash at 'Jimmy in the swamp' & 'Drunken Landlady' (not together of course)

----------


## Harlan_55

I've recently starting working on ; Grey Cat On A Tennessee Farm, Black Widow Romp, Grey Eagle, Little Rabbit, Big Eyed Rabbit, Ducks On The Millpond, Ducks On The Pond,  and John Brown's Dream.  

I am thinking Old McDonald would have approved the farmyard tune list :-D

Those G fiddles are totally fun to play but the names are even better ( Nail Catfish, Shove Pigsfoot, Squirrel Heads &,  Etc)

----------


## man dough nollij

Aren't those in the key of EIEIO?

----------


## JeffD

> Fred Keller quote: 
> Forty Miles From Georgetown Without Any Whiskey. Sometimes you just gotta learn a tune because of the title. 
> 
> Yup! Aint that the truth... That's why I learned ... Shove the Pigs Foot a Little Further in the Fire and Nail That Catfish to a Tree.



I am loving this one: 

"I Love My Wife As Well As Anybody, But When My Back's Turned She's Hugging Everybody".  

Its actually a quite simple tune, but very addicting.

----------


## woodwizard

Magpie and Indian Ate a Woodchuck are my new ones. Both are great OT tunes

----------


## Tripp Johnson

"


> I Love My Wife As Well As Anybody, But When My Back's Turned She's Hugging Everybody". 
> 
> Its actually a quite simple tune, but very addicting.


Fun tune!

Magpie has been in heavy rotation (again) around here, I love how tunes just kind of come and go in and out of popularity.

----------


## TWINGDAE

With western swing and cowboy music influences... 

Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor

----------


## mikeyes

Currently working on James Bryan's _Chicken in a Snowbank_, Tim O'Brien's _First Snow_ (do we detect a pattern here?) and _Salt River_.  All great tunes.

----------


## Mike Bunting

> Forty Miles From Georgetown Without Any Whiskey.  Sometimes you just gotta learn a tune because of the title


Where did you find that one? I'm looking for some oldtime repetoire and that sounds like a great one from the title alone.

----------


## Mike Romkey

Ashland Breakdown ... and if that doesn't count, Forked Deer (which here in Iowa is commonly referred to as Forked Deere).

----------


## Fred Keller

Mike:

Forty Miles... is in the "Dear Old Illinois" collection authored in part by Gary Harrison.  Can't recall where I got it but it's a lot of fun.

----------


## David M.

> Currently working on James Bryan's _Chicken in a Snowbank_, Tim O'Brien's _First Snow_ (do we detect a pattern here?) and _Salt River_.  All great tunes.


That James Bryan tune is great.  I play that on fiddle.  Still need to get First Snow down.

Currently working on:  Polkas.  *Red Hills Polka* (Bob Holt).  *Barn Dance Polka* (Art Stamper).  I'm filling in on fiddle for some friends' band and we play a wedding dance in Aug. and need a couple of polkas in our pockets.  I only currently know 2 or 3 (Jenny Lind /John Ryan's).  Fun stuff.

----------


## Joe F

"Indian Squaw" has been making the rounds of the local jams.  Terrible title but a great tune.  A recording by Jake Krack is the main source for this one.

----------


## woodwizard

Avalon Quickstep
Ook Pik Waltz
Ft. Smith Breakdown
Granny Does Your Dog Bite ...

Some new ones for me that I think are very fun to play.

----------


## Mike Snyder

I LOVE Ook Pik Waltz! I've been working on a few from Jack Tuttle's website. Connamarra is kinda neat. Monroe's Hornpipe and Old Dangerfield are still rough. That Monroe stuff ties me in knots.

----------


## woodwizard

On Monroe's Hornpipe I pretty much use all up down strokes and keep it even. It usually is played kinda fast. Do the same thing on Old Dangerfield too. I sometimes have a hard time doing Monroe's stuff when it's suppose to be played with all down strokes. I usually cheat on those. I love the Ook Pik Waltz too... sure is a pretty tune.

----------


## Plectrosaurus

My last two are Falls of Richmond and Swallowtail Jig. Not good enough to put on YouTube yet.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Learning Kitchen Girl and Tombigsbee Waltz. I immediately noticed that the A part of KG somewhat resembles the start of "Rhapsody in Blue"?

----------


## AlanN

Cedar Hill, by Dawg. Someone re-posted a vid of Dave Harvey and Tim May playing this number, got me back into it. Dave Peters deftly tabbed out Mike Marshall's improv over the changes from the Mondo Mando recording. Great stuff. At the end, the band modulates to A major, and the opening line is like Devil's Dream.

----------


## David M.

> Learning Kitchen Girl and Tombigsbee Waltz. I immediately noticed that the A part of KG somewhat resembles the start of "Rhapsody in Blue"?


The B part to Kitchen Girl is one of the parts in *Hobart's Transformation*, pretty much.

I'm currently on *Cranberry Rock* that I got from Jimmy Triplett.  Cool, VERY crooked C tune.  Been learning it on fiddle and just tried it today on mando and it's every bit as cool.

----------


## sgarrity

Let's hunt some buffalo.....

----------


## fatt-dad

I'm learning "Sligo Creek."  Find it on YouTube, the version with the red-haired girl on fiddle and the dude on accordian.

f-d

----------


## Tbone

> The B part to Kitchen Girl is one of the parts in *Hobart's Transformation*, pretty much.
> 
> I'm currently on *Cranberry Rock* that I got from Jimmy Triplett.  Cool, VERY crooked C tune.  Been learning it on fiddle and just tried it today on mando and it's every bit as cool.


I thought Hobart's Transformation only had 2 parts? From the fiddler's fakebook, it's just got an A and B part. 

But yea, the B parts of each tune are almost identical. I like to play an f natural in the B part of Hobart's to set them apart. YMMV.

I also just started working on Chinquapin Hunting. Great tune.

----------


## woodwizard

Cowboy's Dream
Camp Chace
Redbird (Clark Kessinger's version)
Ebeneezer
Whiskey On the Corn Liquor Steel

----------


## Gary S

Great tunes Woodwizard. Is that last tune similar to the Skillet Lickers "Liberty off the corn licker still"?

----------


## Mike Snyder

Paddy on the Turnpike
Blue Jig

----------


## onassis

St. Anne's Reel

----------


## Caleb

I'm about to start working on Angeline the Baker. I want to make a medley of Whisky Before Breakfast, St Anne's Reel and Angeline the Baker. St Anne's Reel has been a finger-buster for me. 
 :Whistling:

----------


## AlanN

SAR can be made reEl purty by sub-ing a Bm in the B part. There's a Chris Thile version I am always working on, where he gets this flurry of triplets in the last 4 measures - it ain't easy.

My new (old) tune: Dysentary Stomp, which I always come back to. The combination of dark (first part) and light (2nd part) makes for a humdinger of a tune.

----------


## mandopete

> SAR can be made reEl purty by sub-ing a Bm in the B part.


SAR?  You mean Stan's Reel (as they call it in Canada) ?

----------


## Mike Bunting

Glory at the Meeting House
Squirrel Heads and Gravy
The Dark Island

----------


## eadg145

I was lucky enough to sit in on a mandolin workshop with Matt Flinner when he came through a little over a week ago, and he introduced me to [Cold] Frosty Morning.  So that's what I've been playing lately.  Nice tune, and getting to be topical pretty soon, I'll bet.

cheers,

David

----------


## farmerjones

Woodchopper's (in D)

----------


## woodwizard

> Great tunes Woodwizard. Is that last tune similar to the Skillet Lickers "Liberty off the corn licker still"?


Yes... same tune Gary by the Skillet Lickers...I just said the tune title wrong. Been working on this one with our fiddle player who knows it quite well. Thanks

----------


## JeffD

[QUOTE=sgarrity;724372]Let's hunt some buffalo.....


Great tune. Seems like you don't have to work on it, you got it down.  :Grin: 


 I hadn't heard before. This is the "Hunting the Buffalo" I am familiar with.

----------


## sgarrity

Is that from Clyde Curley's recording?  They are very similar.  the version I learned is just a little more simple and raw, if you will.  I learned it from the Old Time Barn Dance recording from Cracker Barrel.  Mike Compton on mandolin and David Grier on guitar.  It's a great instrumental recording if you can find it.  Thanks for the kind words!

----------


## JeffD

> Is that from Clyde Curley's recording?  !


Yes. I love that album.


Playing them back to back I can see they are similar.

----------


## woodwizard

That's a great! tune that I'm going to have to learn. Good picking Shaun and awesome mp3 ...thanks

----------


## TWINGDAE

Earl Mitton's Breakdown
Polar Bear Jig
Turkey in the Straw

----------


## Jim Nollman

Finally took the time to listen to Squirrel Heads and Gravy, after hearing so many of you learning that one. I'm hooked, and will have to learn it. 

I know Pig Ankle. After the initial rush of learning it, after a few weeks, I couldn't bear playing it, unless our ensemble  treated it more as a jazz tune than a traditional tune, because it doesn't seem to have any pushes in it to keep it going in a natural fashion. 

I finally have Rights of Man down pat. There's a controversial note in the B part. All the books show it as a D. But my own favorite recorded version shows it as a a definite and very strong sounding E-flat. When I play the tune in my band, the two sight readers do it as a D, and we had a whining scuffle when I insisted they try it as an E-flat. They didn't like it, say it sounds too classical. After tryingit over two different rehearsals, they are starting to warm up to the E flat. 

Also took Jeff's recommendation and learned Wild Rose of the Mountain note-for-note perfect. What a gorgeous tune. The B part reaches across three and a half octaves, and some of the lines end with a 2 bar rest, which sounds very nice when filled with tremolo. Got to love it when played together with Kitchen Girl.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Bullrakers Reel

----------


## Fiddler3

Lisa Lynn Waltz and the Grape Leaf Rag.

----------


## onassis

Starting in on Cherokee Shuffle again, after dropping it for a few weeks. I originally learned it as a slower waltz in G, and now I'm having a devil of a time moving it to A and speeding it up. Also starting Paddy on the Turnpike.

----------


## doc holiday

Half past four :Coffee:

----------


## Stephanie Reiser

Annie MacDonald's Piano

----------


## Mike Black

The Big Footed Man 

That I learned from James Bryan

----------


## woodwizard

Cuffey ! another great old-time fiddle tune in G

----------


## lgc

Fattening Frogs for Snakes.

----------


## sgarrity

Cuffey.....that's one that i was just introduced to.  It's on the To Learn list!

----------


## JeffD

Yearlings in the Canebreak   what a nice tune

http://www.happyhollowmusic.com/tuneofthemonth.htm

----------


## Charles E.

I first heard this from Benton Flippin but here is a version from my friends Joe Newberry and Jim Collier, ' Breaking up Christmas ', just in time for the holidays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNn-v...eature=related

----------


## JeffD

> here is a version from my friends Joe Newberry and Jim Collier, ' Breaking up Christmas ', just in time for the holidays.
> ]


here you go

----------


## Jim Nollman

Our band is taking a second look at Hunting the Buffalo. With two fiddlers carrying the melody pretty well and a concertina and piano holding down the basic rhythm and chords, I have had to create a new mandolin part that doesn't mirror the others, and yet pushes the tune forward. Knowing the melody as well as the fiddlers is only a little bit helpful, since the tune in D resolves on an F# chord for 4 beats and sometimes 8 full beats. That's an awful lot of open space during a dance. 

What seems to work best is a double stop "drone" that moves from D-A-F#, all of which keep a common A note. I pump it on the 2 beat which reminds me a little of Allen Toussaint. It's difficult to do well, especially when the piano starts riffing on something unexpected. And with all the other instruments to compete with, I really do best to be plugged in to my Schertler, to do the moving drone without banging to hard on the bass string.  

I recall  that some of "Canned Heats" best known tunes use much the same pumping drone. It's funny, I always intuited that Canned Heat came at the blues from a unique old-timey perspective. Now, using one of their best known blues tricks in a traditional tune, makes me recognize where they found some important inspiration.

----------


## usqebach

Lately the guys in my group have been wanting me to play some mandolin tunes (I primarily play fiddle) which we've been pairing with a washboard accompaniment (yeah, a washboard!).

I've been working on St. Anne's Reel and Redwing, but also love Liberty, Fisher's Hornpipe, and Turkey in the Straw.

----------


## woodwizard

> Cuffey.....that's one that i was just introduced to.  It's on the To Learn list!


It's a good one Shaun. Just learned "Folding Down the Sheets" and got to try it out Sat. at practice with my OT band. I like it even better.  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## sgarrity

Folding Down the Sheets is an excellent tune.  I learnd to flatpick that one from Robin Kessinger at a workshop.  Sounds great on the mando too!  I'm still working on Cuffey.....

----------


## Dennis Ladd

Soppin' the Gravy. The best version I've ever heard, played by Stuart Duncan (of course) with the Nashville Bluegrass Band on their CD "Waitin' for the Hard Times."

----------


## Mike Black

> Yearlings in the Canebreak   what a nice tune
> 
> http://www.happyhollowmusic.com/tuneofthemonth.htm


Yearlings in the Canebreak is a great tune!!   :Grin:  

I play it with A major chords in the A part.  I like the sound of the major chords and minor melody.

----------


## AlanN

Soppin' The Gravy, what a great number. Mark O'Connor had some nice variations on a recording, forget which one. He is just so logical in his moves, I love listening to him go from A to B.

My new thing is to do the common tunes in other keys, similar to what Emory Lester did on a fiddle tune medley on one of his records. So, Big Scioti (in A), Bill Cheatum (G), Billy In The Lowground (D).

----------


## woodwizard

Love! Soppin the Gravy! Just learned "Old Joe" last nite. Great 'C' tune. I'm gonna try that one with Bill our OT fiddler at our OT picken' session tonite .. I'm pretty sure he knows it already. He always gets tickled when I holler out one to play that I never played with him before. It's all FUN!

----------


## woodwizard

Anyone tried Hogcraft Reel? ... That's a goodern!

----------


## Stephanie Reiser

Kitchen Girl! 
(Though, some may call it bluegrass.)

----------


## woodwizard

> Kitchen Girl! 
> (Though, some may call it bluegrass.)


Kitchen Girl IS an old-time fiddle tune. And a pretty good one that's for sure. A lot of old-time music tends to have that cross over effect in bluegrass.

That's a pretty nice looking mando on your web site that you built. Bet it sounds wonderful.

----------


## Chris "Bucket" Thomas

Sally Gooden!

----------


## JeffD

> Kitchen Girl IS an old-time fiddle tune. And a pretty good one that's for sure. A lot of old-time music tends to have that cross over effect in bluegrass.
> 
> .


Yea that is a great OT tune.

----------


## AlanN

Stoney Point (not to confuse it with Stoney Creek). In G, has a good groove to it, and allows for triplet pull-offs in well-designed places.

----------


## woodwizard

Hanged Man's Reel is my new one ...  There's so many good ole' fiddle tunes out there just waiting to be learned. The bad thing about it is when your learning so many new tunes (at least for me) that if you don't keep playing them from time to time you forget em and have to do a refresher on them again to get the tune back in your head.  I have to hear the fiddle play it to jump start my memory alot of times. Like today we had an OT session and the last time we played we did a new one I had just learned "Folding Down the Sheets" and I nailed it up to speed pretty well I thought but today for the life of me I couldn't get it started for some reason. When I got home I could play it perfect. Guess I just went brain dead there for a moment.

----------


## Jim Nollman

You are so right, Mike. It gets out of hand. I'm up to about 60 tunes right now, and play a bunch every night on my own just to keep them in memory. Some tunes I can get back to immediately.  Some I get back to by playing the chords once or twice, but I have to do that for those songs every time i do them. Some of those, I attempt to recall better by memorizing some unique melodic phrase. then the next time, i start off playing that phrase and the whole thing comes back into focus. Been using that technique lately with Shenandoah Falls and Childgrove. For the life of me, i can't figure out why the block is there at all for these two tunes. The block ALWAYS disappears, if only eventually, when I play them methodically.

I also have the unique challenge of working with a band leader/caller with far more experience than me. Our group usually focuses on some of the same 30 or 40 tunes during our weekly get together. We choose from the same tunes when we play onstage for a sit down audience. But when we do a dance, the leader can't quite call dances to these same tunes we all know. For him, its an issue of having a particular dance and a particular tune melded together in memory after years and years. And this group of dance  tunes (square, contra, line) we play far less frequently, and don't like as much as the ones we do all the time.

We'd like him to ONLY call, or ONLY play, so we can get back to the tunes we all know and love. But he's not quite ready to give up the one or the other. So right now, what he can meld correctly, is what we perform, although ONLY at dances. Last night we had a session with a full sound system. We eventually got to reproduce some semblance of these tunes, but I have to laugh thinking about  the very simple song, "Hot time in the old town" which has one odd F# chord thrown in. The first time we tried it, we were all doing our best trying to figure out what that chord was. Did you ever hear an F#, a Bm, an Em and a C played at the same time? Not such a hot time in the old town, after all.

----------


## JeffD

That is one cool feature of playing music - playing a new tune makes your mandolin into a new instrument, while the tune istelf is a new landscape to inhabit. Its a new car driving in an unfamiliar part of the country.

----------


## Jim Garber

Miller's Reel in G via JP Fraley.

----------


## woodwizard

Been playing Miller's Reel in (A).  Here's a fun one... Norman Blake's version of Sleepy Eyed Joe. I really like that melody. Ofcourse my OT band plays it a completely different way, no resembleness what's so ever.  :Frown:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Green Willis. In D. Great tune at a very fast clip. (118-120 bpm). Love the effect of damping the lower 6 strings while doing a sharp vamp that lets the E strings ring. The lead is played on tin whistle with fiddler playing a harmony.


Over the Ocean Waves. Also in D. A beginners square dance tune, learned by our band to play near the start of a dance to get beginners up and onto the floor.  Played at a medium clip (114 bpm). I feel it needs a 20's jazz vamp rather than the usual square dance oompah, because vamping the standard major chords creates a one-dimensional sound that doesn't really support the fiddler's melody. so I've added some necessary major 7ths in the A part, and even a diminished chord for passing. The B part is way more challenging. I'm devising a one-beat per chord melody which makes use of the double stop 2400 into the fuller chord 2230 (variants of D and F#) that work so effectively in waltzes in D, like Ashokan Farewell and Planxty Fanny Powers. For a final touch, I've added a passage from G to G6 (4253), then quickly into A/ A7 for the turnaround. I do love this new G6 variant (anyway for me its new), although getting my pinky in place still plays havoc on my timing even at medium speed.

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

Eighth of January

----------


## Mike Scott

The very easy (but fun) "cluck old hen"

----------


## onassis

> Eighth of January


+1  :Grin:

----------


## Mike Black

_New Five Cents_    (3 parts in D)

Also called "Buffalo Nickel" in the Ozarks.  From around 1913 when the new money came into circulation.

Learning from my mini-disc recorder, from classes with fiddle great James Bryan.

----------


## raulb

> Eighth of January


Eddie, will you be calling that on Saturday? (that is if we are all not flooded out).  

I'm not sure I know it, but I think I know the Battle of New Orleans.  :Wink:

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

It's the same tune Raul.  I just might call it to be different...

----------


## woodwizard

The Blackest Crow (that I've been playing along with a Bruce Molsky youtube) and Barbra Allen. 
A couple of slow but really pretty tunes. A lot of room for embellishments

----------


## JeffD

Needcase. What a great tune. 

This is one I had years ago and played a lot, and recently had opportunity to dust it off and shine it up.

I couldn't find a mandolin video, but here is as good a version as any:

----------


## JeffD

> Miller's Reel in G via JP Fraley.


That is a goodie.

----------


## woodwizard

"Needlecase" is a good one Jeff. I'm going to try to learn that one if I can find some versions of it to get started. 
I've been playing ... "Goin' to Richmond" the last couple days that's off of Ricky & Kentucky Thunders instrumental CD. 
It's a goodern!   :Mandosmiley:

----------


## chordbanger

> Do a search for Shove the Pig's Foot.....there's a whole thread about that tune.  It's one of my favorites.  I recorded it and put it on my YouTube page.  Not nearly as good as the Molsky version, but I'm tryin!


Thanks for the song.  I learned it this morning on fiddle.  Good one!!!!   :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Just took a listen to Shove the Pig's Foot. I'm always amazed at how I sometimes think i know a lot of tunes. when actually I've only scratched the surface of what's out there. Haven't heard anything I wanted to immediately sit down and learn,  since JeffD made the case for Wild Rose of the Mountain. The Molsky version is not only a good one to learn from, but the whole CD demonstrates high production values. Very nice miking, guys.

----------


## bones12

For at least the next several days, it will be the 28th of January.

         Doug in vermont

----------


## Mike Black

I've been learning and playing a cool tune called *Little Sadie* that I learned from Dave Firestine.  The B part has a weird twist to it that almost makes it sound crooked, but it's not.

I've attached an MP3 of him playing it.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Shove the Pig's Foot. Gotta love that extra little rhythmic jiggle that makes the simple melody ten times more challenging. Also tried playing it together with Kitchen Girl.

----------


## Mike Black

Every time I play Shove that Pigs Foot Further in the Fire, it makes me wanna play Possum Up a Gum Stump

----------


## Jim Nollman

Looks like a good time to call in Kitchen Girl

----------


## Joe F

Some of the tunes in my "To Learn" folder are "New Five Cent Piece", "Five Miles From Town" (Skip Gorman's version; I already have Clyde Davenport's "5 Miles..." down pretty well), "Silver Lake" and "Indian Squaw" (Jake Krack).

My band played "Florida Blues" (Fiddlin' Arthur Smith) in public for the first time last week as a transition tune while our banjo player was retuning, and it was very well received by the audience.  It's a fun tune, and it gives me a chance to use those weird G9 and A9 chords.

I've also been working on "Tanner's Rag", which Eric Thompson taught at the Bluff Country Gathering last year, but that one isn't quite ready for "prime time."

----------


## Jim Nollman

Burnt Potatoes and Garfields Hornpipe.

----------


## gabe

Cuffey, a great old fiddle tune................
gabe

----------


## sgarrity

I just learned Johnny Don't Get Drunk from some YouTube videos.  What a cool tune!
Some friends of mine introduced me the the tune the other night and I had to learn it.

----------


## sgarrity

I've been playing Johnny Don't get Drunk the last few days so tonight I'm learning Needlecase.  There are some benefits to being snowed in!

----------


## woodwizard

"Ship in the Clouds", and the beautiful melody of "The Baltimore Fire" verse and chorus... 
hey! that "Johnny Don't Get Drunk" is a Goodern!

----------


## Mike Black

I'm working on another G tune.  *Roscoe* by Jere Canote

----------


## woodwizard

> I just learned Johnny Don't Get Drunk from some YouTube videos.  What a cool tune!
> Some friends of mine introduced me the the tune the other night and I had to learn it.


Just did the same thing last night. I agree ... Cool tune!  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## buckles

I'm trying to use Finale to help me remember some of the mandolin stuff I'm figuring out.  I used this excellent old Kentucky fiddle tune as the first experiment.  Let's see if the .pdf shows up.  Suffice it to say, when Estil Bingham plays this tune, it's pretty raw.

----------


## Fred Keller

I love that tune, Buckles.  Glad to see there's someone else playing it.  I've been working on Rippling Water by Snake Chapman.

----------


## buckles

Good tune, Fred.  Whilst on the Waters theme, do you know Walking Water by Allen Sisson (pretty crazy sounding owing to the piano player who didn't get quite how to accompany it) but Rafe Stefanini made sense of it when he recorded it on his Glory on the Big String CD.   :Smile:

----------


## Fred Keller

I don't know that tune--I'll go seek it post haste!

----------


## lmartnla

I'll be working on all the fiddle tunes I know the rest of my life, but for new ones I chase down the ones mentioned here.  

I also have a bunch of new ones (for me) that i'm getting from Pete Martin's online books (he only asks $10 for each book, free review)  He has some nice ones I haven't seen anywhere else that are sweet arrangements and give me a good pinky workout.  Also some nice phrasings on old tunes I already know. 

 I recommend these highly.--Look 'em over-----Lou

----------


## JeffD

Money in Both Pockets, and Bus Stop Reel.

Good substantive tunes that are fun to learn while it snows incessently outside.

----------


## woodwizard

"Money Musk" a cool old-time tune my OT band has been playing for a while. Just getting around to learning it. I like the 3 parts to it. Sorry bout the snow Jeff it's just cold, gloomy and rainey here.

----------


## AlanN

Got out Raymond Legere's Common Denominator and am (trying to) playing along with Squirrely Moves. If that tune don't beat all...

----------


## Mandomax

Drunken Billy Goat. The B and C parts are fun stuff

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Drunken Billy Goat...I love it. Another one of those tunes I gotta learn just because of the name of it!  :Smile:

----------


## Gary S

Lately I have been playing "The Boatsman's Song" from Marvin Gaster.I heard it on a very nice cd collection "Going Down to Raleigh String band Music in the North Carolina Piedmont". Marvin is playing the banjo and Rich Hartness is fiddling. 
   I have also been fooling around with "Boatin up Sandy", the Snake chapman version. I guess boats have been my theme of late.
   Money Musk is a great old old tune. I play it in 4 parts.

----------


## Jim Garber

Miller's Reel version by J. P. Fraley. Beautiful lilting tune but hard to play it up to tempo. I work on it daily as much as possible. Ah, someday!!

----------


## onassis

Been working on "Bill Cheatham" for a week now, and just started on "Billy in the Lowground". Stuck in the B's...

----------


## woodwizard

> Money Musk is a great old old tune. I play it in 4 parts.


You're right Gary there is 4 parts to Money Musk. I really like that tune.

----------


## Fred Keller

Learned a new one tonight I can't get out of my head:  Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase by Vance's Tennessee Breakdowners.  good stuff in the key of C, boys and girls.

----------


## Gary S

Great job Fred on the mp3 of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

----------


## Fred Keller

Thanks Gary. Glad you liked it!  I'm available for hire  :Wink:

----------


## woodwizard

"I learned you had a Rock Andy" 
GREAT ole' tune... one my OT band does I'm just learning. The Orphieum Supertones do a great job on youtube of it and Bill our fiddle player got a field recording of them doing it at 2009 Clifftop recently.

----------


## fatt-dad

Here's Twin Sisters, which showed up at a recent jam.  Nice tune!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcQBhJbP5U

(not real sure how to embed, but hopefully the link will work.)

f-d

----------


## buckles

Twin Sisters from the fiddling of Ernie Carpenter, a version of The Boys of Bluehill.

To embed, you click on the little Tube icon in the reply tool bar and paste in only the portion of the link that begins with the = sign, in this case you would paste in

=hEcQBhJbP5U

----------


## fatt-dad

Sarah Johnson's Tune (done by a banjo player, but it's a nice fiddle tune)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiqJgLFmUjM

f-d

----------


## Fred Keller

Those are both great tunes F-D.  I'm a big fan of Twin Sisters and Ernie Carpenter in general, especially Elk River Blues.  GREAT tune, that one.

----------


## fatt-dad

One more - I'm also working on Logan County Blues:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR2I-E2drUQ

Here's a bunch of folks playing it in a parking lot (note: I think that dude's got a Henderson guitar - one day, one day. . .)

f-d

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Hey F-D,  you're gonna have to come pick with us on a Sunday afternoon. 
Twin Sisters and Logan County Blues have been 'go to' tunes for some time and we just added Sarah Johnson's Tune. Great tunes all...

Rachel a.k.a. Texas Quickstep and Washington's March are a couple of other fun D tunes we've been having fun with lately. 

Hogskin is another one..great C tune.

----------


## woodwizard

That ...Twin Sisters... I LIKE! very much

----------


## fatt-dad

Hey Tripp, it was Larry or Bern that came up with these and I hunted down the YouTubes.

Something about Sunday afternoons, but I think of you all pretty much every week.  I'll see you soon, I'm pretty sure.

f-d

----------


## JeffD

Chinquapin

Its infecting my dreams. Dreams of being able to play it. Must give in, must not resist. Resistance is futile, and pointless. 

What a tune!

----------


## sgarrity

Just learned Greasy Coat.  Gotta love those Am tunes.

----------


## woodwizard

Chinkipin Huntin' ! awesome tune! Bill & Dougie play the snott outta that one (fiddles). 
Gotta learn that one too.  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## El Dino

St. Anne's Reel
8th of January
Shady Grove
AR traveler
Spotted Pony
Say Darlin Say - kinda obscure I guess

also, Cold Frosty Morning - does anyone have tabs they like for that one? I just have a real simplified version.. I guess people just make up their own version mostly?
 :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Randy Smith

> also, Cold Frosty Morning - does anyone have tabs they like for that one? I just have a real simplified version.. I guess people just make up their own version mostly?


See the Cafe tablature section.

----------


## AlanN

Not a fiddle tune, per se, but a good one, nonetheless: Young One, off the new Scott Napier recording.

Already in my A.M. practice slot, I hear Jethro and Aubrey, but mostly Scott. A good CD.

----------


## Pete Hicks

Hey Jeff D, you got me hooked on Chinquapin.  It's one of my favorite tunes to play now.  I am learning "Roscoe" from Jerry Lundy right now.

----------


## Bob Buckingham

I knew Jerry Lundy.  What a fiddler!  What a character!  Good tune.  He sure knew plenty of good tunes.

My newest tune is a revisit of Smiths Reel/Belle of Lexington.  I plum forgot it and now I have got back!

----------


## Pete Hicks

Hey Robbob, Rachel is another one Jerry played really great.  I've known Bob and T.J for quite a while and they are wonderful, too.  T.J. played mandolin on some of those recordings.

----------


## fatt-dad

O.K. so now I'm working on Camp Meeting on the Fourth of July too. (p.s., I'm not a lefty, it's the laptop web cam.)

ct>

f-d

----------


## Jim Nollman

My dreams are now being infected (or is enriched?) by two tunes: Reel San Antoine and Round the Horn. I couldn't believe to learn that Round the Horn is relatively newly composed, by Jay Unger who wrote Ashokan Farewell. That guy ought to be revered as our foremost contemporary composer of traditional melodies. Love the chords, and the way the B part starts on the 4 chord, which vaguely remind me of Whiter Shade of Pale or some other 60's British filigree.  

As far as the Reel San Antoine, it's prototypically French Canadian. Fast, brash runs following a set of banging double stops, that take little finesse to play right, but do take an inspired sense of timing to get in the proper spirit of the thing. Love these bold  joyous tunes. Playing it at speed leaves me feeling like i just ran a mile.

----------


## AlanN

Yah, Jay Ungar has a knack for crafting new tunes that sound old. RTH is a dandy, and the guitar needs to pay attention to the chord changes.

----------


## Rob Gerety

Jay and Molly also do some really nice swing stuff.

----------


## JeffD

Reel San Antoine has become all the rage around here. Its a great tune - feels great on the hand.

----------


## Denny Gies

Billy In The Lowground; it finally clicked after years of trying.

----------


## Tracy Ballinger

January Waltz by the Wilders



Simple but beautiful

----------


## Mike Black

> I couldn't believe to learn that Round the Horn is relatively newly composed, by Jay Unger who wrote Ashokan Farewell. That guy ought to be revered as our foremost contemporary composer of traditional melodies. Love the chords, and the way the B part starts on the 4 chord, which vaguely remind me of Whiter Shade of Pale or some other 60's British filigree.


His tune the Wizards Walk (another great tune) has very similar chords to that of Hotel California.  

Last I knew, Jay was in the process of publishing a tune book of all the tunes he's written.  He said that there were over 300 tunes that he's trying to get all together, so it's taking awhile.  That was two years ago when I went to the Ashokan camp.   During that week Jay had a Jay & Molly tune hour.  Jay handed out music to at lest 3 tunes a day during that week.  All of them were super tunes.

----------


## Jim Nollman

January Waltz has that nice fiddle buzz going on. A bit surprised that it doesn't sound anything like April Waltz, which we play all the time at our house.

----------


## Mike Black

My new one today is a cool *C* tune called *Four Cent Cotton*.    Here is a good recording of it from the Carp Camp - Old time in the morning session.

----------


## AlanN

Since Fiddlistics has been in the player recently, it's Ride The Wild Turkey. 3 parts (well, 2 if you count the intro as a separate thing). Wonderful tune, the only trick part is in the B part, meter changes up a bit, and unless you have a bass and guitar who know it, it *can* be a train wreck.

Darol wrote a dandy there.

----------


## Capt. E

Not sure why, but "Blue Eyed Suzie" has grabbed me lately. Lots of room for improvisation and the lyrics are fun.

----------


## JeffD

I am in the thrall of a new tune. The Tune the Old Cow Died On.

Very simple, very delightful, very addictive. And it is an absolute ear worm.

----------


## Jim Nollman

saratoga hornpipe.

----------


## Rob Gerety

Cairo Waltz - Norman Blake.  Lovely.

----------


## Daniel Nestlerode

'Possum Up a Gum Stump

----------


## Mike Bunting

> I am in the thrall of a new tune. The Tune the Old Cow Died On.
> 
> Very simple, very delightful, very addictive. And it is an absolute ear worm.


I love the title and for that I want to learn it, any recordings or something anywhere available?

----------


## DevilishDandolinMan

Skillet Lickers - Devilish Mary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56_JKv6rfKk

----------


## JeffD

> I love the title and for that I want to learn it, any recordings or something anywhere available?


The version I love is on John Kirk's CD Fiddle Tune of the North Country. I found some sheet music on line, but it differs a bit.

----------


## Joe F

My band is working on "Johnson Boys", which is played in C.  Our fiddler uses GDGD tuning with D fingering.  Just for the fun of it, I tuned my old Kentucky (the one that my Clark replaced) to that tuning, and have been playing around with it.  It requires a bit of thought when jumping between the 2nd and 3rd string, and I haven't tried any chords yet, but it's been an interesting experiment.

----------


## gabe

Angus Campbell & Indian Ate a Woodchuck
gabe

----------


## Mike Snyder

Absinthe and Crested Hens. I got dipped pretty deep in Contra sauce Saturday. The Kansas contingent of Carp Camp, minus the Blacks, in Oxford town. Outstanding.

----------


## GVD

> ... The Kansas contingent of Carp Camp, minus the Blacks, in Oxford town. Outstanding.


Mike and Dayle Black or a new exclusionary policy?  :Disbelief:

----------


## Mike Romkey

Lost Indian.

----------


## Mike Snyder

It is my understanding that Memorial Day weekend is the traditional Carp weekend in Oxford, and the Blacks are expected. They have a new baby, so plans can change. Mike frequents the cafe, perhaps he'll chime in. The musicianship at that camp is stellar. I learn tunes by ear, and everyone was gracious in allowing me to go at my own pace.

----------


## woodwizard

Booth Shot Lincoln

----------


## Mike Black

> It is my understanding that Memorial Day weekend is the traditional Carp weekend in Oxford, and the Blacks are expected. They have a new baby, so plans can change. Mike frequents the cafe, perhaps he'll chime in. The musicianship at that camp is stellar. I learn tunes by ear, and everyone was gracious in allowing me to go at my own pace.


Dayle & I will be there!  James and his piccolo mandolin will be there too.   :Smile:    Mike, I love Crested Hens.  It sounds like the Star Wars waltz to me.   :Smile:   That and it's fun to play the banjo blubber lips to it too.   :Smile:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Tobin's Retreat

----------


## JeffD

> Booth Shot Lincoln


Thats a good one. I haven't played that in a while.

----------


## JeffD

> Lost Indian.


Another fun tune.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Thanks for mentioning Crested hen. Just downloaded it. Yes it does remind me of several sentimental movies. And thanks for someone's earlier mention of Poppy Leaf Hornpipe. That is a thing of rare beauty.

I mentioned Tobin's Retreat yesterday. Just learned it's actually called Tobin's favorite.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Accordion Crimes, Oh My!

----------


## Pete Counter

> Another fun tune.


I never enjoyed playing that tune till I learned the herschel sizemore version. (Lost Indian)

----------


## usqebach

Not sure if this counts as a fiddle tune, but I'm thought I would use the mando to learn the fiddle part of "Milwaukee Blues" as played by Roy Harvey.  As I was getting into it, I discovered it really sounds great on the mandolin, too!

There is a modern version by "the Haints," an old time string band comprised of Jason Romero, his wife Pharis, and superb Fiddler Erynn Marshall.  Jason is a fabulous banjo maker, and if you check out the sound clips on his website, it almost makes you believe a banjo can sound sweet!

NFI in all the plugs, just got off on a tangent.

----------


## Amandalyn

Ookpik Waltz
Farewell to Longhollow

----------


## Mike Black

Anyone else having trouble with this tread?  Every time I click on it or the little arrows next to the title, it takes me to the first post.   It seems this is the only thread that does that to me.

----------


## sgarrity

I was just thinking the exact same thing.

----------


## AlanN

Giant Hornpipe...oof

----------


## sgarrity

Here's one I learned recently.  finally nailed the doublestops about the 4th time through

----------


## TWINGDAE

Fun tempo... !
Medley with
Stone Rag \ Fox Trot Rag

----------


## Jim Nollman

Burnt Potatoes

----------


## TWINGDAE

Westphalia Waltz

----------


## Don Grieser

I've almost got Blake's March worked up. Another good one Norman Blake played is Loch Lavan Castle (joined with Santa Anna's Retreat and Cattle in the Cane on the Directions album). Bright Days is so beautiful--maybe Norman's prettiest tune. I've made a playlist in iTunes of Norman's mandolin instrumentals (a lot of them) and am slowly working my way through them. I believe Nancy's "Father's Hall" is up next.

----------


## Mike Black

I've also been on a Norman Blake kick again lately.  I've been thinking of learning Blake's March. Father's Hall is another good one! I have been playing Bright Days and Gilderoy a lot lately.   I always love playing Dusty Rose too, it has that great Norman "twist" in the B part.

----------


## woodwizard

I'm with you guys about Norman Blake. His tunes are so fun to play. Have you tried Callahan off his "Be Ready Boys" CD ? That's a another fun one to play. And "Nancy's Hornpipe"? great tune with 4 parts.

----------


## sgarrity

I'm on a Blake kick as well. Callahan is a cool tune I learned a few years back.  I've yet to find a single to play it with!  I just got Blake's March under my fingers.  Next up is Green Castle Hornpipe followed by Father's Hall.  I could listen to that stuff all day!

----------


## Tripp Johnson

I know that for me, and I suspect lots of others here, Blake is more of a 'continuous' kick....as opposed to my many other kicks which may seem a bit more 'come and go' by comparison. Such a deep well, you can't help but go back again and again.

Lots of great tunes mentioned here...Shaun I wish I knew (or remembered) that you play Callahan, we could have played it before you moved out west! 

As much as I love Norman, Nancy's playing is great as well. We play their version of Jimmy In The Swamp, great tune with Nancy on mandolin and some superb backup guitar by Norman.

----------


## M.Marmot

I just started noodling around with The Barlow Knife.

Oh, and i just have to say, i'm am with you all with the respect for Mr and Mrs Blake.

I kinda stumbled on to their albums just a few years ago. Before listening i thought that he was another super-guitar-picker and i so i delayed giving the albums a decent listen... but then i heard the playing, and the mandolin!!! and when i did oh, boy no turning back. 

At that time i was doing a lot of travelling and had my music player loaded mostly with Mr. Blake's albums, i would just listen to those albums repeatedly. There was something about the laid back feel coupled with an intense musicality that keeps me intrigued...

Even today i find it very hard to leave listening to Norman Blake at just one album, and have to indulge in the occasional Blake-fests... actually, thats reason enough, i feel a Blake session coming on now. :Mandosmiley:

----------


## woodwizard

Hunting the Buffalo (what a cool tune) sounds good on a clawhammer banjer but also sounds nice on the mandolin I think.

----------


## JeffD

> Hunting the Buffalo (what a cool tune) sounds good on a clawhammer banjer but also sounds nice on the mandolin I think.



Yes. A great tune. I have been dragging it out at most every jam.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Great tune indeed! Surprised that it hasn't gotten around more...

Anybody know of other Clyde Curley (I play his version) work besides Old Time Mandolin and the Portland books/cd's?  I love his playing.

----------


## M.Marmot

Now, i'm gonna venture a gander at Stick that Hog's Foot A Little Closer to the Fire, its a jaunty wee thing that tune

----------


## Jim Nollman

cheat mountain. Have been playing it with two fiddlers, who push the alternate string bowing to the max. Could anything be more fun.

----------


## JeffD

Charleytown Two Step, a tune a stumbled upon while perusing Christeson's Vol I.

What a pretty pretty tune. Easy, nothing flashy, but hearing it and playing it reminds you of sweetness and light, your first Necco wafer, you know what I mean.

----------


## sgarrity

Bobtailed Mule

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Santa Anna's Retreat...easy, fun little tune.

----------


## woodwizard

> Santa Anna's Retreat...easy, fun little tune.


Now that's a good one that my OT band plays. It's a little different than most OT tunes but I like playin' it. Bill our fiddle player is sort of an OT historien and he says that's the tune that an Irish mercenary army .... fighting with Santa Anna played on their march with bag pipes. I don't think many of them made it after Sam Houston's army got through with them.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

> I don't think many of them made it after Sam Houston's army got through with them.


LOL...yeah, ol' Sam and his boys certainly got the best of 'em...

That extra bit in the A section gives the tune a little different feel. Fun!

----------


## Amandalyn

Been working on 'Road to Spencer' by Ricky Skaggs, very celtic sounding and fiddlistic. Key of B- don't play many in that key, so it's a good workout. Very catchy tune... anyone else here play it?

----------


## Jim Nollman

Road to Spencer sounds like a good one to learn. Never heard it before. I also like these tunes that stretch the usual D major, A major, E minor niche. For another finger-stretching workout try Garfield's Hornpipe in Bb. Or Sourwood Waltz in F.

----------


## peterleyenaar

I have been working on Road to spencer, beautiful, difficult up to speed, I am working also on different versions of Bury me beneath 
the Willow, and I am working on In the Pines, the Ray Legere version, Road to Columbus, Southern Flavor and Big John McNeall.

----------


## Randy Smith

Enjoying the talk of tunes by the Blakes. One tune of Dave Richardson's (Boys of the Lough) that they've played with James Bryan since the 1980s is "El Paso Waltz."  I picked up this one from an old video dub, but the they've finally recorded the tune on their new cd.  "Cairo Waltz," from *Full Moon on the Farm,* is another really nice waltz played by the Blakes.

----------


## woodwizard

> Been working on 'Road to Spencer' by Ricky Skaggs, very celtic sounding and fiddlistic. Key of B- don't play many in that key, so it's a good workout. Very catchy tune... anyone else here play it?


 I really like the way Kentucky Thunder plays thaten'. I've been playen' it for a while. Cool (B) tune!

I'm trying to relearn "Ways of the World" another cool fiddle tune. About got it. Has 3 parts in the key of (A)

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Shuckin the Brush...another easy, infectious D tune.

Lost Girl...cool G tune from the awesome John Salyer.

Davy Come Back and Act Like You Oughta...great slightly crooked, A min tune.

----------


## woodwizard

How bout "Yellow Gal" ?  great tune! 
I'm on thaten' ... Something bout those faster fiddle tunes I really like. Get's the toes a tapping.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> How bout "Yellow Gal" ?  great tune! 
> I'm on thaten' ... Something bout those faster fiddle tunes I really like. Get's the toes a tapping.


Hey Mike....where would I find tab or notation for "Yellow Gal" ?

Thanks, 
Sandy

----------


## sgarrity

Cumberland Gap in D as played by Jody Stecher.  This one is gonna take some work!

----------


## woodwizard

> Hey Mike....where would I find tab or notation for "Yellow Gal" ?
> 
> Thanks, 
> Sandy


Try here Sandy... http://www.mandozine.com/music/searc...rder=A&submit=

Yellow Gal is an old traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tune. A Missouri fiddler by the name of Ron Hughey (1914-1974) was known for playing it and he had never heard it played outside of his family ... in an article about the tune. It also has been refered to mulatto women and buffalo gals. It's for sure a really old tune.

----------


## doc holiday

The Yellow Barber....so many good versions.  I really like Andrew Collins rippin it on "Little Widgets"....what great tone

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> Try here Sandy... http://www.mandozine.com/music/searc...rder=A&submit=
> 
> Yellow Gal is an old traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tune. A Missouri fiddler by the name of Ron Hughey (1914-1974) was known for playing it and he had never heard it played outside of his family ... in an article about the tune. It also has been refered to mulatto women and buffalo gals. It's for sure a really old tune.


Hell!..........that was too easy Mike.

Thanks, Sandy

----------


## AlanN

Cheyenne, Bb/Gm. And I pick the B part, thought not many did, but since have been listening to DG Rounder Record, Dawggy does it, so did the late great Dempsey Young.

----------


## Pete Hicks

My latest are Roscoe( ala Jerry Lundy) and Woodchopper's breakdown.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Woodchoppers is a fun one to play, quite the arpeggio workout!

----------


## Mike Bunting

Devil Eat the Groundhog, a Snake Chapman tune.

----------


## Nelson Peddycoart

Jaybird Died of the Whooping Cough
Catlettsburg
Dunbar
Georgia Railroad
Rocky Pallet

----------


## woodwizard

Catlettsburg is really a cool OT tune. We played that one today at our OT practice. Well ...our fiddle players know it very well. I got to learn that one. You wouldn't by chance have it tabbed out would ya?  :Smile:

----------


## Jim Nollman

This week it's Waverly and Swannanoa Waltz. I love these tunes that let me drone on the 5 string while banging out the melody on the 1 string. Doing Waverly with 2 fiddles transforms it into the hypnotic exercise of old time music-as-pulse. I also recommend that all folks who like this kind of pulsing fiddle tune, give a listen to the CD by Rayna Gellart and friends. Good stuff.

----------


## David M.

_MAN_, if all of us who posted in this thread could jam together, we'd have one helluva session!    :Mandosmiley: 

I'm supposed to be working on *Fly Around Pretty Little Miss* for a dance in a week.  The Rayna Gellert version.  I'll get it down when I finally get some time to work on it.

Recently got *Late for the Dance* down pat.  Very cool, hypnotic tune in A cross tuning.

So many tunes, so little time.

----------


## Jim Nollman

> _MAN_, if all of us who posted in this thread could jam together, we'd have one helluva session!


that's a very good idea. I'd go so far as to say that anyone visiting the Seattle area with a few extra days tagged on to get to the San Juan Islands and back to the airport, should give me a shout via the Cafe. I'm  always game to jam with players who might even add a few new tunes to my repertoire. Axe murderers and Celtic purists need not apply.

----------


## Mike Snyder

That would be more than a few new tunes for me. Walnut Valley Festival in Sept. is pert near middle of the US. You old-timey mandolin players git on down to Winfield, we'll pick till we're picked out. Look for a red cafe hat.

----------


## woodwizard

If I get up there to Winfield this year I'm looking you up man!   Someone  mentioned Jaybird Died with the Whooping Cough so I had to learn it. Great tune!

----------


## Mike Black

If you do make it to Winfield, we have a great jam at the Carp Camp in the morning that we like to call...Old-time in the Morning.  Nothing better to start your day!

----------


## Mike Snyder

Let's see. Will I have to get up early, or stay up late? Hmmmm.............quite a perdicament. No matter, I suspect we'll see each other in some sweet September AM. Two months, anticipation, longing.

----------


## sgarrity

Walk Old Shoe..........it's a tune in D that was posted in the Song a Week Group. It's got a simple and fun melody but it's just infectious!  I played it all night last night.

----------


## Mike Bunting

I recently discovered this site http://www.nashvilleoldtime.org/index.shtml  if any haven't found it, it's a pretty good resource.

----------


## Mando Smash

Woodchoppers Reel! :Grin:

----------


## Rob Giuffrida

I've been working on my own rendition of Soldier's Joy, I love it. Also Cumberland Gap.

----------


## woodwizard

Dance All Night Witn A Bottle In Your Hand and Yellow Rose of Texas (OT version)

----------


## JeffD

How about Winderslide, from Rayna Gellert. What a great tune.

----------


## Randy Smith

> How about Winderslide, from Rayna Gellert. What a great tune.


Jeff, 

Where's this one from? I'd like to listen to it.

Thanks,

Randy

----------


## Mike Black

It's on Rayna Gellert's "Ways Of The World" album!  Bruce Molsky also does a great version on his "Contented Must Be" album ( I actually prefer it to Rayna Gellert's version)  

By-the-way...Ways Of The World is another great tune.   :Smile:

----------


## Randy Smith

Obliged, Mike, thanks!.  Will check the tune out.

Randy

----------


## David M.

Got *Ladies on the Steamboat* down from Burnett & Rutherford.  Glad to hear James Bryan fiddles a close version on Bob Black's CD of the same title.  Good, simple tune in G that's good for dances.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Dubuque- A real toe-tapper. Dancers gotta love this one.

----------


## JeffD

> Jeff, 
> 
> Where's this one from? I'd like to listen to it.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Randy


Here is a nice version.

----------


## woodwizard

That was NICE!

----------


## Jacob Hagerty

Old Grimes and a Grisman tune Lil Samba

----------


## Randy Smith

> Here is a nice version.


Jeff, thanks for this nice version!  Just listened to it.

Randy

----------


## TWINGDAE

Snow Deer\Maple Sugar
Old Man,Old Woman\Growling Old Man,Growling Old Woman

Ashoken Farewell returns to it's # 1 spot, around here...most requested tune by people gathered around the Campfire Jams.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Salyer's Jenny Get Around.

----------


## AlanN

Not new, but come back to it often, Giant Hornpipe off Mike Marshall Gator Strut (1983).  It bops around many key centers, and has a few ii-V-IMaj7 things, which to my ears always sound fresh and cool.

Problem is, I need the tab in front of me to remember it all. How Mike did it (+ the improv solo)...well, I never...

----------


## Tripp Johnson

How cool is it that Coltrane is coming up in a thread on fiddle tunes?!?  Not sure if Giant Hornpipe counts as a 'fiddle tune' but we're talking about Mike Marshall after all!

Entire texts have been devoted to breaking down the 'Coltrane changes' that he developed in Giant Steps (and other great Coltrane tunes).  Quite a  serious study to be able to flow through those chord changes freely. Mike didn't seem to be too troubled by them!

Good on you for tackling it Alan!  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## AlanN

More like a fumble than a tackle, Tripp...that sucker is hard! But, the move from B to Eb in the first 2 bars is so very cool.

There is a hip banjo solo on the GS recording, must be Bela by the sound of it. Mike was 23 or so when he did this...the bum   :Mandosmiley:

----------


## woodwizard

I'm back revisiting an OT tune... Barlow Knife .... We played this the other night at a OT practice but sense we hadn't played it in ages dahhh! I couldn't remember how I picked it completely. I'm ready now! Funny ... I guess your brain will only hold so many tunes ... guess you have to forget a few to make room for more  :Smile:

----------


## JeffD

A couple of good French Canadian tunes: Pays de Haute and Reel de Montreal. They do their job in a very workman like fashion, nothing tricky or fancy, and they get the job done. Lots of fun to hear, more fun to play.

----------


## woodwizard

Today a couple of reels... Miller's Reel and Smith's Reel.... lots of fun.

and Jeff I like that Reel de Montreal! Just picked it up from the version at mandozine. Didn't know the tune by name but remembered that melody. thanks. Looking for the other one... Pays de Haute.

----------


## Gary S

Im messin with Cuban 2 step Rag. Recorded by Smith's Garage Fiddle Band.Vintage "garage band". There are many great recordings of early texas fiddle music including these guys, The East Texas Serenaders and many more. Most challenging and enjoyable music.

Gary

----------


## Jim Nollman

We play Pays de Haute. The B part is all arpeggios which serves as a nice frame for counterpoint tinkering over the fiddles.

I'm learning 2 new tunes this week: Waltz of the Little Girls and Bay of Fundy. 

Also, taking a lot more time than the usual to get Burnt Potato Jig down solid. If it had words, this tune would be sung best by a barbershop quartet, because it allows so many harmonies reminiscent of the 1890s. My problem with it, is that I can't keep the notated melody in my head very long, before i go off on some new tangent. So then i have to sit down with the notation to refresh the original. And the tinkering soon starts all over again.

----------


## Mike Black

It's that time of year where I'm flooded with cool tunes.  Getting ready for the Walnut Vally Festival and learning all of the Carp Camp Homework for this year.   My favorites so far are the *Pleasant Beggar* by Russ Barrenberg and the *Rising Fawn Reel* by Norman Blake.

Every time I pick up the mandolin I have to play the Pleasant Beggar.   :Smile:

----------


## Dick Hutchings

Forked Deer, Daley's Reel and EMD. I expect to get Forked Deer pretty quick. Daley's is giving me trouble with some of the fingerings. I'm trying shift positions to make some of it easier. I don't play in Bb or B  enough. The band I play with now doesn't do a lot of bluegrass so I have to do that on my own. EMD is just a tune my brother enjoys playing rhythm guitar to and every time he starts playing it, I just wing it and it's getting old. It's time to learn how to play it for real. I've watched Dawg play it on YouTube and that's the way I want to play it. So effortlessly. I think I can figure out the notes but to get he right hand playing so smooth and clean is going to be a bear.

----------


## wildpikr

Woodchopper's Reel and Shuckin' the Corn...

----------


## Mike Snyder

There is no utube of Rising Fawn Reel, I don't have the whole Blake catalog, and I have a LOT of trouble learning tunes from musical notation. If I can't hear it, I'm probably not going to be able to learn it. Any ideas, Mr. Black? I'm probably just going to have to wait a couple of weeks and try to pick it up on the fly at Carp Camp. Pleasant Beggar isn't too bad slow, but ties me in knots at speed.
I am a rather poor mandolin player, and I owe a large debt of gratitude to Nancy and Christal and Mike
(several Mikes, actually) for helping me get started in Celtic/Contradance music.

----------


## Mike Black

Mike, IM me your e-mail address and I'll send an MP3 of the Rising Fawn Reel.

----------


## Rob Fowler

Golden Eagle Hornpipe and John Brown's March. One's pretty easy and the other one isn't!

----------


## sgarrity

I know which one ain't easy!

----------


## Loretta Callahan

St. Anne's Reel ... sorta obsessed with it.  Ooops ... wrong forum.

----------


## Mando Smash

Growling Old Man, Grumbling Old Woman.  I really want to learn Chicken in the snowbank but I cant find the notes or tabs  anywhere.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

> I know which one ain't easy!


  :Laughing:

----------


## woodwizard

Jenny on the Railroad... pretty easy but it sure does drive good. 
Also Valley Forge and Bunch of Keys are good ones I'm working on.

----------


## JeffD

> Salyer's Jenny Get Around.


Is that the same as the tune Jenny Get Around?




If thats the one, it is a great tune.

----------


## JeffD

> We play Pays de Haute. The B part is all arpeggios which serves as a nice frame for counterpoint tinkering over the fiddles.
> 
> .


If you like those kinds of B parts, check out La Bastringue, another four square French Canadian tune. I envision these tunes as wearing hard hats. They go in, do their job and leave, not being unnecessarily frilly or using overly expensive or fancy tools. Get 'er done.

----------


## woodwizard

[QUOTE=JeffD;831874]Is that the same as the tune Jenny Get Around?

Here's some cool info on this tune.

JENNY GET AROUND. Old-Time, Song and Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. A Major. AEae tuning. AABB. Jeff Titon (2001) says the tune is related to one of the “Liza Jane” melody types, and points out similarities between the ‘A’ part of “Jenny Get Around” and the ‘B’ part of Clyde Davenport’s “Liza Jane.” Mark Wilson points out relationships between “Jenny…” and the “Sugar Hill” tune family. Titon calls it a regional eastern Kentucky tunes and finds it listed twice on the Berea, Kentucky, tune lists of 1915. It is often sung, with banjo accompaniment and was collected as a song by John and Alan Lomax, appearing in their book Our Singing Country (1941, pgs. 63-65). Source for notated version: John M. Salyer (Salyersville, Magoffin County, Ky., 1941) [Titon]. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Music), 2001; No. 74, pg. 103

It is a great tune!

----------


## woodwizard

Shenandoah Valley Breakdown! What a great tune!

----------


## Ed Goist

Novice here...I'm working on Tottle's arrangement of _Cripple Creek_ and I love it! (though all of the fiddle tunes in this section of Tottle are great). But I especially enjoy _Cripple Creek_ It seems to have more of a Rock vibe than the others (which I like).

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Jeff -

Sorry, I somehow missed this 'til now...yes, that's the same Jenny Get Around.

Slightly crooked tune, although some square it off.  

I learned this tune from a fiddler here in Richmond who turned me onto Salyer several monthes back... went to Clifftop last month and this tune was Everywhere! 

It is indeed a fine tune.

La Bastringue is another one, that tune has rotated back into heavy play for me as of late.

----------


## JeffD

Isn't it great how tunes can hybernate for a while, and then come roaring back into circulation as if they were brand new. You say "rotated back" but to me its more like roaring back. All of a sudden its just everywhere.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Ha!  Well said!!!  After that hybernation spell they DO come 'roaring back'!  I like that...

----------


## Jim Nollman

Winder Slide. 

Very addictive tune. Gorgeous melody with pumping fills. Haven't played it enough yet to figure out if it sounds better at contra dance speed, (give or take 115 bpm) or as a slow lament. Could do it either way. Even thinking about adding lyrics. Anyone here know if it already has lyrics?

----------


## woodwizard

Billy Wilson ... great tune!, seen a Clifftop youtube of that one and had to learn it.
And these 3 have really nice melodies...
Possum Up a Gum Stump
Needle Case
Fat meat and Dumplings

----------


## fatt-dad

I'm working on the Ashland Breakdown - maybe more of a bluegrass tune, but the way  Compton and Long play it makes me think of a fiddle tune (don't really know the history of it other than Bill Monroe played it too).

It's really stuck in my head and I'm making progress.

f-d

p.s., I work in Ashland, Virginia

----------


## Jim Nollman

You must be an empath, Jeff. We occasionally play La Bastringue and Pays de Haut as a matched pair. And you are correct, of course. On both tunes, I play melody on mandolin on the A part, and arpeggios on the B part. 

We don't often play either tune in performance with an audience sitting in chairs. Both sound a bit too one-dimensional (or as you call it, hardhat).  A contra dance is another thing entirely. We almost  always play La Bastringue near the start of a dance. When we play the two tunes as a pair, we always begin with La Bastringue, and then play Pays de Haut which kicks the rhythm up a notch.

All these French/American tunes have something very distinctive about them, although I can't quite describe it in musical terms. I'd almost call the melodies "in your face". The most "in your face" tune for our own band, is Reel St Antoine, which starts off with that very big A-major double-stop banged out a few times in succession. St Antoine is much more challenging to play cleanly at speed then the other two. Gotta love it.

----------


## JeffD

> All these French/American tunes have something very distinctive about them, although I can't quite describe it in musical terms. I'd almost call the melodies "in your face". The most "in your face" tune for our own band, is Reel St Antoine, which starts off with that very big A-major double-stop banged out a few times in succession. St Antoine is much more challenging to play cleanly at speed then the other two. Gotta love it.


We do Reel St. Antoine with Reel St. Joseph http://www.fiddlestudio.com/2010/07/...ephs-reel.html which is another ripsnorter of a tune.

----------


## M.Marmot

Lets see, at the moment i'm messing around with John Doherty's mazurka, recently having jogged through Sonny Brogan's mazurka, and next week i'm moving on to rigodons, theys old time mountain music but theys from the old continent.

----------


## woodwizard

Catlettsburg ... Ed Haley version... Great Tune!
Thanks to Dan Levenson for helping me figure that one out.

----------


## Ivan Kelsall

Not very often that i get hooked on non-bluegrass stuff,but this tune is awesome. Bright,lively & fun to play "Half Past Four".
Here's a great version by Bruce Molsky, Aly Bain & the Transatlantic session folks,
                                                                                                            Ivan
PS - I tried to embed it,but which part of all the code to copy is beyond me. It used to work with all of it ,but not any more it seems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FDWvX0CIM

----------


## Tripp Johnson

Great video, thanks for posting Ivan! One of my favs to play as well.

----------


## JeffD

> Jenny on the Railroad... pretty easy but it sure does drive good. 
> Also Valley Forge and Bunch of Keys are good ones I'm working on.


Valley Forge is a tune that seems to be taking over the world right now. What a great one.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Gotta learn Bunch of Keys. Don't know Jenny, but sure do know Paddy on the Railroad. That one drives like a jet engine. My own favorite old time "bluegrass" tune to play is Sourwood Waltz. In F. OK, maybe not precisely bluegrass, but you know what I mean.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

It's not really a fiddle tune....and really doesn't fit the genre...but it sure is fun to play.

Anna's Dance  by Laurence Rosenthal (a contemporary American composer) it can be found on Mandozine where John has it classified as "Early Classical".

Sandy :Wink:

----------


## Loretta Callahan

Swinging on a Gate and Wind that Shakes the Barley ... maybe it's the right forum after all. :Whistling:

----------


## Joe F

I've been working on a Ward Jarvis tune, "Head of the Creek."  Fun tune to play, and crooked enough to keep things interesting.

----------


## Mike Snyder

I came home from Winfield with a bushel basket full of work;
Johnny, Johnny, Don't get Drunk
Celebrated Opera Reel
Banish Misfortune
John Stinson II
Evite Gabriel
Julia Delaney
Morrisons' Jig
The Pirates' Dance  and
Coffee

----------


## woodwizard

Durang's Hornpipe, Quincy Dillion's High D,  & Jimmy in the Swamp ... cool tunes

----------


## AKmusic

Black Snake Bit Me On The Toe
Callahan
Goin' Where I Ain't Never Been Before

----------


## mandolirius

I just learned "The Squirrel Hunters". While looking around for versions of it, I came across this site that explains who the Squirrel Hunters actually were. I had assumed it was named for the activity of hunting squirrels. I found out differently. 

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=635

----------


## Mike Bunting

> I just learned "The Squirrel Hunters". While looking around for versions of it, I came across this site that explains who the Squirrel Hunters actually were. I had assumed it was named for the activity of hunting squirrels. I found out differently. 
> 
> http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=635


Damn, I've been making up stories about it to lead into the next song on our list,
Squirrel Heads and Gravy. I'd better not let the truth interfere with a good story!

----------


## mandolirius

> Damn, I've been making up stories about it to lead into the next song on our list,
> Squirrel Heads and Gravy. I'd better not let the truth interfere with a good story!


Yeah, it makes for a good chronology....hunt the squirrel then cook it up in some nice gravy. But I thought the truth was a pretty good story, too.

----------


## mandolirius

Doing a bit more reading, I came across this quote:

For about two weeks, military authorities tried to make soldiers of this independent lot. Finally, the rebel threat passed. General Smith wrote to General Lew Wallace in Cincinnati on September 17. "Reports from the front state that the enemy are in full retreat...Cannot I get rid of the Squirrel hunters? They are under no control." 

Be careful what you ask for   :Laughing:

----------


## woodwizard

Half Past Four... is my most recent favorite tune to play! Great fiddle tune that sounds pretty good on the mando too.

----------


## walt33

Korolenko: http://mustrad.udenap.org/tounes/TQ487_korolenko.html

In a set with Louis Cyr: http://mustrad.udenap.org/tounes/TQ215_louis_cyr.html

and Reel des menteries: http://mustrad.udenap.org/tounes/TQ1...menteries.html

I already know Louis Cyr, so that's only two new tunes to learn.

----------


## woodwizard

I'm on a roll!..... just learned: Jump Fingers, Jimmy in the Swamp and Old Virginia Reel

----------


## theCOOP

Been learning out of Mandolin Picker's Fakebook. From the OPs original post...June Apple still alludes me.

Recently picked up Whiskey Before Breakfast, and now just about have Staten Island Hornpipe pegged.

Been revisiting another half dozen or so including Fisher's Hornpipe, Liberty, Girl I left Behind (Waxie's Dargle) and Golden Slippers, etc. This is over and above 8 or 9 I can already play through.

Ain't had any luck yet with Rocky Road to Dublin or Paddy on the Railway  :Frown:

----------


## Loretta Callahan

Also using Fiddler's Fake Book along with a couple Sessions books: the latest: Kesh Jig and The Earl's Chair Reel

----------


## theCOOP

> Also using Fiddler's Fake Book along with a couple Sessions books: the latest: Kesh Jig and The Earl's Chair Reel


I learned Kesh Jig from the Fakebood too, but modified it to sound like what someone else was playing, I think Barb Shultz' video. The version she played sounds more like what I'm used to, from some song The Pogues play it to. I dunno if it's more simple or more complex (simple I think). I found parts of the Fakebook version to be cumbersome to play through.

----------


## woodwizard

"Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel"

----------


## Jim Nollman

Those of us who follow this thread can adequately play lots and lots of fiddle tunes. In my own pursuit to master as many of these tunes as finger memory permits, some of the best known tunes have, so far, evaded my attention. Right now, I'm spending the time learning Red Haired Boy and Cherokee Shuffle.

----------


## Steve Cantrell

Willot's Horpipe
Frisky Jim
Burt County Breakdown

That's my current three.

----------


## fatt-dad

> I came home from Winfield with a bushel basket full of work;
> Johnny, Johnny, Don't get Drunk
> Celebrated Opera Reel
> Banish Misfortune
> John Stinson II
> Evite Gabriel
> Julia Delaney
> Morrisons' Jig
> The Pirates' Dance  and
> Coffee


is that really "Coffee" or is it "Cuffey?" Never heard the former, but play the latter.

We'd have a fun jam if we could all get together!

f-d

----------


## Scott Holt

My new tunes are Lonesome Moonlight Waltz, and Road To Columbus!  I love all the tunes on "Kenny Baker plays Bill Monroe", and my goal is to learn all these tunes well.

----------


## sgarrity

> Those of us who follow this thread can adequately play lots and lots of fiddle tunes. In my own pursuit to master as many of these tunes as finger memory permits, some of the best known tunes have, so far, evaded my attention. Right now, I'm spending the time learning Red Haired Boy and Cherokee Shuffle.


I'm with ya there.  I don't play Cherokee Shuffle or Bill Cheatem.  Need to learn 'em!

----------


## Mike Bunting

Crossing the Cumberland.

----------


## mando_dan

Maggots In The Sheep Hide.  Hideous image, lovely tune.

----------


## Brent Hutto

Sounding pretty good: _Congress Reel, Beth Cohen's_
Getting there: _March of the Banchory Strathspey & Reel Society_
Next Up: _Deveron Slide_
Wonder if I could: Learn _Flower O' The Quern_ played as a Stratspey

----------


## Bluegrassnate

I've been learning Angelena the Baker, Stoney Point, and Forked Deer on the mandolin. But I'm just a beginer...

----------


## Mike Pilgrim

Little Dutch Girl.

----------


## Randy Smith

> Little Dutch Girl.


Michael, if you haven't heard it, there's a nice version of this on Sadie Compton's *Trouble Come Knockin*. Mike Compton, James Bryan, and Alan O'Bryant play the tune with her.

----------


## JeffD

Here's a goodie: Chinuapin Hunting

----------


## woodwizard

The Chiquapin Hunting I've learned has a completely different melody than that with 3 parts to it. But I like that version too.
"Moses Hoe the Corn" is my new one ... great little melody to it.

----------


## Loretta Callahan

Ah, I finally nailed the Fakebook _Kesh_ jig, guess the cumbersome part was why I had some trouble!.  Some other versions are available in other books I have.  I'll check out eh Pogues version ... and the Song of the Week versions.  




> I learned Kesh Jig from the Fakebood too, but modified it to sound like what someone else was playing, I think Barb Shultz' video. The version she played sounds more like what I'm used to, from some song The Pogues play it to. I dunno if it's more simple or more complex (simple I think). I found parts of the Fakebook version to be cumbersome to play through.


Working on _Kid on the Mountain_ right now, but using Mel Bay's session book, not the Fakebook version.  It's a bugger of a tune, but I love listening to it.

Finally aced _Wind that Shakes the Barley_, but nowhere near that triplet action that Jill does so easily.

Love _Chiquapin Hunting_ .... it may go on the back burner! :Grin:

----------


## woodwizard

"Pretty Little Dog" is a pretty dandy little tune I've been picken recently.

----------


## woodwizard

Lantern in the Ditch ... D tune

----------


## Jim Nollman

I do love the hornpipes, no matter for their origin. Now learning Walsh's Hornpipe from an old Kevin Burke recording. While the melody is simple, the phrases seem to possess an odd  interchangeable equity, meaning that any of them can be played in any order, yet the tune retains its identity and its internal integrity. 

The thing that holds it all together (and which makes it hard to get it out of my head) is the lavish use of hammer ons and offs, sometimes across three notes. This is not an easy thing to do well on the E string of a mandolin. If you want an exercise in such technique, learn this tune. If you learn to play it well, you will never forget it.

----------


## TWINGDAE

Little Drummer Boy
Petit Papa Noel
Silent Night

----------


## Mike Snyder

Greencastle Hornpipe
Blakes' March
Abes' Retreat

----------


## Mike Bunting

Grub Springs.

----------


## Psyberbilly

Crosseyed Fiddler in E .

----------


## Denny Gies

I know everyone says "it's simple" but Angeline the Baker still is eluding my fingers.

----------


## AlanN

Cotton Patch Rag, a al Mr. Bush.

And Common Ground, off Rice Backwaters.

----------


## woodwizard

> I do love the hornpipes, no matter for their origin. Now learning Walsh's Hornpipe from an old Kevin Burke recording. While the melody is simple, the phrases seem to possess an odd  interchangeable equity, meaning that any of them can be played in any order, yet the tune retains its identity and its internal integrity. 
> 
> The thing that holds it all together (and which makes it hard to get it out of my head) is the lavish use of hammer ons and offs, sometimes across three notes. This is not an easy thing to do well on the E string of a mandolin. If you want an exercise in such technique, learn this tune. If you learn to play it well, you will never forget it.


Cool ...I'm going to try find some music on Walsh's Waltz.  Your Rosebud tune is just like a tune  I learned called Rose of Sharon.

 Nice job ... like that oval hole tone.

----------


## Mumii

Bonepart's Retreat in D. It seems that in some parts of the country players start in different sections of the tune but it all comes out OK anyway.

----------


## JeffD

> Working on _Kid on the Mountain_ right now, but using Mel Bay's session book, not the Fakebook version.  It's a bugger of a tune, but I love listening to it.
> 
> :


Its a wonderful tune. One of the few that doesn't seem to get easier once you know it.

----------


## Paul Lucas

Grub Springs from Clyde Curley and the Oxymorons CD and Sandy Boys from Matt Brown's Old Time Fiddle Lessons Vol. 1 CD.

----------


## Loretta Callahan

> Its a wonderful tune. One of the few that doesn't seem to get easier once you know it.


Glad it's not just me that finds this song not easy!  Mel Bay Session's version of _Kid on the Mountain_ wasn't quite working, so I yanked the first four bars from another version I found over at the The Session, cut and pasted, and voila ... more better version.  Don't know if that's legal  :Redface:

----------


## AlanN

From the pick of Bobby Clark:

22nd St. Rag
Fast Forward

Get that wrist a-movin'...

----------


## Jim Nollman

This thread has definitely become my go-to thread on the Cafe. And a big bravo to all of you who regularly visit here to offer up new songs for the rest of us to hear. 

This morning I came online after a week on the road, and to be greeted by 6 or 8 new tunes I'd never even heard of. Immediately went to the itunes store to give a listen. And immediately got hooked by Kid on the Mountain. There's a pipes version by someone named _Piob More_ that absolutely blew my socks off. I just love tunes that use some version of a syncopated modal drone. Gotta learn that one.

----------


## JeffD

I think I first heard Kid on the Mounain from a Bothy Band record, Kevin Burke on the fiddle. The version in the Fiddler's Fakebook is the one I heard, and its the one I learned. I don't know how Mel Bay's or others differ, but I don't suspect its much. And, I have been playing the tune for a while, so I don't doubt I have "evolved" the tune a bit over these many years.

The tune captures for me what is great about an Irish Session. The five parts of the tune, like separate but thematically complimentary tunes, following on each other without break, continuing the energy of the last one, the energy and drive of the thing, and then the endless quality of it, that tune will never end, but you never want it to, and then holding the last note, last time through, like we all collapse from exhaustion, or the sudden slow to a stop at the end of a wooden roller coaster ride, or the way you drink the last bit of beer in your glass.

I don't know where the name of the tune comes from, but I can just see that baby mountain goat up there prancing around unpredictably, under the sway of the sheer joy of being alive.

If you can capture all of that in the way you play it - I don't care which version you use.

----------


## Paul Lucas

Here's another great site for learning tunes by ear that I just found today -> http://www.stringband.mossyroof.com/

The Canote Brothers of Seattle teach an OTM Stringband class three times a year for 8 weeks per session.  A student started a website that has mp3s of the tunes they teach in class.  Note there is not a mandolin on the mp3s, at least the couple I listened to, but it shouldn't be too hard to adapt a mando version of the tune from the fiddling part.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Speaking of bourbon, Jeff, have you ever sipped a shot of Old Forester's Birthday Batch? Small batches produced once a year on the founder's birthday. Gets my highest recommendation.

----------


## Loretta Callahan

Lovely description of this wonderful tune.  Once I learn the version I've pieced together, perhaps I'll revisit the FFB version.    It was difficult for me first go 'round.   I love both the drama and joy _The Kid on the Mountain_ invokes.  It brings ups so many emotions for me.  I'm giving myself a long time and a lot of patience here.  It's a journey ~ maybe a shot of whiskey will help  :Wink: 




> I think I first heard Kid on the Mounain from a Bothy Band record, Kevin Burke on the fiddle. The version in the Fiddler's Fakebook is the one I heard, and its the one I learned. I don't know how Mel Bay's or others differ, but I don't suspect its much. And, I have been playing the tune for a while, so I don't doubt I have "evolved" the tune a bit over these many years.
> 
> The tune captures for me what is great about an Irish Session. The five parts of the tune, like separate but thematically complimentary tunes, following on each other without break, continuing the energy of the last one, the energy and drive of the thing, and then the endless quality of it, that tune will never end, but you never want it to, and then holding the last note, last time through, like we all collapse from exhaustion, or the sudden slow to a stop at the end of a wooden roller coaster ride, or the way you drink the last bit of beer in your glass.
> 
> I don't know where the name of the tune comes from, but I can just see that baby mountain goat up there prancing around unpredictably, under the sway of the sheer joy of being alive.
> 
> If you can capture all of that in the way you play it - I don't care which version you use.

----------


## JeffD

> Speaking of bourbon, Jeff, have you ever sipped a shot of Old Forester's Birthday Batch?


I take all bourbon recommendations seriously, and will indeed follow up on it.

I find that I can learn tunes at a jam a bit faster with a drink or two, but I don't retain them as long, while if I am stone cold sober when I learn the tune by ear, its in there reliably for a long time.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Paul Lucas, you are the MAN! What a great site, www.stringband.mossyroof.com- Many, many great tunes. I only learn tunes by ear, and this is like Christmas to me. Thanks once extra large.

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## Mike Black

Looks like a good site (even if it's for b@nj0s).

Here is a corrected link.  http://www.stringband.mossyroof.com/

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## Mandocarver

If you get chance, check out how Tim O'Brien does Kid on the Mountain in his mandolin and bouzouki instructional DVD. It's also on his album "The Crossing". Great stuff.

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## sgarrity

Here's the John Hatcher version of Grub Springs.  Learned form the Mike Compton Taterbugmando group.

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## Mike Snyder

A question; Is Hail Against the Barn Door and The Squirrel Hunters the same tune, or very similar, or not at all. Some videos are mis-titled, and I assumed that they were two different tunes. Been working Julia Delaney and Rock the Cradle Joe purty hard.

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## Mike Black

> A question; Is Hail Against the Barn Door and The Squirrel Hunters the same tune, or very similar, or not at all. Some videos are mis-titled, and I assumed that they were two different tunes.


They are very close, but different.  Especially the B-Parts.  Specifically...Hail Against the Barn Door has a walkdown that Squirrel Hunters doesn't have.

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## Mike Snyder

Thanks, Mike. You may have to show me that.

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## fatt-dad

> Here's the John Hatcher version of Grub Springs.  Learned form the Mike Compton Taterbugmando group.


Very nice Shaun.  I may try to pick that out.

f-d

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## woodwizard

I really like this thread too. Always seem to check it out to see what tunes people are playing.  Here's a tune called "Half Past Four" of my OT band jamming on it a little bit last Saturday. Look close and you'll see some wonderful fresh home made PIES! (blueberry & apple), that clawhammer Dave's Mom made for us. YUM!  :Grin:

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## woodwizard

Rochester Schottisch ... D tune

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## Brent Hutto

I've just started working on _June Apple_. Not a new tune to me but not one I can play decently so I'm working on it. I have the "Appalachian Fiddle" book by Miles Krassen and he gives a version with interesting rhythmic patterns to both the A and B parts. Attributed to Charlie Higgins but it sounds different than the only Uncle Charlie recording I have of the tune. I'm interested to see if I can make it work on mandolin, especially at my less-than-breakneck tempo.

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## Loretta Callahan

Over the Waterfall (but I'm taking it to my Gibson Soprano ukulele to fingerpick), Otter's Holt and Morrison's Jig.

Love Grub Springs, Shaun!  Beautifully picked and a gorgeous mandolin!  The pies made me hungry, woodwizard, Half Past Four is a great tune and you all mesh well.  I could hear the each instrument at different times ~ which I love.

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## Mike Snyder

Folks, as the OP I felt that I should try to do something about the odd change that came to the name of the thread; &#39;  was NOT part of the title, oh so long ago. Of course the administrator has a life, and I did wait 'til Christmas week to say anything. I'm gonna give it a rest and try later. This is a great thread, I've certainly learned alot of tunes, and learned OF alot more. If any of you have ideas about how I can fix the broken title, PM me or put it in here. As it is now, it kinda looks like we're mad. "What the H*ll;s your new fiddle tune?" Thanks, and keep those tunes rollin' in.
                                                                         Mike

Rock the Cradle, Joe
Johnny, Johnny Don't Get Drunk
Snake River Reel
Seneca Squaredance

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## Scott Tichenor

> Folks, as the OP I felt that I should try to do something about the odd change that came to the name of the thread; &#39;  was NOT part of the title, oh so long ago. Of course the administrator has a life, and I did wait 'til Christmas week to say anything. I'm gonna give it a rest and try later. This is a great thread, I've certainly learned alot of tunes, and learned OF alot more. If any of you have ideas about how I can fix the broken title, PM me or put it in here. As it is now, it kinda looks like we're mad. "What the H*ll;s your new fiddle tune?" Thanks, and keep those tunes rollin' in.
>                                                                          Mike
> 
> Rock the Cradle, Joe
> Johnny, Johnny Don't Get Drunk
> Snake River Reel
> Seneca Squaredance


We're aware of the problem and were just working on this specific thread a couple of days ago. It's only some versions of Internet Explorer that alters the title when a reply is made and usually when someone replies to a post with the ugliness you speak of. As a member replying within this (and any other thread) you can always alter the title yourself by going to the Advanced reply mode and manually editing it. You'll notice the title now looks like it should because that's what I did, but someone will eventually come along using IE and it'll go back to the way it was until we figure out what's causing this. The issue relates to importing the entire forum from another software product.

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## woodwizard

Yeah ! Mike ... "Johnny Don't get Drunk" I was pickin' that one today before I noticed you had that one on your list. 
Great fiddle tune! I've also been working on Rocky Pallet

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## Mike Snyder

My fingers learn them, but my brain forgets them. I need one of those smart phones so I can pull up audio quickly. Usually if I hear the first three notes, the whole song magically pops right into my head and I'm off. Anyway, tonite it's Ten Penny Bit.

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## woodwizard

Funny how the ole brain needs a jump start sometimes on tunes. It could be one that you know really well that just needs someone to just start that melody. Right? Then your off to the races or back in the saddle sort of.   :Smile:   My fiddle player friends have been playing the old-time version of Grub Springs so I've been pickin' on that one some today. Even uploaded a medium speed version on youtube today of my try at a  W. E. Claunch inspired Grub Springs version I believe. Very oldtimy. Completely different from the Compton style I've been watching on some youtubes. I really like it.  It really sounds oldtimy to me on my A4. I may not sound too good but I sure have a lot of fun pickin' those old ones. Guess that's the most important thing is to have fun.  :Smile:

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## Ed Goist

Really nice, Woodwizard. Thanks for posting.

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## Jay Bird

Ol' Joe Clark (frailing banjo, double thumb'in).

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## mandolirius

Every so often I'll go to a jam and one gets stuck in my head. At that point, it must be learned!  :Laughing: 

Today I dealt with a hangover from a jam a few nights ago. It's called "Roscoe's Gone" by Seattle-ite Hank Bradley. One of those cool modal things. I think fiddlers do it in A-E-A-E tuning.

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## Ed Goist

Currently working on Greg Horne's arrangement for _Miss McLeod's Reel_...Absolutely love it. 
Oh, and I also love one of it's alternate New World names, _Did You Ever See The Devil, Uncle Joe?_

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## Brent Hutto

Mike Parks,

That was a good one, old-timey sound is right on. You really had that A4 loping along nicely. I love hearing a mandolin player do justice to a good fiddle tune. Thanks for posting.

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## woodwizard

Thanks Brent ! Forgive the pajamas ... I was just too comfortable at the time ...  :Smile: 

Good music any OLD-TIME!

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## Mike Snyder

The A4 sounds real good. Wish I could find one that sounds like that.

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## Paul Lucas

Nice playing!  Grub Springs is an infectious tune and it sounds great on your A-4.

Some jamming buddies wanted to play Grub Springs, so I learned the Clyde Curley version of it.  Then someone mentioned Clyde's version is a bit different then the one they learned.  Their version was based on the W.E. Claunch version.  Both are similar.  Through another discussion about Grub Springs on Mando Cafe I found about the Canote brothers and a website that a student of theirs hosts. 

Here is the website where all the Canote's class tunes are kept. What a great treasure trove of music! For Grub Springs click on the D Tunes link at the top of this page - http://www.stringband.mossyroof.com/

So I decide to tab both versions of Grub Springs out and put them up on oldtimemandolinmusic.com.  Look under the lessons section for the tab to both versions of Grub Springs.

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## woodwizard

There's a treasure trove of music on both sites there Paul. Thanks.  And thanks Mike for the compliment on the A4. I really like that dude. Been doin' some practicing again today with my mandolin and also my little digital camera.  This is a new one for me and is a little on the grassy side. "Shenandoah Valley Breakdown"  ... I think it has a cool melody to it.

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## woodwizard

I am on a roll today I guess. Or ... I'm on vacation, at home and having fun playing my mandolin. Here's another new one I just learned. "Say Old Man Can You Play the Fiddle"  :Mandosmiley:

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## sgarrity

Here's one in A called the Bob Tailed Mule or the Buckin' Dun:

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## Ed Goist

Excellent job, Shaun. Quite nice.

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## R. Kane

I played Squirrel Heads and Gravy today! Wish I had a clawhammer banjo player to do that with. It really does want GDAD tuning, doesn't it? 

I'm getting Joe Walsh's tune "Welcoming Emily to Portland", from his new record, Sweet Loam.  The recording features Darol Anger and the Republic of Strings, and it is particularly mando-centric, with interactions with fiddles, guitar, and cello. Send me a pm if you would like the notation.

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## fatt-dad

Shaun,  Nice tune, well played and sounds great too!  After listening to this tune (new to me), I found myself with an ear worm of "Camp Meeting on the  Fourth of July."  That Bob Tailed Mule must have run from the tent revival. Different, but somehow similar enough - like so many others, eh?

Happy New Year too!

f-d

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## woodwizard

Well today I've been working on a couple of tunes. "Hawks and Eagles" a (D) tune and a (C) tuned called "Done Gone"
Just now uploaded Hawks and Eagles on youtube a few minutes ago. Kinda rough but I really like that tune. If I keep practicing I'll get better on it. Done Gone really is a cool tune too.

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## fatt-dad

Here's a link to me playing Hawks and Eagles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjzRNmImGZI

Now I got to see if I can still play, "Say Old Man Can You Play the Fiddle."  I got the, "Lady's Fancy," which I think is about half of the former.

Feel free to PM me on how to do the more convenient embed on the youtube video link. . .

f-d

Shaun:  Here's my link to playing, "Camp Meeting on the Fourth of July."  It's in D and your tune above is in A (I think), but to me there's some resemblance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRvw0opJpWI

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## woodwizard

Done Gone ... One that's work in progress - cool tune

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## fatt-dad

(Just so you all know, Done Gone is a Bb tune and hard to play that A part in the correct key, but for some reason the B part in the original key isn't so bad.  Check the "Mandolin Fakebook" for the Bb version.  I learned to flatpick this on the guitar, but the capo is your friend, eh?)

f-d

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## sgarrity

Nice playing gentlemen!  I've gotta lean that Hawks 'n Eagles tune.  Thanks for the link to Camp Meeting on the 4th of July.  That is might similar to Bob Tailed Mule.  Should be relatively easy to pick up.  So many tunes, so little time!  Keep those videos coming too!

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## woodwizard

> (Just so you all know, Done Gone is a Bb tune and hard to play that A part in the correct key, but for some reason the B part in the original key isn't so bad.  Check the "Mandolin Fakebook" for the Bb version.  I learned to flatpick this on the guitar, but the capo is your friend, eh?)
> 
> f-d


Thank god that the fiddlers in my OT band  play it in (c) like me.  They play it quite a bit faster tho .. I've just learned it today so it might take a little more time embedding it in my brain to pick up some more speed.

Shaun, you're sounding as good as ever there. keep up the good work

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## Gary S

The recordings I have of Done Gone are in Bb. I wouldnt let that worry you too much.Playing in Bb uses the same scale as Gm. As a matter of fact the 3rd part is in Gm. For good old time versions of this tune I reccomend Ed Haley or Clark Kessinger. Someone on the Cafe once shared a great version of Bill Monroe playing Done Gone solo (recorded I believe on his bus) in Bb. He skipped over the second part and went right into the minor. It is a great tune whatever key suits you...Gary

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## woodwizard

Wild Hog in the Woods

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## woodwizard

> Thank god that the fiddlers in my OT band  play it in (c) like me.  They play it quite a bit faster tho .. I've just learned it today so it might take a little more time embedding it in my brain to pick up some more speed.
> 
> Shaun, you're sounding as good as ever there. keep up the good work


Oops..I was wrong   :Frown:  ... the fiddler's in my OT band do play Done Gone in Bb. Today I have started transposing from C to Bb and will start relearning that dude in Bb.  :Mandosmiley:

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## Jay Bird

For those looking for tabs: 15 Fiddle Tunes for Banjo

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## woodwizard

> For those looking for tabs: 15 Fiddle Tunes for Banjo


For Banjo  :Disbelief:   :Confused:   :Confused:   :Smile:   :Grin:

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## Mike Snyder

In the spirit of cultural diversity; Thanks for the link, Jay Bird.

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## woodwizard

"Sugar in the Gourd" another one of those that I first learned in (A) but the fiddlers I play with do it in (G) so I'm playing it in G and I'm kinda liking it there now.

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## Mike Snyder

Somone played that last weekend and I could not catch it. Can you put up one of your wonderful videos, Mike? I'm going to owe you bigtime for all these tunes. It's not a tough one, I know, but I just could not get on it, then it was over.

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## mandolirius

Garfield's Blackberry Blossom. Sure are a lot of different takes on that one. I'm learning the Snake Chapman version.

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## Paul Lucas

> Garfield's Blackberry Blossom. Sure are a lot of different takes on that one. I'm learning the Snake Chapman version.


Rhys Jones did a version of Blackberry Blossom that's a bit different (based on KY fiddler Dick Burnett's version), but related to Snake Chapman's version of GBB.  You can hear a sample of Rhys' playing of BB at the Vigortone Records website (owned/operated by ILL-MO Boys' and former Volo Bogtrotter guitarist Jim Nelson) -> http://www.vigortonerecords.com/samp...rryBlossom.mp3

I tabbed out Rhys' version for the mando and put it up on my website http://www.oldtimemandolinmusic.com  Click on the lessons link and then click on the archive link on the lessons page.  Scroll down until you see Blackberry Blossom.  You can see and/or download the tab from that page.

Have fun!  It's a good tune and that version will throw off all your bluegrass pickin' buddies.

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## mandolirius

Thanks for that, Paul! Yet another version. Come to think of it, I don't know that I've ever heard two versions of GBB that ARE the same.   :Grin:

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## woodwizard

Somone played that last weekend and I could not catch it. Can you put up one of your wonderful videos, Mike? I'm going to owe you bigtime for all these tunes. It's not a tough one, I know, but I just could not get on it, then it was over.[/QUOTE]

 You bet Mike and thanks for the compliment ... here's an attempt at it for ya. A lot of fiddlers play it in (A) but the fiddler's in my OT band play it in (G) so I learned it that way. Keep Pickin'!

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## woodwizard

> Rhys Jones did a version of Blackberry Blossom that's a bit different (based on KY fiddler Dick Burnett's version), but related to Snake Chapman's version of GBB.  You can hear a sample of Rhys' playing of BB at the Vigortone Records website (owned/operated by ILL-MO Boys' and former Volo Bogtrotter guitarist Jim Nelson) -> http://www.vigortonerecords.com/samp...rryBlossom.mp3
> 
> I tabbed out Rhys' version for the mando and put it up on my website http://www.oldtimemandolinmusic.com  Click on the lessons link and then click on the archive link on the lessons page.  Scroll down until you see Blackberry Blossom.  You can see and/or download the tab from that page.
> 
> Have fun!  It's a good tune and that version will throw off all your bluegrass pickin' buddies.


Great version Paul. Thanks for the links! We play it very simular but use Gm & F in there alot.

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## woodwizard

Waynesboro ... great OT tune. Here is our version.

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## woodwizard

Here's one I was playing around with today "Elzic's Farewell" Sort of a little Norman Blake-ish.

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## woodwizard

"Ways of the World" ... here's a make shift recording ... doing it at an OT jam ... 2 fiddles, guitar, upright and me on mandolin. Fun tune!

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## woodwizard

Hollow Poplar and Pig Ankle Rag
 ... Looks like I'm the only one learning new fiddle tunes here lately?  :Confused:

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## Mike Snyder

Can't let that happen! Campbells Farewell to Redcastle, Little Rabbit, Three Thin Dimes, Have You Ever Seen the Devil, Uncle Joe?
Actually, a couple of those aren't too new, they just sound that way.

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## fatt-dad

"Sadie at the Back Door" is the new fiddle tune that I'm playing.  Mostly new to the jam circle I play in, I guess. . .  It's a contemporary tune that some folks made up about their cat that goes out the front door and in the back door.

Here's some dudes playing it (no that's not me).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IqyPOlqsxc

f-d

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## Caleb

f-d, how does that pumpkin you made hold up at the jams?

On topic:  I've been playing Camptown Races.  Not really a fiddle tune, but an old one and a good one.

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## Gary S

Here is my contribution to this great thread. I have learned some great tunes and revised some dusty ones from your posts. This is one comes from the repertoire of Snake Chapman the great Kentucky fiddler. It's called "Big Black Cat". It reminds me a bit of some Monroe modal fiddle tunes who of course was also from Kentucky.Has anyone else learned other Snake Chapman tunes? I am not sure how to inbed the visual youtube link but ill give it a try...Gary
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=.../0/PzbdslKxETo

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## fatt-dad

I liked the "Black Cat."  Well played too!

f-d

p.s., my pumpkin "IV Kit," which I really didn't make, but did finish, plays pretty well!  Dave Cohen just completed a setup and I like it!  Regarding old-time jams, it doesn't have the horsepower of my Flatiron, but is well suited for my front porch and knocking around.  It's certainly going to the beach this summer!

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## Mandomax

Kissimmee Kid- man, I love how it goes to Bb!

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## woodwizard

"Lady of the Lake" and I might add it's nothing like the Lady of the Lake some have posted versions of here or like the one at mandozine.com. Learned it from a couple of OT fiddlers who learned it from Bruce Molsky. Pretty cool tune!

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## AlanN

> Kissimmee Kid- man, I love how it goes to Bb!


If this is the Vassar tune, with the famous take on the first OAITW record, I think the off chord is C major.

Sry, got this corn-fused with Midnight Moonlight. Kissimmee Kid is in A Major.

A Major for 2 bars
F#m for 2 bars
Bm 1 bar
D/E
A Major

G  2 bars
F# 2 bars
B 2 bars
E/F

back to top

something like that.

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## mandolirius

> Here is my contribution to this great thread. I have learned some great tunes and revised some dusty ones from your posts. This is one comes from the repertoire of Snake Chapman the great Kentucky fiddler. It's called "Big Black Cat". It reminds me a bit of some Monroe modal fiddle tunes who of course was also from Kentucky.Has anyone else learned other Snake Chapman tunes? I am not sure how to inbed the visual youtube link but ill give it a try...Gary
> http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=.../0/PzbdslKxETo


Nice job, Gary. I play that one too, plus a whole bunch of more Snake Chapman tunes. Big Black Cat is one of my faves.

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## Mandomax

AlanN- I hear it as Bb and my Fiddler's Fakebook notes it out as Bb as well.  I play the backup to the B part as follows: Bb---|Bb---|Gb---|Gb---|B---|B---|E---|F---|F#m---|F#m---|F#m---|F#m---|Bm---|E---|A---|A---||

Maybe you are hearing it as Gm?  Everything else you listed is the enharmonic equivalent of how I pick it.  Enough with my pickin nits.  
Such a great tune, and Vassar lays waste to it.  Got to see Ronnie McCoury and Jason Carter pick this one- mighty fine- Jason's double stops on that B part were smooooth

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## fatt-dad

> "Lady of the Lake" and I might add it's nothing like the Lady of the Lake some have posted versions of here or like the one at mandozine.com. Learned it from a couple of OT fiddlers who learned it from Bruce Molsky. Pretty cool tune!


Go ahead, give us a youtube of you playing "Lady of the Lake."  I'd like to hear it!

f-d

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## AlanN

Interesting.

Darol Anger hisownself noted out Dawg's break in the old book David Grisman Recorded Bluegrass Mandolin solos, that very take. In A.

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## Mandomax

Oh, it is definitely in A, but it modulates briefly to Bb when Vassar plays that Bb arpeggio over the changes.  Overall tonality is A, but Part II is in Bb. did that make it clear as mud?
at about :22 and 1:25 of this video, you can hear where Jason goes to Bb. 


 Maybe that helps?

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## AlanN

Yup, just listened. Sounds like Bb to me. They changed it, tune was written with a G to F# to B to E to F. Them boys....

Btw, that Loar cuts like a knife.

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## woodwizard

> Go ahead, give us a youtube of you playing "Lady of the Lake."  I'd like to hear it!
> f-d


You bet ... I will do that but sense I've only been working on it today and it's still a little difficult for me to play it up to the fast pase my fiddlin buddies do it ... let me fine tune it a little before I do that. Maybe this weekend. Here's a little sample of us playing it up to speed in a living room jam with my buddies the other day. Not the greatest audio but you will get an idea of the tune. I learned it from these guys. I'm almost there. It's a cool tune. "Lady of the Lake"  :Mandosmiley:

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## woodwizard

What the heck... I don't know it very well yet but here ya go fat-dad. Just now did the vid and up loaded. "Lady of the Lake" You don't hear this version very much. Hopefully I will get better at it.

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## woodwizard

That was hard to insert the vid. Guess I was doing it wrong.

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## woodwizard

[QUOTE=woodwizard;906711]What the heck... I don't know it very well yet but here ya go fat-dad. Just now did the vid and up loaded. "Lady of the Lake" You don't hear this version very much. Hopefully I will get better at it
***
Well ... I'm playing that one a little different now. ... didn't have it quite right on the A part. Sure is fun working thru this stuff.

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## fatt-dad

WW!  Very nice tune and you're making great progress too!  I'll work on that, one day, one day. . .

f-d

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## Mike Snyder

Whoeeeeee! had a fine run at Midnight on the Water with a mountain dulcimer pickin' friend over the weekend. I never appreciated that one much before. Also got a new book of obscure Irish trad stuff. The Bag of Spuds, Tar Road to Sligo, The Fairy Princess.
Next weekend, Harrison Arkansas Fiddlers Convention, you up for it, wizard?

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## Bernie Daniel

[QUOTE=woodwizard;907115]


> What the heck... I don't know it very well yet but here ya go fat-dad. Just now did the vid and up loaded. "Lady of the Lake" You don't hear this version very much. Hopefully I will get better at it
> ***
> Well ... I'm playing that one a little different now. ... didn't have it quite right on the A part. Sure is fun working thru this stuff.


Sounded very nice to me.  With your video and the mp3 (slowed way done) I should have it soon.  You're right its a great tune. Lots of fun to play -- for me it seems like a "natural" progression (maybe just not crooked?) -- both A & B parts.  On tunes like that I can learn them faster -- others leave me "off balance" for days trying to get them.

Thanks for posting it!

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## woodwizard

Thanks...
Pretty much all up down strokes through all the notes. That makes it a lot easier to go faster. 2 chords in the A part and 3 chords on the B part. Nothing tricky. I was still kind of figuring it out when I recorded the vid. I'm where I can play it with the boys now up to speed I think and I will find out for sure tomorrow. We're having a little OT jam again. I have it all tabbed out correct I think now just incase I forget something I can go back to it.  :Smile:   I'm working on aother tune called "Rugged Road" now. Another great Lymon Enloe tune I believe. 

Hey Mike ...I really wish I could make that Harrison thing but I have to work this Sat.  :Frown:   Are you going to try to make the Mountain View Folk Festival April 15, 16 & 17 ? I'm going to that. It's always fun!

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## Jim Nollman

I've been learning a few new tunes for a significant dance our band is playing next month. In a way, I can't believe i never learned some of these tunes before, since they are standard contra repertoire, and relatively easy: shoofly (not the "don't bother me" version), and maple sugar. For the latter, I do like woofing along with different rhythms to match that unusual change of key. We're also working on a new arrangement for Sandy Boys in A, which includes a few odd D9 chords thrown in, but only for a single beat. It's a very effective addition.

While learning all these tunes, a strange thing happened. My fiddler taught me two of the new tunes about a month ago. They have similar names but sound quite different:  Big Liza Jane and Little Liza Jane. Then she went away on a trip. I especially liked Little Liza, with that sweet change to F#m, when played in A. As I learned the tune, I noticed that the change was suddenly sounding much better if i substituted a Bm7 for the F#m. I know, I know, that made no musical sense. Then I got the bug for that tune, and played it over and over again until i could play it to speed: about 122 bpm on a beeper. I'm sure you know how that bug operates. Every time you pick up the mando you play the same tune.

The fiddler returned yesterday, and we played together at a local dance tonight. As it turns out, I have apparently composed a brand new tune that takes some of its elements from Little Liza Jane, and also a few phrases from Big Liza Jane. But most of it shows nothing obvious from either tune. The fiddler liked this new tune enough that we played it tonight for quite a while.  :Redface:  We both like the place in the new melody where i hang on the Bm, then resolve it to E7 and back to A. 

I think I'll call the tune: Medium Sized Liza Jane. 

I'll eventually try to work up an arrangement in the studio, and maybe post it here. It will have to wait until April, since i'm about to go on the road for 2 weeks.

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## AlanN

Well, I've gone back and researched Kissimmee Kid, and now I'm not sure. I have 3 transcriptions of this number:

- In the book David Grisman Bluegrass Mandolin Solos, from the first OAITW,
- Acoustic Disc sheet from ACD-28, OAITW Breakdown recording,
- Sheet music a buddy sent me.

In the B part, the first shows G to F#, the second shows Gm to F#, the third Bb to F#(Gb). The notes Dawg plays on the 2 recordings can fit over both the major and minor. In a youtube Max posted with McCoury, I hear Bb. In another youtube with Vassar, Rice, Flux, O'Connor (on mando) - excellent performance, btw - I hear...not sure. In the first OAITW, I hear G major. 

So....there is latitude there, as long as everybody plays the same chord. Ain't it grand.

----------


## JeffD

Early in the Year - another great tune buried in the Portland Collection

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## woodwizard

:Laughing:  I think I'll call the tune: Medium Sized Liza Jane.  :Grin:  I like that Jim !

----------


## woodwizard

Just in case anyone is interested ...here's  "Lady of the Lake" tab  -to play around with
(Have Fun!)

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## Rob Gerety

> I especially liked Little Liza, with that sweet change to F#m, when played in A. As I learned the tune, I noticed that the change was suddenly sounding much better if i substituted a Bm7 for the F#m. I know, I know, that made no musical sense.


I certainly can't explain the theory - but that particular chord substitution is something I was taught to try and it really does work in a lot of situations so I am sure there is some theoretical explanation for it.  I know that we look for that substitution all the time. Builds tension. Our keyboard player is a jazz guy and he explained it to me - went in one ear and out the other.  For my purposes it fits completely in the only important theory there is - it sounds good.

----------


## fatt-dad

Last week at the jam a buddy called, "Georgia Railroad."  Anybody know that or have tab?  I picked it up pretty good by lap 3, but can't recall how it goes and the YouTubes I find just don't quite give it to me. . .

f-d

p.s., WW, thanks for the tab.

----------


## woodwizard

> p.s., WW, thanks for the tab.


Your welcome. 
Made a mistake on the A part ... the 2 4 2 on the A string should be 2 5 2  both places ... sorry bout that.

----------


## woodwizard

I really like "Hell Among the Yearlings"  Here is video clip of my band doing a little bit of it. This was when we use to just play acousticly in this small restaurant. My friend on vacation from Boston took the video. Fun tune.

----------


## catmandu2

Got my fiddle out today after about a month lay-off into other things..

Three tunes I worked on today:

Beaumont Rag
Sally Ann (as played on Dirk Powell's _Time Again_)
And a tune off a Vasen CD that for the life of me I can't find...thankfully I've played it enough to remember how it goes...

----------


## woodwizard

Here is a tune called "Sandy Boys" that we've been playing some lately. This was at an OT jam with some friends.
Another fun OT tune!

----------


## Rob Gerety

Anyone know of a nice recording of Beaumont Rag in F?  I need to learn it by ear in that key.

----------


## woodwizard

Here's me and my Old-time pickin buddies doing "Hangman's Reel"

----------


## Jim Nollman

suddenly in new-tune-learning mode again, after a 4 or 5 week hiatus. Hey you guys, Josefin's Waltz has got to be among the most beautiful tunes in the old time repertoire. The extra two phrases added on to the second B gives me goose bumps.  :Smile:  Anyone know the country of origin of this tune?

Also learning Cheat. This is not the same as Cheat Mountain which is another tune we do. Also doing Johnny Cope, often in tandem with Shoes and Stockings, which is the way it's done on a Clyde Curley recording.

We're going to try the very unusual step of playing a foxtrot at our next contra dance. In this case, it will probably be the slow-to-mid-tempo 4/4 fiddle tune The Defeat of Paris, which we learned off an old  Kevin Burke recording. It has an A,B, and C part. We've also asked our caller to find a mid-tempo contra dance so we can play either WinderSlide or Swinging on a Gate. Sure, either of these can played at the usual dance speed, but the former sounds so much better with its distinct cakewalk syncopation, and the latter has lots of essential notes that hold together best when slowed down to about 112 bpm. She found an old English aristocratic line dance to fulfill our request, which is traditionally  accompanied by any of several lilting tunes.

----------


## catmandu2

> Josefin's Waltz has got to be among the most beautiful tunes in the old time repertoire. The extra two phrases added on to the second B gives me goose bumps.  Anyone know the country of origin of this tune?



When I was playing with a hardanger fiddler and seeking tunes, someone recommended this one.  Maybe it has Scandi origins?

----------


## Mike Black

> suddenly in new-tune-learning mode again, after a 4 or 5 week hiatus. Hey you guys, Josefin's Waltz has got to be among the most beautiful tunes in the old time repertoire. The extra two phrases added on to the second B gives me goose bumps.  Anyone know the country of origin of this tune?


Josefin's Waltz is by Roger Tallroth. This tune is on the CD Trio from the Swedish group Vasen with Tallroth.

Here is a video of Roger and a few other people you might have heard of playing the tune.  

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/19075251

----------


## Mike Black

> We've also asked our caller to find a mid-tempo contra dance so we can play either WinderSlide or Swinging on a Gate. Sure, either of these can played at the usual dance speed, but the former sounds so much better with its distinct cakewalk syncopation, and the latter has lots of essential notes that hold together best when slowed down to about 112 bpm. She found an old English aristocratic line dance to fulfill our request, which is traditionally  accompanied by any of several lilting tunes.


I thought that Winder Slide was a crooked tune.  Going to be hard to find a dance for it.

----------


## fatt-dad

I really like Swinging on a Gate too!  New tune for me is, "Sarah Armstrong's Tune."  It's in D.

f-d

----------


## Mike Bunting

I just discovered an online radio station called Sugar in the Gourd that plays only oldtime music. I'm addicted, how come no one told me about this one before!  :Smile:

----------


## Jim Nollman

> I thought that Winder Slide was a crooked tune. Going to be hard to find a dance for it.


What do you mean by a "crooked tune". In my naivete I'm curious if this is a proper term used by fiddle tune aficionados, or something you made up to describe the odd meter of the tune. I definitely agree that the tune displays a unique mix of "sad" melody, and lilting meter. I call it a cakewalk, but I'm not really sure that's accurate. _Colored Aristocracy_ is definitely a cakewalk, and it has much of the same syncopated rhyhthm as _Winder Slide_. 

Anyway, just curious what you meant. Our caller is a whiz with over a hundred dances in her repertoire. If you're interested, I'm happy to post again when i find out if she's found a proper  dance to fit this tune, and also for _Swinging on a Gate_.  Our next dance is in 2 weeks.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Pretty Little Widow, Maggie in the Woods, Swingin' On a Gate, Church Street Polka.

----------


## JeffD

The usage I have heard is that a crooked tune doesn't fall on normal 16 bar contra dance template. There is either a short part, or a longer part, or the first half of the A part is longer than the second half so the B part comes in "early", you know what I mean. A friend of mine, an accomplished OT fiddler, calls it a "burl" in the rhythm.

When listening, a crooked tune is cool because it punctures your expectations of the normal "dramatic arc" of the tune. Playing a crooked tune is really fun because, once you get it, the "burl" can be addicting.

I would never put up a crooked tune at a contra dance. 

But... there are many tunes that get ambiguous here and there, and while they are firmly 16 bar (four square regular), they can sound crooked in the emphasis. I like these tunes (I am trying to come up with an example, but my coffee cup is empty), thrown in at a contra dance because they are eminantly dancible, especially for experienced dancers, but have that little drama, that little threat of chaos in them.

----------


## Jim Nollman

I do Swinging on a Gate and Church Street Polka. Nice tunes, both. I'm curious about your tempo for "Gate".

----------


## Jody Kruskal

> I especially liked Little Liza, with that sweet change to F#m, when played in A. As I learned the tune, I noticed that the change was suddenly sounding much better if i substituted a Bm7 for the F#m.


Hi Jim. I've been playing what I call Liza Jane for many years but never thought of substituting Bm7 there. Sounds great, thanks. I like it this way: A, A, A, Bm7, D, F#m, E, D before returning to the A for the next section. Perhaps a bit fancy for everyday use but sure sounds cool.

----------


## Jody Kruskal

> I do Swinging on a Gate and Church Street Polka. Nice tunes, both. I'm curious about your tempo for "Gate".


When I play a dance I save Swinging on a Gate for when the caller wants something on the slow side of contra speed, perhaps after kicking up dust with a fast tune like Chateau-gay or Greasy Coat. There are a number of tunes that I think sound better played slowish and we use them so the dancers can dance and rest up at the same time. 

You do that? What tunes do you like for that situation?

----------


## Mike Snyder

I pick up some tunes from a session group out of Wichita. They play 2-3 times a week. I get with them every couple of months. They fly through "Swingin' on a Gate", whereas I play it much slower busking or at home. It sounds real good at a fast pace, but I struggle to get all the proper notes in the proper place at that speed. They play everything at a fast pace cuz they play so often together, and it's fun. I have a chopped up left hand and picking at speed is a challenge.

----------


## woodwizard

Woodchopper's Reel
Staten Island Hornpipe
and Possom up a Gum Tree

Think I'll try to do a new video of these

----------


## woodwizard

Oops I meant "Possom up a Gum STUMP" ... Great ole' tune

----------


## Jody Kruskal

Yeah, Possum is a good old tune. I've been playing this Kentucky (?) version of "Cluck old Hen" from fiddler Pug Allen.  Very different from the common minor version. Beverly Smith & Carl Jones, Glow

----------


## mandolirius

I just learned "Possum Up A Simmon Tree" from an Art Stamper recording. I wonder if it's the same tune.

----------


## woodwizard

> I just learned "Possum Up A Simmon Tree" from an Art Stamper recording. I wonder if it's the same tune.


I don't believe it is.

----------


## woodwizard

Possomwood
Jaybird

----------


## Mike Snyder

We have alot of fun with Staten Island Hornpipe. There's a point where you hit a D chord twice, kinda fast in a row. Sometimes we'll call out "bad chord" and everyone will play a clam note, sometimes we'll call out "silent" and every one will just omit it for the two beats. Good for a laugh. Great tune, though. Lately I've been pairing old-time tunes.

Waiting for Nancy/Rock the Cradle Joe
Seneca Squaredance/Snake River Reel

Having alot of fun with an old Edith Piaf tune Under Paris Skies, not a fiddle tune,but fun anyway.

----------


## mandolirius

04 Track 4.mp3

"Chicken Under The Washtub", a cool tune by Vivian Williams in D. Here's a version without mandolin. Good for playing along with.

----------


## mandolirius

The conversion program I used imprinted a voice logo.   :Mad:

----------


## Brent Hutto

Lonesome John (precursor to Clinch Mountain Backstep)

----------


## Alex Orr

Dixie Hoedown

----------


## Randy Smith

> The conversion program I used imprinted a voice logo.


Love the voice!  Sounds like a fiddle tune conveying a coded message.

----------


## Brian Ray

Shortnin' Bread...

http://youtu.be/Og_TtDt50EE

----------


## Jim Nollman

Julia Delaney (reel) Smash the Windows (jig).  JD has a push to it that reminds me, oddly enough, of 60s San Francisco rock.

Also, revisiting Arkansas Traveler, Golden Slippers, and 8th of January,  as a "greatest fiddle tune hits" medley for an upcoming contra dance. Seems that everyone everywhere has enjoyed these 3 tunes sometime in their life.

----------


## AlanN

Festival Waltz
Gypsy Swing
Miller's Reel

----------


## woodwizard

> We have alot of fun with Staten Island Hornpipe. There's a point where you hit a D chord twice, kinda fast in a row. Sometimes we'll call out "bad chord" and everyone will play a clam note, sometimes we'll call out "silent" and every one will just omit it for the two beats. Good for a laugh. Great tune, though. Lately I've been pairing old-time tunes.
> 
> Waiting for Nancy/Rock the Cradle Joe
> Seneca Squaredance/Snake River Reel
> 
> .


We play around with Staten Island Hornpipe like that too... fun tune!

Just started playing "Snake River Reel" Thanks for bringing that one to my attention. I like it... It flows  :Smile:

----------


## AKmusic

The Cat Came Back The Very Next Day
Salt River
Steamboat Around The Bend

----------


## mandolirius

> Love the voice!  Sounds like a fiddle tune conveying a coded message.


Yeah, sort of like those cold war era "numbers" broadcasts.

----------


## JeffD

> We have alot of fun with Staten Island Hornpipe. There's a point where you hit a D chord twice, kinda fast in a row. Sometimes we'll call out "bad chord" and everyone will play a clam note, sometimes we'll call out "silent" and every one will just omit it for the two beats. Good for a laugh..


That is supposed to be the horn of the Staten Island Ferry

----------


## fatt-dad

Sarah Armstrong's Tune. That's a great fiddle tune in D.  It actually uses all the strings too!

f-d

----------


## Charles E.

f-d, I have been playing this tune for years, great tune, but where do you play on the E string?   :Confused:   :Smile:

----------


## fatt-dad

fifth measure of the B part, I play c#, e, f#, e, c# (two notes to the beat).  That's about how I recall it, bearing in mind I'm typing and not playing.

f-d

----------


## Mike Black

> f-d, I have been playing this tune for years, great tune, but where do you play on the E string?



You play the open *drone* notes!

----------


## Charles E.

Well yea!

----------


## walt33

Cuckoo's Nest on the fiddle, at the moment.

----------


## Charles E.

> fifth measure of the B part, I play c#, e, f#, e, c# (two notes to the beat).  That's about how I recall it, bearing in mind I'm typing and not playing.
> 
> f-d


Well dang, after hearing the Todd Clewell cut I guess I have been playing the tune without those high notes at the end of the B part. I will have to amend that.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Almost nailed a new tune with the great name: Drunk at night/Dry in  the morning. Learned it from a recording by Abby Newton. It has a strange meter, might be a slip jig. What is that: 9/8 time? Not hard at all to learn once you focus on the melody. 

I'd include this tune in a short list of tunes I know which have verses comprised of the same few phrases, but arranged in different orders.  This tune has about 6 unique phrases, which are arranged in different combinations within a verse structure of AABCB. Quite different from what we're all used to, which is AABB.

A more pronounced example of this same kind of phrase-based tune is Walsh's Hornpipe. I recently recorded it, and had great fun breaking the tune down into its building blocks of  6 or 8 phrases, then rearranging these phrases into every possible combination. That's a lot of variation when you get your  two melody  instruments playing different phrases together. Interesting thing is:  No matter how you scramble this egg, the basic tune shines through.  The key is keeping each phrase intact to the original, so what you get in the end bears no resemblance to an improvised jam.

----------


## fatt-dad

I've got Cumberland Gap stuck in my head.  Step 1 to learning a new tune.

f-d

----------


## Jim Nollman

just for accuracies sake. I was incorrect about the meter of  that tune _Drunk at Night/Dry in the Morning_. It's actually a waltz. When played with the usual waltz syncopation, the addition of the extra bars, makes it sound  great. It's not an old tune, and I have also learned that there's a recorded version with lyrics, although i haven't yet found it. Worth a listen, if  for no other reason for the number of bars  contained in one verse. 

One other thing. I am well aware that this, as well as some other tunes I have mentioned learning on this thread, are not old-time American. This thread title got my attention months ago, because it seems to be about learning and sharing fiddle tunes played on mandolin, no matter what their country of origin. Does anyone care?

----------


## JeffD

I sure don't.

----------


## Mike Snyder

I was thinking in very generic terms when I started this thread. The term "Fiddle tune" is pretty non-specific and lots of new tunes, actually, a great variety of tunes have been mentioned. The "tune of the week" thread has proven very sucessfull because of the videos, and has somewhat surpassed this thread (vastly) because of them. As a vehicle for learning tunes the concept works. Wish I'd thought of it. As it is, this thread has provided the titles of many great tunes which can then be researched on youtube. 
  Being exclusive of anything, or setting parameters never occured to me. Recently working on;
O'Keefes Slide
Boys of Blue Hill
Whiskey In The Jar
Rock the Cradle Joe/Waiting for Nancy, which pair very nicely. Keep 'em coming, folks.

----------


## fatt-dad

my jam mates like to pair "Sadie in the Backdoor" with "Waiting for Nancy," a tune I really don't care that much for (the latter).  Too much on just the two high strings and I don't have the low part down yet (yeah, I guess I could practice).  I like to pair "Sarah Armstrong's Tune" with "Sadie in the Backdoor."  I think these two tunes line up perfectly.

f-d

----------


## Mike Snyder

Sadie is a cool tune that I've tried and failed to pick up from videos. I need to find someone "in the flesh" to learn it from.
Running the three together might be fun.

----------


## Mike Black

Mike, I can show it to you this September.

----------


## AlanN

'Nancy' got me thinking...Norman and Nancy off Sam Bush's Late As Usual. Great tune and great album.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Learning Mrs MacPherson of Gibton. Love the B part, with its double stop C/G falling down to a double stop Bb/F. I'll check out _Sadie at the Back Door_.

----------


## fatt-dad

Here's a video of me and my pancake playing "Sadie at the Back Door" and "Sarah Armstrong's Tune."  I've learned them both by ear, but do play along at the local jams.

Enjoy!

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/f...7-07at2023.mp4

f-d

----------


## Mike Snyder

Thanks fd, sometimes the easiest stuff just won't get in my ear. Goes well with Sarah Armstrong and the Wichita crowd plays that.
Can't wait for September, Mike. Thanks.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Minnie Foster's Hornpipe. Like some other hornpipes that get my full attention, this one shows definite hints of early ragtime. There's a great recording off it by Kevin Burke which is my own source for learning it by ear.

----------


## fatt-dad

I'm now stuck on, "Cumberland Gap." Nice tune for the key of "D"ulcimer.

f-d

----------


## Mike Snyder

"Pipe on the Hob" is tying me in knots, so I play
"Blue Eagle" for the pure joy of it.

----------


## Rod Freeland

> Sadie is a cool tune that I've tried and failed to pick up from videos. I need to find someone "in the flesh" to learn it from.
> Running the three together might be fun.


Mike Snyder,
 Here's as close as you'll get to the definitive 'Sadie at the Back Door':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4ht2GEdzzA
It's Greg (fiddle) & Jere (guitar) playing Jere's tune, which he said his banjo taught him.  Maybe not as good as 'in the flesh' but nearly.  I fist heard Greg & Jere play this tune in maybe the early '80s, and it's still played around here in the SF Bay area all the time.  Also, Old Yellow Dog does a nice version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IqyPOlqsxc

Rod Freeland, Berkeley

----------


## Mike Snyder

Thanks, Rod, much appreciated. There are a variety of ways that folks approach this tune. I like them all, but originality is so.....................original. I'll do my best to preserve this one in my little corner of the old-timey world.
  The Dog was my first touchstone to this tune. The syncopation varies quite a bit.

----------


## billkilpatrick

"reesem pee dee dee" from "the mountain music project" video - it'll brighten your day:

----------


## Mike Bunting

I'm working on Big Bear, a Metis fiddle tune by John Arcand. It has a certain Monroe feel to it.

----------


## Mike Bunting

> "reesem pee dee dee" from "the mountain music project" video - it'll brighten your day:


That is very cool.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Goodbye Liza Jane
Big Liza Jane
Trying to get ready for Winfield. Come by and see us. 14th St. Big Yellow bus nosed out toward the street. Abbey Road in the destination slot above the windshield. The relic camper in my avatar will be right off his rear bumper. Straight south of the grandstand. Bring Jamesons.

----------


## AKmusic

Bill Brown
Icy Mountain
Garfield's Blackberry Blossom
Steamboat Around The Bend
Too Young To Marry

----------


## JeffD

Greasy Coat, Greasy String, and Nuts & Bolts.

----------


## Mike Snyder

The Hog Eyed Man. Off to pickers paradise Saturday morning.

----------


## doc holiday

Sail Away Ladies......version by Kenny Smith....Adam Steffey on mandolin :-)

----------


## Mike Bunting

I'm working on Big Bear, a Métis fiddle tune by John Arcand. It's a minor key thing that to me has a little Monroe flavour to it.

----------


## Mandomax

Crazy Creek

----------


## woodwizard

Sleep Eyed Joe
Cedar Gap
Sally Johnson

Have fun at the Walnut Valley fest. (Winfield) Mike.  :Mandosmiley:  Missed it again  :Frown:

----------


## fatt-dad

We played "Logan County Blues" last night.  It's now in my head, so it's as good as known.

f-d

----------


## woodwizard

Here's a ruff take of Cedar Gap... Fun tune to play.

----------


## Bruce Evans

Round the Horn
All the Pretty Maids
Out on the Ocean
The Tar Road to Sligo
The Humours of Drinagh

----------


## woodwizard

Possom Up a Gumb Stump ... another fun one

----------


## mandolinlee

Hi Woodwizard: Possum Up A Gum Stump sounds good on that Gibson Goldrush. Lee

----------


## woodwizard

> Hi Woodwizard: Possum Up A Gum Stump sounds good on that Gibson Goldrush. Lee


Thanks Lee. That tune has a nice bounce to it. I really like my Goldrush mandolin. I have had it sense 06 (new). Guess it's a keeper because that's a long time for me to hold on to one. Keep pickin'

----------


## JGWoods

Leather Britches on clawhammer banjo. I can't play it on the fiddle to save my life, maybe later I'll work on it for mandolin.

----------


## Alex Orr

East Tennessee Blues.  Learning the version from the Roland White book.  Think I may have it up to speed by next week.  Also working on Foggy Mountain Breakdown, which I think may be one of those loooooooong term projects in terms of being able to play it at the speeds typically chosen by banjo pickers.

----------


## Trey Young

I've been playing around with Georgia Railroad for the past week or two, still might do a little to arrange it a bit more and put some variations in there.  Fun tune though, I drew from a Norman Blake fiddle version for my inspiration...

----------


## sgarrity

Burt County Breakdown

----------


## Jim Nollman

hollow poplar

----------


## Alex Orr

East Tennessee Blues is now in the repertoire.  Foggy Mountain Breakdown...errrr...I'm just giving up on that one.  Finally getting around to learning Red Wing as of this morning.

----------


## catmandu2

> Sail Away Ladies...


That and Sally Ann are two of my favorite tunes on fiddle.  I learned it from the outtakes of that movie Songcatcher--I think with Cate Blanchette...a mediocre movie with some superlative musical segments.  I forget who did the fiddling on that tune.  I rented the movie just to learn that tune, as I remembered it in one of the scenes.

Le Canal en Octobre (on box)

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

Eli Greene's Cakewalk

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Oklahoma Redbird :Wink: 



Sandy

----------


## terzinator

Most recent one I have down is Liberty... now on to Fisher's Hornpipe.

Not sure why, but I enjoy figuring these out on mandolin waaaay more than I ever did on guitar. They're like fun little puzzles. Mandolin Sudoku, if you will.

----------


## walt33

Over the Waterfall on fiddle, after working it out on mando. This one just seems to fall under my fingers and was easy to learn, unlike most other tunes.

----------


## JeffD

When I try to learn a tune on fiddle that I know on mandolin, I have to keep bringing the fiddle down to my lap and picking it, to remind me how it goes. Something about raising it under my chin that seems to empty my brain.

----------


## AKmusic

Spotted Pony
Falls of Richmond

----------


## robinsondd

Just started last March and love playing Pritchett's Hornpipe

----------


## Fred Keller

Booth Shot Lincoln.  Just finished "Manhunt."  Books ok--not really great IMHO.  But the tune cooks!

----------


## woodwizard

Cowboy's Dream. It has a wonderful melody. Had an Old-time jam with my OT pickin' buddies this weekend. The video is a little dark but here's us playing Cowboy's Dream. Fun tune to play.

----------


## catmandu2

The Maidens of Galway on box

Watched the movie "Everything is Illuminated" again--this time with more intention of paying attention to the music which is excellent.  I arranged the main motif--a nice waltz--on box.  Also learned Oriental(?) Hora on PA...having been inspired by klezmer stuff lately

Came across Drunken Hiccups on the Lindley/Kaiser compilation this afternoon, and if I can get myself to pick my fiddle up I'm inspired to learn this one next.  But I'm apt to learn it on box first!

----------


## JeffD

I just learned Booth Shot Lincoln. That is a great tune.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Reels; Robertsons, de Mattewa, San Antonio, got a better handle on Yellow Barber, love Little Sadie, and especially Home With the Girls in the Morning and Maggie in the Woods. I always come home from Winfield sleep-deprived, sore fingered and with a pile of new tunes to work on. Thanks to the Carp Camp crowd for allowing me to hang out on the fringes.

----------


## woodwizard

Red Bird  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## woodwizard

Durang's Hornpipe, Green Willis and Westphalia Waltz

----------


## catmandu2

The Frieze Britches (fiddle)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzf6ILjdyPAYzf6ILjdyPA

----------


## WELSrev

Fiddle - Alex and Maureen Two Step
Fiddle - Yvette Carriere Waltz
Mando - Home with the Girls in the Morning
Mando - Daria Waltz

----------


## Mandomax

Been on a Kenny Baker kick- learned "Hollow Poplar" and "Make a Little Boat."  Met a fiddler who jammed with Kenny back in the late '80s.  Besides being a wonderful guy who would jam with anyone, he told me Kenny wrote the majority of his original tunes while riding on his tractor.  I really like that story, even if it may be apocryphal.
Best,
Max

----------


## fatt-dad

I'm going to learn the Swedish fiddle tune, "Josephine Waltz."

f-d

----------


## Jim Nollman

"Billy Wilson" and "Possum Under the Gum Stump" have just been added to our contra dance repertoire. Plus "The Year of Jubilo". On my own, started playing "The Forgotten Chateau". Almost up to speed. Not sure where that last tune's from.

----------


## Brian Ray

Started learning this one this morning... Winder Slide

----------


## Mike Bunting

For some reason, Big Sciota is on the list along with The Dead March and Devil Ate the Groundhog.

----------


## Paul Kotapish

Last night someone asked me if I knew a tune called "Wild Ginger." It sounded familiar and there was some muscle memory in the old fingers, so I figured I must have known it at one time.

Eventually I realized that it was part of a medley of David Cahn tunes I'd recorded with the Rodney Miller Band a few decades back on the _Greasy Coat_ CD. 

Haven't played any of those tunes since the band last played at Pinewoods in the early '90s, so my new fiddle tune set is three melodies I used to know and now need to relearn: "Liza Rose, Stepping on Worms, Wild Ginger." Good tunes, all. Glad to have my memory jogged.

----------


## catmandu2

Well after a recent thread mentioning hammered dulcimers, and another one talking O'Carolan, I was compelled to get to playing mine again today and learning the Frieze Britches hence.  It's one of those pieces that lies eminently on HD.

----------


## walt33

I'm working on two new tunes . . . Richard Forest's "Reel de quatre patates" and a march by Thomas Pomerleau.

----------


## AKmusic

Indian Ate A Woodchuck / Rhys Jones version

Going Across The Sea / Ill-Mo Boys version

----------


## terzinator

Currently I have a thing for Kitchen Girl. Serious fun, she is.

----------


## woodwizard

Black Mountain Aire

----------


## woodwizard

Dubuque is a pretty cool (D) tune. Here's me and my pickin buddies attemping to play it.

----------


## woodwizard

And one more (D) tune ... Mississippi Sawyer

----------


## woodwizard

Well while I'm on a (D) tune roll ... might as well throw in "Quincy Dillion's High D ... I promise this is the last one for a while. 
Everyone keep pickin' and have a Merry Christmas.

----------


## AlanN

Norman and Nancy, off Sam Bush Late As Usual. Also, Diadem, off the same record.

----------


## Mike Black

*Piedmont* from the new album Cricket's Lullaby from James Bryan & Carl Jones.

----------


## woodwizard

> *Piedmont* from the new album Cricket's Lullaby from James Bryan & Carl Jones.


That is a pretty tune!

----------


## woodwizard

Bull at the Wagon
Big Indian Hornpipe

----------


## Vernon Hughes

Walking in my sleep..Kenny Baker

----------


## JeffD

Just received Edden Hammons Collection Volume I and Volume II. Playing through the CDs while I go through the day. After enough exposure, soon now, real soon, I will sit down and grab me a tune.

----------


## Tripp Johnson

"Just received Edden Hammons Collection Volume I and Volume II."

Great stuff! One of my fav fiddlers. Lots of great tunes there...

----------


## JeffD

Edden's tune "Big Fancy" is just wonderful. I am going to learn that before I go out shopping today.

----------


## woodwizard

Richmond ... great D tune

----------


## woodwizard

Richmond -traditional.mp3Got to try out my new little recorder last night with with a couple of picken friends. First time we played "Richmond" together. Kinda of ruff but you can see that it is really a fun OT tune to play I bet.

----------


## Jim Nollman

half past four
annadene's waltz.

----------


## woodwizard

That's really cool Jim! I'd like to get my old-time band in the studio up in Mountain View this coming year for an OT CD. I really hope we can do that.  The first time I heard the tune Half Past Four  I really dug it! and had to learn it for sure. Here's me and my buddies picken' Half Past Four ... that we recorded from a camera the other day I think & converted to a mp3. Fun tune!

----------


## Mike Black

I'm digging that Half Past Four.  I'm putting that on my to learn list.  Always good to have another Ed Haley tune on file.   :Smile:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Woodwiz, I don't seem to be able to listen to your version of Half Past Four on my mac. When i click on it, it downloads as bunch of dribble that iTunes can't translate. Any tips on how to do this correctly is much appreciated.

----------


## woodwizard

> Woodwiz, I don't seem to be able to listen to your version of Half Past Four on my mac. When i click on it, it downloads as bunch of dribble that iTunes can't translate. Any tips on how to do this correctly is much appreciated.


Not quite sure what the problem is Jim. When I click on it, it plays on my "windows media player". It's just a simple mp3 file. Sorry ... maybe someone here more computer savy can help.  But just incase here's a youtube of another time we played it just jamming around on it ... to give you an idea of our version of this great Ed Haley tune.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Mike, How often do you get together with your old time crew of musicians? I sometimes wish we had such an informal gathering, but i live on an island which limits the number of musicians, not to mention musicians with an ear for old time music.  

I have the windows media player plugin on my Safari browser but it doesn't let me open any of these mp3s.

----------


## woodwizard

Jim Im lucky I found these OT pickers. They are hard core old-time. We,ve been playing together pretty steady for a little over 3 years.- and try to get together for some picking at least once a week but usually with not all six of us, 2-fiddles, clawhammer banjo, upright bass, guitar  & me on mandolin. We play at a lot of bbq restaurants & pubs/private parties and such. There is much more bluegrassers around than old-time so I think it's pretty cool to have a whole band to try to show folks something they've never heard of before. Most know bluegrass but they don't really know OT. We're just trying to keep it alive. Sure wish..  I could help you with the mp3 problem . Your probably not missing much  :Smile:

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Devil's Dream....what a fun, easy little tune. Not sure even where I found it...maybe here, sometime back?

----------


## fatt-dad

I just started working on "The Land of Lincoln."  Picked it up from a Mike Compton video on youtube.  I guess it's a Monroe tune and I like it!

I haven't heard this tune "Richmond" referenced above (i.e., I'm at work and haven't listened to it yet).  Is it just called, "Richmond?"  Anybody know much about it?  (I live in Richmond.)

f-d

----------


## AlanN

Need to give the tune Richmond tune above a listen, but the only number I know of by that name is a banjo tune done by Larry Sparks with Barry Crabtree picking it. Somehow, I don't think these 2 are the same.

----------


## fatt-dad

I love playing, "The Falls of Richmond" and "Richmond Cotillion."

f-d

----------


## woodwizard

There are several old-time tunes called just... "Richmond" ...The fiddlers I play with know a couple of other different tunes/melodies of the same name, then I found this version and when I played it my friend Bill the fiddler somehow knew it too so we did a quickie recording of it at one of our OT jams.

----------


## Mike Black

> Mike, How often do you get together with your old time crew of musicians? I sometimes wish we had such an informal gathering, but i live on an island which limits the number of musicians, not to mention musicians with an ear for old time music.  
> 
> I have the windows media player plugin on my Safari browser but it doesn't let me open any of these mp3s.


Jim, I have troubles with the Cafe MP3 attachments too.  For some reason they open/save with an .htm tag at the end.  If you remove the .htm after downloading it should play.

I seem to have that issue with Firefox, but not with Google Chrome.

----------


## JeffD

> But just incase here's a youtube of another time we played it just jamming around on it ... to give you an idea of our version of this great Ed Haley tune.


Great job, great fun. 

And that appears to be a great pickin space. Right off the kitchen like that. 

At times I am just a machine that turns coffee into music.

----------


## doc holiday

mouth of the tobique

----------


## Jim Nollman

Love that tune: Mouth of the Tobique.  :Mandosmiley: 

A few weeks ago, I learned Annadene's Waltz, almost certainly composed by JP Fraley since his wife's name was Annadene. The tune even shows some of the same multiple-octave phrasing as Fraley's well-known crooked tune: Wild Rose of the Mountain. 

This week, finally getting around to the chords of Annadene,  I realized that this waltz (in the key of A) has the same changes as several other waltzes I play. When our band got together, I played this one, to accompany the fiddler who played Over the Waves (the old merry-go-round tune). Then we played Bluebird Waltz to it. We even tried Kentucky Waltz, and lo and behold,  all four tunes share the same exact chord structure. Yes, I realize that Bluebird is in D and I usually play Waves in G. But such transposing-on-the-fly poses little problem on a mandolin.

So try it out guys, four songs in one. Play a phrase from Kentucky, throw in the next  phrase from Bluebird, etc. It's a terrific exercise, although I'd suggest proceeding more conservatively if you're doing this in front of an audience, just to avoid your fans getting melodic indigestion from this tossed salad of waltzes. :Grin:

----------


## Barry Wilson

I learned something over the last 2 weeks. fiddle is really tough to learn and/or I suck.

----------


## walt33

Biting off more than I can chew, again, with a set of six Quebec trad tunes from the group Domino: Gigue des paroissiens, Gigue des capuchons, Reel de Ste-Blandine, Galope du lac St-Charles, Reel a thenfant, and Reel des eboulements. It's the last track on the CD Pris au jeu. Got notation for all but Thenfant from http://www.mustrad.udenap.org/lerepertoire.html. Wish me luck!

----------


## walt33

> I learned something over the last 2 weeks. fiddle is really tough to learn and/or I suck.


Fiddle is really tough to learn. Keep at it and don't be shy about sounding like (bad word). After a while you'll start to sound better. Patience, Grasshopper.

----------


## Denny Gies

"Tallahassee" by Bill Monroe in the key of A.  A fun tune to play and easy for other jammers to follow along.

----------


## Barry Wilson

I won't give in, but dam I was able to jam mandolin after a week hehe. I have a new respect for fiddle players though

----------


## walt33

> I was able to jam mandolin after a week hehe.


Yeah, those plectrum instruments are sooooo easy! <g>

----------


## Barry Wilson

and those dam friction tuning pegs drive me bonkers... that said I am taking the violin to work tonight. at least the coyotes seem to enjoy my noises :D

----------


## woodwizard

> Great job, great fun. 
> 
> And that appears to be a great pickin space. Right off the kitchen like that. 
> 
> At times I am just a machine that turns coffee into music.



Thanks Jeff... Clawhammer Dave has a really great pickin' cabin there ... It's way up on a mountain ridge near a little community called "No Go" Arkansas. Beautiful place. Dave's 88 year old Mom always makes us some wonderful homemade pies every time we go there. That alone makes the trip worth while  :Smile:  You might have noticed those 2 pies in the video. Yum!

----------


## woodwizard

Booth Shot Lincoln (revisited)
and ... Rocky Pallet

----------


## Gary S

Very nice Mike!!! A couple of great tunes.

----------


## oldmick

This weekend I'm working on a fun little tune called Flat-Footed Henry.  I got the music of The Portland Collection.

----------


## yankees1

Just starting Temperance Reel !

----------


## woodwizard

Pig Ankle Rag and working on another version of New Five Cents. It's Saturday !  :Smile:  So I can do that!  :Smile:

----------


## woodwizard

Jefferson's Hornpipe ... learned this tune today

working on:
Ed Haley's Lost Indian and 
Jeff Sturgeon

----------


## woodwizard

Here's a couple of fiddle tunes sort of new for me. 
There are at least (2) different tunes with the same name "Lady of the Lake" This is the one you don't hear much... we actually call it "Suckle That Lamb" So it's... "Lady of the Lake" aka: "Suckle That Lamb"  :Smile: 
and another one that we made a little recording of tonight at a PIZZA Old-time jam dinner... "Indian Ate a Woodchuck"
Both are really fun tunes to play.

----------


## woodwizard

Blackberry Rag... it's a good one folks

----------


## Ron McMillan

I've been having a lot of fun learning Pig Ankle Rag, courtesy of Don Julin's lesson on YouTube. 

ron

----------


## woodwizard

Jump Fingers... another really happy tune. Here's me and couple of friends jamming on it a little.

----------


## Mike Bunting

I've started on Wolves a'Howlin".

----------


## Mike Bunting

I've started on Wolves a'Howlin".

----------


## AlanN

Been messing with Fiddler's Dream, in G chord. I like this number because in part A, it swoops down to low G, on up to B on the E string, all in first position. Then, modulates to the 5 chord in part B. I try to get that awesome triplet descent that Ray Legere does in his take on this (notice I said 'try').

----------


## woodwizard

QUOTE=Mike Bunting;1032790]I've started on Wolves a'Howlin".[/QUOTE]

Now that's a great (A) tune and has good lyrics as well. My OT band does that one.
I just learned "Jeff Sturgeon".  Another AEAE fiddle tune with a little twist. Here's me and my OT band pickin' it yesterday at my 60th b'day party. Much fun that day and many tunes were played that's for sure  :Smile:

----------


## Jim Nollman

I'm learning 3 modal tunes and forging them into a set for an upcoming dance. Our fiddler plays them tuned to AEAE. And she's just starting to play another open-tuned modal set on viola, which really lets the mandolin  shine through. 

Grub Springs into Billy Wilson into Going Across the Sea.

----------


## Mike Bunting

> QUOTE=Mike Bunting;1032790]I've started on Wolves a'Howlin".


Now that's a great (A) tune and has good lyrics as well. My OT band does that one.
I just learned "Jeff Sturgeon".  Another AEAE fiddle tune with a little twist. Here's me and my OT band pickin' it yesterday at my 60th b'day party. Much fun that day and many tunes were played that's for sure  :Smile: 


[/QUOTE]
Well, happy birthday. That looks like my kind of party!

----------


## woodwizard

Thanks Mike it was a good party. You would have fit right in ... here's another ... "Little Billy Wilson"... playing this at my B'day party. Probably had a little too many Miller Lts. as I attempted this one but I really like this tune. It was a fun day of pickin' that's for sure.

----------


## woodwizard

Here is a cool OT fiddle tune that we've been having a lot of fun with here lately "Fortune"

----------


## Jim Nollman

Mike, i do love that tune Billy Wilson. Our quartet plays it in a dance set for which the fiddler tunes openly: AEAE. It goes: Grub Springs, BW, Sandy Boys. To make it  square for a contra dance, we had to eliminate the B part of BW. I really enjoy cranking out that C part on mando, with the melody played entirely with double stops.

----------


## JeffD

I have been working on tunes out of Samuel Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle March to the Fife.

----------


## woodwizard

> Mike, i do love that tune Billy Wilson. Our quartet plays it in a dance set for which the fiddler tunes openly: AEAE. It goes: Grub Springs, BW, Sandy Boys. To make it  square for a contra dance, we had to eliminate the B part of BW. I really enjoy cranking out that C part on mando, with the melody played entirely with double stops.


Jim, I can see those 3 AEAE tunes going really well together. Maybe even throw in a little bit of Ways of the World, Chinkapin Huntin', Half Past Four, Little Dutch Girl, Jeff Sturgeon, Hang Man's Reel and Red Bird. There's so many great AEAE fiddle tunes in (A)

----------


## Paul Edwards

I've been working on three tunes in the past few weeks.. land's end, red haired boy, and cooley's reel.. with some temperance reel in there somewhere

----------


## Jim Nollman

Cuckoo's Nest. I'll probably stitch it into a set with Arkansas Traveler, which sounds vaguely similar to me. Now I'm looking for a third tune with those same melodic qualities, to complete the set. Any ideas?

----------


## AlanN

Staying with D, Snowflake Reel might be a good 3rd tune, has that jazzy Bb in it to really confound the peeps.

Been messing with Chief Sitting In The Rain, which is essentially Chief Sitting Bull, 3 parts, with a minor section in the middle. It's a toughie.

----------


## Jim Nollman

listened to Snowflake. What a unique tune. Not quite strong enough as a melody for I'm seeking. By the way, AlanN, what is a "peep".

----------


## sgarrity

Peeps = people

----------


## doc holiday

Jim N.... How about Acorn Hill Breakdown?  Scott Nygaard w/ J Reischman on mando paired it with Big Sciota on his first album. Love the Bob Holt version on fiddle.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Mississippi Sawyer
Staten Island Hornpipe
John Ryans Polka
Spotted Pony
Woodchoppers Reel
Sadie at the Back Door, if you really want to go out on a limb.

----------


## Mike Black

The old-time version of Blackberry Blossom. 

 And Molly Put the Kettle On (John Hartford's - Wild Hog in the Red Brush version)

----------


## Jim Nollman

thanks for all the ideas. 

There's three we're trying out to complete the set, next time we get together:  Blackberry Blossom, Wildwood Flower, and Green Willis

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Mike...I swear, this is truly the thread that won't die...and that's a very good thing. :Wink: 

   London Hornpipe....great little tune.

----------


## terzinator

June Apple... fun one in A mixolydian kinda like Kitchen Girl

----------


## woodwizard

The Golden Eagle Hornpipe is a fun one I've been playing a lot lately. There's just a lot of flowing notes that makes a good workout. And another one I just learned is Ashland Breakdown

----------


## Mike Black

I finally learned Ed Haley's *Half Past Four* today.

----------


## wildpikr

Rickett's Hornpipe...

----------


## terzinator

Just started working on Old Dangerfield (Daingerfield?)

Holy crap was Monroe a genius or what?

----------


## AlanN

Not a fiddle tune, per se, but been messing with the wonderful number Flyin' High, by the Bibester, from Young Mando Monsters. In B chord, has it all: drive, groove, hip melodic lines. Alan is the man.

----------


## woodwizard

Bill's Dream

----------


## terzinator

Figured out Jerusalem Ridge (Brad Laird's YouTube vid is great for this one, by the way), and now working on Herschel Sizemore's "Rebecca." This is, so far, the toughest one I've tried to learn. I don't think the notes are the thing, it's just that the melody is more subtle. Gonna be a while before I'll have it memorized, that's for sure.

I found the Bluegrass College while searching for examples of this tune. I went ahead and subscribed, and there are great videos, backup tracks, and lesson tracks. The video is of Matt Flinner, playing it very slowly and deliberately. Great stuff.

Sample here:

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Big Sciota...the Bush version

Sandy

----------


## Mike Snyder

Jeff Sturgeon is so crooked I hafta play it standing up so I don't fall outa my chair, and I STILL haven't got that third part right.
Peter Peter, Eat Your Heart Out is a spankin' good tune. 827 posts. Starting this thread is one of the few things I ever got right on the first go-round. I want to thank you all, just once, and real big, for all the great tunes. 

  Thanks for the Jeff Sturgeon video, Mike. Gives me something to suffer over.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> Jeff Sturgeon is so crooked I hafta play it standing up so I don't fall outa my chair, and I STILL haven't got that third part right.
> Peter Peter, Eat Your Heart Out is a spankin' good tune. 827 posts. Starting this thread is one of the few things I ever got right on the first go-round. I want to thank you all, just once, and real big, for all the great tunes. 
> 
>   Thanks for the Jeff Sturgeon video, Mike. Gives me something to suffer over.


Your the man Mike..... :Wink: 

Sandy

----------


## woodwizard

Another AEAE fiddle tune ~ Hangmans Reel. This is my OT band the Mountain Boomers pickin it in Mt Ida Arkansas last Sat. ... and thanks! Sandy & Mike  :Smile:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Booth Shot Lincoln :::: totally addictive. Be careful, this one causes brain damage. 

Lady of the Lake ::: There are at least two fiddle tunes with this same name. I'm learning the version that (I am told) is a staple of New England contra dances, as opposed to the version which you find so often on  iTunes including an inspired recording by John Hartford. Our band is now assembling Lady of the Lake into a dance set with Cuckoo's nest and Shenandoah Falls.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## drbluegrass

Daley's Reel
Roanoke
Rebecca
Tacoma
Gray Eagle
Red Haired Boy
Gold Rush

----------


## woodwizard

QUOTE=Jim Nollman;Booth Shot Lincoln :::: totally addictive. Be careful, this one causes brain damage. QUOTE]

I love that tune "Booth Shot Lincoln"

Another one I really like is "Yellow Barber"... Here's a cool kyaking video of our bass players son on his latest paddeling adventure and he used my OT band for the background audio of us playing "Yellow Barber" I think Bluegrass , OT & Folk music go well for kyaking vids.

----------


## Wilbur James

I have worked out "Indian ate a woodchuck" still need to keep it flowing but it is a fun tune to play.

----------


## Mandomax

dust in the lane/cotton pickin time

----------


## Gan Ainm

Spending the summer trying to learn Herschels "Rebecca" with variants by the man himself and Butch B.  Ironically a Butch transcription from camp is actually closer to what H.S. usually plays than the transcriptions in the Herschel video or book which have some odd quirks (THAT will teach me to try to use notation), but of course nothing like the man himself playing it whether on teaching video, You tube video, recordings of his own and the Jim Mills recording.  Figure if I can get this down I'll know my way around key of "B" a lot better, and there are a LOT of nuances in the versions, and of course it's "crooked" structure. And it's kind of the "separator in a jam I attend!  Finding the VLC media player great for slowing  down videos and MP3s.

----------


## Mike Snyder

GREAT version of Yellow Barber, Mike. Thanks! One of my favorites.

----------


## woodwizard

Thanks Mike!
John just sent me a link to another of his paddeling adventures with us playing "Hangman's Reel" in the audio background. A great jamming fiddle tune! I remember at Mountain View this year we must of played that tune for 15 or 20 minutes when some great fiddlers and clawhammer banjo pickers joined in with us on that tune jamming around the courthouse square at the folk festival. Much Fun!

----------


## Bill D

New player taking lessons. Working on Old Joe Clark for our mountaintop dulcimer group.

----------


## JeffD

OK, a parcel of tunes I worked on at Clifftop and now call my own:

Old Yellow Dog
Farewell Trion
Hell Broke Loose in George
One Eyed Cat
Bog Watrer Hornpipe
Henry Reed Breakdwon
Hog Skin
Tater Patch

and I fell in love with 

Lee Highway Blues
Tupolo Blues

----------


## Mike Snyder

Gettin' wound up for Winfield!

John Stinsons'
Half Past Four

Lots of homework @ Carpazon

Old-time jam every day after Land Rush at the camp with no name. Look for a big school bus with Abbey Road in the headliner and a little, highly polished Airstream trailer on 14th street straight south of the grandstand,about fifty yards east of stage 5.  One o'clock in the PM.

That's 1300, to me. See ya there!

----------


## woodwizard

One re-visited by my band the Mountain Boomers Old-time String band. "Yellow Barber"

http://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/yellow-barber

and another "Forked Deer"

http://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/forked-deer

----------


## woodwizard

And one more of my favorites... Indian Ate a Woodchuck ... picken' at a little show in Mt Ida Arkansas

http://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/i...te-a-woodchuck

----------


## Jim Nollman

thanks guys for all the new tune suggestions. Definitely going to learn Farewell to Trion. Also check out my own new ones:

high up on tug. 

Billy the Kid

----------


## Jack Roberts

Silver Bells (That Ring in the Night) with the old Bob Wills phrasing.

----------


## stonefingers

Ok, I dont know if this is the right thread to put this on, but it seemed like a good guess.
Being the "proud father", I just wanted to share...

My youngest daughter (9) started playing fiddle in February of this year (2012).  Last week we had the chance to take her down to compete in the Indiana State Fair Fiddle Competition; thinking it would be a good experience for her to see how it all works.

She played three tunes - "Bile them cabbage", "Blue Violet Waltz", and "Devil's Dream".

Completely unexpected to us, she won third place in the "11 and under" division!!  It's been over a week ago, and I think I'm still grinning!

----------


## Pete Summers

Wow, Stonefingers, mighty talented little gal you got there! No wonder you're beaming with pride. Congrats to you and the young lady for that winning performance.

----------

stonefingers

----------


## Mike Snyder

Little Billy Wilson..................is giving me fits.

----------


## Denny Gies

Brown County Breakdown from the Dreadful Snakes,"Snakes Alive" CD.  In the key of E.

----------


## wildpikr

Hey stonefingers...congratulations to 'Little Maggie'! :Grin:

----------

stonefingers

----------


## Charles E.

> GREAT version of Yellow Barber, Mike. Thanks! One of my favorites.


Here are some friends doing Floyd the Barber.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrGjs0ihtzM

----------


## Mike Snyder

The GREEN DULCIMER. Winfield winner and great tune.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Colonel Robertson's March

----------


## woodwizard

> Here are some friends doing Floyd the Barber.......
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrGjs0ihtzM


Those Mando Mafia boys are just too cool. I have a version of that on a "Best of Clifftop" CD. Awesome!

----------


## Jim Nollman

Hey guys, take a listen to the Chris Coole/Ivan Rosenberg version of Farewell Trion. Masterful arrangement. And with no mandolin, it's a great tune to add your own, and learn to play it.

----------


## Mandolin Mick

I'm currently working on "Lost Indian" by Red Smiley & the Bluegrass Cut-ups. I believe that's Gene Burris on the mandolin.

Does anybody know if that's Sam Bush playing mandolin on Kenny Baker's version of "Lost Indian"? Sounds very much like Mr. Bill himself ...

----------


## Charles E.

> Those Mando Mafia boys are just too cool. I have a version of that on a "Best of Clifftop" CD. Awesome!


They are a lot of fun, I'll be seeing them at Rockbridge this weekend.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

The version we do of "Fort Smith" revisited ... front porch pickin with my friends the other day.

----------


## jstout

Turkey in The straw, and for this Greenhorn was quite a feat took me 26 days to get it fluid.

----------


## doc holiday

JS   26 days to get fluid? Sisterdale (?) must be awful dry,   I didn't find the bars so far apart in Austin  :Smile:

----------


## jstout

> JS   26 days to get fluid? Sisterdale (?) must be awful dry,   I didn't find the bars so far apart in Austin


 :Wink:  Well I hafta admit since the medical profession deemed a couple shots of good whiskey healthy, I keep a quart handy. always knew it must have some medicinal value  :Smile: 
So allow me to reinterate my playing became passable after 26 days of hard work. I keep trying to remember who that $&@/;$&(& was that told me mandolin was easier than guitar.
Good luck

----------


## stevejay

Pig on the engine and Cuffey. Cuffey is fairly easy. Tableedit really helps getting down POTE, it's a fine tune, and makes me realize what a good key F can be for the mandolin.

----------


## JeffD

Farewell Trion. What a fun tune.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

We play Cuffey in (G). Cool tune!

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Sunshine Hornpipe...

----------


## Mike Bunting

Land of Lincoln and going back and polishing up My Father's Footsteps.

----------


## Chip Booth

Tim O's Land's End

----------


## Mike Black

President Garfield's Hornpipe in Bb and Old French.

----------


## Trey Young

Been working on Old Chattanooga from the Haints Shout Monah album. Any body else got a version of this worked up? Would love to see a video if so...

----------


## Jim Garber

Salty River Reel (Cyril Stinnett) and Miller's Reel (JP Fraley) + some nameless Finnish waltzes

----------


## Mike Black

> Been working on Old Chattanooga from the Haints Shout Monah album. Any body else got a version of this worked up? Would love to see a video if so...


I play Chattanooga.  I learned it from James Bryan.  Here is a video of Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones playing it.  Carl & Erynn play with James frequently. James played it a little different.  His version is a lot smoother.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Jim Nollman

Hambo från Gästrikland. works great as a round with a fiddle. The Hambo beat is 3/4 with different accents than a waltz.

----------


## Randi Gormley

Mooncoin Jig and Monaghan's jig (I know, I should have learned these years ago), along with Callaghan's Hornpipe

----------


## Mike Black

> Been working on Old Chattanooga from the Haints Shout Monah album. Any body else got a version of this worked up? Would love to see a video if so...


Trey,
Here is an MP3 of our version of Chattanooga.

----------

Jim Nollman, 

woodwizard

----------


## Jack Roberts

Massasoit Hornpipe.  The tune caught my eye because Massasoit has many streets and places named after him near where I used to live.  He died in 1665, but I can't find any information about how old this fiddle tune is.  Anyone know?

I'm playing the version from "Mandolin Player's Pastime".

----------


## Jim Garber

> Massasoit Hornpipe.  The tune caught my eye because Massasoit has many streets and places named after him near where I used to live.  He died in 1665, but I can't find any information about how old this fiddle tune is.  Anyone know?
> 
> I'm playing the version from "Mandolin Player's Pastime" .


It is also very holiday relevant for this week.

According to Andy Kunst's site it goes at least back to 1883:



> MASSASOIT HORNPIPE. American, Hornpipe. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Massasoit was Chief of the Wampanog Indians, who attended the first Thanksgiving in the new colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts. The previous winter had been a hard one—nearly half of the original 102 Pilgrims perished—and Massasoit and his tribesmen had helped the survivors by teaching them how to plant the native corn, using fish fertilizer. That autumn the harvest had been plenty, and the game abundant, and in thanks Governor Bradford invited Massasoit and ninety of his warriors to the feast; thus, as Stuart Berg Flexner points out (in Listening to America, 1982) the Native Americans outnumbered the Pilgrims at the meal. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 93. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; pg. 128.
> 
> X:1
> T:Massasoit Hornpipe
> M:2/4
> L:1/8
> R:Hornpipe
> S:Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883)
> Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
> ...

----------

Jack Roberts, 

Mike Black

----------


## Jack Roberts

> According to Andy Kunst's site it goes at least back to 1883:


Thanks, Jim:  I wonder how much older it is than Ryan's Mammoth.  Massasoit was repaid by the Pilgrims for his kindness when he became quite ill and was expected to die.  The Governor and his physician, as well as the famous interpreter Tisquantum ("Squanto") visited him and were able to nurse him back to heath.  

Another great resident of the Plymouth Region was John Manjiro (John Mung), a whaler and the first Japanese resident of the United States.  I think I'll write a hornpipe in his honor!

Jack

----------


## Jim Garber

I don't know, but I would guess that it is not a tune written contemporary to its honoree. Prob like us, someone in the 19th century heard the story and felt that he needed a tune written in his honor.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> I don't know, but I would guess that it is not a tune written contemporary to its honoree. Prob like us, someone in the 19th century heard the story and felt that he needed a tune written in his honor.


Funny thing, I didn't appreciate the Thanksgiving connection when I started learning this tune yesterday. #I think that could help date it.

You get a feel for the age of things when you compare them to similar tunes that were composed at times you know and that have the same features.  I'm going to guess it was written sometime within the 20 years after Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation and the publication of Ryan's Mammoth.  It has "new" sound to it, so maybe it was a pretty new tune when RMC was published.

----------


## Jim Garber

I would say you were in the right vicinity. Kunst references Lady Walpole's reel but I am not sure why -- maybe it is a similar tune?

----------


## Trey Young

Hey Mike,
  Thanks for the Youtube clip, I've been using that one a bit in trying to figure the tune out.  Also, thanks for the mp3 of your version, y'all sound fantastic!

----------


## fatt-dad

o.k. I'll contribute. . .

I got this crazy idea that I can learn standard notation.  I figured if I know the key and the scale, then it's just follow the bouncing ball and the stems/dots and such.

So, I got some standard notation of fiddle tunes and took a wack on a few tunes I play, just to get the feel.  (Just for reference I do sing in the church choir.)  Well, from the tunes that I know I got some variation in the music I was reading so all was moving forward nicely.

During my page flipping, I saw a tune, "Dead Slave."  Well, I figured there's a tune nobody would call in a jam and a tune I never heard.  So I took a go on it.

I think I got it worked up!  I mean it really came together!  Just not sure I can call it in a jam.  It seems somehow a tune that's past it's shelf life.  Then again, there may be some backststory. . .

f-d

----------


## John Duncan

> ..."Dead Slave."....  It seems somehow a tune that's past it's shelf life.  Then again, there may be some backststory. . .
> 
> f-d


Fatt-Dad, it looks like the Tune is also know as " Fiddler's Hoedown". It might be a little easier to call that one. http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FIA_FILLY.htm#FIDDLER'S_HOEDOWN

The fiddle tunes I have been working on are: Texas Crapshooter, Comanche Hit and Run and Maiden's Prayer. I go see Bobby Hicks just about every week and these are the tunes we are working on. 

Seems like I've been working on 'em for 2 months straight.

----------


## fatt-dad

[QUOTE=John Duncan;1105956]Fatt-Dad, it looks like the Tune is also know as " Fiddler's Hoedown". It might be a little easier to call that one. http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FIA_FILLY.htm#FIDDLER'S_HOEDOWN

<snip>[QUOTE]

I feel much better now.

f-d

----------


## Jack Roberts

> o.k. I'll contribute. . .
> 
> I got this crazy idea that I can learn standard notation.  I figured if I know the key and the scale, then it's just follow the bouncing ball and the stems/dots and such.....


That worked for me: I learned standard notation on the mandolin pretty much following this method.  I can actually name notes now after a few years of doing this, but that came as a skill after I followed the f-d follow the bouncing ball method.

The other trick that sometimes works is index and ring finger on notes with lines through them, open, middle finger and pinky on notes with no lines through them.

----------


## fatt-dad

> <snip>The other trick that sometimes works is index and ring finger on notes with lines through them, open, middle finger and pinky on notes with no lines through them.


Oh, that's a great idea!  Thanks also for the vote of confidence - i.e., that my mission has some history of success.

f-d

----------


## Charles E.

Just came accross a tune I am smitten with, if not just by the title alone. "Thats My Rabbit, My Dog Caught It", key of C. I came by it by way of the late Kelly Perdue of the Mando Mafia, out of Charolettsville Va. 
Better get to it.......

----------


## tmsweeney

well I had sort of gotten away from traditional fiddle tunes ( not entirely but ..) so anyway I satisfied my MAS craving and the new instrument ( a nice Weber octave) so to break it in what else but some good old fiddle tunes - St Anne's Reel, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Red Haired Boy, Fisher's Hornpipe, so I invited some old friends I by chance ran into at Grey Fox Bluegrass fest this summer and they got me playing  the Banshee and Banish Misfortune and Blarney pilgrim, well I was having so much fun playing Red Haired Boy  on the octave that I started playing over an octave chord loop on mandolin and mandola and that got me driven to work out the melody on RHB on mandola, and that got me looking for hints on the mandolin cafe and I see this thread about Black Mountain Rag and a few people have heard it in C so I just worked it out on the mandola in C

Fiddle tunes should be classified as a highly addictive substance

my name is Tim and I am an addict

----------


## Jim Garber

Gotta get moving... I am leading our monthly jam at an old farmhouse this evening. I started "assigning" a few tunes for folks to familiarize themselves with if not already. Focusing on G tonight: 


Little Boy Where did you get Your Britches 

Lost Girl (Salyer)

Lost Girl (Lundy)


West Virginia Rag

----------


## fatt-dad

those were really great Jim!  I want to learn them now!

f-d

----------


## Charles E.

Jim, is "Little Boy where did you get your britches" the same as "Rye Straw"?

----------


## Charles E.

OK, this is in the works, great tune......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bItaBzKric

----------


## Jim Garber

> OK, this is in the works, great tune......
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bItaBzKric


I love rags on mandolin. I think Hawkins is playing a mandolin-banjo.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Jim, is "Little Boy where did you get your britches" the same as "Rye Straw"?


Somewhat similar but not really.

Here's Tommy Jarrell's version: Rye Straw

----------


## Mike Snyder

Down in Little Egypt

----------


## Jim Nollman

> Just came accross a tune I am smitten with, if not just by the title alone. "Thats My Rabbit, My Dog Caught It", key of C. I came by it by way of the late Kelly Perdue of the Mando Mafia, out of Charolettsville Va. 
> Better get to it.......


You can find 3 versions of this tune at the itunes store. One of the CDs that has it, "Kentucky Music Part 1" looks like real gem. I've never encountered 3/4 of the tunes on the CD. One of the stranger things I've ever heard in old time music is the vocal in the first tune, Ladies on the Steamboat. It sounds like the Kentucky version of Tuva overtone singing. Check it out. Does this technique of murmoured yodeling actually have a precise name?

I've been hunkered down on a losing mission, simultaneously  trying to learn four or five new tunes by rote listening, none of which I seem to be able to focus on for more than a few minutes at a time.  They are all fiddle tunes, but not necessarily old time. I think i have the Scottish strathspey, Mrs. MacDowell Grant, down pretty good, as well as the Irish jig, Moon and Seven Stars which is a relatively quick learn. The trick is knowing them well enough that i can simply play them anytime, without having to refer to my ipod recordings of them. 

Our band has just added two mountain tunes to its repertoire, Johnny Don't Get Drunk and Buck Mountain . They comprise the last two tunes of a new contra dance set,  initiated by the Jay Unger tune Around the Horn, which I know well. But I don't know the melody to either one of these new tunes yet. For Johnny, I am content to play syncopated 4 note chords, which seems to be the most common role of a mandolin at a contra dance. 

For Buck Mountain, I have developed something else entirely, a kind of bass rhythm by playing, at speed, a bass part on the D and G strings while simultaneously alternating with a drone on the A strings. It's a technique I developed for optimally adding a mandolin part while playing with two strong rhythm instruments (guitar and piano) and two strong melody instruments (violin and viola). I wish i could describe it better, since it works so well. And yet, who ever heard of a mandolin playing the bass part?

----------


## Jim Garber

> You can find 3 versions of this tune at the itunes store. One of the CDs that has it, "Kentucky Music Part 1" looks like real gem. I've never encountered 3/4 of the tunes on the CD.


Sometimes in different regions there are other names assigned to the same or similar tunes. I sometimes find a CD with all unfamiliar names and they turn out to be variants on tunes I know already.


[QUOTE=Jim Nollman;1112208]One of the stranger things I've ever heard in old time music is the vocal in the first tune, Ladies on the Steamboat. It sounds like the Kentucky version of Tuva overtone singing. Check it out. Does this technique of murmoured yodeling actually have a precise name?/QUOTE]

I think you are referring to the vocalizations that sound sort of like jews harp or just singing thru the nose. I don't think it is throat singing tho hard to tell on the early recordings.

----------


## fatt-dad

Ha!  I like to play Rye Straw.  I just made my rendition from tab, having never heard the tune before or known any jam mates that play it.  My rendition is nothing like Tommy Jarrell's.  I mean is that right?!?

(I do like my rendition though - fun to play and such.)

f-d

----------


## Jim Nollman

> I think you are referring to the vocalizations that sound sort of like jews harp or just singing thru the nose. I don't think it is throat singing tho hard to tell on the early recordings.


Yeh, you are probably right, it does remind me of a jews harp as well. That would make much more sense than overtone singing. Nonetheless, the actual sound does demonstrate some of the aspects of overtone singing. 

Performing in Sweden and Finland, I have shared a stage with locals who sang their own traditional tunes, occasionally accenting the songs with overtone technique. Apparently, the technique was borrowed from Saami (laplander) storytelling and song. The Saami's oldest origins are in Central Asia. 

I guess I was reaching a bit, to wonder if the weird styling I heard on that Kentucky CD might have been sung by a Scandinavian immigrant.

----------


## Jack Roberts

The Countess of Louden's Reel.

----------


## AlanN

Done Gone, trying to get that Dewey Farmer toughness...

----------


## fatt-dad

you playing Done Gone in Bb?

Anybody play Logan County Blues?  I'm getting that below my fingers, 'cause a fiddle playing buddy began to call it at the local jams.  

f-d

----------


## Jim Garber

> My rendition is nothing like Tommy Jarrell's.  I mean is that right?!?


Nothing is right or wrong. Tommy's is his version. There are lots of versions of that tune. Where did you learn it?

----------


## AlanN

> you playing Done Gone in Bb?


Only way to fly...

----------


## fatt-dad

> Nothing is right or wrong. Tommy's is his version. There are lots of versions of that tune. Where did you learn it?


I saw some tab, never heard the tune and made music from the numbers and stems.  It's always interesting to "learn" a tune this way and then hear the original later - after you got it in your head the way you thought the music read.

It's all good, fun and interesting though. . .

f-d

----------


## stevejay

> So many mentions of my hero, Norman Blake. Anyone working on "Blake's March"? Absolutely wonderful tune. My tablature posted here in that section is pretty close to Norman's arrangement (forget the harmony part...I wrote it years ago. Passable, but not great. I was just learning how to do that....) 
> 
> The Montana Mandolin Society has a recording of Blake's March on one of their CDs that is also great.


I learned that one, I also learned Cedar Creek. Norman Blake is also my inspiration.

Hmmm- Mike B posted that in '08. Oh well good tunes stand the test of time.

----------


## Charles E.

> I love rags on mandolin. I think Hawkins is playing a mandolin-banjo.


I just found this posted by Adam Tanner, sure helps a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM1W09xpKTg

----------


## tmsweeney

I think I've got the hang of Billy in the low ground

been playing it on octave - thought the  open "C" would work better on Mandola - but my fingers seem to prefer the GDAE for this one

is it just me or do Thile and Daves throw in a couple of extra bars in the B part ?

----------


## Jim Garber

I haven't heard Thile and Daves' version of BITL but some old time players do add some extra beats to it.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Hector the Hero. It's a waltz and its a march at the same time. Must be Scottish, because i always hear bagpipes in my head when I play it. I'm just starting to record my own arrangement, playing a vastly overdriven electric Godin mandolin

Reel Du Quêteux Tremblay. I am presuming that this tune is French Canadian. I'm learning it off a recording by my current favorite fiddler, Laura Risk. If you don't know her music, I definitely recommend you check her out. Her playing demonstrates a unique sense of dynamics.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Alexander's Hornpipe

Sandy

----------


## fatt-dad

So, now I'm learning, "Logan County Blues."  Some backstory about coal mining, murders and bad union/police power.  Need to read up a bit. . .

f-d

----------


## Londy

The song I am really digging right now is Elk River Blues.  Its fantastic.  Here is a video that I play along with. I really like this arrangement.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Dew-Drop Hornpipe

----------


## tmsweeney

lumberjack's waltz 

heard it on Ostroushko's Minnesota CD

has a very nice A minor  to E Major resolve

I assume it is French Canadian - seems to be a concertina tune 
I wonder how many tunes dubbed "fiddle tunes"  were actually written on a different instrument like penny whistle or harp

----------


## Mike Black

> I think I've got the hang of Billy in the low ground
> 
> been playing it on octave - thought the  open "C" would work better on Mandola - but my fingers seem to prefer the GDAE for this one
> 
> is it just me or do Thile and Daves throw in a couple of extra bars in the B part ?


Yes, Thile and Daves add an extra tag.  I believe that Chris learned it from Stuart Duncan and doesn't like to play the tune without it anymore.  It is kinda cool.

----------


## tmsweeney

> Yes, Thile and Daves add an extra tag.  I believe that Chris learned it from Stuart Duncan and doesn't like to play the tune without it anymore.  It is kinda cool.


then I guess that's the new standard version of  BITLG

----------


## terzinator

I've added a bunch to my brain recently...

Beaumont Rag
Cattle in the Cane
Old Cluck Hen
Over the Waterfall
Forked Deer
Texas Gales
Lonesome Moonlight Waltz

Good times, although I know some of the first ones I learned are going to leak out, never to be remembered. 

Funny you mention Logan County Blues, f-d... just came across a Wayne Henderson vid, and they appear to be jamming on that at the 7:45 mark, and just I posted on the forum asking what tune it was! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQ8xRBaQOs

----------


## AlanN

Those are some good tunes, terzy. Cattle In The Cane is a dandy that few play. 

BITLG is one of those numbers that the B part accompaniment is done differently, depending who you pick it with. Some go to F chord, some stay with the Am. Either way it sounds good. Joe Carr had that number in one of his early tab books, he got some nifty lines in it, a la Texas style.

----------


## tmsweeney

cattle in the cane is on my list but I keep getting distracted

over the waterfall is one of the first tunes I learned on mandolin
just yesterday I was directed to the Wikipedia page of the Rising Fawn String Ensemble after reading the notes for Ostroushko's Mandolin Chronicles
I used to have most of RFSE stuff on vinyl - and when I saw the song list from the album , well I just had to go back and rediscover "Over the Waterfall", funny how an old tune that has been "separated" from you can find it's way back

----------


## Rick Schmidlin

Doc's version of Blackberry Blossom on guitar

----------


## JeffD

This French tune is so delightful that you can't stop playing it. Its an addiction.

----------


## terzinator

You got an mp3/video/wax cylinder of that witch's broomstick?

----------


## Mike Snyder

Yes, I'd like to HEAR that one. Meanwhile;
Valley Forge and Pretty Little Shoes

Somehow, I feel that a youtube search for witches broomstick might NOT result in that tune popping up.

----------


## JeffD

I have not ever heard it recorded or seen a video of it. My google search was fruitless.

I discovered it in one of my monthly tune around sessions where a bunch of us get together and bring obscure tune books and just poke around and find really cool gems like this.

I will see about recording an MP3 to upload. 

If you want to give it a try its not very hard. Its a set up tune, where the A part makes you expect something and the B part delivers, not exactly what you were made to expect, but something better.

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## terzinator

summoning all of my high-school choir sightreading skills, I tried to play it in my head looking at the notation... I think I get the idea of 3/4s of it.

But I got to the doublestops, and I lost the plot. So I guess I'll just have to play it to find out. 

I like a good mystery.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Beebe's Hornpipe in Bb.

----------


## tmsweeney

Lonesome Fiddle Blues
working off of sheet music - can't really get my head around the B part melody
trying to remember where I heard that recorded - Mark O'Conner's "pickin in the wind" maybe?
in the words of the late great Doc Watson "How does that go Vassar?"

----------


## Jim Garber

Learn right from the source and the composer...

----------

houseworker

----------


## tmsweeney

yeah but I don't like sitting in front of a computer watching you tube ( all I do is sit in front of computers)

would rather just play along with the tune - ( I know I can just play the you tube and don't have to watch the screen) I'll probably get a copy of old and in the way from amazon

appreciate the link just the same

----------


## woodwizard

Playing Hangman's Reel in a noisey BBQ restaurant on this past Valentines Day

Couldn't get it to post... sorry.

----------


## fatt-dad

Home with the Girls in the Morning

f-d

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Barrowburn Reel By Addie Harper Wick, UK a very cool tune.

Sandy

----------


## Jim Garber

Salty River Reel (from Missouri fiddler Cyril Stinnett)

----------

Randy Smith

----------


## gauze

> Playing Hangman's Reel in a noisey BBQ restaurant on this past Valentines Day
> 
> Couldn't get it to post... sorry.


been working on this one myself, nice 4 part quebecois folk tune. Did you figure it out by ear or did you have any online references as well? (I'm still working on this one as I said)

----------


## woodwizard

Sandy Boys

https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/...s-the-mountain

----------


## woodwizard

> been working on this one myself, nice 4 part quebecois folk tune. Did you figure it out by ear or did you have any online references as well? (I'm still working on this one as I said)


I learned Hangman's Reel mostly from the 2 fiddle players in my OT string band who play it very well and also listening to recordings.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbY-KliEKkI

----------


## fatt-dad

Goodby Liza Jane.  Working on the Liza series. . .

f-d

----------


## Ken

President Grant's Hornpipe

First new one in while.

----------


## AlanN

Well, thanks to a poster on here, revisiting Old Grey Coat by Tony Rice. I messed with this over the years, never fully nailed it, but with the help of said poster, got it down. B part chords were a bit dodgy, Alan Bibey helped out there.

----------


## Jim Garber

> I learned Hangman's Reel mostly from the 2 fiddle players in my OT string band who play it very well and also listening to recordings.


Here you go... this is the southernized version not the Quebecois one.



Here is the quintessential Quebecois version by Jean Carignan

----------


## Jim Garber

I have been playing "Indian Ate the Woodchuck" sourced from John Salyer of Kentucky. A habit forming tune in C. There is another equally habit-forming tune of the same name sourced from Ed Haley but I haven't yet gotten to that one.

----------


## woodwizard

We play the Ed Haley version of Indian Ate a Woodchuck... here's our attemp at it in the key of (D)
http://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/i...te-a-woodchuck

----------

Randy Smith

----------


## Jim Garber

> We play the Ed Haley version of Indian Ate a Woodchuck... here's our attemp at it in the key of (D)
> http://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/i...te-a-woodchuck


Hey Mike... that is great... it sounds like an old record. That tune is really completely different from the Salyer one but a great one nonetheless. You guys play some of my other favorites too, like Cowhide Boots, for instance.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Chicago Reel

----------


## JeffD

I just jammed with an old timey bunch who play Sally Ann.  It was a very spare version, no fancy stuff, and the vocals were a bit different. "Sally Ann has gone away, Sally Ann has gone to stay" and "Sal's got a meatskin laid away, To grease that wooden leg so they say"  being verses I hadn't heard before.

The tune was very dark, and kind of rugged. 

Oh and the neatest part - we played the B part three times! Whoa that was cool. I have normally played it four times, or two times, but three is really different for me.  When singing they would do this high pitched "wooo wooo" thing the third time.

Really something. Really felt part of something old and not entirely cleaned off.

----------


## woodwizard

> Hey Mike... that is great... it sounds like an old record. That tune is really completely different from the Salyer one but a great one nonetheless. You guys play some of my other favorites too, like Cowhide Boots, for instance.


Thanks Jim! We all really love and study that old timey stuff

----------


## woodwizard

Here's one ... another version of "Lady of the Lake" but we like to call it " Suckel that Lamb"
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/suckel-that-lamb

----------


## Jim Garber

> Here's one ... another version of "Lady of the Lake" but we like to call it " Suckel that Lamb"
> https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/suckel-that-lamb


That one is yet anther of my favorites, in fact, at one time I played three tunes called "Lady of the Lake" -- Pete Sutherland plays them in a medley on one of his recordings. Where did you hear this one called "Suckel That Lamb". I think the source for this tune is Henry Reed.

----------


## woodwizard

> That one is yet anther of my favorites, in fact, at one time I played three tunes called "Lady of the Lake" -- Pete Sutherland plays them in a medley on one of his recordings. Where did you hear this one called "Suckel That Lamb". I think the source for this tune is Henry Reed.


You might be right about Henry Reed. I learned it from a friend- fiddler in my band. The next time I see Bill I'll find out where he got it. "Suckel that Lamb" is just a name we called it once joking around and it kinda stuck  :Smile:

----------


## tmsweeney

President Garfield's Hornpipe in Bb

manged to recall it from memory - haven't played it in a long time
B part is a little dodgy but It'll come - great left hand workout

the only version I've ever heard is Norman Blake's fantastic flat pick guitar version

a lot of great tunes from that Cole's 1001 fiddle tunes

Niagara hornpipe, Saratoga Hornpipe, San Souci, I saw someone posted President Grant's Hornpipe as the new fiddle tune
have to go look at that one - I've played it but can't recall it.

----------


## Mike Black

There is a great version of Garfield's and Grant's Hornpipes on the Travellers album by Butch Baldassari, John Reischman & Robin Bullock.

----------


## xiledscot

The tune.......Music for a found Harmonium !

----------


## Charles E.

A good friend and excellent fiddle player, Tim Curren, played "Our Lady of the Lake" for us last week. Great tune, not to be confused with "Lady of the Lake", better get back to it.

----------


## terzinator

Just stumbled upon *Flowers of Edinburgh*! 

Love this one. Gonna be fun to learn it.

----------


## AKmusic

Josie-O / Art Stamper
Lost Indian / Eck Robertson (via Stoop Singers)

...and will try tackling Blackjack Grove / Art Stamper soon (great tune)

----------


## Mike Bunting

Chinquapin Hunting

----------


## Mike Snyder

That's a good one, Mike. I've been trying to learn one called Rock Andy, but I need a soundfile of some sort.

----------


## Mike Bunting

> That's a good one, Mike. I've been trying to learn one called Rock Andy, but I need a soundfile of some sort.


By the great Snake Chapman
http://www.amazon.com/Chapmans-Hollo...=snake+chapman

----------


## tmsweeney

While I haven' t quite nailed Lonesome Fiddle Blues yet and am still working out Tennessee Blues
I was listening to Tone Poets and really like the "Old Dangerfield" on there - Think it is Joy Kills Sorrow playing
All though I have posted how I am not crazy about much of Monroe's stuff - I think Old Dangerfield is one of his best
and that Sierra Hull version on you tube with Highway 111 - killer.
so I have added that to the list - the sheet music I have doesn't really match what  a lot of folks are doing melody wise- but I think I can work this one by ear.

----------


## terzinator

> While I haven' t quite nailed Lonesome Fiddle Blues yet and am still working out Tennessee Blues
> I was listening to Tone Poets and really like the "Old Dangerfield" on there - Think it is Joy Kills Sorrow playing
> All though I have posted how I am not crazy about much of Monroe's stuff - I think Old Dangerfield is one of his best
> and that Sierra Hull version on you tube with Highway 111 - killer.
> so I have added that to the list - the sheet music I have doesn't really match what  a lot of folks are doing melody wise- but I think I can work this one by ear.


If you can pick up a copy of Bob Grant's Fiddle Tune book, it has a ton of great tunes in there, with a CD. Old Dangerfield is among them. 

http://www.amazon.com/Fiddle-Tunes-F.../dp/0825687535

Looooove Old Dangerfield.

----------


## tmsweeney

terzinator - thanks - I actually have a copy of the Bob Grant book - but didn't even think to look if it had Old Dangerfield in it! 
talk about a senior moment - no offense to those who've been round longer than me
well I have the A & B part pretty solid - just have to get the C down
trying it on both octave and mandola - kind of liking it on mandola
I always seem to want to jump to "voodoo chile"  ( in A of course) at the end
I wonder it the Bluegrass Boys were cranking Hendrix on the tour bus and Bill just got that riff in his head before he wrote Old Dangerfield.
if it is a myth it can be become a legend

----------


## terzinator

Cool. Yeah, that Grant book has a lot of good stuff in it (the Mandolin book has a few tunes that the guitar book doesn't, including OD, and Kentucky Mandolin, which I love. Lucky for us!)

My fingerings on the B part are different from Grant's, even though we play essentially the same notes for the basic melody. I think he has more open strings on the B part. 

It's a great tune.

Cattle in the Cane and Old Cluck Hen are a couple others that he has in there that are really good... tunes it seems nobody else plays!

----------


## tmsweeney

I've only heard Tony Rice doing Cattle in the Cane - off of the Church Street Blues album

I'll have to give it a whirl

I think Grisman and Garcia use Cluck Old Hen as the instrumental break on Walkin' Boss
I know a clawhammer banjo guy plays Cluck Old Hen all the time - it can really take on a dark visage sometimes - depending on the atmosphere, instrumentation and what have you
other times it can come across as "bucolic"

but I do like the Bob Grant book - he paints a nice clear structure and then you can take it where you will.

----------


## terzinator

Ok, I just tackled Sam Bush's arrangement of Brilliancy.

Not too hard to learn, but wicked when you try to play it fast. 

A-part I'm getting close, maybe 85% of Sam's speed. 

B & C, well, if I hit 65-70% I'm lucky.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> Just stumbled upon *Flowers of Edinburgh*! 
> 
> Love this one. Gonna be fun to learn it.


Great tune "terzinator"...one of my favorites...enjoy.

Sandy :Wink:

----------


## terzinator

> Great tune "terzinator"...one of my favorites...enjoy.
> 
> Sandy


Yeah, that B part is especially fun to play.

----------


## tmsweeney

obsessed with the Nancy Blake tune "Fathers Hall" from Blake and Rice 2
got most of it - a few sections are still tripping me up 
playing it on mandola

----------


## Mike Snyder

Thank you Mike Bunting for the tip on Rock Andy. I had no idea that was a Snake Chapman tune. Of course it sounds some different from what I heard in Missouri, but them Missouri fiddlers are like that, very often.

----------


## woodwizard

[QUOTE=Mike Snyder;1151705]That's a good one, Mike. I've been trying to learn one called Rock Andy, but I need a soundfile of some sort.
Is that the tune that goes something like... "I heard you had a rock Andy" I think I have a recording of my OT band pickin' that one  jamming around

----------


## tmsweeney

[QUOTE=woodwizard;1161876]


> That's a good one, Mike. I've been trying to learn one called Rock Andy, but I need a soundfile of some sort.
> Is that the tune that goes something like... "I heard you had a rock Andy" I think I have a recording of my OT band pickin' that one  jamming around



Actually I was just looking at the Snake Chapman "Up in Chapman's Hollow"  on Amazon has Rock Andy on it

as for me the new tune is "Little Pine Siskin" from John Reischman's "Walk Along John"
fairly simple tune - although I don't really have it down yet - another 300 listens or so

love that Am they go to in the B section.

----------


## terzinator

*Swinging on a Gate.* 

So many fiddle tunes, so little time.

----------


## homejame

thanks for that page of tunes- will be pillaging some of your little tricks - I am  in England - live mandolin tutors at this level few and far between

----------


## homejame

hum. seems I have something of a head start on some of you guys as I was bludgeoned into sight reading a few years ago. Now have the best of both worlds - sight reading and a good ear that I was blessed with. My bluegrass band just cracked off Cherokee shuffle at a fair lick yesterday. - But watching a video this morning got me another introduction I am going to use. I have also got a very good collection of American tunes that aren't normally played in 'grass- these come from another band that does a lot of contra dances. - so really that's 3 worlds- ear, dots and video.lovely stuff.

----------


## woodwizard

> Thank you Mike Bunting for the tip on Rock Andy. I had no idea that was a Snake Chapman tune. Of course it sounds some different from what I heard in Missouri, but them Missouri fiddlers are like that, very often.


Here's another little tidbit on that tune...
Real name: "I'll learn you how to Rock Andy" probably goes back a way way long time ago.
Owen "Snake" Chapman, Canada, Pike County Kentucky, Recorded by Mark Wison Rounder 0378. Key of A; standard tuning. Learned from his Grandfather, G.W. Chapman. In the notes to Rounder 0378, Snake Chapman offered some lyrics and explained that the title comes from a story that goes along with the tune; A farmer taught his slave to throw rocks at someone named Andy.

My OT band plays this tune and we sing all the lyrics too. Really cool tune.

Massy he bought me,
Then Massy he sold me;
Then they took me to the riverside,
And learned me how to rock Andy.

(3x) You can rock those ladies but you can't rock me
I'll learne you how to rock Andy

----------


## Jim Nollman

Our band performs Swinging on a gate in a set with Rights of Man. We do Rights first, to easily establish the hornpipe syncopation, then do Swinging. The hornpipe rhythm makes this latter tune sound very sweet indeed.

----------


## JeffD

There is a contra dance band (is it Wild Asparagus?) that does a real jazzy version of Swinging on a Gate. Love it.

----------


## terzinator

> Our band performs Swinging on a gate in a set with *Rights of Man*. We do Rights first, to easily establish the hornpipe syncopation, then do Swinging. The hornpipe rhythm makes this latter tune sound very sweet indeed.


Oh, hell. Now I gotta go hunt that one down.

----------


## Jim Nollman

or give a listen to  this version of swinging on a gate.

----------


## terzinator

> or give a listen to  this version of swinging on a gate.


that's kinda weird, frankly. Computer generated or something?

----------


## Jim Nollman

All the notes were performed as you hear it, on mandolin and piano. The rhythm is a bebop software drum machine. The bass is a synth. Some parts of the mandolin and piano were sampled and altered during the mix phase.

----------


## terzinator

sorry, didn't mean to offend! 

Maybe it was the sampling/altering/bebop drum machine that threw me off.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Certainly no offense taken. I thrive on "weird".

----------


## houseworker

> I thrive on "weird".


As do I, it would seem.  Really enjoyed the recording, didn't think it "weird" in the slightest.

----------


## tmsweeney

Norman Blake's "Walnut River"  
funny I keep launching into Tony Rice Unit's "Mar West" in my head while running through Walnut River on the mando ( right now not getting much past first gear)

I know those guys would hangout and play then  makes me wonder if they hadn't jammed on something and came out with these 2 different expressions

----------


## JeffD

Ievan Polkka. 

OMG is that a fun tune to play. Especially if you can get a string bass or a lower brass instrument to accompany you. Though its a very old Finnish tune, the kids love it because the tune is sung by some Japanese Anime character in a video that went viral.

----------


## Denny Gies

Not exactly a fiddle tune but I got Caravan by David Grisman.  Fun to play.

----------


## fatt-dad

"Home with the Girls in the Morning."

f-d

----------


## Jim Garber

> Ievan Polkka. 
> 
> OMG is that a fun tune to play. Especially if you can get a string bass or a lower brass instrument to accompany you. Though its a very old Finnish tune, the kids love it because the tune is sung by some Japanese Anime character in a video that went viral.


Jeff: do you have the sheet music for that? I found it *here* and *here* (different octaves) -- is this the right tune?

----------


## JeffD

> Jeff: do you have the sheet music for that?


Here you go. If you can play this tune without smiling, you're not playing it correctly.

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## JeffD

Maybe we have some café members from Finland who can comment on this wonderful tune.

----------


## terzinator

well, goodness, that's not a proper tab! How would a person play it without a tab?  :Whistling: 

JeffD, do you have a recording of you playing it?

----------


## JeffD

> well, goodness, that's not a proper tab! How would a person play it without a tab? 
> 
> JeffD, do you have a recording of you playing it?


No I don't post my own playing. But to get an idea I googled it and my gosh, there are many different treatments of the tune from classical to pop to heavy metal, and of course lots of anime. I hadn't realized. Its as if I am the last to know that this is THE TUNE to learn.

It shows you, you can't suppress a good tune, or ruin it by changing the context. The internal gears of the tune and they way it works in our synapses is all good, and nothing can stop it.

----------


## fatt-dad

Oh, I listened to that polka and saw it in the notation. I'm going to learn that cool tune!

f-d

----------


## Jim Garber

This group seems to be one of the popularizers.

----------


## fatt-dad

f-d

----------

Jim Garber, 

Jim Nollman

----------


## terzinator

Notice how the Gert Fröbe doppelganger (think Bond nemesis Auric Goldfinger) gets off his seat at 1:10, and he's back in it in the next frame? 

Damn, these vids are fun and all, but I'd love to hear a straight mando interpretation of it. (Didn't have time to woodshed it last weekend; was at a bluegrass fest.)

----------


## JeffD

> Damn, these vids are fun and all, but I'd love to hear a straight mando interpretation of it.


I don't think it has ever been recorded on mandolin. Perhaps, but I have never seen it. There are some violin videos and accordion too, but no mandolin.

----------


## Jim Garber

> I don't think it has ever been recorded on mandolin.


The best I can find...

----------


## fatt-dad

I'm working the Ievan Polkka up with my jam mate.  He's playing the hammered dulcimer.  Maybe I'll record it after a few more sessions.  I know that the introduction on the music shown above has quite the Eastern flair.  Beyond the introduction, we are playing it like a fiddle tune, two A parts and two B parts.  Fun tune, widely popular too, among a very limited sector of the world.

f-d

----------


## JeffD

> The best I can find...


Good find!

----------


## JeffD

> Fun tune, widely popular too, among a very limited sector of the world.


I read somewhere that Ievan Polkka is the most famous Finnish tune in the world. I picked it up at a jam, along with another Finnish polka Sakkijarven Polkka and a delightful Finnish waltz Metsakukkia. 

When you think of Finnish immigration to the US you naturally think of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, but there was a not insignificant Finnish immigration to the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York, which has influence to this day.

I love it. Sometimes the music is so much more than the music.

----------


## Jim Nollman

I brought the music for the Ievan polka to a session last week, which includes two devotees of Swedish music. We played it through a few times slowly, then brought it up to speed. After a few minutes, everyone looked at each another, and we all stopped playing. 

Maybe you have to live on the East coast to like it.

----------


## shortymack

I just learned this tune after hearing it for the first time in the song a week social. Cool foot tappin' tune.

----------


## terzinator

> I brought the music for the Ievan polka to a session last week, which includes two devotees of Swedish music. We played it through a few times slowly, then brought it up to speed. After a few minutes, everyone looked at each another, and we all stopped playing. 
> 
> Maybe you have to live on the East coast to like it.


OK, that's kinda funny. I can picture the "Are we having fun yet?" stares.

I worked on it a little bit last night and, yep, I can see how it could head that way. It's like having a highly specialized skill nobody requires.

Kind of amusing to figure out, though.

----------


## Tobin

Wow.  That Ievan Polkka song is seared into my brain now.  Great song and easy to play (it naturally lends itself to being played at rocket speed), but I can see how it could get overplayed very easily.  This song really needs some variation in the chord progression if one wanted to play it more than a couple times through.  It would be like playing the A part of Drowsy Maggie over and over and over and over.

Am I weird for thinking it might actually sound pretty cool on a banjo?

----------


## fatt-dad

> I just learned this tune after hearing it for the first time in the song a week social. Cool foot tappin' tune.


So, by the file name, this tune is called, "Red Prairie Dawn?"  I like it!

f-d

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## shortymack

Yep, traditionally it is played slower but I wanted to spice it up a little with more of an up beat tempo. Thanks FD!

----------


## tmsweeney

Norman Blake's "3rd Street Gypsy Rag" one of the coolest tunes I've ever heard

----------


## terzinator

> Norman Blake's "3rd Street Gypsy Rag" one of the coolest tunes I've ever heard


just sampled a few tracks from the album that's on (Natasha's Waltz)... tons of cool tunes!

----------


## tmsweeney

Yeah that one is in the top 5 on the desert Island list
I'd venture it is one of the best "mandoln" oriented recordings
so far I've got Peezlewhister, Georgia Home, Natsha's Waltz, Walnut River and 3rd Street under my wing
just missing a few parts on Dusty Rose - but I have my sights set on "pig on the engine" next

----------


## JeffD

> Am I weird for thinking it might actually sound pretty cool on a banjo?


Not at all. I love this version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytTyo38SeYE

OK its a banjotar, not a banjo, but still it sounds great. And at 1:50 or so when the hammered dulcimer starts to get into it, the tune lifts off.

----------


## JeffD

> After a few minutes, everyone looked at each another, and we all stopped playing.


Oh nooooooo.  :Crying: 

I will admit as a melody its not real intricate. What I like is that the tune is simple and effective. Simple enough to support some improve, some syncopation, but even played straight the tune is driving.

Ah well.

----------


## Mike Black

> Here you go. If you can play this tune without smiling, you're not playing it correctly.


We play this one, we just call it *the Finnish Polka*.  But we play it in *Bm*.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Walley Honey in C.

----------


## terzinator

I keep meaning to get East Tennessee Blues into the mix. Came up in our jam last night, so now I'm committed to the task.

There's a really great version of it on Adam Steffey's "Grateful" album.

Here's an iTunes link... maybe it'll work for some of you.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ea...67?i=318306629

----------


## Jim Nollman

Arctic Waltz (by Bill Boyd). Emma's Waltz (from Finland). Thank the Rain Waltz (by Sally White)

----------


## tmsweeney

continuing on the Norman and Nancy obsessions I think it is a Nancy Blake composition "Butterfly Weed" a very summery tune
pretty simple but a joy to jam along with on mandola

----------


## Jim Nollman

In a big push right now to expand our dance sets. I've been learning these three together, in this order.

Big Liza Jane
Nail the Catfish
Willafjord

----------


## Alex Orr

Started working on "Midnight On The Water" last night.  Using Butch Baldassari's transcription as well as the sheet music in The Fiddler's Fakebook.  Gorgeous tune.

----------


## JeffD

Jim yes, Emma's Waltz is beautiful. I have been playing that only a little while. Still trying to get others to take notice. I do it on mandolin but its good as a fiddle exercise too. Gives me quite a work out on string crossings, one of my weaknesses. 

Alex I have been playing Midnight on the Water a long time. I bet it is among the first 20 or so tunes I ever learned. Its really wonderful. I am not familiar with Butch's transcription. There are lots of open string double stops you can do with that tune that really make it sing out.

----------


## terzinator

Starting on *Sally In The Garden*, inspired by OldSausage's version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvhm5zWdC6I

His arrangement with guitar is reaaaaaaally nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Vt_NUMGy4

----------


## tmsweeney

well I had to play through midnight on the water  after seeing Alex's post

I had good intentions of learning "Nancy's Hornpipe" this rainy weekend - but got distracted by some tunes off the James Bryan and Carl Jones record "Two Pictures"
"vale of Sorrow/loving kindness" is a simple set of very closely related melodies - but that led me onto 
"Last look at long rock" I think it must be an original Bryan/Jones composition - don't quite have the third section but almost there.
still have to work out the chords

----------


## tmsweeney

well I finally got the 3rd part of "last look at Lonesome Rock" down - man I was stumped for days

but then I want back to some older fiddle tunes - played through Sonata # 4 in Dm by some old German fiddler Johnny Bach or something like that - he could write some catchy little tunes...
but once I ran my fingers through the allemande and corrente  - wham that third part of "Last Look at Lonesome Rock" appeared as if someone had pulled off the sheet it was hiding under
so when in doubt go back to Bach, even if just for a visit.

----------


## Jim Garber

I am getting into some old time tunes from Texas. Right now I am working on Benny Thomasson's Old Bell Cow. On the fiddle it is tuned to AEAC# (low to high). I usually don't retune the mandolin but might for this one.

Come to think of it, this one is especially "fiddlistic" with the left hand pizzicato stuff in the B part. I generally learn them first on fiddle and them try them when mastered on mandolin. I do have to fool around with this. 

BTW there are a whole bunch of AEAC# fiddle tunes *here*.

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## terzinator

*Banish Misfortune.*  

I found it on a recording of Steve Kaufman's fiddle tunes for guitar. Really a cool melody. 

Never heard anyone actually do it, but my life is filled with stuff that, inexplicably, only I like... so what's one more thing?

----------


## fatt-dad

"Off She Goes"

a single jig that's fun to play!

f-d

----------


## tmsweeney

f-d 
I've heard two very different version's of "off she goes" - I like the James Bryan one better than the one from Cole's 1001 fiddle tunes - which is the same as the one from O'Neil's music of Ireland - which I am guessing is the more common version.

Terz - Darol Anger does Banish Misfortune on Diary of a fiddler ( no mando but great album none the less)
I think Davey Graham may have recorded it on guitar a while back

as for me I finally put the effort into Nancy's Hornpipe - what a joy to pick that tune
it's a great resource for some very common bluegrass phrasings for  intermediate - novice players

----------


## JeffD

Banish Misfortune is a great tune.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Floppy eared Mule, Sarah's jig, It's so quiet Waltz

----------


## JeffD

A wonderful old tune. Got to be more than 70 years old. I learned it mostly for the name, but soon enough got addicted to it, especially when I play it with friends on guitar and fiddle.

Its from Bayard's "Hill Country Tunes", a wonderful 1944 collection which is available in re-re-print in various places.

----------


## Mike Black

> A wonderful old tune. Got to be more than 70 years old. I learned it mostly for the name, but soon enough got addicted to it, especially when I play it with friends on guitar and fiddle.
> 
> Its from Bayard's "Hill Country Tunes", a wonderful 1944 collection which is available in re-re-print in various places.


That is a good tune!  We play that one about every week at our local jam.  I like those Sarah Armstrong tunes.

Seems as if everyone drops the "of America" part of the title.  But I like it on there.

----------


## Jim Garber

The untitled Sarah Armstrong tune in that book is a big favorite at our local jams. We just call it Sarah Armstrong's Tune.

I have been playing "Mowing the Meadow" lately, sort of Sugar in the Gourd variant from Texas on *Howard Rains CD* from the playing of Stafford Harris. Simple and sweet.

----------

Mike Black

----------


## JeffD

Avalon Quickstep, as played by Narmour & Smith

I am addicted, learning this to take it to Clifftop.

----------


## Randy Smith

> continuing on the Norman and Nancy obsessions I think it is a Nancy Blake composition "Butterfly Weed" a very summery tune
> pretty simple but a joy to jam along with on mandola


This tune is a joy  and, yes, very summery.  It's on my Top 10 of tunes-that-I wish-others-played, but few will ever play the tune because they won't hear it to begin with. (I fear the Blakes' days are numbered if not already over with those under fifty.)   
"Walk Along" and "Three Ponies," from N.B.'s solo album, are also wonderful.  Wish she could make another instrumental cd.
"Nancy's Hornpipe" is a gem and a great workout.  The performance sounds moderate, but I realized how speedy the tune is when I try to play along with the record.  I'm still a bit behind but working with the metronome.

----------


## tmsweeney

> This tune is a joy  and, yes, very summery.  It's on my Top 10 of tunes-that-I wish-others-played, but few will ever play the tune because they won't hear it to begin with. (I fear the Blakes' days are numbered if not already over with those under fifty.)


I'll do what ever I can to keep the music of Norman and Nancy Blake alive in American music
I'm sure I will not be alone in that endeavor

----------

Mike Black

----------


## Alex Orr

Working through the Sam Bush DVD on Monroe.  Just learned "Frog On a Lilly Pad", which I doubt I will ever play in a jam.  I've said it before, but how Homespun managed to get Monroe down for a lengthy DVD focused exclusively on his music, and then proceeded to have him show a bunch of tunes no one has ever heard, no one ever plays, and to be honest, aren't even that good, is just mind blowing.  Yeah, there are some good ones on there, and some famous ones...but I can think of dozens (maybe hundreds) of tunes that would be better to have had him show off in an in depth manner than "Galley Nipper", "Poor White Folks", and "Frog On a Lilly Pad."  In any event, I'm working straight through it, so I'll be learning "Galley Nipper" next.

Oh, I did just learn "Tater Patch" which is a pretty cool tune our fiddle player suggested the band learn.  There's a smoking version on a Bryan Sutton album with Tim O'Brien just tearing it up, as well as a number of recorded versions by old-time bands and performers.

Also considering _finally_ learning "Devil's Dream".

----------


## Toycona

"Molly Bloom" and "Chininquapin Hunting" are in the mix right now. Both are fun to learn and play.

----------


## Tobin

> Also considering _finally_ learning "Devil's Dream".


I've been playing that one for years, and finally one of the guys at my local jam has started playing it too.  It's nice to be able to work in into the rotation.  I think it's an under-appreciated tune.  It's one of those few songs that can sound really good whether it's played slow and dramatic or fast and furious.

My current fiddle tune is Huckleberry Hornpipe.  The version I'm working on is quite a workout, but it's a great tune.

----------


## Alex Orr

> I've been playing that one for years, and finally one of the guys at my local jam has started playing it too.


It's sort'v the reverse for me.  I've wanted to learn it for quite some time, but no one around here ever called it.  Recently however, at a couple of jams I attend regularly, a banjo player and fiddle player have called it...and no one knew it.  So now I feel like it's worth learning because even if no one else knows it when that banjo or fiddle player calls it, at least I will know it and we can do a brief run through of the tune.  I just love how it has this eastern European sound.  I feel like it's very unique among canonical old-time fiddle tunes.

----------


## tmsweeney

Great source of PDF standard notation for a lot of well known fiddle tunes

http://www.nationalfiddlerhalloffame...heetMusic.html

----------

2Sharp

----------


## Jim Garber

I don't know if this has been mentioned before: slippery-hill.com. Lots of mp3 samples for old time tunes.

----------


## JeffD

Came back from Clifftop with a list of seven tunes I have half learned and need to work on. What a time. 

Anyone know Laughing Marge? What a great tune!

----------


## Mike Black

> Came back from Clifftop with a list of seven tunes I have half learned and need to work on. What a time. 
> 
> Anyone know Laughing Marge? What a great tune!


Yes, I know Laughing Marj.  It's a New Mexico tune by Tom Adler, about his wife I believe.  It's on his CD Sweet Nell along with another great tune Kerry Shuffle by the mandolin player Rob Pine.

I have Laughing Marj written out (standard notation) if you ned it.   :Smile:

----------


## Tobin

> I don't know if this has been mentioned before: slippery-hill.com. Lots of mp3 samples for old time tunes.


Just found this one too: http://www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes.html

Lots of fiddle tunes there with PDFs of notation, midi files, and mp3 samples.

----------


## JeffD

> I have Laughing Marj written out (standard notation) if you ned it.


Oh wow. I wonder if its the same as what I heard at the festival. The folk process and all.

What a great fun tune to play. Can you PM me with the music?

----------


## JeffD

A fantastic tune mentioned in another thread. Da Slockit Light. What a lovely tune. One of the few tunes that makes me wish I performed more, because I feel compared to share it with an audience.

----------


## foldedpath

> A fantastic tune mentioned in another thread. Da Slockit Light. What a lovely tune. One of the few tunes that makes me wish I performed more, because I feel compared to share it with an audience.


Just don't play it too fast.  :Smile:  It's a slow air; a lament to be played with deep feeling (ideally). Here's a comment from username geoffwright at the thesession.org from 10 years ago, about the origin of the tune.




> "I remember a tale of where the tune came from, that Tom had driven out into the country at night and could see his village in the distance. Feeling sad after the death of his wife, he stopped and watched the lights going out one by one, and thinking that there werent as many lights as there used to be in his youth as people were leaving the Island.
> 
> I always thought it was a lighthouse, but found out a "Slockit" light is a "broken" one.


http://thesession.org/tunes/1863

Further info on that page reveals that the word might be more appropriately translated as "extinguished," which fits even better with the theme of his recently deceased wife (although that may or not play a part in the title). It's one of the great dark/sad Shetland tunes. I can't manage the tempo on mandolin while holding the notes as long as I'd like to, unless playing it in a session with other sustaining instruments. I'd play it on flute, but at my beginner flute level I can't hit that one G# on my keyless flute (gotta half-hole it, and I'm not that consistent yet).

For a tempo reference, listen to Tom playing the tune on "The Silver Bow" with Aly Bain. Aly also recorded it with Ale Möller backing on Latmandola on their "Beyond the Stacks" album. Another good reference, even slower than Tom's version. 

You _can_ play it faster and with more straight time/less rubato, but I think it kills the tune.

----------


## foldedpath

Quick addendum to that last post: 

I think Da Slockit Light might work nicely on OM capo'd up a few frets, with more sustain to work with. I might have to try that...

----------


## xiledscot

Marino is an area in the North of Dublin.

The Marino Waltz was written by John Sheahan and it is a cracker!

----------


## cuppy

cattle in the cane and forked deer

----------


## fatt-dad

relearning Maggie Brown's Favorite.  Kind of notey and a challenge for me!

Here's, "Take 1!"



Yeah, I should have tuned up first.

f-d

----------

woodwizard

----------


## terzinator

*Clinch Mountain Backstep*.

I just looked back a few posts to see that I started to work on *Banish Misfortune*! I must have gotten distracted and abandoned it! (Gig and fest intervened.) 

So, back to that one again!

----------


## woodwizard

Big Indian Hornpipe on my 1918 A4

----------


## Mike Snyder

Scratch Box- It's a winner!

----------

Mike Black

----------


## woodwizard

Here's stab at Pig Ankle Rag

----------


## fatt-dad

Some crooked tune, Newcastle.  It's given me an ear worm!

f-d

----------


## tmsweeney

woodwizard - cool stuff

I recently discovered a place called Big Indian NY deep in the Catskills - very cool spot
I wonder ....
I 've heard the pig ankle at various jams - nice sounding box

----------

woodwizard

----------


## AlanN

Revisiting Apple Butter, I think it's called, off Bela Fleck Natural Bridge (what a great recording...), after hearing a guy who demoed a mandolin he has for sale on the site. Good little number.

----------


## terzinator

Not sure it counts as a fiddle tune, but Mike Marshall's *Scotch and Swing* is pretty fun.

(I joined that Academy of Bluegrass thing... pretty cool stuff.)

----------


## fatt-dad

> Here's stab at Pig Ankle Rag


very nice version.  We always play in in "D."  I had fun playing along with your "G" rendition though!  Well done!

f-d

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Mandomax

"Sail Away Ladies" the Kenny Baker version

----------


## tmsweeney

Terizinator Here is my attempt at Banish Misfortune



and Yes Scotch and Swing does count as a fiddle tune

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Tobin

Texas Gallop.  Fun tune!

----------


## Jim Garber

> Texas Gallop.  Fun tune!


I didn't know it by that name, but I have been playing Rachel or Texas Quickstep for years -- prob more of the old time version (see second video). That is one of may favorite tunes to play on fiddle for dances.

----------


## William Smith

Well its a John Rieshman? mandolin tune Salt Spring, very neat tune I heard and well figured it out real quick.

----------


## Tobin

> I didn't know it by that name, but I have been playing Rachel or Texas Quickstep for years -- prob more of the old time version (see second video). That is one of may favorite tunes to play on fiddle for dances.


Yep, that's the one.  I found the Tabledit file for it on the Mandozine site listed as a Bill Monroe tune and gave it a try.  The first video you posted is it exactly, or at least the first time through.  He did some extra stuff there that I think I might have to incorporate!

----------


## Jim Garber

Tobin: I do like the tune and always have. I may incorporate that bluegrassy version into my old timey one.

----------


## woodwizard

practicing on 3 ... Hogcraft Reel, Jeff Sturgeon, & Cricket on a Hearth

----------


## fatt-dad

some gal called "Messenger."  Anybody know it?

f-d

----------


## woodwizard

Got a fairly new (2011) Martin guitar recently. Knew this already on the mandolin ~  here's my guitar version of Big Sciota that I just learned. Love this old fiddle tune Warning no mando content

----------


## Jack Roberts

Lumps of Pudding from 1769.  Key of A-Dorian.

----------


## woodwizard

Just now did a one take stab at Ed Haley's Half Past Four. A very cool OT fiddle tune that rolls right along.

----------

Mike Black

----------


## tmsweeney

nice pickin woodwizard

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

While I'm sitting here on a beautiful Sunday pickin a little ...here's anothern'
Shove the Pigs Foot a little further into the Fire
Hope I'm not driving everyone crazy

----------


## Tobin

> Hope I'm not driving everyone crazy


Not at all!  I'm enjoying this.  It's great to hear these tunes being played.

----------


## Jim Nollman

These two jigs I've just learned work great as a contra dance set because their chords are basically mirror image opposites of each other. 

Up the River
Fair Jenny

----------


## woodwizard

I think the story goes that there were some Irish mercenary's that played this tune on bagpipes while marching with Santa Anna's army. Any way ... here's my attempt at "Santa Anna's Retreat"  Also working on Clark Kessingers version of Red Bird and Little Billy Wilson

----------


## tmsweeney

working on "leather britches" 

getting there

----------


## Tobin

My wife and I have been working up a two-mandolin version of "Fat Meat and Dumplings".  I see lots of potential with this one.

----------


## JeffD

> Lumps of Pudding from 1769.  Key of A-Dorian.


What collection is that from?

----------


## Manfred Hacker

It has been mentioned here before: *Chinquapin Hunting*.
I learned it from a Baldassari book and posted it recently in the Song-a-Week Social Group. I like part of the B part being played against Gmaj7.
Not quite as fast as Butch, though  :Redface:

----------


## tmsweeney

sounds real good
what's that axe you have there?

----------


## Manfred Hacker

Thanks, tmsweeney.
No wonder you don't recognize the mandolin: it's a Brentrup STEALTH  :Grin:

----------


## fatt-dad

Reacquainting myself to, "Campbell's Farewell to Red Gap."

f-d

----------


## bigskygirl

> Reacquainting myself to, "Campbell's Farewell to Red Gap."
> 
> f-d


I've been doing this one as well.

----------


## Tobin

Newest fiddle tune I have fallen in love with: Chicken Under the Washtub.  This is a great little tune with a catchy melody, and lends itself to being played with some spunk.  I'm lovin' it.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Reacquainting myself to, "Campbell's Farewell to Red Gap."


Thanks, F-D... I need to get back to that one. Haven't played it in years. I think I learned it from Kenny Hall.

----------


## Mike Bunting

Woodstock Hornpipe this week.

----------


## Mike Black

I've been on a Norman Blake kick again.  I've been working on *New Brick Road* and *Pig on the Engine* from the Underground Music from the Mysterious South (aka Natasha's Waltz) album.

----------


## Baron Collins-Hill

I've been posting my favorite tunes to my youtube channel for a couple years now. Got around 150 up now, usually slow and then up to tempo.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mandobaron/videos

Thanks,
Baron

----------


## doc holiday

Bill Monroe  White Horse Breakdown....great mandolin version by Andrew Collins too!

----------


## Mike Black

Tonight it was *Pueblo* from Norman Blake's Original Underground Music from the Mysterious South (aka Natasha's Waltz) album.

----------


## acousticphd

Couple of new ones that I'm "ate up" with recently:

"Thinking about my wedding", a lovely Am/modal tune.  Learned via Nashville-area fiddler Kelsey Wells.

"Let's talk about drinking" , also Am/modal

"Snouts and ears of America" , a D tune.  This comes via the Pegram jam folks, apparently part of the fiddler Sara Armstrong's tune collection.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Relearning April Waltz. Lot's of potential for rhythmic mischief on this one. It is 3/4 of course, although the best known version from Ken Burn's Civil War, sounds more like an "air" than a true waltz.

----------


## Denny Gies

Walking In My Sleep; a tune in the key of G by Kenny Baker.  Fun to figure out.

----------


## terzinator

*The Rights of Man* came up this past weekend at a local Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music fest. So, that's next for me.

I read somewhere that at one time it was so popular that it fell out of favor, but I'd never heard it. 

Great tune. Key of Em.

----------


## terzinator

*Chinquapin Hunting!*

----------


## Jack Roberts

Sir Roger de Coverly.  a triple jig found in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

----------


## woodwizard

Red Bird - Clark Kessinger version ... that's what I was shooting for anyway  :Smile:

----------


## woodwizard

Spotted Pony - 1918 A4 If you haven't tried this one you should. Great OT tune

----------


## fatt-dad

Valley Forge.  I'm getting it!

f-d

----------


## terzinator

> Spotted Pony - 1918 A4 If you haven't tried this one you should. Great OT tune


Love this tune, but it's always given me fits. Great version, woodwizard. I might just have to try it again!

----------

woodwizard

----------


## yankees1

long journey home

----------


## woodwizard

Well I'm on the Norman Blake road again.  ... "The Ruins of Richmond" ... I have always loved this tune not to mention most of all Norman's instrumentals. ... (relearned) warning... it's kinda rough but I think you can feel a little bit of Norman there I hope.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Focusing, right now, on learning tunes in the key of F. This week it is:

Batchelder's Reel 
Plus a truly great tune: Ross's Reel.

----------

Mike Black

----------


## JeffD

> Plus a truly great tune: Ross's Reel.


Its a really great tune. I have it as originally in E. I know some have transposed it to D, but I never heard of it in F.

----------


## tmsweeney

Here is a set of traditional reels in memory of my Father.
St Anne's, Soldier's Joy, Over the Waterfall on Weber Gallatin Octave

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

"Sleepy Eyed Joe"  is really a happy tune to me. Here's my stab at another Norman Blake tune

https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/sleepy-eyed-joe

----------


## dusty miller

Ashland Breakdown for me. Really like the sound of it. Not up anywhere near speed yet but really fun to work on.

----------


## AlanN

Re-visiting Blackberry Rag. JAG picked it in D chord on his Puritan record. I found an old tab in C chord done up by Warren Kennison. Great number.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## BlueMt.

I'm working on Red Prairie Dawn on mandolin and fiddle.

----------


## woodwizard

> Re-visiting Blackberry Rag. JAG picked it in D chord on his Puritan record. I found an old tab in C chord done up by Warren Kennison. Great number.


Learning that one today and pickin' in (C) as well. Really like the way that one flows. Easier to get the speed up with all the down up down up notes isn't it?  I'm still slow & sloppy.  The first version was not good(infact terrible) here's a little better version of Blackberry Rag.

----------


## Jim Garber

One of our participants asked about playing Sailor's Hornpipe but I am finding that it is played in a variety of keys: D, G, C and the requestor (I think) said he plays it in A. Is there some consensus of what key most people play it. Most fiddle tunes have a std key or maybe (like Fisher's) two keys. This one is all over the place for some reason.

----------


## Denman John

I just got Off to California under my fingers and in my head.  I bought a Zoom H4N recorder last week and this is the first recording I did with it.  The song was still in the "learning realm" and shows in the recording, but I wanted to play around with the recorder and get something down.  Still have to read the instructions and play around with the settings.

Off to California 2014-02-12.mp3

I started on Cherokee Shuffle this morning and like the tune.  I know that it's pretty much a standard, but I'm just getting around to it now.

----------


## sgarrity

Long Cold Winter by Kenny Baker.  It's bustin' my fingers!

----------


## BlueMt.

> One of our participants asked about playing Sailor's Hornpipe but I am finding that it is played in a variety of keys: D, G, C and the requestor (I think) said he plays it in A. Is there some consensus of what key most people play it. Most fiddle tunes have a std key or maybe (like Fisher's) two keys. This one is all over the place for some reason.


Jim,  I learned it in D many years ago from a Jethro Burns book.  I've heard it played in C,G,Bb and A, as well.  I guess any key is fair game.

----------


## woodwizard

> One of our participants asked about playing Sailor's Hornpipe but I am finding that it is played in a variety of keys: D, G, C and the requestor (I think) said he plays it in A. Is there some consensus of what key most people play it. Most fiddle tunes have a std key or maybe (like Fisher's) two keys. This one is all over the place for some reason.


I've found that most around here play it in either (G) or (A) I think because the banjo plays it in G formation and capo's to (A)

----------


## AlanN

Walking around Galax came across some good pickers doing SH in Bb. Not for the faint of heart.

----------


## Jim Garber

I think the guy who asked me is learning it in A but I found an abc of it in Bb. I guess it is a good exercise to play it in all the keys. Could be an interesting medley of Sailor's Hornpipe. I bet each key presents its own challenges. Could be fun.

----------


## JeffD

Alpenglow, from the fourth Waltz Book. What a great tune. Just beautiful.

----------


## GreenMTBoy

Just learned Over the Waterfall on the guitar now trying to bring the mandolin up to speed.

----------


## AlanN

Well, if you eat a can of spinach, any key can be nailed...lol.

Not so much a fiddle tune, but I never stray from New Camptown Races very far. The Wakefield thread got me on it again, plus listening to Dave Peters on his Art In America. So many things you can do with that one - low, high, drone strings, Wake things, Monroe-isms.

----------


## ralph johansson

> Walking around Galax came across some good pickers doing SH in Bb. Not for the faint of heart.


When Bill Keith brought the tune (in A, as part of a medley) to the Bluegrass Boys Kenny Baker *insisted* that it be played in Bb. That's how I used to play it. It sits very nicely in Bb, especially the first part because it has nice phrase turns and pivot points on the d and a courses.

----------


## AlanN

Yeah, Baker loved Bb. On his Farmyard Swing, there's a cut in that key (maybe the opening track) where Bobby O. plays some quirky lines. A guy who did an early morning radio show on WFDU in Teaneck, NJ opened the show with this, every morning. I taped that show over the years so I have it on multiple cassette tapes, made it easy to learn.

----------


## woodwizard

Practicing on this cool fiddle tune today entitled "Sarah Armstrongs Tune" ...
on my A4

https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/...rmstrongs-tune

----------


## JeffD

I am working on Cookhouse Joe. Fun tune, getting addicting.

----------


## JeffD

> Practicing on this cool fiddle tune today entitled "Sarah Armstrongs Tune" ...
> on my A4


Sounds great. I play a much less fancy B part.

But I find that is true in general, my versions of tunes tend to be less fancy. Like rough carpentry, its all there, but I tend to let the fiddles do the dry wall and molding and trim.

But for a solo I might work it more like your version.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Baron Collins-Hill



----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## woodwizard

Here's a fiddle tune I'm revisiting on my A4... " Rock the Cradle Joe"

https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/rock-the-cradle-joe

----------


## Mark Wilson

> Ashland Breakdown for me. Really like the sound of it. Not up anywhere near speed yet but really fun to work on.


You talked me into it.  I copied this youtube version best I could.  A great C tune that is easy to adapt

----------


## GreenMTBoy

Redwing.
something like this 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vb3e7lLrWc

----------


## John Ritchhart

Shove The Pigs foot........

----------


## woodwizard

June Apple
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/june-apple

----------


## Nick Triesch

Mallard Island Hymn .

----------


## woodwizard

And Devils Dream
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/devils-dream

----------


## David Cottingham

'Granny Does Your Dog Bite?' - 2 different versions.

----------


## woodwizard

Jeff Sturgeon ... a little bit strange old-time fiddle tune that I like. Have to play it every once in a while so I don't forget it. Here's me and some friends pickin' it at my birthday a couple of years ago.
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/jeff-sturgeon

----------


## acousticphd

Here's a cool one I came across on youtube a few weeks ago: "The possum's tail is bare".
Interesting challenge trying to emulate the bowing accents on this type of tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf4JrZtLCU8

----------


## Tobin

> Here's a cool one I came across on youtube a few weeks ago: "The possum's tail is bare".
> Interesting challenge trying to emulate the bowing accents on this type of tune.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf4JrZtLCU8


Wow!  I liked that so much, I did some searching on it.  Found the notation for it, which is pretty basic but similar enough to get the gist of the tune.  I notice that the written version (supposedly from the same source, Melvin Wine) has the A and B parts reversed from what the fellow in the video is playing.  I kinda like his version better than the written version, as the A part of the written tune (which goes down to a C chord in the second measure) just sounds better to my ear as a B part, not an A part.

Will definitely be adding this to my repertoire.  Thanks for posting it!

My TablEdit skills are not that great, but I transcribed it to a .tef file, then printed it to a .pdf file, if anyone can benefit from it (sorry about the demo version watermark).  This is faithful to the written version I found which has the A and B parts reversed from the video above:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Learning a few new contra dance sets. The first one is Hangman's Reel, with the tune's A, B, C, and D part played as a set in itself.  

A second set includes three rather easy tunes (Seneca Square dance, Flop-eared mule, and Needle Case) that sound good when I focus on adding double-stop oomph to provide counterpoint to the fiddler's melody. 

A bigger challenge is my third new set consisting of two tunes, Woodchopper's Reel and Cuckoo's Nest. These melodies are something special. I already play them well enough in my living room, but they become quite challenging when accelerated to a proper dance speed of 112 bpm. Our band start with CN (three times), then into WR (three times), then back to CN (until the caller ends the dance). I am working hard to keep the melodies intact with all their musical filigree, and without dropping any notes which would make it much easier to play at speed.  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## AlanN

Newly re-visited:

New River Ride
Happy Go Lucky

from the pen of Doyle Lawson

----------


## terzinator

I'm currently in a fiddle-tune slump. 

Haven't worked out any new ones in a few months... (and a few are starting to fall off the radar!)

Heading to a fest in a couple of weeks, so I need to get back into it!

----------


## terzinator

> Wow!  I liked that so much, I did some searching on it.  Found the notation for it, which is pretty basic but similar enough to get the gist of the tune.  I notice that the written version (supposedly from the same source, Melvin Wine) has the A and B parts reversed from what the fellow in the video is playing.  I kinda like his version better than the written version, as the A part of the written tune (which goes down to a C chord in the second measure) just sounds better to my ear as a B part, not an A part.
> 
> Will definitely be adding this to my repertoire.  Thanks for posting it!
> 
> My TablEdit skills are not that great, but I transcribed it to a .tef file, then printed it to a .pdf file, if anyone can benefit from it (sorry about the demo version watermark).  This is faithful to the written version I found which has the A and B parts reversed from the video above:


Ok, this (Possum's Tail is Bare) is the next one for me.

Thanks for doing the tab, Tobin!

----------


## fatt-dad

about to dance speed on Maggie Brown's Favorite (O'Carolan). Also working up Planxty George Barabazon.

f-d

----------


## Don Grieser

Jeff Davis by Norman Blake off the "Original Underground Music from the Mysterious South" Played on Stanley A5 #46.

----------

Gary Alter, 

Mike Bunting, 

woodwizard

----------


## Jim Nollman

that is one nice sounding growly mandolin.

----------


## tmsweeney

Don Greiser- very nice
Jeff Davis is one of those tunes that really works with multi instruments in unison

that mando sounds great

----------


## GreenMTBoy

I have been under the spell of Jay Ungar's "Ashokan Farewell" for the last few days .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kZASM8OX7s

----------


## JeffD

> Heading to a fest in a couple of weeks, so I need to get back into it!


Nothing like a festival to motivate one. Both before and after.

----------


## fatt-dad

> Just now did a one take stab at Ed Haley's Half Past Four. A very cool OT fiddle tune that rolls right along.


I searched the thread and this popped up.  Great reference!  So, last night the fiddle player called, "Half Past Four."  I'm going to learn it.  I also see a few others have learned it too.

f-d

----------


## Daniel Nestlerode

Temperance Reel.  Named in irony or aspiration I think.
Thanks to Mike Stangeland for the transcription on Tab|Edit!  I'll tackle Big Sciota next.

Daniel

----------


## woodwizard

I really love Norman Blake tunes. Here's one on my A4 (Bright Days)
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/...n-blakes-tunes

----------


## LongBlackVeil

From "the mandolin of norman blake" I just learned "John Brown's March" I got the melody down but I just need to learn the chords and get the hang of a little ornamentation he adds. 

Now I'm starting on "Green Castle Hornpipe"

----------


## Mike Snyder

The Greencastle is a great hornpipe. I'm more old-timely these days and am going to try Ol' Mose. This thread is the best idea I ever had. Thanks to everyone for all the great tunes.

----------


## fatt-dad

o.k. now I'm stuck on, "King of the Pipers."  Picked it up from the social group, got an ear worm.  Almost got it under my fingers now.

f-d

----------


## LongBlackVeil

> The Greencastle is a great hornpipe. I'm more old-timely these days and am going to try Ol' Mose. This thread is the best idea I ever had. Thanks to everyone for all the great tunes.


it really is a fun little tune to play. I love this dvd from homespun, Norman did a good job picking tunes that were fun to play but also were relatively easy to pick up for a novice like myself.

I also just learned hollow poplar and forked deer (not on the dvd recently) im starting to put together a nice little repertoire now

----------


## fatt-dad

Oh yeah, and I'm relearning, "Richmond Cotillion."

f-d

----------


## JeffD

Quince Dillion's High D.

What a great tune. Played it a bunch this last week at Clifftop.

----------


## fatt-dad

King of the Pipers, King of the Fairies, Morning Dew, Planxty George Barabazon, and Haste to the Wedding are the most recent.  Well, and the Bach Invention #13.

f-d

----------


## Larry S Sherman

I'm working on "_Boston Boy_" from Grisman's new book.

Larry

----------


## Baron Collins-Hill

The green gowned lass (starts at 1:05):

----------


## Cheryl Watson

Tallahassee

----------


## cjspiteri

Perfecting Soldiers Joy and Leather Britches (is it fiddle or grass?). Also working on Rights of Man. Having difficulty with the A to B transition in Rights as my fingers keep wanting to play Leather Britches B section. Its about 3 notes holding me up.  :Wink:

----------


## tmsweeney

Managed to "get" "Leather Britches" (I think), started out on "Mississippi Sawyer" but then side tracked by the Dawg Grass book with " Pupville" ( _realizing that's going to take  a loooong time to get even close to speed_)  then I found "Pig on the Engine" tab on Mandozine and I can't let that one go, always really loved that tune, Ostroushko playin Blake with Norman on guitar from the "Original Underground Music from the Mysterious South" album, which is now most of Natasha's Waltz CD.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Jenny Comb Your Hair
Shanghai Rooster

Thanks to Pete in Fayetteville

----------


## Don Grieser

Norman and Nancy by Sam Bush

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Mike Bunting

Big Scioty, Brown County breakdown and I'm trying to turn Scrugg's Nashville tune into a mandolin tune.

----------


## tmsweeney

Here's my attempt at "Pig on the Engine" 
thanks to Mike Strangeland and Mandozine for the Tab.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Denny Gies

Kind of embarrassed to admit it after all these years  but "Whiskey Before Breakfast" is my newest.

----------


## Dave Reiner

Resurrecting a couple of Oklahoma tunes I first learned long ago:
I Went to the River and I Couldn't Get Across
Where the Chicken Got the Axe

----------


## Jim Garber

Merriweather (Clyde Davenport) and Kitty Puss (Buddy Thomas) and revisiting some old tunes I have always liked but have played for years: Folding Down the Sheets, Briarpicker Brown, and 9 Miles to Louisville.

----------


## GreenMTBoy

I have been on the Road to Lisdoonvarna & Swallowtail Jig for about the last week .

----------


## Tobin

My latest fiddle tune love affair is April (or April's Waltz).  What a lovely tune, especially with someone playing fill behind the melody.  The chord progression is wonderful, with heavy use of the vi chord.

And while Cuckoo's Nest is an "oldie but goodie", I've been back on it for the last week.  There's a lot of room there for variation, much like the Nickel Creek version (blasphemy perhaps, but they put some nice tweaks on it).  It lends itself particularly well to a harmony mandolin duet.

----------


## LongBlackVeil

> I have been on the Road to Lisdoonvarna & Swallowtail Jig for about the last week .


Now add tripping up the stairs! 

Coincidentally that's the new fiddle tune I've been working on today

----------


## tmsweeney

After considerable contemplation into the Dawg mysteries; I believe Pupville has finally clicked
here it is at half speed or less

----------


## JeffD

Here is a gem. Slippery Kate, written by a fiddler/mandolinner friend of mine. Play it a few times and you will not be able to stop.

I can easily imagine this tune taking over the fiddle tune universe.

There is a section in the tune, I won't point it out, where the mandolin can do things the fiddle can't - to amazing effect. That is something I like to take notice of. Its an effect I hear in the "Dallas Rag", another amazing tune, and an effect I will be incorporating into my repertory of fun licks.

Enjoy.

I have the composer's permission to post, and you have the composers permission to play the tune, just please attribute it to her in any public performance or recording.

----------

Jim Nollman, 

Mike Black, 

wildpikr

----------


## fatt-dad

Oh, I'd love to have a go-by recording.  Always interested in captivating tunes!

f-d

----------


## brunello97

I like it.

Thanks, Jeff!

Mick

----------


## JeffD

OK a fiddle friend told me that what I said is, strictly speaking, not entirely true. What the mandolin can do, the fiddle could do, but... it would not be something a fiddler would think of, and it is much easier on the mandolin.

Have you found it? No?


In the fourth measure of the A part, keep your finger on the G# and let it sustain through while you pick that A. Yea. Yea. Bet you can't stop playing it now.



You can also do it on the last measure each section, but it goes by so fast it almost doesn't matter.


I would be thrilled to know where this tune gets played. Let me know. I will pass it on to the composer.

----------


## LongBlackVeil

> OK a fiddle friend told me that what I said is, strictly speaking, not entirely true. What the mandolin can do, the fiddle could do, but... it would not be something a fiddler would think of, and it is much easier on the mandolin.
> 
> Have you found it? No?
> 
> 
> In the fourth measure of the A part, keep your finger on the G# and let it sustain through while you pick that A. Yea. Yea. Bet you can't stop playing it now.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'd like to hear someone play it or post a YouTube vid. I learn by ear, can't read music. I love learning little known tunes and sharing them though.

----------


## bfc

Could someone please tab it out for us muppets, sounds like a good tune but I have no idea.
cheers bruce

----------


## JeffD

I would suggest grabbing a fiddle friend. The tunes are not super hard to get the feel of by sight reading, for those who read. A fiddle friend could play it through for you a few times and you would be off to the races.

I have heard, (rumor warning),  that the tune will be included in the much awaited third volume of the Portland Collection. Woo hoo if its true.

----------


## Tobin

> Could someone please tab it out for us muppets, sounds like a good tune but I have no idea.
> cheers bruce


My TablEdit skills are pretty shoddy and I can't make it display exactly the way I'd like, but this should get you going.

----------


## JeffD

Way to go, thanks Tobin.

----------


## John O'Brien

Attended my first Jam this past weekend (what a great experience!), ordered my fakebooks, listening to plenty of fiddle tunes and standards, gearing up for the next one, and will certainly be following this thread.

----------

Violingirl

----------


## sydneyjorgensen

red haired boy is a constantly played fiddle tune that is in the key of A and is easy to play

----------


## David Smith

Been working on John Reischman's version of "Little Maggie", and "Side By Each" both songs on his latest recording Walk Along John.

----------


## Jim Nollman

A tune I learned off a banjo recording entitled:  Walking the Dog. No, it's not the Rufus Thomas version. This has one of the catchiest melodies I've learned in quite a while. Sticks like chewing gum

Other tunes our Contra dance band has recently started to play publicly include Richmond Cotillion, Silver and Gold, Going to Boston, Hangman's Reel, Ookpik Waltz, Jenny Lind Polka.

----------


## tmsweeney

Still stuck in Grismondo land

Tipsy Gypsy is a fun one and a fair test of sobriety.

----------


## woodwizard

Revisiting Blake's March on my A4 (1918)

https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/blakes-march

----------


## Charlieshafer

We've got everyone in the fiddle club working on Britt Haas' Down The Hatch, off Britt's album with Paul Kowert and Jordan Tice. Works well on mandos, too.

----------


## fatt-dad

so I won't forget, "Roscoe."

f-d

p.s., the a4 sounds great. Well played too!

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Just finished a re-visit of Jerusalem Ridge, and now on Tipsy Gypsy (thanks tmsweeney)....
NEED MORE TUNES  :Whistling: 

Sandy

----------


## crisscross

Usually, I like vocal songs better than fiddle tunes. But the last week was consecrated to Red haired boy, that I played on various instruments.
Bluegrassers like to play this tune at breakneck speed, but not being much of an instrumental wizzard, I opted for a different approach: I played it as a slower hornpipe with swing eights. I also tried to give it a little classical feeling, more like Sor&Carcassi than Blake&Rice. :Wink:

----------


## crisscross



----------

Randolph

----------


## Mark Wilson

I found this video while working up The Red Haired Boy and use his idea for playing lower double stops for backing when not playing the melody.  Sounds good imo on a lot of songs when tempo allows. 

Skip to* 2:00* to hear it:

----------

robert.najlis

----------


## terzinator

After months of procrastination, finally got *Banish Misfortune* down proficiently. *Goodbye Liza Jane*, too.

Now to have a go at *Slippery Kate*. 

You know what I mean.

----------


## Whiskey & Rye

Having trouble starting a thread here. I am looking for a good string player, fiddler, banjo or madolyn. Have a show at Mohegan Sun in December. If anyone is close to  Sandy Hook  CT here who can help, we would love to speak with you 203-788-9942

----------


## terzinator

> Having trouble starting a thread here. I am looking for a good string player, fiddler, banjo or madolyn. Have a show at Mohegan Sun in December. If anyone is close to  Sandy Hook  CT here who can help, we would love to speak with you 203-788-9942


Hey W&R, you might want to contact a moderator to see if you can get this moved into its own thread. I doubt you'll see much response with it buried deep in our "introverts welcome" fiddle-tune thread. 

Fyi, you should see a "POST NEW THREAD" black oval button in the upper left corner of any sub-forum (Not within a thread, but on the page where you see the listing of threads.) Click on that to post a new topic in whatever sub-forum you want. Maybe this one: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/fo...To-Meet-Others

Good luck!

----------


## Pick&Grin

My joy lately has been Strangeland's Old Time tab of Cold Frosty Morning. Loads of fun! Thanks for starting the thread, Mike, and for all the great ideas. Do you have a good tab of Cherokee Suffle?

----------


## woodwizard

Lantern in the Ditch
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/...n-in-the-ditch

----------


## woodwizard

And ... Quigley's Reel

----------


## dusty miller

> Lantern in the Ditch
> https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/...n-in-the-ditch





> And ... Quigley's Reel


Both sounding good! I really like the Reel.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## haggardphunk

I have been working on Cherokee Shuffle but when I play it I think it is right based on the music I have for it. Then when I listen to other youtubers it seems that their melody is a little different and I seem to like it more. *If I posted a vid of me playing it you think one of you could give me a hand with what I need to adjust (or dont need)???*

Mind you I am still a beginner but this is the first fiddle tune giving me problems when comparing to other people's versions.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Hey Mike...what is the source of your ABC / Tab for "Quigley's Reel" ?  I sure like that version..nice job.  Sandy




> And ... Quigley's Reel

----------


## John O'Brien

I've been picking away at Fisher's Hornpipe for a few weeks now, got the first section down, finally locked myself away in my studio last night to hammer out the last section. At one point, I dragged my wife in to hear my progress like a big kid. I had to call it a night when I noticed I went googly-eyed staring at my fretting fingers.

A funny aside, I noticed my two youngest humming it this morning over breakfast... subliminal hornpipe.

----------


## haggardphunk

> I've been picking away at Fisher's Hornpipe for a few weeks now, got the first section down, finally locked myself away in my studio last night to hammer out the last section. At one point, I dragged my wife in to hear my progress like a big kid. I had to call it a night when I noticed I went googly-eyed staring at my fretting fingers.
> 
> A funny aside, I noticed my two youngest humming it this morning over breakfast... subliminal hornpipe.


My girlfriend puts up with my learning of songs quite well. By the end of last night each time I piked the mando back up shed holler with a new task. I knew it was time to give it a break.

----------

John O'Brien

----------


## AlanN

Re-visiting FH myself, particularly Ray Legere's take on it off Wyatt Rice New Market Gap. Lovely lines Ray gets on it.

----------

John O'Brien

----------


## woodwizard

> Hey Mike...what is the source of your ABC / Tab for "Quigley's Reel" ?  I sure like that version..nice job.  Sandy


Thanks ...Try this link Sandy and look for Batchelder's Reel in (F) also sometimes called Atlanta's Hornpipe or Quigley's Reel...  http://home.hiwaay.net/~vehenry/tab.htm

----------


## woodwizard

Here's another one I hacked through, (just learned or learning), that you'll find in that link as well entitled General Longstreet ~ Civil War era tune. Got hooked on the melody  :Smile:

----------


## fatt-dad

Alexander's Hornpipe. I'm also doing a mashup of cold and frosty morning with Campbell's Farewell to Red Gap. 

f-d

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Thanks for sharing Mike....what a great resource!




> Thanks ...Try this link Sandy and look for Batchelder's Reel in (F) also sometimes called Atlanta's Hornpipe or Quigley's Reel...  http://home.hiwaay.net/~vehenry/tab.htm

----------


## terzinator

Oklahoma Redbird. 

Here's a version with Norman Blake and Peter Ostroushko

----------

bruce.b, 

sgarrity, 

woodwizard

----------


## terzinator

Was at a jam this weekend and we played *Ship in the Clouds*. Addictive little tune that goes ABB.

There were a lot of expletives as many of us forgot to play the B part twice in a row, so we informally changed the name to* Something Else Entirely in the Clouds*.

----------


## Niavlys

I recently discovered (and learned) Chinquapin Hunting and Fire On The Mountain, I'm completely loving this! I guess you all have known these tunes for quite some time, but I am fairly new to this kind of music.
If you have suggestions (rhythm-driven Old-Time fiddle tunes, even better if they are "crooked"), I'm listening!

----------


## fatt-dad

To Niavlys:  Give Hawks and Eagles and Spotted Pony a go.  They're not crooked, but they're dance tunes!

f-d

----------


## Leverman61

I love reading the posts and researching tunes i'm not familiar with. Thanks to all who have contributed! I'm currently playing Fortune, Sally Ann Johnson , Booth shot Lincoln and Hell amongst the Yearlings.

----------


## terzinator

> I recently discovered (and learned) Chinquapin Hunting ...


Which version? There are a couple floating around out there, both good.

There's one that Adam Steffey has been playing, and it's on his New Primitive album. (I have to go learn that one.)

I learned the version that Greg Clarke plays here:

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Jim Nollman

what is that mandolin Adam is playing. Growliest,  most resonant I've heard in a while.

----------


## Mark Wilson

Working on BM's My Father's Footsteps after watching the Sharon Gilchrist video someone posted.  Her version is pretty but this version is more playable for me at the moment.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

This is "hands down" my absolute favorite thread on the Cafe...Mike Snyder, you are a genius, whoda thunk we'd be on page 49....
and anyone who hasn't checked out the Vance Henry's site  http://home.hiwaay.net/~vehenry/tab.htm that "Woodwizard" (Mike Parks)
recommended, is missing out on a great resource.

----------


## Niavlys

> To Niavlys:  Give Hawks and Eagles and Spotted Pony a go.  They're not crooked, but they're dance tunes!


Thanks f-d, I'm learning Hawks and Eagles now, do you play it in ADAE? I'm not comfortable with the idea of tuning my G strings up a whole step, but I guess it can be played in standard tuning as well. And I've just listened to Spotted Pony, it seems familiar to me, and fun to play, I'm probably going to learn it too.

----------


## Niavlys

> Which version? There are a couple floating around out there, both good.


Yes there are two different tunes, I learned the one in A (played by Greg Clarke here), not the one with the Gmaj7 in the second part. By the way I had seen this Greg Clarke version but at that time it didn't draw my attention, I'm not sure why, as it's a brilliant and very inspiring version! Thanks.

----------


## terzinator

> Working on BM's My Father's Footsteps after watching the Sharon Gilchrist video someone posted.  Her version is pretty but this version is more playable for me at the moment.


Worked on that last night; nice tune.

It's not really a fiddle tune, but I'm approaching it in the same vein: Chris Thile's version of *Ookpik Waltz*. He plays it with Michael Daves on their album together, and he plays it at what must be the mandolin showcase at the 2012 Merlefest. Biting off more than I can chew, I think. I have a feeling it will be a long time before I can say I know it. 

Two videos from Merelfest, below. The first one is from closer up, but the second one has better audio.

http://youtu.be/nJQgKWfLfFc?t=3m8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGHrCWSIhIM

I think I'll stick with his version from the album, as it seems much more straight ahead than the videos above.

Album version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0O6FPKVoQ

----------


## fatt-dad

> Thanks f-d, I'm learning Hawks and Eagles now, do you play it in ADAE? I'm not comfortable with the idea of tuning my G strings up a whole step, but I guess it can be played in standard tuning as well. And I've just listened to Spotted Pony, it seems familiar to me, and fun to play, I'm probably going to learn it too.


I don't retune my mandolin for any fiddle tune (yet?).  I've just never even thought of it!

f-d

----------


## Niavlys

> Worked on that last night; nice tune.
> 
> It's not really a fiddle tune, but I'm approaching it in the same vein: Chris Thile's version of *Ookpik Waltz*.


I love Frankie Rodgers' version too (see below). He's the composer of the tune, but it seems he recorded it in a quite different version than the one he wrote and was known via tunebooks (if I understand correctly). Thile's version is quite different too, and is played in A instead of G.



Even though it sounds probably much better on the fiddle, it's worth trying on the mando. Here's my attempt, recorded back in January (first time recording myself...):

----------

tmsweeney, 

wildpikr

----------


## tmsweeney

Nice playin - I think Ookpik qualifies as a fiddle tune, I've played it at large fiddle dominated jams so.....
 I do like that Frankie Rogers, great stuff!

----------


## wildpikr

Nice playing - I like the intro.

----------


## tmsweeney

Got stuck on Gilderoy, and wound up with this

----------


## wildpikr

Sweet - I like the harmony.

----------


## terzinator

Also having a go at John Reischman's *Itzbin Reel*.

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## terzinator

C'mon people! Nothing new?

Just worked my way through Fred Keller's original: *Fred Digs Up A Hornet's Nest*. 

Here's the original MP3.

It's a three-part tune in the Key of C. Love the B-part, which has a touch of Jerusalem Ridge, as well as a bit of Kitchen Girl about it.

Great tune.

----------


## Mark Wilson

Just into my second year and learning all the songs ya'll learned years ago.

Billy in the Lowground this week - Cherokee shuffle last week

----------


## dusty miller

> Just into my second year and learning all the songs ya'll learned years ago.
> 
> Billy in the Lowground this week - Cherokee shuffle last week


I'm like you are Mark, still learning the fiddle tunes people start with. I clawhammer banjo Lost Indian and June Apple. On the mandolin front I'm STILL doing battle with Ashland Breakdown (I'm going to get this one down come heck or high water) and exploring different ways to play Salt Creek.

----------


## woodwizard

Old-time fiddle tune ... "Bull at the Wagon" 
played on my 06 Goldrush
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/bull-at-the-wagon

----------


## Richard J

I'm working on The Swallowtail Jig.

----------


## JeffD

> Just into my second year and learning all the songs ya'll learned years ago.


There are so many fiddle tunes, so very many, that someone been doing it for years is farther ahead like someone on the roof bragging about being closer to the moon.

----------

Mark Wilson

----------


## Robert Smyth

Been learning Old Dangerfield except I can't seem to find Bill Monroe's version...not digitized I guess.  Been using David Naiditch and Sierra Hull's version off of Bluegrass in the Backwoods.  I use Todd Collins' Monroe Instrumentals book for the tablature.

Also been learning Doyle Lawson's Misty Morning off of The Bluegrass Album Band Volume 6.  Very tasty!

----------


## woodwizard

Absolutely right JeffD... so many fiddle tunes and so little time to learn to play and enjoy them. I'm at the stage in my life that having the opportunity in the past to pick with some pretty experienced OT fiddlers here in Arkansas that I've heard first hand many tunes that took me a long time to finally learn and I'm still trying to learn them. One thing though is it seems because I've heard the tune so many times that when I get some good tab of the tune it seems to all come together somewhat. It get's me through the door some times. I can find a tune that I've never picked the melody but having played rythm many times for the fiddler that later in one setting of practice I pick it right up. This could be years down the road too but it just clicks and I get it. I can't tell you how enjoyable that is  :Smile:  It's starting to come a little easier for me. All I can say to you guys just starting out enjoy it, practice a lot but really enjoy it. That will keep you going.

----------


## Niavlys

Is this what you're looking for? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxgj95rKtoc
Sierra Hull's version is a little bit different in the B part, but I think I like it even better.

----------


## terzinator

> Been learning Old Dangerfield except I can't seem to find Bill Monroe's version...


If you can get ahold of Bob Grant's "Fiddle Tunes for Flatpickers: Mandolin" book and CD, it has a really good, clear, easy-to-follow version of OD. (As well as about 15 other tunes.)

That's the book I started with, and I still refer to it when I need to.

http://www.amazon.com/Fiddle-Tunes-F.../dp/0825687535

----------


## JeffD

> so many fiddle tunes and so little time to learn to play and enjoy them. I'm at the stage in my life that having the opportunity in the past to pick with some pretty experienced OT fiddlers here in Arkansas that I've heard first hand many tunes that took me a long time to finally learn and I'm still trying to learn them.


The perfect jam is when about a third of the tunes are entirely new to me, another third are familiar but I don't have down, and the last third I can hold my own and give a good account of myself. Something like that. That is optimal.

----------


## terzinator

> The perfect jam is when about a third of the tunes are entirely new to me, another third are familiar but I don't have down, and the last third I can hold my own and give a good account of myself. Something like that. That is optimal.


Agreed! 

Although I'd probably prefer the number that are totally new to be lower. Only in that I'll want to learn them, and it's hard to have too many balls in the air! I want to feel like I'm at least gaining ground on something!

----------


## Mark Wilson

> The perfect jam is when about a third of the tunes are entirely new to me, another third are familiar but I don't have down, and the last third I can hold my own and give a good account of myself. Something like that. That is optimal.


That would be sweet. I am still stuck towards the first two catagories.  Seems when a song does hit that last scenario someones with a capo wants to play it in an unfamiliar for me key so they can sing along.  Back to the first 2 again.

----------


## terzinator

> That would be sweet. I am still stuck towards the first two catagories.  Seems when a song does hit that last scenario someones with a capo wants to play it in an *unfamiliar for me key* so they can sing along.  Back to the first 2 again.


FFcP for the win!

----------


## JeffD

The dynamics of the jam are all tangled up with this. When I am the new person in a jam, I like about a third of the tunes to be ones I can play, because I want to "establish my bona fides". If it is a group that mostly all know me and with whom I have played for years, I more enjoy smashing myself against new tunes. Even if over half of them are brand new to me. 

I love that feeling that I will never exhaust this mine. And I love coming home from a jam or festival with homework assignments. Its like coming home from the library with an arm load of books to dig into.

But, as I say, my ego does enter into it when there are a lot of new people that don't know me.

----------


## Mark Wilson

> If you can get ahold of Bob Grant's "Fiddle Tunes for Flatpickers: Mandolin" book and CD, it has a really good, clear, easy-to-follow version of OD. (As well as about 15 other tunes.)


Thanks for the tip - was even on sale on Amazon.  Elderly sells it and lists 27 tunes in the index.

----------


## Mark Wilson

Jeff - if you don't mind saying - how long had you been at it before you began to feel comfortable taking breaks at typical jam speeds?

----------


## woodwizard

[QUOTE=terzinator;

I learned the version that Greg Clarke plays here:

That's the version all the fiddlers around here play and the way I play it ... one of my favorite tunes

----------


## JeffD

> Jeff - if you don't mind saying - how long had you been at it before you began to feel comfortable taking breaks at typical jam speeds?


Well I am mostly a fiddle tune guy. Some bluegrass but not predominantly. 

Another difference in my situation was that I was playing a several years before I discovered jamming. 

And lastly I could read. I learned to read in grade school, on woodwinds.

So with all that, once I started jamming regularly I was able to play a few tunes up to speed within in a year of regular jamming, by working on those few a whole lot. I mean a whole lot. Say three tunes in seven months of jamming, something like that. Other tunes I would get bits and pieces and gradually the pieces would fill in.

That said, I think sometimes that jam speeds are ridiculously high sometimes, and when folks are panting after some ripsnorting tunes, I will often start a slow waltz or an aire, just to balance it out.

----------

Mark Wilson

----------


## Jim Garber

I play most of my old time tunes in A cross-tuned on the fiddle (AEAE) but a working on a few tunes on the mandolin in standard tuning. My favorites at the moment are Salty River Reel and Kansas City Reel. Playing in cross tuning (esp in A) makes it much easier to play the same part in two octaves but the retuning is a pain.

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## Gary S

Thanks Jim for reminding of that great old tune Kansas City Reel. I'm going to dust that one off this weekend.

----------


## terzinator

> I think sometimes that jam speeds are ridiculously high sometimes, and when folks are panting after some ripsnorting tunes, I will often start a slow waltz or an aire, just to balance it out.


This is a great point. Sometimes it gets to be a race, and I'm not a big fan of that. I like it when a majority of the folks in the circle can actually contribute, rather than just shake their heads and pass their turn. (Please, have some empathy for the guitar player; fiddle tunes are much more difficult on the six string!)

----------


## Mark Wilson

> If you can get ahold of Bob Grant's "Fiddle Tunes for Flatpickers: Mandolin" book and CD, it has a really good, clear, easy-to-follow version of OD.


Ordered this book recently and can give it a thumbs-up. Interesting intermediate(?) versions of 27 popular fiddle tunes - similar to Monroe style imo.  Even on the songs I knew I found a few measures from the book that were useful.

Notation and tab is laid out in 16th notes measures which I find harder to follow than 8th note measures.  Saving printing space maybe

"Old Dangerfield" caught my ear on CD.  Working on C part now.  cool tune

----------


## terzinator

Ok, this is awesome, and the one I'm currently working on. Great technique by Randy Jones and wonderful tone from that Sprite.

Bill Monroe's *Southern Flavor*.

----------

dusty miller, 

Jim Garber, 

Jim Roberts

----------


## Jim Garber

> Thanks Jim for reminding of that great old tune Kansas City Reel. I'm going to dust that one off this weekend.


For all I know, Gary (in my very foggy memory) I may have learned that one from you originally.

----------


## woodwizard

practicing a few new ones for me...

Muddy Weather
One Legged Man
Grasshopper Sittin on a Sweet Potato Vine
Dance Around Molly
and dusting off... Dry & Dusty and Callahan

----------

Mandocarver

----------


## woodwizard

Today I'm practicing Huckleberry Hornpipe a cool Byron Berline tune. Moderate speed on my A4

----------


## yankees1

Liberty

----------


## Mark Wilson

Kentucky Mandolin

----------


## dusty miller

> Kentucky Mandolin


I've been working on this one too. Didn't really know it was classified as a fiddle tune but I'm enjoying it. The G minor gives it a neat sound even if you can't play it at two hundred million beats a minute.

Old Molly Hare is the other one I'm currently learning.

----------


## Mark Wilson

Well...I found it in a 'Fiddle tunes' book I recently bought.  :Smile:   Not usual FT stuff but fun to play.  It has a neat groove that gets lost at the higher speeds imo.  There's a group on YT that plays it slower and jazzes it up some but the fiddle part sounds great slowed down.  Probably not called at jams to often.

----------


## dusty miller

> Well...I found it in a 'Fiddle tunes' book I recently bought.


It just never occurred to me it was a fiddle tune but I'm really just scratching the surface. So many out there and so many good ones to learn.

----------


## terzinator

We occasionally play Kentucky Mandolin to start our sets, and go into The Cuckoo (same key).

We don't play it as fast as Bill did. 

But then, we don't play ANYTHING as fast as Bill did.

----------


## Mike Black

A Place In The Heart  by Bill Crahan.

----------

Mandocarver, 

woodwizard

----------


## Mandocarver

Thanks for posting the music Mike at a very appropriate time. I've played and loved the version on Mandozine for years but this one looks to have some interesting differences which I look forward to playing later.
Cheers,
Dean

----------


## cmateer

I LOVE this thread! What a brilliant idea! I am having a blast rolling through everyone's suggestions.

While now studying mandolin with a truly remarkable teacher, I have just begun the challenge/ "adventure" of shelving TAB and learning to read notation. The world of music seems to be busting open (of fiddle tunes)! I have been feeling good about reading & playing tunes in the key of C, G, and D so far...

Here are the tunes that I have been enjoying playing up to this point: Whiskey Before Breakfast, Red-Haired Boy, Oyster River, Beautiful Swanee River (Ryan's Mammoth), Soldier's Joy (Ryan's). I am working through Corn Field (Kerr's Merry Melodies) with my teacher.

Anybody up for suggesting some "essentials" for a blossoming notation-reader?

----------


## Jim Garber

> Here are the tunes that I have been enjoying playing up to this point: Whiskey Before Breakfast, Red-Haired Boy, Oyster River, Beautiful Swanee River (Ryan's Mammoth), Soldier's Joy (Ryan's). I am working through Corn Field (Kerr's Merry Melodies) with my teacher.


Nice bunch of tunes. I just checked out Oyster River and Beautiful Swanee River -- two nice quirky 19th century-sounding hornpipes. I love those kind of tunes. 




> Anybody up for suggesting some "essentials" for a blossoming notation-reader?


Just keep at it... it gets easier and, as you mention, you are opening up a whole world of non-tabbed music and even non-mandolin music. I have played flute and oboe music and even trumpet music. Fun stuff...

----------


## walt33

Reel de la Guimauve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wige2tdGfQ

A bar or two is missing at the beginning, but there are plenty of repeats!

Walt

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## woodwizard

Norman Blake tune ~ Fields of November

----------


## rubydubyr

> If you can get ahold of Bob Grant's "Fiddle Tunes for Flatpickers: Mandolin" book and CD, it has a really good, clear, easy-to-follow version of OD. (As well as about 15 other tunes.)
> 
> That's the book I started with, and I still refer to it when I need to.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Fiddle-Tunes-F.../dp/0825687535


Thanks for sharing this, just ordered it from amazon  :Smile:

----------


## rubydubyr

Yay, good news: Fiddle tunes book shipped.  Bad news: not expected to be here till the 8th  :Frown:

----------


## C. Welter

Methodist Preacher

----------


## Franc Homier Lieu

> Yay, good news: Fiddle tunes book shipped.  Bad news: not expected to be here till the 8th


Your book of fiddle tunes is to arrive on the Eighth of January? Now that is auspicious.

----------

Tobin

----------


## rubydubyr

> Your book of fiddle tunes is to arrive on the Eighth of January? Now that is auspicious.


why is that auspicious?  :Confused:

----------


## Bernie Daniel

> why is that auspicious?


Just because.   :Smile:

----------


## Franc Homier Lieu

Let's just hope it does not get temporarily lost in the mail and not arrive until




That would be both auspicious and annoying.

----------


## rubydubyr

OK, I knew that song sounded familiar, I am glad youtube told me it was better known as the battle of new Orleans or i'd a been racking my brain trying to figure it out all morning!  :Grin:   You would think someone who can play like that would look a little bit happier while playing........

----------


## rubydubyr

I think both of those songs are a bit beyond my meager newbie skills at this moment, hopefully there will be some simpler songs in the book that I can work on.  Thanks for sharing  :Smile:

----------


## Bernie Daniel

> Let's just hope it does not get temporarily lost in the mail and not arrive until
> 
> That would be both auspicious and annoying.


The a-words -- let's hope it is the former one.

Homer I was thinking for a moment that you were from Mabou -- we make sure we get to the Red Shoe Pub for some awesome fiddling & piano every time we get to Cape Breton but I guess this is the band's name.  

I like that video you posted -- really interested in how the cello is being used like a bass there -- could clearly do the same thing with a mandocello.

----------


## Franc Homier Lieu

I'm not from Mabou, though my wife has family who live a short walk from the Red Shoe. I too thought these young women were performing at the Red Shoe when I first saw the title of the video.

----------


## woodwizard

1 fathers hall.mp3     A Nancy tune... Father's Hall on the A4 & pic of Nancy playing her Loar

----------


## tmsweeney

Wood wizard - love that tune, I don't play it exactly as you do, but nice job, Nancy of course has a bunch of great original mandolin tunes, Peezlewhister, The year of the locust, New Bicycle hornpipe, In Russia we have Parking lots too ( mandocello)....Not sure sure if it was her or Norman that wrote Belize, but that is one on my list.

----------


## bigskygirl

> Yay, good news: Fiddle tunes book shipped.  Bad news: not expected to be here till the 8th


Don't let this scare you off, 8th of January is a great easy tune to learn, you still have a few days....ha!  Here's a nice lesson, the tune starts around 6:54 if you just want to listen.

----------


## rubydubyr

> Don't let this scare you off, 8th of January is a great easy tune to learn, you still have a few days....ha!  Here's a nice lesson, the tune starts around 6:54 if you just want to listen.


Awww, how sweet of you, but really, I will do better if I have the actual music in front of me, but thankyou so very much!  I can learn by ear, but find it much easier to read the score and learn it that way  :Smile:

----------


## terzinator

Eighth of January is in the Bob Grant book, so you'll be all set!

----------

rubydubyr

----------


## LongBlackVeil

Working on wheel hoss now. Mostly copying Mike Comptons version

----------


## Mark Wilson

Sally Goodin'.  Simple tune but I like the sound of it.

----------


## rubydubyr

simplied version of cripple creek, extreeeeeeemely simplified, I look forward to getting my fiddle tunes book from amazon on Thursday.  Basically using this one to work on proper pick method since in my ignorance I was previously doing all notes on a down stroke.   :Crying:

----------


## terzinator

hey ruby, if you can swing it, I'd also download (or at least check out) Amazing Slowdowner from Roni Software.

http://www.ronimusic.com

(others use the free Audacity with similar results, but I like the ASD interface)

Anyway, it lets you slow down the speed of the recording without mucking up the pitch. Really good for figuring out intricate parts that are difficult to discern at speed.

No financial interest!

----------

rubydubyr

----------


## Tobin

There's a bunch of fiddle tunes I'm working on at the moment, most of which I've worked into melody-harmony duets.  But a new one I ran across is _Outhouse_.  I think it may also be called _Purseholder Polka #9_.  It's a very simple tune, but has a lot of energy when played at speed.

I originally found it here.  There's an audio track of it being played on a fiddle, and it's a catchy repetitive tune.

I've attached a tablature PDF (with just a touch of ornamentation that I thought sounded good for a mandolin adaptation), as well as a TablEdit (.tef) file, if you're interested.

----------

Mike Black, 

rubydubyr

----------


## terzinator

Over in the tips and techniques section someone posted about Sierra Hull's version of the Tennessee Waltz.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ennessee-Waltz

Gonna take some time and work on that one. The beauty is that it's nice and slow, which plays right into my mad skillz.

----------

GreenMTBoy

----------


## LongBlackVeil

> Awww, how sweet of you, but really, I will do better if I have the actual music in front of me, but thankyou so very much!  I can learn by ear, but find it much easier to read the score and learn it that way


There's really nothing wrong with using sheet music at all. But after you get a few tunes learned and a little better idea where the notes are (learn your scales), I strongly suggest you start trying to learn by ear. It's really good for your musical soul, and helps learn your instrument. Also will improve your improvising skills. It seems really difficult at first, but everytime you learn a tune by ear, it makes the next one easier. 

Mandolessons.com is a great place to go because he kind of walks you through learning by ear. I learned many of my first tunes on that site.

----------


## rubydubyr

wow, mandolessons.com, now that is a site I now have book marked.  And downloaded a couple of musics scores from just now also.  thanks!  :Smile:

----------

CavScout

----------


## rubydubyr

woo hoooooo, my fiddles tune book got here from Amazon, gonna start learning 8th of January.   :Grin:   (my new mic also arrived... )

----------


## rubydubyr

well, oops, I found an "old friend" earlier in another thread, Bach's Menuet in G Maj.  Used to play it on the piano, so a fiddle tune will have to play 2nd fiddle to the Menuet....... (pun intended  :Grin:  )

----------


## CavScout

I am taking Matt Flinner's online Appalachian Mandolin Tunes course and we just learned Chilly Winds. Love it.

----------


## Mike Black

> There's a bunch of fiddle tunes I'm working on at the moment, most of which I've worked into melody-harmony duets.  But a new one I ran across is _Outhouse_.  I think it may also be called _Purseholder Polka #9_.  It's a very simple tune, but has a lot of energy when played at speed.
> 
> I originally found it here.  There's an audio track of it being played on a fiddle, and it's a catchy repetitive tune.
> 
> I've attached a tablature PDF (with just a touch of ornamentation that I thought sounded good for a mandolin adaptation), as well as a TablEdit (.tef) file, if you're interested.


Tobin,  Here are ALL NINE of the Purse Holder Polkas.

My friends and I all wrote a polka for this Irish step dance group that we played for once a year during the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas.    The set needed a polka played 9 times.  So we played a bunch of polkas  one time though for it and then we thought it would be a fun project to write the nine polkas to be played one time each for the set.

----------

Tobin

----------


## terzinator

Here's one I came across some time ago, and stashed it away to work on at some point (which happens to be today). 

*Winder Slide.*

Lovely version with Joe Walsh and Julianne Johnson here:

----------

GreenMTBoy, 

Mark Wilson

----------


## GreenMTBoy

That is the Lovely and talented Courtney Hartman playing guitar in the above video

----------


## Mark Wilson

Good one tz.  Are you transcribing?

MG that gil sounds nice

----------


## woodwizard

Worked  up a little (G) tune medley and also working on Twinkle twinkle and a Kenny Baker tune A & E Reel (nothing perfect just practicing on a Sunday)

----------


## tmsweeney

You'll got me stuck on 8th of January, great old timey tune, workin it up on the octave

----------


## Tobin

I finally got around to transcribing Jay Ungar's tune _Fiddler's Elbow_, and I'm working up a mandola-mandolin duet variation.  This tune had been haunting my dreams for quite some time.  I like a happy fiddle tune as much as the next guy, but these dark gloomy tunes really get to me on an emotional level.  It's a fairly easy tune, with a crooked "A" part.  I'd post the notation/tab for it, but this is copyrighted.

Here's a great amateur version that does an excellent job of catching the mood of the tune:

----------

Jim Roberts, 

Mike Black

----------


## Mark Wilson

> A Place In The Heart  by Bill Crahan.


I had bookmarked this for a rainy day. Worked with the Tab for a while but in the end just learned by ear listening to this version using Transcribe! software.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZoMN1tYuqw.

Maybe not a fiddle tune but wow what a beautiful piece of music!  Made for a really enjoyable day on mandolin.  Thanks for the link Mike.

----------

Mike Black

----------


## terzinator

> That is the Lovely and talented Courtney Hartman playing guitar in the above video


Sorry, I'm a dope. I grabbed the name of the second tune instead of the guitar player. And no way to edit! Sorry!

----------

GreenMTBoy

----------


## Jack Roberts

Prince Charles Jig from Ryan's Mammoth.  There are fun string crossings.

----------


## woodwizard

made a vid ... I am liking this tune today  :Smile:  Sorry in advance... I'm sure there are a lot of great pickers out there that can make this old A4 sound good.

----------

Pick&Grin

----------


## Joey Anchors

I'm currently working on Lazy John. It's still way too rough playing but I really am enjoying the tune.

----------


## terzinator

> I'm currently working on Lazy John. It's still way too rough playing but I really am enjoying the tune.


We do that, but it's got words, the one we do.

We always sing the words to Whiskey Before Breakfast, too.

And we sing Old Joe Clark, on a given day.

We sing too much, too much, some say.

----------


## woodwizard

Ok here's Little Dutch Girl today I recorded quick ... I especially like the way Mike Compton & Rafe Stefanini do it

----------

Pick&Grin

----------


## rubydubyr

quite enjoyable woodwiz!  :Smile:

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Sandy Beckler

I am enjoying "Swinging on a Gate" from Vance Henry  (  http://home.hiwaay.net/~vehenry/index.htmvia ) via "Woodwizard" (Mike Parks)
thanks again Mike.

Sandy

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Sandy Beckler

http://home.hiwaay.net/~vehenry/tab.htm

Sandy

----------


## JeffD

I have been learning "New Mexico Waltz". Its a beautiful tune by Jay Ungar, (Ashokan Farewell, Lovers Waltz, etc.), that I found in the Jay Ungar Molly Mason waltz book "Catskill Mountain Waltzes and Airs".

The tune has some magical moments.

----------


## shins

Recently been playing:
shove that pigs foot a little further into the fire
grasshopler sitting on a sweet potato vine
over the waterfall
josio
arkansas traveller
soldier's joy
red haired boy/jolly begger man
nixons farewell
fly around my pretty little miss

and so on

and so on... 

play so many fiddle tunes.... on the fiddle too!

----------


## fatt-dad

I got an ear worm of, "Horgalåten."  Began working it up Monday and making progress!

Lots of great tunes being worked on!  I love playing, "Twinkle, Twinkle" and also, "Swinging on a Gate."

f-d

----------


## terzinator

*Swinging on a Gate* IS a great one.

Just got an email from a buddy with his list of tunes, so I have my hands full to learn those I don't know yet.

One on his list I still haven't gotten to is *Leather Britches*. Maybe I'll start with that.

----------


## fatt-dad

Another great G tune is, "Waynesboro."

f-d

----------


## Bill McCall

not really a fiddle tune, but Panhandle Rag has my attention

----------


## Pick&Grin

Having a great time with "New Five Cents." Got the tab from Tune of the Week at Mandozine, and have found DW Music Expedition video to be really helpful. Fun stuff!

----------

Jackgaryk

----------


## shins

Walk along john to kansas

----------


## fatt-dad

shenandoah falls.

f-d

----------


## Jim Garber

I have been returning to the fiddle tunes from my sordid youth -- ones that I sort of forgot:

Folding Down the SheetsGreen WillisLady of the Lake (three versions)Woodchopper's ReelFlowers of Edinburgh

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Sandy Beckler

[QUOTE=Jim Garber;1372894]I have been returning to the fiddle tunes from my sordid youth -- ones that I sort of forgot:

Funny Jim, that seems to happen with each new tune I learn....get it down, on to the next one, and "Poof...the first one is gone... :Laughing:

----------


## shins

Learned this one this evening. Made you guys a recording Coleman's March.mp3

----------

Pick&Grin

----------


## rubydubyr

very nice, shins  :Smile:

----------


## Franc Homier Lieu

A few weeks ago I had a chance to read through this whole thread. So many really great tunes mentioned here. (I have added 'the Snouts and Ears of America' to my repertoire, and with 'Shove that Pig's Foot' and 'Pig Ankles Rag' I have quite a little hog themed set going).

Anyway, yesterday I sat down and learned Ostinelli's Reel, the version in Zav RT's book Fiddleworks vol. 3. It is like the E major partita of fiddle tunes, with lots of cross picking and even a dash up to the 12th fret of the E string.

----------


## woodwizard

Here's an old one I learned & pickin it on my A4. Really like the old melody of it but I don't know what it is called. If anyone knows please let me know if you don't mind and any history about it if possible. Thanks. Love old tunes like this

----------


## woodwizard

Messing around with Slocom Hollow today

----------

Jackgaryk

----------


## Dan Krhla

Trying to translate Fiddle Fingers to mandolin:

http://youtu.be/93UXjziwVTY

Fun.

----------


## woodwizard

> Trying to translate Fiddle Fingers to mandolin:
> 
> http://youtu.be/93UXjziwVTY
> 
> Fun.


Cool... that's gotta be easier than going the other way  :Smile:   Just joshing ... It kinda sounds like Durham's Reel but with out the bridge where you go to (B) It appears to just go around the horn over & over A-D-E  A-D-E  A-D-E

----------

Dan Krhla

----------


## Mike Snyder

Tater Patch
Icabods Last Ride
Butterfly

----------


## woodwizard

Remembering a couple... Rachel & Goldrush

----------


## JeffD

> Tater Patch
> Icabods Last Ride
> Butterfly


Three great tunes. Do you do Tater Patch with the B part repeated three times, or four?

----------


## Pick&Grin

> One reason is I like the tunes so much. Especially Cuckoo's Nest - I love that tune as it is. I really cannot improve on it.


Yup! Sure hard to improve on Cuckoo's Nest, JeffD.

----------


## Jim Garber

Been diving into my sordid tune past:
Texas Barbed Wire
Flowers of Edinburgh
Folding Down the Sheets
Lady of the Lake (3 versions)
Shuffle About
New Money
Saturday Night Breakdown

----------


## Jim Nollman

Aaaah, Lady of the Lake. So many different tunes, so little time to learn them all. I have heard four distinct tunes with that name, including one waltz. I perform 2 of those versions, and especially love to  play, at breakneck speed, the exceedingly "notey" version I learned off a John Hartford recording. That one seems to move between A minor and and A major, which probably means its mixolydian.

----------


## woodwizard

Trying to refresh my memory on Leather Britches ... played on my A4

----------


## Jim Garber

> Aaaah, Lady of the Lake. So many different tunes, so little time to learn them all. I have heard four distinct tunes with that name, including one waltz. I perform 2 of those versions, and especially love to  play, at breakneck speed, the exceedingly "notey" version I learned off a John Hartford recording. That one seems to move between A minor and and A major, which probably means its mixolydian.


These are the three that I know:
*Henry Reed* (G) -- I always thought that this was a New England contradance tune*John Ashby* (D)*Norman Edmonds* (A modal) -- is this the one you know from Hartford?  I know the playing's bit rough, but I think you can get the gist of the tune.

I don't know the Lady of the Lake waltz.

----------


## Jim Roberts

Pretty Birdie.  Here's a version by Kenny Baker, et al.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MM8Ac9gqUGE

Cheers.

----------


## Mark Wilson

Temperance Reel. Learned the A part from Bob Grants book but his B part is clunky(for me).

Today I put this on slow loop and learned the B part from Spencer Strickland:  Cool tune!

----------

Jackgaryk, 

woodwizard

----------


## Mike Snyder

JeffD, Tater Patch with x4 part B, but I've been known to square up stuff that should be crooked. It's my love of dancers,I suppose.

----------


## rubydubyr

> Trying to refresh my memory on Leather Britches ... played on my A4


Very nice and "refreshing".  :Wink:

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Jim Nollman

Never heard that first version of Lady of the Lake (in G). 

The second version (in D) I know well but haven't learned it yet.  Ironically my fiddle player keeps bringing it up for the band to learn, and the rest of us keep rejecting it ONLY because we already do two other versions of LOL and its too confusing. We've told her we'll be happy to learn it if she simply changes the name to anything else. I mean, imagine a set list with half the songs having the same name.  :Laughing: .  

 The third version I play and enjoy, although I had to listen twice to the version Jim Garber posted to realize it was the same tune our band plays. The tune requires some atypical traditional chords to sound correctly.

The John Hartford version is currently one of my favorite fiddle tunes. Click to this page, then scroll to the bottom and click "Lady of the Lake" to give a listen. I find the A part of this version challenging to play at dance speed, because its so notey which causes the phrases to run past in a blur. Also, some phrases end on F# and others on G and my fingers sometimes get confused about where they are, precisely, in the melody. We perform it 3rd in a set with Seneca Square-dance and Susanna Gal.

----------

Jackgaryk

----------


## woodwizard

Here's me and my OT pickin" buddies doing a version of Lady of the Lake ... the (G) one. And just added same version with just my 1918 A4  :Mandosmiley:  Henry Reed! what a fiddler!

----------


## woodwizard

It seems Sundays always turn out to be pickin & recording tunes that I'm trying to learn or refresh on... Like this one Candy Gal that I just put on soundcloud.

----------


## JeffD

> JeffD, Tater Patch with x4 part B, but I've been known to square up stuff that should be crooked. It's my love of dancers,I suppose.


I know what you mean. From a musical point of view I am enamored of the crooked tune, but when I play a contra dance I either leave them out, or square them up.

----------


## woodwizard

I'm on a roll  :Smile:  relearned Folding Down the Sheets ... I like that tune.
Last one I promise. Playing on the A4

----------


## terzinator

> Temperance Reel. Learned the A part from Bob Grants book but his B part is clunky(for me).
> 
> Today I put this on slow loop and learned the B part from Spencer Strickland:  Cool tune!
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEuzEzjJ8fQ


Awesome version. Thanks for posting that.

----------


## Tobin

I've been on a Jay Ungar fiddle tune kick lately.  The latest is _Haymaker's Hoedown_.  You can hear the original here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKuKF27CB3o

It's a fairly simple tune to play on mandolin, though the chord changes can be a bit tricky in the last 4 measures of the B part.  Still, it's a fun tune that really comes alive with double-stops on open strings (as most tunes in D tend to do).

In case you're wondering, here are the chords:

A Part: D | D | D | Bm | D | D | G | D

B Part: G | G | D | A | Bm-A | G-D | Em-A | D

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Charles E.

Pikes Peak and Valley Forge, I should have them playable for our weekly session tomorrow.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Pikes Peak and Valley Forge, I should have them playable for our weekly session tomorrow.


I have been on a kick to go back to tunes I learned decades ago but no longer play. Those are two good ones. Thanks, Charley!

I also have trying to get people to play tunes in C. Pikes Peak is in C right?

----------


## Charles E.

Hey Jim, yes Pikes Peak is in C. Also on the list is Katydid, first part in C, second part in Am.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Hey Jim, yes Pikes Peak is in C. Also on the list is Katydid, first part in C, second part in Am.


Yes, indeedy! Another oldy but goody!

----------


## fatt-dad

in the finishing touches of, "Lindsay Road" by Harvey Reid.  My duet buddy knew it and we'll perform it in two weeks.  Can't find the video and don't really have sheet music. It's a fun three part tune in E, so (don't tell anybody), I'm using a capo!

f-d

----------


## terzinator

A fiddle pal of mine keeps trying to launch *Eighth of January*, and I've never taken the time to figure it out properly. So tonight, I did.

It's an easy one, with a recognizable melody. (Battle of New Orleans.)

Here's a bunch of overachievers playing it:

----------

chuck3, 

Jim Nollman, 

Pick&Grin

----------


## Pick&Grin

> Here's a bunch of overachievers playing it:


Great stuff, terzinator. Thanks for this: the future's looking bright! :O)

----------


## woodwizard

Tunes, tunes can't learn enough of them  :Smile:  Here's a couple on my 1918 A4 I learned today
"Constitution Hornpipe" and a Lyman Enloe tune "Crazy Horse" (work in progress)

----------


## woodwizard

> I've been on a Jay Ungar fiddle tune kick lately.  The latest is _Haymaker's Hoedown_.  You can hear the original here:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKuKF27CB3o
> 
> 
> In case you're wondering, here are the chords:
> 
> A Part: D | D | D | Bm | D | D | G | D
> 
> B Part: G | G | D | A | Bm-A | G-D | Em-A | D



You gotta love Jay Unger! Cool tune ... the chords in the (A) part and the way he does it really sounds similar to Cherokee Shuffel to me

----------


## woodwizard

Leather Britches revisted OT
Leather Britches on my A4

----------


## terzinator

*Durang's Hornpipe.*

----------


## Mike Snyder

Molly put the Kettle On
Jenny Ran Away in the Mud in the Middle of the Night
Duck River

----------


## onassis

> Durang's Hornpipe.


Been trying to learn Adam Steffey's version. Feels like it's taken me a month to get the first ten seconds at half speed.

----------


## AlanN

Back to Mississippi Sawyer, including the Jethro way.

----------


## woodwizard

My 63rd time around the sun today  :Smile:  Life is good .... Practicing on Norman Blake tunes tonight to finish off a great day. 
Here's "Valley Head"

----------

bigskygirl, 

chuck3, 

Pick&Grin

----------


## Pick&Grin

> My 63rd time around the sun today  Life is good .... Practicing on Norman Blake tunes tonight to finish off a great day. 
> Here's "Valley Head"


Great stuff, woodwizard, and a very happy birthday! I'm going to have to start working on that one.
Which of your mandolins are you playing there?

----------


## woodwizard

> Great stuff, woodwizard, and a very happy birthday! I'm going to have to start working on that one.
> Which of your mandolins are you playing there?


Thanks Pick&Grin! I was using my Goldrush on that one. Still on a Norman Blake tune picking spree  :Smile:  Here is one more on my A4... Nancy's Hornpipe ... Norman Blake tunes are so cool!

----------

Pick&Grin

----------


## terzinator

> *Durang's Hornpipe.*





> Been trying to learn Adam Steffey's version. Feels like it's taken me a month to get the first ten seconds at half speed.


Whenever I want to feel inferior, I try to learn Steffey's version of anything. 

But I found a Joe Carr "School of Mandolin" version of Durang's Hornpipe that's pretty straightforward.

----------


## chuck3

working on Grey Eagle - obviously I will never play it like Jesse Cobb - but I would like to play it one way or another.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/mp3/jessecobb.mp3

lots of great suggestions above - will check them out.

----------


## doc holiday

Love that version of 'Grey Eagle'. I've been enjoying playing 'Old Grimes'

----------


## Mike Black

I've been working on some Bb tunes.  Specifically *President Grant's Harnpipe*.

----------

Jim Roberts, 

wildpikr

----------


## Don Grieser

Those Bb tunes can hurt your hand. Be careful!

----------

Mike Black

----------


## terzinator

> I've been working on some Bb tunes.


How about *Kentucky Mandolin*?

Well, it's kinda Gm, but that's Bb, ain't it?

----------


## chuck3

> A fiddle pal of mine keeps trying to launch *Eighth of January*, and I've never taken the time to figure it out properly. So tonight, I did.
> 
> It's an easy one, with a recognizable melody. (Battle of New Orleans.)
> 
> Here's a bunch of overachievers playing it:


Ha - that is awesome.  All four of those kids are great.

----------


## chuck3

> My 63rd time around the sun today  Life is good .... Practicing on Norman Blake tunes tonight to finish off a great day. 
> Here's "Valley Head"


Very nice!  My 63rd time around the sun will be be complete in July ... 1952 must have been a good year.

----------

David Smith, 

woodwizard

----------


## Mandoviol

I've been working on Brittany Haas' version of "Dry and Dusty," which Joe Walsh taught us this weekend out at the Canaan Institute.

----------


## JeffD

> I've been working on Brittany Haas' version of "Dry and Dusty," which Joe Walsh taught us this weekend out at the Canaan Institute.


That is an spooky version.  I like it.

----------


## Mark Wilson

> *My 63rd time around the sun* today  Life is good


Thx. I write down interesting phrases I hear or read into a songwriting ideas log I keep. Mind it or not I'll probably use part of that line in a song someday.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## terzinator

> I've been working on Brittany Haas' version of "Dry and Dusty," which Joe Walsh taught us this weekend out at the Canaan Institute.


Ok, hunted this down.

Gotta watch this. 

1000 times.

----------

dburtnett, 

doc holiday, 

JH Murray, 

Jim Roberts

----------


## fatt-dad

we play, "Dry and Dusty" at our jams.  I like that tune!

My duet buddy and I have worked up, "Alexander's Hornpipe."  I like that tune too!

f-d

----------


## onassis

I just discovered that one too. The one that got me working is a vid of Joe and Courtney Hartman doing Winder Slide into Julianne Johnson. JJ is an old fave, but I've never really learned Winder Slide. Makes a great medley the way they do it.

----------

dburtnett, 

terzinator

----------


## terzinator

Love Winder Slide. 

Now to work on JJ, which requires a smooth gear change (and which I rarely can summon).

Great vid, by the way. Thanks for that.

----------


## Jack Roberts

I'm working on "American Rifle Team Hornpipe".  The B part is played way up the neck.

----------


## terzinator

> I'm working on "American Rifle Team Hornpipe".  The B part is played way up the neck.


It's certainly possible there's a fiddle tune named as such, but my guess is that this is a pun I don't understand.

----------


## onassis

Just starting to work on one introduced at a recent jam - "Hunting the Buffalo", in A.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> It's certainly possible there's a fiddle tune named as such, but my guess is that this is a pun I don't understand.


Naw, I'm not clever enough to be punny.

It's on page 200 of Ryan's Mammoth.  It is attributed to "E. Christie", most likely Edwin Pearce Christy of the original "Christy's Minstrels."

----------


## JeffD

> Just starting to work on one introduced at a recent jam - "Hunting the Buffalo", in A.


There is a great version of that tune on this album. The mandolin and harmonica combination is amazing.

----------

onassis

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Currently working a nice tune by Brian Pickell called "Sour Grass & Granite...

Sandy

----------

Mike Black

----------


## Tobin

> Currently working a nice tune by Brian Pickell called "Sour Grass & Granite...
> 
> Sandy


Excellent choice.  That's one of my favorites to play.  I love tunes like this that make good use of the vi chord, especially the vi-V-IV-I progression in the B part (which is also what I like about Jay Ungar's _Haymaker's Hoedown_, mentioned earlier in this thread).  It's got a nice groove to it.

I notice that the version posted at Mandozine uses a slightly different chord progression (it includes an E9 in the B part) than the version I typically play which sticks with a Bm chord.  Which do you prefer?

For some reason, my wife always refers to this tune as _Sour Grapes and Granite_, lol.

----------


## terzinator

> Naw, I'm not clever enough to be punny.
> 
> It's on page 200 of Ryan's Mammoth.  It is attributed to "E. Christie", most likely Edwin Pearce Christy of the original "Christy's Minstrels."


Ah, I thought it might be something like "I'm working on *Colonel Sanders' Hornpipe*. You have to cross the road to play the B part."

I'm here all week.

 :Chicken:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Referring to an earlier thread: I  play Garfield's Hornpipe in Bb. One unexpected discovery is that it plays easier in Bb then in any transposition you care to attempt. By that, I mean that in Bb, the melody lands on a max number of open E and A strings. 

I thought that the Garfield's ample use of open strings was quite curious at first. That is, until I started learning fiddle tunes in F, and found much the same thing. I'd call it a counterintuitive example of composers demonstrating savvy musical logic in choosing the keys they do. 

Also, I don't see any way to play Garfield's  well unless you include second position fingerings. This seems critical for the second phrase of the B part. A few of the phrases within this post-civil war tune obviously influence phrasing that later emerged, almost verbatim, in Scott Joplin rags. 

It probably took me more hours of practice to get Garfield's fluidly into finger memory than any other tune I've  learned except, perhaps (much later on my musical journey) Minnie Foster, which I play in F, as learned off a Kevin Burke CD. If you want to try something on mandolin that is both challenging and fun, try stringing together Oklahoma Redbird (C) into Minnie Foster (F) into Garfield's Hornpipe (Bb)   :Mandosmiley:

----------

Mike Black

----------


## JeffD

> I'd call it a counterintuitive example of composers demonstrating savvy musical logic in choosing the keys they do.


Hmmm. Very interesting. Or perhaps evidence that the key it is in in the tune collection might not be the original key it was "composed" in. If you make the assumption that a tune's "original" key is the one that is simplest, i.e. first position lots of open strings. That though, is a pure assumption.

I usually go with how the tune is written or how it is locally played. Obviously tunes sound different in different keys. Open strings can provide a drone or harmony, unplayed strings can sympathetically vibrate if the notes are right. So I have made the assumption that the "original" key was chosen for some deep musical reason. Though this is another assumption, really two assumptions one that the key is the original key, and two that the key was chosen in any sense.

The version in a collection and the locally played version usually are in the same key, though there are many exceptions to this too.  Ross's Reel is in Ryan's in E but we locally play it in D, and I found out it is because someone in our musical community way back there transposed it to stop everyone's complaining.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> Excellent choice.  That's one of my favorites to play.  I love tunes like this that make good use of the vi chord, especially the vi-V-IV-I progression in the B part (which is also what I like about Jay Ungar's _Haymaker's Hoedown_, mentioned earlier in this thread).  It's got a nice groove to it.
> 
> I notice that the version posted at Mandozine uses a slightly different chord progression (it includes an E9 in the B part) than the version I typically play which sticks with a Bm chord.  Which do you prefer?
> 
> For some reason, my wife always refers to this tune as _Sour Grapes and Granite_, lol.


Hey Tobin...the version I too enjoy, is from Vance Henry's site ( with a special thanks to Mike Parks aka Woodwizard on the Cafe ) Vance Henry's site has a number of nice tunes.
Sour Grass & Granite apparently was written by Brian Pickell for a longtime musical companion who owns a farm near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario...a neat little tune to be sure.

Sandy

----------


## Jack Roberts

> Referring to an earlier thread: I  play Garfield's Hornpipe in Bb. One unexpected discovery is that it plays easier in Bb then in any transposition you care to attempt. ....


You are so right, Jim.  There are lots of tune in Bb that really don't play as well in any other key unless you go to non-standard tunings.  

What JeffD says about how things are played locally is true as well, but I notice alternate fiddle tunings at local jams (that aren't good for the mandolin) as well as different keys.  I remember charging into "Garry Owen" once in Ventura and none of the guitarists showed any enthusiasm for it until the next guy in the circle started playing it in a different key!  

President Garfield's Hornpipe is one of my favorites.

----------


## Mike Black

> Currently working a nice tune by Brian Pickell called "Sour Grass & Granite...
> 
> Sandy


My wife and I played that tune at our wedding over 10 years ago now.  I came down the isle playing it, then her.  Then we both played it together.   :Smile:

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Very cool Mike...


> My wife and I played that tune at our wedding over 10 years ago now.  I came down the isle playing it, then her.  Then we both played it together.

----------


## JeffD

> none of the guitarists showed any enthusiasm for it until the next guy in the circle started playing it in a different key!


Has happened to me a time or two.

----------


## terzinator

*Monroe's Hornpipe*

If someone could figure out how to add more hours to each day, that would be great.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Continuing this idea of the tunings we use (or settle on). It's interesting, Jeff, that you play Ross's Reel in D but the Ryan book has it in E. I don't play it in either D or E. I learned it straight off a Laura Risk CD in the key of F, and so I like to think  that the tune makes a lot more "fingering sense" in F, than any other key.  I can't quite imagine banging out that alternating string, double-time B part in anything but F, where the notes just roll off my instrument. 

For the record, I recommend playing Ross's Reel in a set with another F reel: Bacheldor's Reel. Very classical sounding, more DeBussy, less Bill Monroe.

But truly, (and as every mandola player learns very quickly) who can really say what the correct key is for any tune?  I think you might agree, Jack, that transposition is one of the crucial tools for making any tune into one's own. And maybe the optimal key for any  tune, is merely the key that our brain has wired our fingers to perform that tune. Let me add the obvious caveat, that when you learn a tune in the  "book" key, you have a good chance of playing it, immediately, with other players from anywhere in the world. 

Except when you can't.  :Laughing:  

I occasionally play at my local Farmer's Market with an 85 year old old timer. He knows 400 or more tunes on concertina and prefers to choose all the tunes we play. But his concertina is not much more than a Rube Goldberg version of a blues harmonica. So EVERYTHING we play at the Farmer's Market is limited to D or A. One result is that I originally learned Calliope House in D, although I believe everybody else in the world plays it in E. What can I say? Works great in D.

----------


## terzinator



----------

Mike Black

----------


## terzinator

Thread killer, they call me.

Working on *Spotted Pony*, and also a tune that was on the New Standards Flatpicking Guitar album with David Grier and Kenny Smith called *Song for Emily*.

Here's Kenny Smith playing it on his Collings OM2H guitar. (Haven't found a mandolin version to emulate, but at least you can get the gist.)

----------

woodwizard

----------


## tmsweeney

Here's Two from Cole's 1001 Fiddle Tunes, Under the Double Eagle and Nicodemus Johnson

----------


## Mark Wilson

Bill Cheatham and Salt Creek.  Mostly from Bob Grants book.  With some Ben Clark extras thrown in.  (For me) most of Ben's stuff is a bit too non-traditional for jam circles, but cherry picking licks from his lessons make a traditional piece a little more fun to play.

----------


## David Smith

St. Anne's Reel.  Just watched a youtube video of Joe Walsh at Joe Val festival playing this tune.  What great phrasing and touch he has.

----------


## AlanN

These Old Blues, off James Alan Shelton record, Adam Steffey on the burn.

Fiddle tune? No. Hot stuff? Yes.

----------


## Mark Wilson

Alan.  Is that the 'and Friends' album with Krauss and Steffey?

----------


## AlanN

This one. RIP, JAS

----------

Mark Wilson

----------


## woodwizard

Love to hear my fiddlen' friends play this one... "Waynesboro" ...Old-time fiddle tune


And one more OT tune I've been working on called "Ways of the World"

----------


## Jack Roberts

In honor of my new granddaughter, born Thursday, I'm working on "The Pleasures of Hope" from O'Niell's "Dance Music of Ireland".  (Her name is Hope.)

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> In honor of my new granddaughter, born Thursday, I'm working on "The Pleasures of Hope" from O'Niell's "Dance Music of Ireland".  (Her name is Hope.)


Congratulations Jack....Enjoy! (after a visit....the usually go home)

Sandy

----------


## Jim Nollman

Lot's of new tunes being learned here, as band members agree that we need to reinvigorate the set list. These include: Dry and Dusty, Duck River, Saturday Night Breakdown, Hey Girl, Cape Breton Home, Quiet Waltz.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Shove That Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire...what a fun tune....anyone know any of the "back story to this tune?

Sandy

----------


## Niavlys

Straight from the Brittany Haas/Dominick Leslie/Greg Liszt Master Class at "Mandolines de Lunel" (a mandolin festival in the South of France) last Autumn, where I learned the tune:




> Dominick Leslie: So the story that I've heard about this tune is that there were a couple of thieves who escaped from prison, and they stole a pig. And the cops were looking for them, they were looking for the stolen pig, you know, and so they saw the cops come in and... "Hey man, shove that pig's foot a little further into the fire so the cops won't see it." 
> 
> Brittany Haas: (laughs) That's a great story.
> 
> Dominick: So... I'm not sure it's actually true.
> 
> Brittany: That's really more interesting than what I've heard. 
> 
> Dominick: What have you heard?
> ...

----------


## Chris Browne

There's a lovely video of Sarah Jarosz playing this song on Youtube.  I used google chrome to slow it down to 1/2 speed, learned it and it's now one of my favorite tunes to play.  I'm trying to learn Jerusalem Ridge now.

----------


## JeffD

> Shove That Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire...what a fun tune....anyone know any of the "back story to this tune?
> Sandy


A "pig's foot" is a blacksmiths tool, as I understand it. 

Some good information here: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/125024

----------


## Jim Nollman

I'm with Jeff on this one.

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> A "pig's foot" is a blacksmiths tool, as I understand it. 
> 
> Some good information here: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/125024


Makes good sense to me....thanks for posting Jeff.

Sandy

----------


## Niavlys

> There's a lovely video of Sarah Jarosz playing this song on Youtube.  I used google chrome to slow it down to 1/2 speed, learned it and it's now one of my favorite tunes to play.  I'm trying to learn Jerusalem Ridge now.


Here it is, for those who would like to hear it. It's not that easy to find. Is this the one you were mentioning?

----------


## terzinator

That video of Sarah playing STPFALFITF is wonderful.

That Gil sounds wonderful.

Everything is awesome.

----------


## Kevin Stueve

Getting hooked on old fiddle tunes Have Whisky Before Breakfast memorized.  working on this  version of Chinquapin Hunting   I particularly like the syncopated feel of this one

----------


## Mark Wilson

Red Wing.  Another tune I haven't heard called, but it's in every book I have so Red Wing it is.

These tunes tend to start out sounding like kids songs til you find some double stops, speed and dress it up some and then it's my favorite tune for a while.

----------

Kevin Stueve

----------


## terzinator

> Red Wing.  Another tune I haven't heard called, but it's in every book I have so Red Wing it is.
> 
> These tunes tend to start out sounding like kids songs til you find some double stops, speed and dress it up some and then it's my favorite tune for a while.


Red Wing is a very recognizable melody, and it's one of those tunes that if you hear it a few times, you almost can summon it without practicing it. And you're so right about the need to dress some of these tunes up or they can be tedious, or cliche or whatever. 

But you're right about it never being called. 

I've never heard it called.

Never.

----------


## bigskygirl

I learned Red Wing BC a jam I go to plays it every time, I like the song and it was easy to pick out a simple melody line.  It's a song I kind of work on a little each day to spruce it up with more notes and double stops and such.

Two other tunes I'm doing this with are Grandfather's Clock and Walking Cane.

----------


## Jack Roberts

(Sorry, Duplicate post.  See next)

----------


## Jack Roberts

I just started Swimming in the Gutter. Part A is in D minor, part B is in F. 

(You gotta love fiddle tune names.)

----------


## stringalong

What a fun thread, Mike! I''m working on Cruise of the Calibar.  A friend who plays banjo learned it out of a tab book.  I couldn't find anything on the internet with this  But I did find it somehow under the title Good Ship Calibar.  It was done by Tommy Makem, and his lyrics and song are here:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsobJKIymt4

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/t...s-1130935.html

I have to wonder if maybe the banjo tab book changed the title to avoid copyright restrictions.  FYI as you all probably know, Happy Birthday was under copyright until fairly recently.  I had a beginning piano book for my piano students years ago, with that song called "Surprise!" and a picture of a birthday cake!!!  It was still under copyright, but the author avoided getting caught, I'm sure.

----------


## woodwizard

Here's a couple I've been working on a little ... played on my A4 again

----------

Jack Roberts

----------


## terzinator

Was at a mando-only jam last night, and i came away realizing how many "popular" tunes I've failed to actually take the time to learn!

*Turkey in the Straw* (never did because it just seems so cliche, but it got called, dangit!)
*Girl I Left Behind*

The above couple are pretty easy to figure out the melody on, so I was OK by the time it was my turn to have a go. 

But on *Alabama Jubilee*, which I've been meaning to learn forever, everyone played it a little different. With no solid reference, and only a couple of people before me, I just had to play some double-stops over the chords, and I handed in C-minus work.

And *Soldier's Joy* came up, which was probably one of the first ones I ever learned on mandolin. Probably hadn't played it in three years. At the jam, I couldn't summon it to save my life. Again, everyone seems to have their own version. But got home, and listened to the version I learned, and it came back, just like that.

I've got Sarah Jarosz's version of *Shove that Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire* down pretty good. So I guess I have no excuse to not get* Alabama Jubilee* going.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> Turkey in the Straw [/B](never did because it just seems so cliche, but it got called, dangit!)....


Three absolutely essential tunes are Turkey in the Straw, Chicken Reel, and Arkansas Traveler. Cliche? yes, but they are well known and often played for a reason.  They are great tunes!

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

Here is a Bill Monroe tune I'm working on " Methodist Preacher" played on my A4

----------

Jack Roberts

----------


## gabe

Jimmy Shanks

----------


## woodwizard

Johnny Don't get Drunk and Staten Island Hornpipe (played this one with a couple of old-time fiddlers)

----------


## Mark Wilson

Gold Rush. Monroe style.  Rhythm is everything on this one.

----------


## doc holiday

Crazy Creek - another great Tommy Jackson tune

----------


## Jack Roberts

Young America Hornpipe

----------


## JeffD

I am just loving the tune Ora-Lee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw-Wxt4FVyM

----------

Jack Roberts, 

Jim Garber

----------


## Jack Roberts

> I am just loving the tune Ora-Lee
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw-Wxt4FVyM


Now I've been infected with an Ora-Lee ear-worm.  I fear the only cure is to learn to play it.

----------


## JeffD

> Now I've been infected with an Ora-Lee ear-worm.  The only cure I fear is to learn to play it.


I know. It is a darn infection. I was introduced by a fellow that joined our local jam a few weeks back, from north eastern Kentucky. He plays fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, what ever you put in front of him. Ora-Lee is one of the tunes he brought into the jam and I am addicted.

Its fun to hear, fun to hum, but the most amazing fun is to play it.

----------


## JeffD

For me a new tune is like falling in love. For a few weeks the tune just owns me.

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## Jack Roberts

> ....
>  but the most amazing fun is to play it.


I found a pdf, probably from the Phillips book, and started fiddling around with that, but I ended up downloading the version you posted and I'm learning it by ear using the Amazing Slower Downer.   The Bob Carlin version is a little different from the Phillips version, but he is using drones that don't show up in the notation, which sound so good on both fiddle and mandolin.
Thanks for introducing this tune to us!

----------


## JeffD

Is it in the Phillips collection? I'll check. But this version is the one I learned.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> Is it in the Phillips collection? I'll check. But this version is the one I learned.


It should be in Volume 2.  If you want a printed version, here is a slightly modified transcription of the Bob Carlin version.  I left out the drones and maybe changed a few notes here and there to my liking.

https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D060307_62_7752913479

Jack

----------

Tobin

----------


## Jim Nollman

Now I'm hooked on Ora Lee. lol. That's happened four or five times on this thread over the years. Someone hears a tune no one else has heard of, and within a few weeks, everyone is learning to play it. Oklahoma Redbird was one. 

I'm also learning Bouchard's hornpipe. Mostly playing it as a reel for contra dancing, but once my fingers tricked me into playing it as a jig.

----------


## JeffD

> It should be in Volume 2.


I found the Phillips collection version. Same tune all right, slightly different, but not much. Attributed to James Bryan and Bon Carlin. Still, I like the way I play it, the way I learned it from our Ky fiddler, which is how the utube sounds.

I have long kept a note book (a pile of musical scribbles, three hole punched and stuffed in a three ring binder) of tunes I write out after I have learned them by ear. A fair number of the tunes I have never found written out anywhere, though most of them I have found after the fact, sometimes years later. Though normally there is not significant difference, sometimes I go with the written version, but more often than not I stick with what I figured out.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> ...I have long kept a note book (a pile of musical scribbles, three hole punched and stuffed in a three ring binder) of tunes I write out after I have learned them by ear. ...


I'm with you: whenever I learn a new tune, no matter how I learn it, I write it out.  I write the tune name in my desk calendar and the notation in a file folder.  That way, months (or years) later, I can go back and brush up on it.  Earlier in the year I learned a tune called "Albemarle Hornpipe".  If I hadn't written it in notation, if somebody came to me today and said: "play Albemarle" I wouldn't remember at all how it goes.  As it is now, I look at the first few bars and I remember how to play it.

----------


## fatt-dad

"Take Your Choice," O'Neal.  Making a melody from George Barabazon to Take your Choice.

Now I have to go find Ora Lee. . .

f-d

----------


## Jack Roberts

> "Take Your Choice," O'Neal.  Making a melody from George Barabazon to Take your Choice.
> 
> Now I have to go find Ora Lee. . .
> 
> f-d


Here's the link.  It will tell you Symphotic TII wants to share a file with you.  That's O.K., Symphotic TII is my company.

https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D060307_62_7752913479

I've got O'Neal around here somewhere, so "Take Your Choice" will be next up.

----------


## JeffD

The tune I was in love with just before Ora-Lee was the tune Whiteface.

I picked it up today and mmmmmmmmmmmm I love that tune. 

Here is Rachel Eddy playing it on a fiddle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P8A22xGFv4

I do a little simpler version, not so fiddlistic. 

2 A parts, 2 B parts, 3 C parts.

Its another old time tune that has my heart.

Listen to the video a dozen or so times, and then pick up the mandolin - tell me if that's not love.

----------


## David Smith

Started working my way through the slow jam play list on the Monroe Mandolin Camp website. They are all great tunes and fun to work out.

----------


## crisscross

"Year of Jubilo" probably started out as a Civil War song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUthYZSGnJY though today it's best known as a fiddle tune in d https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pArFx3b-Z8M
Sheet music and mando tabs http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/am..._of_jubilo.htm
Clawhammer banjo and bowlback

----------

Jess L., 

Mark Wilson, 

woodwizard

----------


## JeffD

Red Lick. OMG what a fun tune.

Here we go again.

----------


## Jack Roberts

I've been playing "Brightest Eyes Reel", page 66 of Ryan's.

----------


## Jim Garber

Re: Ora Lee:



> I found the Phillips collection version. Same tune all right, slightly different, but not much. Attributed to James Bryan and Bon Carlin. Still, I like the way I play it, the way I learned it from our Ky fiddler, which is how the utube sounds.


What goes around (and around and around...) comes around. James Bryan is the fiddler on that youtube clip which is probably where your Ky fiddler learned it. Here's *the playlist* from that album. Bryan is one of may very favorite fiddlers and he has introduced some excellent tunes into the general repertoire, many of them from Alabama.

There are some excellent fiddlers on that CD. Also check out Farewell Trion with guitar by Norman Blake.

Source info from Fiddler's Companion:



> ORA LEE. Old‑Time, Breakdown. G Major. GDad tuning. AABB (Kuntz): AA'BB (Phillips). The tune is played slower than the usual breakdown tempo. Source for notated version: James Bryan (Alabama) with Bob Carlin [Kuntz, Phillips]. Kuntz, Private Collection. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 97. Rounder 0197, Bob Carlin ‑ "Banging and Sawing" (1985. Source: Edward Winters).


BTW it is interesting that the tuning for fiddle is mentioned as GDad. I learned this in standard but will have to try it with the E string tuned down.

Here are the two notated versions from FC.

----------


## Tobin

> BTW it is interesting that the tuning for fiddle is mentioned as GDad. I learned this in standard but will have to try it with the E string tuned down.


Considering that the tune only touches the high D in a couple of passing spots (not even long enough to make it worth using a unison drone), I'm not sure it's really going to matter.  I've been playing it in standard tuning as well, on both the mandolin and fiddle, and it seems like a tune that is pretty much restricted to the D and A strings (though I use the low open G as a drone at the beginning).

I notice this on a lot of other fiddle tunes as well, especially ones from the Milliner-Koken collection.  They'll show the tuning used by the original fiddler who was recorded, but in many cases it's not necessarily important to use that tuning if the tune doesn't make use of drones or unisons.  But it's good info to have anyway, for preserving the history of who played the tune and what setup they were using.

----------


## woodwizard

Cattle in the Cane ...practice

----------


## woodwizard

North Shore ... a really cool tune, new for me ...here's my try at it

----------


## Tobin

I'm currently having a torrid love affair with _Brushy Fork of John's Creek_.  Been hearing it on Pandora and got it stuck in my head.  It has that same grooviness as _Squirrel Hunters_.  I'm playing the Hiram Stamper version from the Milliner Koken collection, slightly modified as most people play it (i.e. not crooked).

Oh, and I'm also really intrigued by _Bring Me My Hodi Cakes Back_, which I heard played by Owen "Snake" Chapman on Pandora.  I can only find one version of it on YouTube, and it's a pretty crude recording from a festival.  Anybody got a source for sheet music or a decent recording of it?

----------


## terzinator

*Old Grimes*

Here's a YT vid, but he plays it a bit too fast for my liking.  :Wink:

----------


## onassis

OG is one that I've been doing a lot lately, learned off this vid. And yeah, that dude is playing it WAYYYY too fast for me.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Sandy Beckler

I've been working on "Wild Fiddler's Rag" while I am waiting for more suggestions...

Sandy

----------


## woodwizard

Old Grimes ... just came across this tune today

----------


## FrDNicholas

Is Old Grimes a traditional tune? I have been looking for the sheet music, but can't seem to find it. If it's not breaking any copyright laws, could someone lead me to the sheet music?

----------


## JeffD

> I notice this on a lot of other fiddle tunes as well, especially ones from the Milliner-Koken collection.  They'll show the tuning used by the original fiddler who was recorded, but in many cases it's not necessarily important to use that tuning if the tune doesn't make use of drones or unisons.  But it's good info to have anyway, for preserving the history of who played the tune and what setup they were using.


I am starting to like trying the tune in the cross tuning mentioned, to "see what I am missing". Sometimes its not much directly, but because of what the unused strings are tuned to there is a different feeling to it. 

So I have a handful of tunes I play in cross, but I play everything in standard tuning, regardless.

----------


## woodwizard

> , 
> but I play everything in standard tuning, regardless.


Me too !

----------


## Tobin

Another fiddle tune that's become an ear worm from listening to Pandora is _Over the Road to Maysville_, played by John Hartford.  It's not an easy tune to replicate on mandolin, since slurs can't really be slurred and long notes can't be held.  But I've transposed it to notation/tab based on his fiddle version, and there's lots of leeway for adjusting it to the mandolin.

The John Hartford version from YouTube is below.  There are a couple of mandolin versions on YT as well, but none that I felt captured it the same way as I'm hearing it.  My notation/tab is attached as a PDF.  I didn't show a lot of the slides I put in there when I play it, or much in the way of double-stops.  But the gist is there.  The second "draggy" part is a really good place to spruce it up with mandolin ornaments.

"JP and Annadeene Fraley says there wasn't no tobacco warehouse in Moorehead, so they had to haul the tobacco plumb to Maysville, Kentucky.  But first you play this tune peppy and haul in the tobacco, and then you get paid off and you get real drunk and you come home and you play the tune draggy, and here we go..."

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## Perry

> Another fiddle tune that's become an ear worm from listening to Pandora is _Over the Road to Maysville_, played by John Hartford.  It's not an easy tune to replicate on mandolin, since slurs can't really be slurred and long notes can't be held.  But I've transposed it to notation/tab based on his fiddle version, and there's lots of leeway for adjusting it to the mandolin.
> 
> The John Hartford version from YouTube is below.  There are a couple of mandolin versions on YT as well, but none that I felt captured it the same way as I'm hearing it.  My notation/tab is attached as a PDF.  I didn't show a lot of the slides I put in there when I play it, or much in the way of double-stops.  But the gist is there.  The second "draggy" part is a really good place to spruce it up with mandolin ornaments.
> 
> "JP and Annadeene Fraley says there wasn't no tobacco warehouse in Moorehead, so they had to haul the tobacco plumb to Maysville, Kentucky.  But first you play this tune peppy and haul in the tobacco, and then you get paid off and you get real drunk and you come home and you play the tune draggy, and here we go..."



Been working on Maysville myself albeit on guitar...at least for now...crooked as can be....
I hear an Am chord that could work nicely in the accompaniment....

----------


## Jess L.

Traditional tune (played somewhat nontraditionally I suppose, if my choice of instruments is any indication) called "*The Month Of May*" (or Merry Month Of May), this is me attempting a 3-track recording using an old Favilla flatback mandolin and a couple variants of GDAE guitar: 


There's also *mandolin tab*, practice MIDI backing track, sheet music and chords for the basic tune at *my other post here* at the Cafe.





> _Over the Road to Maysville_


Tobin: I'm going to have to learn that someday, it sounds great! Thanks for posting it.  :Smile:

----------


## Tobin

> Oh, and I'm also really intrigued by _Bring Me My Hodi Cakes Back_, which I heard played by Owen "Snake" Chapman on Pandora.  I can only find one version of it on YouTube, and it's a pretty crude recording from a festival.  Anybody got a source for sheet music or a decent recording of it?


So I finally got around to transposing the YouTube version of *Bring Me Back My Hodi Cakes* by the Oxcart Ramblers, though I still titled it as a Snake Chapman tune.  Since I can't find an online version of Snake playing it, I'll have to assume that the Oxcart Ramblers are playing it pretty true (???).

This is a really nice medium-tempo tune that has a wonderful old-time flow to it.  It's so simple that it almost plays itself.  It's technically a 3-part tune that seems to be played AA-BB-AA-BB-CC-BB.  Or at least that's the most sense I could make of it (they don't play it in that exact order or exactly the same all the way through their festival version).  And the C part is pretty much just the same as the A part, but an octave higher.  Very, very simple.

Anyway, I've attached a PDF of the notation/tablature.  For some reason, the little thumbnail makes it look black.  It opens fine on my computer, but can someone else verify that it's readable when you open the PDF?

Here's the YouTube video of it.  You'll get this one stuck in your head, guaranteed.

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

> Anyway, I've attached a PDF of the notation/tablature.  For some reason, the little thumbnail makes it look black.  It opens fine on my computer, but can someone else verify that it's readable when you open the PDF?


The PDF works fine here, I opened it in a new tab in Chrome browser (had to download the PDF first though), looks good. 

*Great tune*  :Mandosmiley:  by the way, thank you!  :Smile:  

Incidentally, for what it's worth, the downloaded PDF tests *clean*  :Smile:  when scanned at VirusTotal.com. I used to be reluctant to open PDF files because of potential security issues - some introductory reading about PDF security at StackExchange Information Security - but nowadays I am perhaps somewhat less concerned due to running a variety of better local real-time security software and a _somewhat_ more-hardened computer... although those should not be used as an excuse for overconfidence. Some of the clever modern malware authors are even targeting Mac - article at TheSafeMac . Although (from everything I've read over the years) the malware authors have to work a lot harder to affect UNIX-based systems (Mac, Linux etc), and such authors have to rely more on common user-error in clicking/accepting the wrong things. But I thought I'd mention this in case anyone else had similar concerns, looks like this particular PDF is safe.  :Smile:

----------


## Denny Gies

A Kenny Baker tune, Walkin' In My Sleep, in the key of G.  It's a fun tune to play.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Saddle Old Kate and Blue Mule. Getting fit up for Winfield and needing the horsepower. Or mule power. Woodwizard, going? Any old-time pickers be sure to look us up at Shoo Goo camp. OT jam daily, always at 1300 (one o'clock) but we may bump it up to 10 am if it's hot out. Anyway we'll have flyers out on the backside of the grandstand. Good music any Old Time.

----------


## Mike Snyder

Thanks to Scott T. for letting me play your awesome Nuggett on Sunday. The Lawrence, Ks old-time crowd was very welcoming. Got to dust off Twin Sisters and a few old favorites. Falls of Richmond in two flavors and Cherry Blossom. A great day.

----------


## Tobin

> Been working on Maysville myself albeit on guitar...at least for now...crooked as can be....
> I hear an Am chord that could work nicely in the accompaniment....


JP Fraley's original recording did have an Am chord in the "B" part, and it gives it quite a different flavor than John Hartford's rendition.  Personally, I like John Hartford's version better, as going back to the C chord keeps it more peppy.  Horses for courses, though!




> *Great tune*  by the way, thank you!


Y'know, _Hodi Cakes_ is a tune that needs to get more exposure.  I can't believe it's not more common, as great a tune as it is.

I finally heard Snake Chapman's recording a couple more times, and I must correct myself on a previous comment I made about it.  The YouTube video I posted is not playing it true to Snake's version.  He plays it backwards from the way I notated it (i.e. my "B" part is his "A" part).  He also doesn't have a low-octave and high-octave version of what I notated as the "A" and "C" parts.  He just plays the high octave version.  So Snake's version is more of a straight AABB fiddle tune.  FWIW.

----------


## Jack Roberts

I've been working on singing and playing at the same time.  I'm starting with "Marching Through Georgia", but it's not exactly what you'd think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flKG0-wYzFg

----------


## Mark Wilson

Kitchen Girl.

----------


## Mark Wilson

and Blackberry Blossom

You never know who you'll run into playing that tune
Her rhythm and chord selection is so fine on the B part.  Impressive

----------


## JeffD

I just learned "Clear the Kitchen", an old song with a checkered past, and likely an even older tune. The tune has some surprises, and the lyrics, depending on whose version you find, are kind of kookie. Kind of Mid-Western old time? I found it in a Missouri tune book.

----------


## bbcee

As a beginner, I'm getting lots & lots of knowledge out of mandolessons.com. Well worth contributing, to keep it evolving.

"Steamboat Quickstep" was just posted, and it's really fun to play. Love the vibe of it.

----------


## Jess L.

> I'm currently having a torrid love affair with _Brushy Fork of John's Creek_.  Been hearing it on Pandora and got it stuck in my head.  It has that same grooviness as _Squirrel Hunters_.


First time I heard that tune was an awesome gourd-banjo version by Adam Hurt: 


(In the 1970s I experimented with fretless low-tuned nylon-strung banjo but I sure never sounded _that_ good.)  :Crying:   :Sleepy:  




> I'm playing the Hiram Stamper version from the Milliner Koken collection, slightly modified as most people play it (i.e. not crooked).


This one? I like Hiram Stamper's fiddling:

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Jess L.

> So I finally got around to transposing the YouTube version of *Bring Me Back My Hodi Cakes*


Wanted to *thank* you again for transposing the tune, I find it so much easier to learn a new tune when I can listen to it and follow along with the written music at the same time. 

But I hadn't actually seriously tried to *play* it until today, this is how it turned out, it's a li'l rough and I play some wrong notes  :Disbelief:  at 1:15, hopefully it'll smooth out with practice:  



It's probably unlikely that my quasi-*variants* are in an authentic style or whatever, but that's what I found myself gravitating towards while playing, kind of an auto-pilot thing I guess, borrowing standard note sequences/riffs from other tunes or something, not sure. I also got the parts mixed up as far as how many times to play each part... oh well. Work-in-progress. 

P.S.:  Played on new $50 Rogue, using a cheap stick-on pickup because I'm not set up here to use a proper mic (too much ambient noise going on all the time, machinery and powertools etc. - whereas the stickon pickup only picks up vibrations from the mandolin's top wood, not any of the background noise). However, the sound still isn't very good. Some of that can probably be fixed by EQ and other things, but I haven't got that far  :Whistling:  yet. 

P.S. #2: The video's *black-and-white* because the color got screwed up by me using a bright white LED worklight to provide more light. It made the video blue! I couldn't figure out the right combination of things to do in my video editor, to get rid of the garish and unexpectedly blue tint in the video, and I was too lazy to redo the video (out of 7 minutes of playing, only 1:40 of that was marginally-usable), so I figured I'd just convert it to black-and-white and see if it looked better. Ok not sure about "better",  :Whistling:  but at least it doesn't have that garish blue tint now.  :Smile:

----------

bbcee, 

Tobin

----------


## Tobin

> This one? I like Hiram Stamper's fiddling:


Yep, that's the base version that was transcribed for the MK Collection.  I agree - his fiddle style is great.  His grandson, Art Stamper, plays a pretty good version of it too.

The grooviness of the tune really comes out in this version from Clifftop in 2012, and like I mentioned previously, it has the same sort of feel as Squirrel Hunters when played like that.  I love hearing the mandolin and fiddle playing together, which really comes out at about 1:15.







> Wanted to *thank* you again for transposing the tune, I find it so much easier to learn a new tune when I can listen to it and follow along with the written music at the same time. 
> 
> But I hadn't actually seriously tried to *play* it until today, this is how it turned out, it's a li'l rough and I play some wrong notes  at 1:15, hopefully it'll smooth out with practice:


I liked your recording of it!  Yeah, you took some liberties with the turnarounds and such, but there ain't nothing wrong with that.  Make it your own - that's half the fun of fiddle tunes.  I thought you sounded good.  And I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but the style you were playing almost came across like a clawhammer banjo, in terms of the "feel" of the picking.  If I closed my eyes and listened to you play, it really had that clawhammer banjo groove.  I mean that as a good thing - it was great!

----------

Jess L.

----------


## AlanN

> and Blackberry Blossom
> 
> You never know who you'll run into playing that tune
> Her rhythm and chord selection is so fine on the B part.  Impressive


Thanks, Mark. Fun to listen to.

----------


## Jess L.

> The grooviness of the tune really comes out in this version from Clifftop in 2012, and like I mentioned previously, it has the same sort of feel as Squirrel Hunters when played like that.  I love hearing the mandolin and fiddle playing together, which really comes out at about 1:15.


That's a wonderful version!  :Mandosmiley:  I see what you mean about the Squirrel Hunters-type grooviness, and that mandolin/fiddle combination is great, I'm in awe of the unison sound they get when they're both playing melody (such as between 2:00-2:30). Nice stuff. 




> I liked your recording of it!  Yeah, you took some liberties with the turnarounds and such, but there ain't nothing wrong with that.  Make it your own - that's half the fun of fiddle tunes.  I thought you sounded good.


Thanks!  :Grin:  And I agree about making tunes your own, definitely fun. 




> And I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but the style you were playing almost came across like a clawhammer banjo, in terms of the "feel" of the picking.  If I closed my eyes and listened to you play, it really had that clawhammer banjo groove.  I mean that as a good thing - it was great!


 :Smile:  I'm honored actually, thank you!  :Smile:  

Clawhammer banjo was actually my first serious musical instrument (not counting casual dabbling in dulcimer and piano) - I'd practice/play banjo for several hours every day trying to get the sound I wanted. My dad played banjo and other instruments, that's who I learned from, and there was usually one kind or another of banjo/fiddle music going in the house every since I could remember. So that clawhammer rhythm/style kind of worked its way into my musical subconscious I guess. Here's what we sounded like, years later, me on mandola backup in 1981: 


I don't intentionally try for a clawhammer sound on _other_ instruments, but when I happen to notice it, it's alright I guess. 

Partly it's just habit, like the pull-offs etc., I got used to doing lots of pulls/hammers on banjo and now I play them on everything without even thinking about it. 

But one thing is different the last few years, from how I used to play flatpicked fiddle tunes: I finally realized I don't have to play *all* the notes.  :Disbelief:  Just play the important notes,  :Cool:  enough to define the melody, and everything else is for rhythm.  :Mandosmiley:  Nowadays for fiddle tunes (on non-fiddle instruments) I often do intentionally emphasize the downbeat (one TWO three FOUR) even if I have to leave out melody notes to do so. I want something I can tap my foot to, the rhythm is foremost but I want some melody to be there too, that's kind of my current musical strategy... still working on it.  :Smile:

----------


## Jim Garber

To respond to multiple posts above.

Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones are wonderful musicians. The tightness of their playing reminds me also of the Foghorn String Band mandolin and fiddle playing.

Here is a recording of Snake Chapman playing this tune:* Give Me Back My Hoedy Cake You Long Tailed Nanny* from the Berea site. I also downloaded the mp3 below.

BTW I was a little confused, Tobin. I assume you meant _transcribe_ not _transpose_.

----------


## Tobin

Ha, yeah, I did mean transcribe.  Not sure why I typed transpose.  Mea culpa!

I'd never heard the Snake Chapman version you posted.  It's actually much different from his other version that I hear on Pandora (from his Walnut Gap album), where he starts on the "B" part and only plays the "A" part on the higher octave, as I recall.  The version you posted has him starting on the "A" part and only playing it on the low octave each time.  Even the name is different than it is shown on the album from 1999.  This is the first time I've seen it spelled "Hoedy" and including the "you long tailed nanny" part.  That's hilarious!  Also interesting to note the difference between "Give" and "Bring" in the titles.

Good tune, though, no matter how it's played!  I wonder why this one doesn't get more exposure and play time.

----------


## vernob

"Over the Waterfall" on my home made cittern. Not a strong swimmer either.

----------


## crisscross

I finally learned "Turkey in the Straw" on my tenor uke tuned as a tenor guitar. I tried to give it some Django-feeling and renamed it "La dinde dans la paille". Excuse my french :Wink:

----------


## Mark Gunter

Blackberry Blossom
Julia Delaney's
Coleman's March
Shove That Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire

And not fiddle tunes, but:
Tennessee Flattop Box (Johnny Cash)
Superstition (Stevie Wonder)

----------


## Cary Fagan

Don't know why I haven't looked at this thread before.

Lately I've been learning tunes by listening only to fiddlers, either on recordings or youtube.  I've found that I get the 'groove' of the tune much better that way and can get more of a fiddle-shuffle sound. The tunes I tend to learn are played in our local old time scene. I love crooked tunes, though they are a challenge.

Most recent tunes:
Fort Smith Breakdown
Ora Lee
Mike in the Wilderness
Lost Girl

All fun to play.

----------


## JeffD

> Lately I've been learning tunes by listening only to fiddlers, either on recordings or youtube.  I've found that I get the 'groove' of the tune much better that way and can get more of a fiddle-shuffle sound. .... I love crooked tunes, though they are a challenge.
> .


That is the way I have been until very recently, learning fiddle tunes from fiddle players. Not until the last few years I started listening to recorded mandolin with an ear to learning anything.

Crooked tunes are the best. Especially, after getting it down, and being able to smoothly navigate the riffle and sound like you mean it. Nothing better.

----------


## Tobin

I recently fell in love with _Five Miles of Ellum Wood_.  I've heard it played fast & furious, as well as slow & mournful, and it's one of those tunes that just works no matter how you play it.  Here are a couple of fast ones in the videos below.  Mandolin content in the second one (the usual Foghorn style of fiddle and mandolin played in unison - I just love this sound).

I've been playing it on both my fiddle and mandolin, so the attached PDF is sort of a blend of the two styles I play it.  I use lots of drones and double stops throughout the tune when playing it on the fiddle, but it might be confusing to read if you're just looking for the bare melody.  I've attached the TEF file for anyone who is interested.

----------

Cary Fagan, 

Jess L., 

Kowboy, 

Mark Wilson, 

woodwizard

----------


## Jack Roberts

I'm working on "Good for the Tongue", in Bb.  There are a few different Youtube versions, but none on mandolin.  I'll probably learn it on fiddle first and then adapt it to mandolin.

----------


## Jack Roberts

I'm enjoying "League and Slasher Reel" in E Dorian.  This is a great little mandolin tune.  Has anyone else played it?

----------


## woodwizard

Practicing on this one ... North Shore

----------


## woodwizard

Johnny don't get drunk  :Smile:

----------


## Jim Nollman

we do Johnny Don't Get Drunk in our band in a set with that tune first, then into Buck Mountain, and ending with Mason's Apron.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

Wouldn't call this a fiddle tune but I got my A4 out and messed around with a Beatles tune

----------


## june39

I am obsessing this tune as well.  Is there mandolin tab available?

----------


## tmsweeney

a little out of season but here's the Green Leaf Fancy on mandola and octave

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Tobin

I recently transcribed this version of _Wink the Other Eye_, based on the Foghorn String Band example below.  It is different from other traditional versions of the tune that I had played before, which never really caught my fancy.  But I like the FSB version enough to work it into my standard repertoire.  Good use of the vi chord, which I always appreciate.

I've attached PDF files below with tablature for both mandolin and mandola.  The tune works great for both instruments, and it's a lot of fun!

Here's Foghorn String Band playing it (listen for Caleb's mandolin playing in unison behind the fiddle):

----------

sgarrity, 

woodwizard

----------


## crisscross

After a failed attempt to play "Fisher's Hornpipe" at reel speed, I searched the Mandolin Player's Pastime for a real hornpipe and found Rickett's. On the tenor banjo I played the triplet at the beginning alll picked, but on the mando, I cheated and played the second note as a hammer-on.

----------

Harold The Barrel

----------


## Tobin

> I played the triplet at the beginning alll picked, but on the mando, I cheated and played the second note as a hammer-on.


If that's cheating, I didn't get the memo.  I always play those introductory ascending triplets with a downstroke on the first note, a hammer-on at the second note, and an upstroke on the third note so that I can start the first full measure on a downstroke.  I do the same thing with bow strokes on the fiddle, using a downbow slur for the first two notes and an upbow for the third note.  If that's cheating, then I guess I'm a cheater, but I was under the impression it was correct form.  

When you pick all three notes of the triplet on your tenor banjo, do you start on an upstroke?  (It sounds good, whatever you're doing!)

----------


## crisscross

> do you start on an upstroke?


I start the triplet with a downstroke and play the first eighth note of the new measure with an upstroke followed by another upstroke on the second eighth note. The relatively slow tempo of a hornpipe and the swing eights give you enough time to play two upstrokes in a row. I can do this trick up to about 170 bpm, if it gets faster, i'll have to cheat. :Wink: Never got the hang of those fast Irish DUD DU triplets. I can do that in jigs, playing regular melody notes, but as an adornment in reels? No way!

----------


## Jess L.

> a little out of season but here's the Green Leaf Fancy on mandola and octave


Nice!  :Mandosmiley:  I like that sound. I take it you're using one of those loop pedal thingies I've read about? Looks like fun! I started experimenting with multitrack stuff in Audacity but I can see advantages to the loop pedal for a more immediate sound. I might have to add that to my shopping list,  :Smile:  I already plug in but I don't have any pedals yet (haven't got that far lol). Meanwhile I'm going to learn this tune, I hadn't heard of it before, I like the way you play it.  :Mandosmiley:   :Smile:

----------


## tmsweeney

> Nice!  I like that sound. I take it you're using one of those loop pedal thingies I've read about? Looks like fun! I started experimenting with multitrack stuff in Audacity but I can see advantages to the loop pedal for a more immediate sound. I might have to add that to my shopping list,  I already plug in but I don't have any pedals yet (haven't got that far lol). Meanwhile I'm going to learn this tune, I hadn't heard of it before, I like the way you play it.


Thanks - I use a BOSS RC20 - I don't think they are available anymore, it can do a loop and then you can add up to 11 layers over it, more sophisticated loops let you stop and start individual loops, so I am probably heading that way, was looking BOSS RC 300 or maybe Electro Harmonix. Not sure if Green Leaf Fancy is a traditional tune or a Norman Blake original, I play it a little faster than Rising Fawn String Ensemble, but my version is based on theirs. There is a TAB edit file out on Mandozine, but I play it more like Norman. Been really into the octave mandolin and mandola duets, a very dark rich texture. Glad you  enjoyed it

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Franc Homier Lieu

Sat down this morning, put O'Neill's up on the music stand, randomly opened it and spent some time learning Kitty's Rambles and Paddy in London. Pretty good tunes. Did the same thing last week with Ryan's Mammoth, and learned Yacht Club Reel. Gotta do the random thing more often.

----------


## JeffD

> Sat down this morning, put O'Neill's up on the music stand, randomly opened it and spent some time learning Kitty's Rambles and Paddy in London. Pretty good tunes. Did the same thing last week with Ryan's Mammoth, and learned Yacht Club Reel. Gotta do the random thing more often.


That is one of my favorite activities. Especially with Ryan's, or in the O'Carolan section of O'Neills.

----------


## terzinator

Fun version above of *Rickett's Hornpipe* by crisscross. I'm on it. 

Here's a cool version, too. 




(yeah, all banjer, but get a load of the variation/interlude at 1:25.)

----------


## terzinator

Does anyone know of a good mandolin version of *Daley's Reel*?

----------


## Mark Wilson

Daley's Reel in Bb is on my to-do list.
There's a Bb version here on Cafe
And an advanced(A. Steffy) tef version on mandozine.com in Bb. 
Then there's this: http://archive.mandolinsessions.com/jun07/Carr.pdf
dunno how good the tabs are but I do like this:

----------


## terzinator

Yeah, that's a nice one there, Mark. Thanks.

----------


## Tobin

I love crooked tunes by default, but occasionally there's one that's just so crooked and squirrelly that it becomes an obsession until I can get it under my belt.  _Walk Chalk Chicken With a Necktie On_ (or just _Walk Chalk Chicken_, if you prefer) is one of those tunes.

The original Melvin Wine recording from the Milliner-Koken Collection can be heard here, and a fine job he does of it.  I have been playing this on my fiddle, not mandolin, and prefer to play it in AEAE tuning.  But I've put it to simplified mandolin tab in the attached PDF (see below) if you want to see it for standard GDAE tuning.  It works on mandolin.

The MK Collection doesn't give us bars/measures (they refused to do it), so I took the liberty of dividing it up in a way that makes sense to me.  I've seen it written differently elsewhere, but I prefer the half-measures in locations that make it somewhat easy to follow the chord changes.  The tune is played AAB (i.e. the A part repeats, the B part is only once through, and ends with pick-up notes to start over).

And speaking of chords, the MK Collection also refuses to give us chords since there's a lot of leeway and interpretation involved.  I put the chords on it based on what I hear with some of the implied chords from this version below (which I just love).  There are some very small differences in the fiddle notes from Melvin's original recording too, so I kind of compromised on my tablature.  I would actually prefer not to play this with a guitar playing chords in the background; the clawhammer banjo is a perfect background for this with its implied chords.

----------


## JeffD

> The MK Collection doesn't give us bars/measures (they refused to do it),... the MK Collection also refuses to give us chords


You get three old timey fiddlers you will get five opinions about how the bars should be broken up or what the chords should be.

MK does something else that I really like. While there is no time signature given, all the notes of one beat are connected by a beam or beams. So you can see at a glance how the notes fit the beat. Its becomes almost intuitive.

I really like it. It doesn't supplant listening, but notation was never meant to.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> You get three old timey fiddlers you will get five opinions about how the bars should be broken up or what the chords should be.
> 
> MK does something else that I really like. While there is no time signature given, all the notes of one beat are connected by a beam or beams. So you can see at a glance how the notes fit the beat. Its becomes almost intuitive.
> 
> I really like it. It doesn't supplant listening, but notation was never meant to.


Well, there's that, but MK is so hard to fold up and fit into the pick box of my mandolin case!  And you need an industrial grade music stand to hold it!

In the mean time, I'm going to go to MK for Walk Chalk Chicken.

----------


## JeffD

> Well, there's that, but MK is so hard to fold up and fit into the pick box of my mandolin case!  And you need an industrial grade music stand to hold it!


Yea its a big one.

----------


## Lowlands Blue

Currently I am playing Cattle in the Cain, the Sam Bush version found on Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza.
I've only been playing mandolin for a year, so a straight SB lift has been a project, but I now manage to play it at 85% of the speed Sam plays it. Still have the occasional hiccup while playing, but the times I make it through completely makes me giddy like a little schoolgirl. Great tune!

----------


## Baron Collins-Hill

> Currently I am playing Cattle in the Cain, the Sam Bush version found on Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza.


That is one of my favorite pieces of recorded mandolin music of all time. There's a lifetime's worth of information in that short track, not to mention Del's spectacular backup! Kudos for learning it early on!

Thanks,
Baron

----------


## Lowlands Blue

It definitely improved my overall playing so far! At first when my teacher suggested it and played it to me, I thought this is way out of my range, but in about a month I had memorized all the parts and now I'm slowly speeding it up.
I love how each part is a different variation of the first.

Now my teacher doesn't just give me the basic tunes anymore, but we pick more intricate versions. Going to start on Ricky Skaggs Walls of Time soon. The opening solo on that is fantastic!

Cheers!

----------


## Kevin Stueve

I'm glad this thread floats to the top every couple of months,  I'm now working Ricketts Hornpipe and studying walk chalk chicken

----------


## woodwizard

Natural Bridge Blues played on my 1918 A4

----------


## theCOOP

Most recent is Morrison's Jig.

----------


## Tobin

I've been having a lot of fun lately with _Arkansas Hoosier_.  It is in the Milliner-Koken collection, originally recorded from the fiddle playing of George Mert Reves.  I prefer to play it on the fiddle at a medium tempo, and it works well on the mandolin too.  I even have a rudimentary version I play on clawhammer banjo, though it's a bit tricky, depending on which tuning I use.

It's a three-part tune in the key of D.  In listening to different YouTube versions of it, there seems to be a lot of variation (or confusion) regarding how many repetitions there should be in the A part and B part, though everyone seems to play the C part twice.  There's also some difference in the chord choices, especially in the B part.  I noticed that some YouTube versions get pretty awkward in that B part, as if they can't really decide what chord fits most appropriately.  This is one of those tunes that isn't easily defined by chord structure, and tends to work best with just a fiddle playing the melody and a banjo filling in, without actual chords being played.

The version I like the best, and the one that I loosely based my transcription on (which is attached to this post) is from _The Cliffhangers_ on their album _On the Edge_.  It is played in a format of AAA-B-CC.  With the A part being four measures each, the B part being a crooked 6 measures, and the C part being 8 measures.  That awkward chord in the B part seems to work well with a flat VII chord (C major).  I like it, anyway.

I tabbed it out for mandolin with the A part being written out three times separately for some slight variation between each repetition.  So the first 12 measures in my PDF are the three repetitions of the A part.  Then measures 13-18 are the B part, followed by the C part between the repeat signs.

I was tempted to end each phrase with a I-V-I chord progression, but it just doesn't have the same groove as a straight I chord.  Anyway, here's the tab if you're interested.  Obviously, this is just one interpretation of the tune.  Play with it and see if you like a different interpretation better.

----------


## jasona

Rag Time Annie

----------


## woodwizard

Been practicing this version of "New Five Cents" It's probably not the version one would normally think of for that tune. Learned it from a Mike Black recording of him playing it. There's a cool 1959 field recording of Kentucky fiddler Isham Monday playing this tune if you want to check it out. This tune probably was written in 1914 when the new Buffalo Nickle came out. Tried to upload the mp3 but kept getting errors so I put my soundcloud link. sorry 

Wisht I had a new five cents
Wisht I had a dime
Wisht I had a finger ring to give to that gal of mine

----------

Mike Black

----------


## Mark Miller

Just opened this thread for the first time because until now I've been focusing on breaks to vocal tunes so I can jam with friends, none of whom are old-time or bluegrass types (I know, I know, those are two very different animals but at least they have fiddle tunes in common). Now I'm starting in with fiddle tunes. This thread is amazing!  Thanks to everyone who has posted links and tab here. Pretty dangerous to a relative newbie like me. This is a thread you could enter and never be seen again by family, friends, or work. 

Anyway, I'm working on two tunes from versions in Butch Baldassari's fiddle tune book:  Little Rabbit and Whiskey Before Breakfast. I'm especially enjoying WBB because it sounds so beautiful at a moderate tempo, so I'm not tempted to play it faster than I can. I want to take a stretch with fiddle tunes to work on getting my picking cleaner than it has been so far.

----------


## terzinator

The late John McGann put a version of "Hickey's Reel" in his Octave Mandolin technique book/CD. Really a cool tune.

Been working it out on mandolin, but it would sound so much cooler on an octave.  :Whistling:

----------


## terzinator

> Daley's Reel in Bb is on my to-do list.
> There's a Bb version here on Cafe
> And an advanced(A. Steffy) tef version on mandozine.com in Bb. 
> Then there's this: http://archive.mandolinsessions.com/jun07/Carr.pdf
> dunno how good the tabs are but I do like this:


I worked out Daley's last night, based on the recording above. Cool tune. 

I'm nowhere up to the tempo of that one, but I have a reasonably serviceable version. Now to get the metronome and speed it up bit by bit until my fingers catch fire.

That's how you do it, right?

----------

woodwizard

----------


## AlanN

WBB is indeed a beauty. One variation I dig is on the opening bar, instead of walking up the D string to the open A, I play open D string, then fret 9 on G string, then 4 on D, 5 on D, then open A. It adds a bit of floating.

Daley's Reel in Bb. Killer. and tough.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Olive-Branch Hornpipe this week.

----------


## woodwizard

Rickett's Hornpipe practice

----------


## Mark Wilson

I've got an itch to learn Cluster's Last Stand. (fiddle tune??) Can anyone point me to a recording besides this video? thx!

I heard it here - starting at :40

----------

Galileo

----------


## Kevin Stueve

> Rickett's Hornpipe practice


I'm no expert by any means but I heard hornpipe eighth note patterns should be played as a dotted 8th followed by a 16th,  swung in the amerian vernacular.

----------


## foldedpath

> I'm no expert by any means but I heard hornpipe eighth note patterns should be played as a dotted 8th followed by a 16th,  swung in the amerian vernacular.


It's very common to hear hornpipes like this one and Fisher's Hornpipe "flattened out" when played by OldTime musicians, so you don't hear much if any swing in the tune. Bluegrass players do that too, as well as increasing the tempo way past the original dance tempo. Irish trad musicians will usually play them with varying degrees of swing feel, never too excessive, just enough to give it a little bounce. 

It's interesting (to me anyway) that swing feel goes the other way with reels. I seldom hear an Irish trad musician playing a reel with any dotted/swing feel. It's usually a very straight-ahead rhythm pulse. Yet it's common to hear a reel like The Merry Blacksmith swung petty hard in local Oldtime circles. It's curious how the traditions get mixed up like that over time, playing the same tunes.

----------

Kevin Stueve

----------


## Tobin

> It's interesting (to me anyway) that swing feel goes the other way with reels. I seldom hear an Irish trad musician playing a reel with any dotted/swing feel. It's usually a very straight-ahead rhythm pulse. Yet it's common to hear a reel like The Merry Blacksmith swung petty hard in local Oldtime circles. It's curious how the traditions get mixed up like that over time, playing the same tunes.


LOL, I learned that lesson the hard way when I played Congress Reel with a couple of Irish traditional players.  I played it with swing to it, and they matched me on it.  But when it was over and I asked if I got it right, they kind of screwed up their faces and hemmed and hawed.  They all commented that I put swing into it which was "interesting".  That was as kind as they could be about it, and I got the point.

----------


## foldedpath

Yup, a mandolin playing friend and I have sort of a running joke about that, when we play something like Merry Blacksmith. He learned it first in OldTime jams, I learned it from Irish sources, and both of us have a hard time changing to the other's rhythm feel. 

Another thing about reels is that they're usually played quite a bit slower in OldTime jams than in higher-end Irish and Scottish sessions. There is room to add a dotted swing feel at that slower tempo, which may be why it snuck in there? If you play a reel at a full 112 bpm dance tempo (counting as 2/2), there just isn't room to swing the notes.

----------


## Denny Gies

I am embarrassed to admit I just learned  Whiskey Before Breakfast.

----------


## Denny Gies

Sorry, double post..

----------


## terzinator

> Sorry, double post..


I love that tune.

I've been assigned *Denver Belle* by my picking buddy, but I'm having more fun mucking around with *La Partida* (which really isn't a fiddle tune, but a Venezuelan waltz).

It's another one from John McGann's Octave/Bouzouki book/cd.

----------


## tmsweeney

Heck I've been playin for 20 years and just learned Jerusalem Ridge this week!

What a great tune though
WBB also a great tune and a really fun one- we do the B section as D Em A - D7 F# Bm D7- G A D

----------


## Tobin

> Another thing about reels is that they're usually played quite a bit slower in OldTime jams than in higher-end Irish and Scottish sessions. There is room to add a dotted swing feel at that slower tempo, which may be why it snuck in there? If you play a reel at a full 112 bpm dance tempo (counting as 2/2), there just isn't room to swing the notes.


Agreed.  I kicked it off at around 200bpm (100 in 2/2).  My swing-style picking works up to about 210bpm; above that, I just play a straight picking pattern.  They did play a lot of other stuff at speeds I simply couldn't keep up with (I'm guessing at the 270bpm mark or higher).  But Congress Reel, to me, just doesn't sound good any faster than 200.  Some of the arpeggios lose their effect.  And I just plain like the swing feel, dang it.  But I'm admittedly an OT and bluegrass player, not a regular ITM guy.

----------


## Kevin Stueve

> It's very common to hear hornpipes like this one and Fisher's Hornpipe "flattened out" when played by OldTime musicians, so you don't hear much if any swing in the tune. Bluegrass players do that too, as well as increasing the tempo way past the original dance tempo. Irish trad musicians will usually play them with varying degrees of swing feel, never too excessive, just enough to give it a little bounce. 
> 
> It's interesting (to me anyway) that swing feel goes the other way with reels. I seldom hear an Irish trad musician playing a reel with any dotted/swing feel. It's usually a very straight-ahead rhythm pulse. Yet it's common to hear a reel like The Merry Blacksmith swung petty hard in local Oldtime circles. It's curious how the traditions get mixed up like that over time, playing the same tunes.


So does that mean I'm not supposed to swing Ricketts or just not when playing with Oldtime musicians?  Cause I like to swing it.  It sounds really "Irish".  Of course I swing chinquapin hunting  because it just feels like it should be.

----------


## foldedpath

> So does that mean I'm not supposed to swing Ricketts or just not when playing with Oldtime musicians?  Cause I like to swing it.  It sounds really "Irish".  Of course I swing chinquapin hunting  because it just feels like it should be.


It's just a general comment about conventions in different styles. You'll probably want to flatten hornpipes into a regular 4/4 feel in in OldTime jams, and play them with a little more bounce if you're going for the original Irish feel. 

Just for reference, here is what a hornpipe used to be as a dance form. It's not easy to hear the swing and bounce because the tempo is so much slower than we're used to, with modern OldTime and Irish trad pub session versions. But it's there in the fiddler's rhythm:

----------

Jack Roberts, 

Jess L., 

Kevin Stueve

----------


## Jack Roberts

Moll Roe in the Morning. It's a 9/8 jig the trick is pick direction.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> I...Just for reference, here is what a hornpipe used to be as a dance form. It's not easy to hear the swing and bounce because the tempo is so much slower than we're used to, with modern OldTime and Irish trad pub session versions...


Thank You.  I play the Liverpool Hornpipe all the time, having learned it years ago from "Mandolin Player's Pastime" by Mr. and Mrs. Williams.    I now shall play it more slowly, as it sounds better that way!

----------


## BlueMt.

Sweeny's Buttermilk is my newest tune.  I have to confess that I'm one of those who swings both hornpipes and reels; I'll try to do better.

----------


## foldedpath

> Sweeny's Buttermilk is my newest tune.  I have to confess that I'm one of those who swings both hornpipes and reels; I'll try to do better.


Anything goes at home, and I won't tell anyone if you don't.  :Wink: 

Sweeney's Buttermilk is a great tune! I play that after Killarney Boys of Pleasure as a set, after seeing this clip of Martin Hayes sitting in at a pub session. I know we're getting into Irish here and not OldTime, but dig the backbeat pulse in this clip. Sweeney's kicks in at 1:40.




Those two reels go together nicely. I can handle Killarney Boys at that tempo, but I struggle a bit with Sweeney's in the B section. My pinky doesn't like to move that fast, but I'm working on it.

----------

Simon DS

----------


## fatt-dad

Dubuque is fun slowed down.  There are quite a lot, I'm sure.  It's all how it's swung, eh?

f-d

----------


## woodwizard

Taking a stab at "North Shore" ... on my A4

----------


## diggerdave

> I envy your ability to read, Tommy. I only learn this stuff by ear, and there's no slow downer on these web sites I use, so stuff goes pretty fast. I just do a lot of repeat, repeat, etc, etc....and it's real easy to wind up with a close VERSION of and old tune. It's a lot harder to get one spot on. But what fun I'm having trying to get up to speed for the Walnut Valley Festival next month. Fiddlers out the wazoo at midnight. Pretty close to heaven.


Do you use the ABC program? I'm doing Irish and bluegrass. Can get a lot of those songs on this format. Download a MIDI file and slow it down. Hope it helps. Dave

----------


## Jack Roberts

I found a tune called "the Modern Rake" in a songbook dated 1762.  I've been working on it this week.

----------


## woodwizard

Here is a try at "Money Musk" an old-time fiddle tune

----------

Don Grieser

----------


## Don Grieser

A Nancy Blake tune, "Father's Hall." It's on the Blake and Rice II CD.

----------

Gary Alter, 

Mike Black, 

tmsweeney, 

woodwizard

----------


## Gop

> A Nancy Blake tune, "Father's Hall." It's on the Blake and Rice II CD.


 Superb!

----------

Don Grieser, 

John MacPhee

----------


## Tobin

I've been having a lot of fun lately with _Martha Campbell_.  

But - this is not the usual _Martha Campbell_ version you've heard before.  I heard this version on Pandora, played by Alain Chatry from the album Sur La Root.  Alain Chatry is apparently (?) French, though the album contains traditional music from all over the world, including the US and Canada.

I'm uncertain as to the origin of this particular version of _Martha Campbell_, but if I had to guess, I'd say it has a strong Quebecois fiddle background.  It certainly sounds French-Canadian to me, but I'm not overly familiar with that genre.  If anybody has background on this version of the tune, which is distinctly different from the Kentucky based version everyone else seems to play, I'd be interested.  

I do like the bouncy flow of the tune, though.  It begs to be played in a swing-style picking rhythm (not straight eighths) to get the right feel.  If you notice, the entire tune is based on the D pentatonic scale.  It never deviates from true pentatonic.  So if you're looking for a good exercise strictly with pentatonics, or are teaching someone about the usefulness of pentatonics in fiddle tunes, this is a good example.

I'm attaching the notation/tab for the mandolin or fiddle part.  I'm also attaching my TablEdit file (TEF) if you're interested.  I have parts in there for mandolin/fiddle, mandola (or tenor guitar/tenor banjo if you wish), clawhammer banjo, guitar, and bass.

----------

Denman John, 

Pick&Grin, 

woodwizard

----------


## BlueMt.

I'm not sure if it's technically a fiddle tune, but I'm working on Norman Blake's "Bright Days".  It's just one of those tunes that always gives me a lift; I've listened to it for years and finally started to learn it.

----------

Mike Black

----------


## Don Grieser

> I'm not sure if it's technically a fiddle tune, but I'm working on Norman Blake's "Bright Days".  It's just one of those tunes that always gives me a lift; I've listened to it for years and finally started to learn it.


Great choice. It's a Blake tune I had to learn too. Enjoy it!

----------


## woodwizard

I'm not sure if it's technically a fiddle tune, but I'm working on Norman Blake's "Bright Days".  It's just one of those tunes that always gives me a lift; I've listened to it for years and finally started to learn it.[/QUOTE]

Great tune. I had to learn that one too. Playing it on my A4

----------


## woodwizard

I have also been working on "Lantern in the Ditch" Another great old-time fiddle tune with 3 cool parts ... played on my F5 Goldrush

----------


## woodwizard

And yet another fiddle tune I've been working on "Mississippi Sawyer"

----------


## woodwizard

Here's a fun old-time fiddle tune to play called Bull at the Wagon. John Hartford does a good version of it.

----------


## crisscross

I practiced "Maid behind the Bar" and turned it into a kind of Gypsy Jazz Hornpipe

----------

woodwizard

----------


## tmsweeney

Jackie Tar with  Ryan Delaney on Fiddle

----------

Don Grieser, 

Tobin

----------


## Jack Roberts

Saint Joseph's Reel.
It's a simple piece that is fun to play and sounds great.  Very Old-Timey indeed.

----------


## Mark Miller

Green Castle Hornpipe, from The Mandolin of Norman Blake DVD.  Absolutely gorgeous, pretty easy to get the basics of it down, sounds great at a moderate tempo--in other words, perfect for someone of modest skills like me!

----------


## Sandy Beckler

Really liking Norman Blake's "Bright Days"...what a fun tune!
Thanks....Eric

Sandy

----------


## JeffD

I am absolutely addicted to "Old Aunt Jenny With Her Night Cap On" 

Its got what I love 

- a simple, almost imbecilic melody, 
- places where you expect the note to change and it doesn't, 
- eight beat in the A part and 9 in the B part

At first you listen a long time to figure out what the heck... then you are hooked and you just listen a lot.

----------

bbcee

----------


## Jack Roberts

This week I'll work on "The Snouts and Ears of America".  I couldn't resist the title.

----------


## woodwizard

Been working on a few. 

Washington's March
Sunflower Hornpipe
Ed Haley's Rebel Raid
Jimmy in the Swamp
Mike in the Wilderness
and here's a try at Durang's Hornpipe

----------


## Polecat

I'm learning (or trying to learn) "The glass case of emotion" by Hanneke Cassel:




It's the first tune in the set, runs till about 2:30. The recording on the album (Silver), is a little slower, but not much - at half speed I've managed to work out what's going on in the fiddle part at least, and have transcribed it to the best of my ability. Give me six months and I _might_ have it up to tempo.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

Got the old A4 out on this Lyman Enloe tune. Sunflower Hornpipe

----------


## Michael Neverisky

> Mike in the Wilderness


Me too! Also another Salyer tune Jeff Sturgeon. I'd like to hear your Mike if you care to record it. Maybe I can put up my version as well. I love a good crooked tune.

----------


## woodwizard

> Me too! Also another Salyer tune Jeff Sturgeon. I'd like to hear your Mike if you care to record it. Maybe I can put up my version as well. I love a good crooked tune.


Here is rough version where I was practicing along with a clawhammer banjo recording.

----------


## Acquavella

I've been enjoying working on June Apple and Cattle in the Corn, this week.

----------


## Michael Neverisky

> Here is rough version where I was practicing along with a clawhammer banjo recording.


Nicely done!  

Ok, here's a quick take with my phone this morning.

----------

Don Grieser, 

woodwizard

----------


## soliver

Great thread!

I use Baron's lessons frequently for Fiddle Tunes. I recently learned a couple of new ones from Mandolessons: Shove that pig's foot....., Salt Creek, East Tennessee Blue's, and I started Doonagore but haven't gotten all the way through it.

----------


## Mark Wilson

Cattle in the Cane and Forked Deer.  

On Forked Deer, I tried a different approach(for me) that I read about for learning new tunes.  Hopefully not a one tune wonder!

----------


## woodwizard

Just added a 1922 Loar era F2 to the family  :Smile:  Trying it out on the Ruins of Richmond, a cool Norman Blake tune. Also a sort of little medley of two versions of the New Five Cents. Sometimes called the Buffalo Nickel

----------


## fatt-dad

Margaret's Waltz.

f-d

----------


## Mike Snyder

String of Trucks
Liquor Seller

----------


## Toycona

Bell's March...lifted from Nick Hornbuckle's CD "!2x2" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw45cgQEDfg

----------


## Sandy Beckler

> Just added a 1922 Loar era F2 to the family  Trying it out on the Ruins of Richmond, a cool Norman Blake tune. Also a sort of little medley of two versions of the New Five Cents. Sometimes called the Buffalo Nickel


Nice addition Mike....I'm envious :Frown: 

Sandy

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

Here is another old-time fiddle tune I've been working. Indian Ate a Woodchuck (Ed Haley version) played on my '22 F2. Hope I'm not boring everyone with all my tune posts... Just having fun learning all these tunes ... or trying to learn them anyway  :Smile:

----------

Dan Krhla, 

Jess L.

----------


## terzinator

*Bright Days* (Norman Blake/Tony Rice 2), and *Elzic's Farewell* (several sources)

----------


## Jess L.

I've been having lots of fun trying to learn/re-learn Sandy River Belle recently, never tried flatpicking it before. While I was fumbling around trying to recover from obvious mistakes without completely losing the beat, I inadvertently stumbled onto some little variations I like, guess that's one reason that first-takes can seem more like improv. Note that the practice backing app I've been using, doesn't have a "trad oldtime fiddle" pre-set  :Whistling:  so I made do with, um, something else:  :Disbelief:   :Laughing:   :Grin:  

 

Probably would have been slightly more appropriate to the genre if I'd used a different backing pre-set such as "Ballad 16T" instead of "Rhumba"  :Laughing:  but hey why be normal (been there, done that, grew up playing fiddle/banjo etc with the expected normal trad sounds & instrumentation, time for some experimentation now)  :Smile:

----------


## nick hyserman

These may not be old time and/or bluegrass  -  but I'm working on Honky Tonk 
Angels, I'm dreaming tonight of my blue eyes and Great Speckled Bird.

----------


## Michael Neverisky

Mike Bryant's crooked version of Flowers of Edinburgh.

----------

Mark Wilson

----------


## Jack Roberts

I'm going to work on the "Hurrian Tablet" over the weekend.

----------


## Tobin

> I'm going to work on the "Hurrian Tablet" over the weekend.


Wow, talk about "old-time"!

----------

Jack Roberts

----------


## woodwizard

My new old-time fiddle tune is "Saddle Up Kate"
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/saddle-old-kate

----------


## Mike Snyder

Good one, Mike. That was in Shoo Goo homework for Winfield last year and you play it well. This year I'm putting in Polly Put the Kettle on, Mike in the Wilderness, and Five Miles From Town. Probably a bit ambitious of me.

----------

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

Here's one more really cool fiddle tune I learned today... Farewell Trion
Played on my 2006 Gibson Goldrush

----------


## Jack Roberts

I've got a gig tonight I should be rehearsing for, but I'm all into "Niagara Hornpipe" right now.

----------


## terzinator

Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival this week. Trying to get *Squirrel Hunters* in the brain in time.

----------

Denman John, 

Jim Garber

----------


## woodwizard

Practicing a little on Chinquapin Hunting. The (A) version with 3 parts not the (D) version which is also a cool tune.. Always loved this (A) version old fiddle tune. I think I'm getting closer all the time to getting it  :Smile: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQo2...ature=youtu.be

----------


## terzinator

> Practicing a little on Chinquapin Hunting. The (A) version with 3 parts not the (D) version which is also a cool tune.. Always loved this (A) version old fiddle tune. I think I'm getting closer all the time to getting it


I've always done the A version, too. A bunch of my buddies do the D version, so I have to get on that.

----------


## Denny Gies

Not exactly a fiddle tune but I'm trying to learn Rebecca by Herschel.

----------


## Dave Reiner

Fur Trader's Reel (first recorded and maybe written by Reg Bouvette).

Dave

----------


## woodwizard

> I've always done the A version, too. A bunch of my buddies do the D version, so I have to get on that.


   It's a cool tune too! aa bb

----------


## woodwizard

Here's another old-time fiddle tune I'm, re-learing... "Lambs Wool Rag" from my soundcloud and a mp3  eeehhh! I think you can get the jest of the melody. cool tune
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/...ol-rag-1922-f2

----------


## soliver

They newby group is working on "Over the Waterfall" as the August tune of the month... Really liking that one!!

----------


## terzinator

> Not exactly a fiddle tune but I'm trying to learn Rebecca by Herschel.


I got guff for calling it a fiddle tune this weekend. I'll never do that again!

Getting reacquainted with an album called "Instrumental Bluegrass - Mandolin," which has selections by Thile, Bibey, Steffey and others. So many good tunes on that recording, I don't know where to start. 

Durang's Hornpipe? Bittersweet Reel? Stumptowne? 

Ahdunno. 

https://www.amazon.com/Instrumental-.../dp/B0090H0Z8Q

----------


## woodwizard

Having some fun tonight learning a Joe Thrift fiddle tune "Whiteface". A great Em tune.
Played on my 1922 F2... There might be a couple of light beeps from my phone during the recording ... oops sorry bout that.

----------


## Jack Roberts

I'm on "Jenny Lind Polka"--from the 1840s, but there is an historic recording from the 1930s on the Library of Congress website:

https://www.loc.gov/item/afccc.a4222b2/

This version only has two parts, but I've found written music for up to 4 parts in various keys. Some of the transcribed versions have obvious errors, so  I'm going to mix and match what I've found on the web to come up with 4 part tune with a couple of key changes for mandolin.

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Just returned from the Centralia WA Old Time campout where my eyes were opened to a new and vast library of old time tunes. Some of the tunes I'm just starting to learn to play properly on mandolin (with my wife on banjo) include Road to Malvern, Free State Hornpipe, Maggots in the Sheep hide, New Five Cents, Cowhide Boots, and Moon Behind the Hills.

----------


## JeffD

> Just returned from the Centralia WA Old Time campout where my eyes were opened to a new and vast library of old time tunes..


That looks like a really fun festival.

----------


## Jim Nollman

It's a great festival. Basically, 300 accomplished players from all over the country. No stage except to accommodate the nightly contra and/or square dances...just a lot of young to old players wandering around the large improvised campground on the Skookumchuck River, asking to join the ongoing jams in session. Most of the music was old time, and I especially liked playing the weirdest modes (E9 anyone?) and time signatures that reminded me of Frank Zappa. What were those old time fiddlers drinking, anyway?  I also played some Texas Swing with a singer wearing a big cowboy hat, also Celtic tunes of every possible flavor (jig, reel, strathspey, hornpipe, waltz) , and one morning I got to stretch out playing bass lines on mandolin for a small group playing gypsy jazz.

The jams ran the spectrum. Some were private affairs, often unison duets with a fiddler and banjo closely facing one another. Other sessions were so obviously open and yet so sublimley balanced that they turned into veritable orchestras with 10 or more fiddles, 10 banjos, several guitars...but never with more than just a few mandolins. When so many open-tuned fiddlers get that old time pulse going on a breakdown, the sensation reminded me more of European trance music than anything I've ever played at a contra dance. 

I quickly learned that some of the purists really don't want to play with mandolins, unless the player adhered precisely to three note chords strummed on the beat. I was also surprised to notice that besides the many many accomplished fiddlers, banjo players and guitar players on hand, there were relatively few devoted mandolin players, unless you count all the fiddlers who brought mandolins along, but never cracked the case. Half of the people lugging mandolins were beginners who, notably, struggled to cross-pick accurately at speed. It was a friendly event, and these beginners were mostly welcome wherever mandolins were welcome.

One memorable night I played for many hours with a fantastic banjo player, 2 master fiddlers with bottomless repertoires, a guitar player who focused entirely on walking lines, and another mandolin player who picked a 1984 Gibson A with F holes. While he favored a double-time jingle-jangle technique based on 3 and 4 note chord inversions, I stayed true to single line and double-stop accompaniment. Everything that night was played in A major, and truly, I mean 30  or more tunes in a row. Yet I haven't explored so many different modes since I got hooked on Indian ragas back in the 1970s.  

Of the mandolins themselves, the majority were various Gibson teen A styles, with a lesser smattering of teen F4s and F2s. There was one guy who carried around 4 Gibson A's, each pre-tuned to a different mode. 

I met only two other people playing hand-made mandolins besides myself. One was a guy with a gorgeous F5 made by Will Kimble, the other had an instrument by Paul Lestock from Oregon. 

I brought my (new to me) Bob Altman two point, and I was elated to discover that its bubbly dry tone cut through any jam, no matter the size, the instrumentation, or the volume.  The instrument's sweet spot always let me be heard while playing at normal volume.

----------


## Dave Reiner

Fur Trader's Reel, as recorded by (Canadian) Reg Bouvette. You can find it on iTunes and there's a version on YouTube also. Nice chords, getting to an F chord by two different routes!  
A part: G F G D/G
B part: Bb F Bb F7 Bb

Dave

----------


## terzinator

> Fur Trader's Reel, as recorded by (Canadian) Reg Bouvette. You can find it on iTunes and there's a version on YouTube also. Nice chords, getting to an F chord by two different routes!  
> A part: G F G D/G
> B part: Bb F Bb F7 Bb
> 
> Dave


Hey, that's a cool one.

And, wow, nice collection of instruments.

----------


## Jim Nollman

With my newly acquired knowledge about accentuating the unique push of old time, I seem to find myself focused on learning a few tunes by ear that are a bit more difficult than my usual. 

Rocky Pallet is a beautiful tune and I recommend it highly to anyone ready for a fingering challenge. The B part has taken some extra listening because it fluctuates into 3 different directions as it develops. Translating the lines from the usual fiddle to the unusual mandolin is a lot of fun because, really, how do you best translate an old time fiddles rolling pulse into single lines built on dry and woody notes? I'm not sure I'll ever be able to play it at dance speed.

Just as challenging is Pete's High D, a modern composition by the fiddler in Uncle Henry's string band. The difficulty here is that the melody extends from the low A on the g string all the way up to the high D on the E string. This works fine on fiddle, but translating it to mandolin, I find that it sounds more cohesive if, occasionally, I play some of the high and low phrasing at different octaves than the fiddler has chosen. The other "problem", is that it is a crooked tune, which actually sounds quite complete. However, I have decided to make one small change to extend the b part from 14 bars to 16 bars to make it work at a contra dance. I have emailed the composer to ask his permission, always the proper courtesy. 

The third tune is easy and very noble sounding. To my ears it sounds like a Scottish March, that might by rendered by bagpipes. But how do you explain the title? The name of the tune is Maggots in the Sheep Hide. Highly recommended.

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

Finally tackling The Cuckoo's Nest...

----------


## Jim Garber

Been playing "Belle of Lexington" based on Emmett Lundy's fiddle version. I have been playing on both instruments but mandolin is a bit more fun. A great bouncy and notey tune.

*Belle of Lexington*

Also, Jimmy in the Swamp, a Missouri tune as played on fiddle by Bob Walters:

*Jimmy in the Swamp*

----------


## Eddie Sheehy

> Finally tackling The Cuckoo's Nest...


Looks like I already tackled this a few years ago and forgot it...

----------


## Jack Roberts

I found a fun tune: "The Fantastic Hornpipe."  I can't find a video or recording of it, but it is out there on the Traditional Tune Archive and here:

http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=tr...e/Sets/EF/0027

It is a fantastic mandolin tune.

----------

derbex

----------


## Jim Nollman

Jim Garber, Listening to your recording of _Jimmy in the Swamp_ makes me wonder if it was composed and/or recorded in the late 1920s. I ask that, because the tune reminds me so much of the traditional jazz of that same period. I can almost hear Bix Beiderbecke playing along.

----------


## Jim Garber

Jim: As far as I know it is a traditional tune from Missouri played by a Bob Walters. Who knows? Whoever composed it might have heard Bix play something like it.

----------


## terzinator

Not sure why I'm posting this... archives, maybe? Mess with the search functionality? Ahdunno.

Anyway, here's a list of all the fiddle tunes I've learned in the 6+ years I've been playing mandolin. It's possible I've forgotten a few, but I think it's fairly complete. If I ever get my act together, I'd like to post some very basic videos on these melodies. (I have a whole storage unit of junk I keep saying I'm going to put on ebay, too, but have I even started doing that? Nope.)

Angeline The Baker
Arkansas Traveler
Banish Misfortune
Beaumont Rag
Big Mon
Big Sandy River
Big Sciota
Bill Cheatum
Billy in the Lowground
Blackberry Blossom
Bright Days
Brilliancy
Cattle in the Cane
Cherokee Shuffle
Clinch Mountain Backstep
Cluck Old Hen
Cripple Creek
Cuckoo's Nest
Daley’s Reel
Devil's Dream
Dixie Hoedown
East Tennessee Blues
Elzic's Farewell
Fisher's Hornpipe
Flowers of Edinburgh
Forked Deer
Fred Digs Up A Hornet’s Nest
Girl I Left Behind Me
Goodbye Liza Jane
Itzbin Reel
Jerusalem Ridge
June Apple
Kentucky Mandolin
Kitchen Girl
Liberty
Lonesome Fiddle Blues
Monroe’s Hornpipe
My Father’s Footsteps
Oklahoma Redbird
Old Joe Clark
Old Daingerfield
Old Grimes
Over the Waterfall
Rebecca
Red-Haired Boy
Rickett’s Hornpipe
Rights of Man
Sally Gooden
Salt Creek
Ship in the Clouds
Shove that Pig's Foot a Little Further into the Fire
Soldier's Joy
Southern Flavor
St Anne's Reel
Swinging on a Gate
Temperance Reel
Texas Gales
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Winder Slide

----------


## Tobin

> Just as challenging is Pete's High D, a modern composition by the fiddler in Uncle Henry's string band. The difficulty here is that the melody extends from the low A on the g string all the way up to the high D on the E string. This works fine on fiddle, but translating it to mandolin, I find that it sounds more cohesive if, occasionally, I play some of the high and low phrasing at different octaves than the fiddler has chosen. The other "problem", is that it is a crooked tune, which actually sounds quite complete. However, I have decided to make one small change to extend the b part from 14 bars to 16 bars to make it work at a contra dance. I have emailed the composer to ask his permission, always the proper courtesy.


Wow, coincidence!  I've been working on that tune as well, albeit on the fiddle and not the mandolin.  I find it very challenging, but I love the way they play that tune.  I'll get there one day.  Right now, when I play the high D it sounds more like someone squeaking the air out of a balloon.

Aside from that and a few others, I've mainly been working on tunes in A, focusing on sawmill tuning (AEAE) on one of my fiddles.  I've spent so long playing standard tuning on the mandolin, I need to work on making sawmill feel natural so I don't get confused when I switch from a high part to a low part.  Plus, I'm still trying to make the standard shuffle (Nashville shuffle or Georgia shuffle, depending on one's personal taxonomic choice) feel natural.  So tunes like Sugar in the Gourd are seeing a lot of play time for me lately.

----------


## Mark Wilson

> Anyway, here's a list of all the fiddle tunes I've learned in the 6+ years I've been playing mandolin.


 :Cool:   I've learned about 30 fiddle tunes since I started and they're all on this list but Gold Rush and maybe Turkey in the Straw.  which is your favorite?

----------


## terzinator

> which is your favorite?


Whichever one I've just learned!

Actually, I love 'em all, for the most part, but three that I always enjoy playing are Flowers of Edinburgh, Pig's Foot, and Forked Deer.

----------


## tmsweeney

Just learned Flower's of Edinburgh at my fiddle player's request, funny how tunes show in multiple places.

----------


## Jack Roberts

I'm working on "Elk's Festival Hornpipe" this week.  It's a fun tune to play.

----------


## Mark Wilson

> Forked Deer.


 Cool tune. I like the B part a lot.  The A part is a finger buster (for me) ala Blackberry Blossom

----------


## MediumMando5722

I'm working on "Jerusalem Ridge" and "New Camptown Races."

----------


## stringalong

I just learned Mace Bell's Civil War March.  Mike, you've listed some great tunes.  I don't know "Squirrel Heads in Gravy."  Must give it a try!  Friends have chosen Sal's Got Mud Between Her Toes as our next tune that we'll jam on at the end of this month.  I also like Paddy on the Handcar.  There are several different tunes with that name, and I don't think the version I play is on YouTube.  Not sure, though.  It's in G and plays up the neck a ways.  It took years to learn it ONLY because I was fingering it in the open position.  Can we post links at the Mandolin Cafe?





> I'm making a concerted effot to ramp up the old learning curve. These are getting cleaner by the day. What have you been working on?
>    Cherokee Shuffle
>    Big Scioty
>    Barlow Knife
>    June Apple
>    Nail that Catfish to a Tree
>    Sal's Got Mud between Her Toes
>    Squirrel Heads in Gravy (still kinda rough) 
> A couple of those make me hungry.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Curt Lawrence's Hornpipe.

----------


## woodwizard

> I've always done the A version, too. A bunch of my buddies do the D version, so I have to get on that.


Here's my try on the (D) version of Chinquapin Hunting  :Smile:

----------


## Toycona

We are working on "Nesser" by John Reischman. All of his fiddle tunes have this timeless quality that makes them so appealing. Plus his tone is something else. Vintage and unique, indeed.

----------


## BluesPreacher

I just discovered "The Lover's Waltz" by Molly Mason and Jay Ungar.  SO PRETTY!!  I found it in both G and D.  Jay wrote that when they perform it they will play it in both keys, and in G, he plays the B part an octave up on the second time through.  My new project!

I want to eventually record myself accompanying myself on guitar, and maybe banjo also.

----------


## Mike Snyder

How about Little Billy Wilson? Kinda similar to Half-Past Four in places.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Dick Sand's Hornpipe on both mandolin and violin.  Great triplets!

----------


## chuck3

Arkansas Traveler.

----------


## stringalong

Thanks for the tune name, Jack.  I found two  versions of Dick Sands Hornpipe on YouTube.   I can't find Dick Sands Hornpipe for mandolin.  One version can likely be found by googling Dé Danann.  Has gorgeous chords which almost led me to believe it was a different tune with the same name. The other version can be found by googling Bill Shull & Charlie Walden, the two fiddlers.  

Is it allowed here to post links?  If so, could you please post the link you have for fiddle and mandolin?

----------


## Jim Garber

> Dick Sand's Hornpipe on both mandolin and violin.  Great triplets!


Fantastic rollicking tune, Jack! Love this video (music starts about 20 seconds in):




Whoops! I didn't see that post. Here's the other Dick Sands video. I am not sure they are the same tune. Shull and Walden are Missouri-style musicians.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> Fantastic rollicking tune, Jack! Love this video (music starts about 20 seconds in):
> 
> 
> Whoops! I didn't see that post. Here's the other Dick Sands video. I am not sure they are the same tune. Shull and Walden are Missouri-style musicians.


Thanks for posting these, Jim.  I am playing pretty much the second version and it is a kick.  Stringalong: I play the same tune for mandolin and violin.  I can post notation if you like.

These two videos don't sound like the same tune to my ear, but I'm pretty deaf nowadays and can't really tell.  I can tell that in both versions they are enjoying the triplets!

----------


## woodwizard

Picking a little bit of "Old Dangerfield" on my Goldrush

----------


## Mark Miller

John Brown's March, in the version from Norman Blake's mando DVD.  I love these old Civil-War era tunes.  There's something haunting about them.

----------


## Don Grieser

The Road to Malvern (written by Jim Childress) from Reischman, et. al., Harmonic Tone Revealers CD. Cool video here. https://pegheadnation.com/featured-v...chman-malvern/

----------


## Mark Wilson

I'm digging Lonesome Fiddle Blues in Dm atm.

----------


## Jack Roberts

I just started "For Lak of Gold I Lost Her" from a 1760 tune book.  It is an A-B part Clog with a variation, then a second variation in Jig time.  There are another couple of version on the 'net, but nothing on youtube yet.

----------


## Jim Garber

> I just started "For Lak of Gold I Lost Her" from a 1760 tune book.  It is an A-B part Clog with a variation, then a second variation in Jig time.  There are another couple of version on the 'net, but nothing on youtube yet.


Hey Jack: you always post interesting tunes, but I would appreciate, if possible, if you could provide links for your sources. I did find this one in the *Caledonian Pocket Companion* (1760). Is that the one you found?

Very cool find, in any case. That will keep me busy for a while along with some of the other old books on that site.

----------


## Jack Roberts

> Hey Jack: you always post interesting tunes, but I would appreciate, if possible, if you could provide links for your sources. I did find this one in the *Caledonian Pocket Companion* (1760). Is that the one you found?
> 
> Very cool find, in any case. That will keep me busy for a while along with some of the other old books on that site.


Yes, that's the one.  I'll provide links in the future.  For now, follow Jim's link, go to volume III page 2.  I'll post the notation.

I like the way it switches to a gig at the end.  The first variation is a good workout for the left hand.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Here is a pdf file:

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Garber

Thanks, Jack. I have a feeling there are  few other interesting tunes in that and other books on that site. Thanks for showing us the way!

----------


## Jack Roberts

> Thanks, Jack. I have a feeling there are  few other interesting tunes in that and other books on that site. Thanks for showing us the way!


In the notation, I'm playing the two 16th notes followed by an 8th note as a triplet.

----------


## woodwizard

> How about Little Billy Wilson? Kinda similar to Half-Past Four in places.


Sort of, both in (A) 'cept Little Billy Wilson has 3 parts to 2 parts of Half Past Four and the chords are a bit different flow.
Here's my take on both...

----------


## woodwizard

Here are a couple more I've been taking a stab at most recently Glory at the Meeting House and bluegrass (Dear Old Dixie) needs more work I know

----------


## woodwizard

John Brown's March
'06 Gibson Goldrush & '51 Martin D21

----------


## Paahto

Have gotten the following under my fingers since starting learning Bluegrass a month ago: Whiskey Before Breakfast, Cherokee Shuffle, New Camptown Races, Soldier's Joy, June Apple and Cold Frosty Morning. My bluegrass tutor has given me a list of standards and mandolin/Monroe pieces to work on over the holidays which are the following:

East Tennessee Blues, Ragtime Annie, Bill Cheatham, Old Daingerfield, Jerusalem Ridge, Old Ebeneezer, El Cumbanchero, St. Anne's Reel (have this one from trad), Salt Creek, Dear Old Dixie, Dixie Hoedown, Rawhide, Wildwood Flower and Beaumont Rag.

Open to more suggestions for standards. Plenty of fantastic tunes out there but looking to build a solid bluegrass and old-time foundation before taking the liberty to learn whatever.

----------


## woodwizard

Here's an old-time tune everyone probably knows.... Shove the Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire

----------


## Tobin

I've been working on lots of new/old fiddle tunes lately, between mandolin, clawhammer banjo, and fiddle.  One I'm having fun with lately is The Old Apple Tree by Molly and Jack Tuttle.  It may not technically be an authentic Old-Time fiddle tune, but it has all the goodness of such.  I've worked up parts for banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and even mandola.  It's just a fun tune, with a crooked B part.

*edited to add: oh, and it's in the key of C.  I've been playing a lot in C lately because it's just a good key and works well for clawhammer in Double C tuning, and pairs well with my wife on the mandola.  But C is a great key for fiddle too.

----------

Bill Findley, 

PiginaPen, 

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

Ducks on the Mill Pond is a new old-time fiddle tune for me

----------


## Jim Garber

> I've been working on lots of new/old fiddle tunes lately, between mandolin, clawhammer banjo, and fiddle.  One I'm having fun with lately is The Old Apple Tree by Molly and Jack Tuttle.  It may not technically be an authentic Old-Time fiddle tune, but it has all the goodness of such.


Is this one the Tuttles wrote? It is a nice tune and does sound traditional.

----------


## Tobin

> Is this one the Tuttles wrote? It is a nice tune and does sound traditional.


I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming it's one they wrote.  I can't find any references to it as a traditional tune.

----------


## woodwizard

Sal's Got Mud Between Her Toes ...  :Smile:  new OT tune today ... I really like the way it flows. Great tune for a clawhammer & fiddle

----------


## Chughes423

Monroes Hornpipe.

----------


## JeffD

I have found a new addiction to an old tune "Hell Broke Lose in Georgia". There is so much to love there.

I couldn't find a mando version but this is what I hear in my head:

----------

Tobin

----------


## Tobin

Wow, I wasn't familiar with that tune, Jeff.  But you're right: there's a lot to love there.  Definitely going to work that one up!

----------


## GreenMTBoy

Working on getting The Crooked Road up to speed

----------


## Jim Garber

> Sal's Got Mud Between Her Toes ...  new OT tune today ... I really like the way it flows. Great tune for a clawhammer & fiddle


Nice pic of the F2. Is there a reason you posted that with the tune? Does it have mud between its strings?  :Smile:

----------


## Tobin

Jeff, I just realized what it was about that tune that caught my fancy.   It bears a striking resemblance to Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase,  but with extra goodness.

----------


## Don Grieser

Stoney Point is a good one. Norman and Tony do a good version of it.

----------


## Niavlys

> Jeff, I just realized what it was about that tune that caught my fancy.   It bears a striking resemblance to Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase,  but with extra goodness.


I can understand that! _Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase_ and _Hell Broke Loose In Georgia_ are two of my very favorites too.

----------


## woodwizard

> Nice pic of the F2. Is there a reason you posted that with the tune? Does it have mud between its strings?


Ha!  :Smile:  only when I don't wash my hands Jim

----------


## woodwizard

Pretty Little Dog

https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/pretty-little-dog

----------


## JeffD

> Jeff, I just realized what it was about that tune that caught my fancy.   It bears a striking resemblance to Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase,  but with extra goodness.


 :Smile: 

Hadn't heard Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase. But I love it.

It is so wonderful that we can get all enthusiastic about a tune, and understand others who express similar enthusiasm. It is something about this avocation of ours that is not appreciated by so many. That one would go live in a tent for a week on a mountainside in West Virginia in the hopes of finding a tune to fall in love with. Who does stuff like that? 

 And thank goodness a tune doesn't get jealous when you fall in love with a different one. Fiddle tune polyamory!

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

I'm having a total blast  :Mandosmiley:  with "Jim Donoghue's reel" which, when I play it, somehow gets converted from Irish trad to *oldtime*!  :Disbelief:   :Grin:  My version on mandolin & clawhammer  :Disbelief:  banjo:   



_(or direct link). NOTE: Banjo was recorded with cell-phone, not exactly hi-fi._

I'd encourage any clawhammer pickers out there to give this tune a try, maybe we can get this tune into the 'new' oldtime repertoire!  :Grin:  It's a lot of *fun* to play,  :Mandosmiley:  and it fits surprisingly well onto the banjo fretboard, not too difficult. I fill in the blank spots with the usual assortment of optional 2nd-fret pull-offs, drop-thumb to open 2nd string and other notes for rhythmic variety, various hammers & slides etc. The tuning is "aDADE" (same as regular ol' "2 C tuning" but capo'd up 2 frets). 

Extra thanks to Jill McAuley for her great traditional Irish pickin'  :Mandosmiley:   :Smile:  over at MandolinCafe Song-a-Week, her post there was where I first learned this tune a few days ago.

----------

Chris Browne, 

Jim Roberts

----------


## Bob Buckingham

Woke up with the late Garry Harrison's tune _Jail Break_ running through my head and that usually means it has also seeped into my fingers. Gonna get off this computer and make sure!

----------


## woodwizard

Dark Haired Girl ... There's something about this old-time fiddle tune I really like
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/dark-haired-girl

----------


## woodwizard

"Clyde Kurst's Tune" ... Cool old-time fiddle (C) tune. Working on it today. Not quite up to the speed I want to play it at this time but I thought I'd give it a shot.

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jack Roberts

This weekend it's "Blowzabella". I believe it is from Scotland, 1750.

Here is the link: (page 26)

https://archive.org/details/caledoniancountr00ingl

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## stringalong

My new fiddle tune is Mace  Bell's Civil War March.  Key of A.   Actually the reason I'm posting his time is  that I can't figure out how to start a new thread????  I've done it before, but for some reason I can't figure it out this time.  Also, I'm subscribed to this "new fiddle tune" thread, and can't subscribe to any other thread. (I'm logged in and cleared to do all  these things.)  Please help!!

----------


## Jack Roberts

> ...  Actually the reason I'm posting his time is  that I can't figure out how to start a new thread????  I've done it before, but for some reason I can't figure it out this time.  ...


1. Make sure you are logged in.
2. Select the sub forum you want to create a new thread in.
3. Do NOT open any threads.  If you do you will only be able to post a reply to the thread.  Stay at the sub forum level.
4. Click "+Post New Thread" on the upper right.
5.  Enter the title of the thread and your initial post, and off you go!

----------


## stringalong

Thank you very much, Jack! :Mandosmiley: 





> 1. Make sure you are logged in.
> 2. Select the sub forum you want to create a new thread in.
> 3. Do NOT open any threads.  If you do you will only be able to post a reply to the thread.  Stay at the sub forum level.
> 4. Click "+Post New Thread" on the upper right.
> 5.  Enter the title of the thread and your initial post, and off you go!

----------


## Jim Garber

I can't stop playing this jig melody on fiddle, mandolin and banjo. From the excellent super-danceable playing of Charlie Walden.
*
Rocking Chair Jig* and *Catfish Jig*

Here is Charlie playing it at a dance:

----------

Jack Roberts

----------


## Jack Roberts

> I can't stop playing this jig melody on fiddle, mandolin and banjo. From the excellent super-danceable playing of Charlie Walden. ...


Jim, these are great!  They are on my music stand now. Do you know more about these tunes?  I don't have a banjo, but I'm going to try to play the Catfish Jig on my concertina.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Jim, these are great!  They are on my music stand now. Do you know more about these tunes?  I don't have a banjo, but I'm going to try to play the Catfish Jig on my concertina.


As far as I know they are Canadian tunes. Catfish is, I believe, associated with Graham Townsend.

----------


## woodwizard

Having fun with Dooly on this wonderful Friday

----------


## terzinator

Has anyone ever come across a fiddle tune called "Flight to D.C."? (Yeah, try searching for it. Nearly impossible.)

a Dm tune, I believe.

Found this one vid, but wondering if anyone has seen others, or has notation.

----------

BiggT

----------


## Jim Garber

Deeper into Missouri fiddle tunes. *Brenda's Reel* (pdf for transcription from Charlie's site) originally played by phenomenal lefty fiddler Cyril Stinnett and equally phenomenal Charlie Walden.

I have been working on this one on ITM-tuned banjo and mandolin. It is a bit more difficult for me on fiddle especially in the second part where you have to play in second or third position. Fun and a great dance tune.

----------


## Jim Garber

Charlie actually teaches the tune I posted above.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Has anyone ever come across a fiddle tune called "Flight to D.C."? (Yeah, try searching for it. Nearly impossible.)
> 
> a Dm tune, I believe.
> 
> Found this one vid, but wondering if anyone has seen others, or has notation.


A mention on a thread in the archive:



> Buck White's tune "Broken Dreams" is a lovely Dm piece. There's mandolin tune on Bob Black's "Ladies on the Steamboat" album written by John Purk called "Flight to D.C." that's in Dm as well. Both are very nice tunes and not too difficult to play.


Ah I found it at 27:19 (I can't remember how to index that place on the video) on this video with John Purk who wrote it playing mandolin. Nice tune!

----------

terzinator

----------


## terzinator

Jim, you rock! Thanks!

After hearing it: It's got a bit of *Lonesome Fiddle Blues* about it, that's for sure.

Oh, here's a link that embeds the start time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2hQmq4ewOc&t=27m18s

----------


## woodwizard

[QUOTE=Jim Nollman;
Rocky Pallet is a beautiful tune and I recommend it highly to anyone ready for a fingering challenge. The B part has taken some extra listening because it fluctuates into 3 different directions as it develops. Translating the lines from the usual fiddle to the unusual mandolin is a lot of fun because, really, how do you best translate an old time fiddles rolling pulse into single lines built on dry and woody notes? I'm not sure I'll ever be able to play it at dance speed.

Hey Jim, Here is me and some friends playing Rocky Pallet. Is this the same old-time tune version you were referring to?

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## Mark Miller

After listening to both Grisman's and Skagg's versions, I had to learn Boston Boy. Super fun to play. Does anyone know what the deal is with the order of the A and B parts? I've heard it both ways.

----------


## WikiGary

Mike
Don't give up in despair. There is a free program out there called "Audacity" that will take about any format audio file and allow you to modify it in many ways including change tempo. Most songs can be taken down to about half tempo without loosing all sense of rhythm.

Look at:

http://www.audacityteam.org/

It works on windows, mac and linux.

Besides that it is a darn fine digital recording/editing studio.

Gary aka WikiGary

----------


## Tobin

> After listening to both Grisman's and Skagg's versions, I had to learn Boston Boy. Super fun to play. Does anyone know what the deal is with the order of the A and B parts? I've heard it both ways.


Lots of fiddle tunes are that way.  I learned some tunes in a specific order, and they just sound "right" to me in that order.  Then I'll hear someone starting the tune off with the B part, and it sounds odd until I get used to it.

----------


## AlanN

Slocum Hollow, a Butch Baldassari number, starts out on the last half of the B part, then hits the regular AA/BB stride.

----------


## Tobin

Only playing the last half of a B part before starting the regular AABB pattern would be more of a kickoff, in my mind.  That's different than reversing the entire tune and playing BBAA.

----------


## sbhikes

Been trying to learn Great Big Yam Potatoes. It's very simple but I really like it. Oddly I keep forgetting how the simplest part, the A part, goes. That's why I struggle to learn it.

----------


## Jack Roberts

The Birth of Kisses Jig.
Page 99 of The Caledonian Pocket Companion, Volume II
https://archive.org/details/caledonianpocket00stua

----------


## terzinator

*Bonaparte's Retreat.*

----------


## Bill McCall

Daphne.  The B part is a killer.

----------


## Tobin

My latest fiddle tune infatuation is Coal Harbor Bend, after it was posted as the tune of the week over at banjohangout a few weeks ago.  I cannot get it out of my head!  Traditionally, folks seem to play it with an Em chord (vi) in the B part.  But the version by Bigfoot uses a C major (IV), which really gives it a different sound.  This is the version I've embraced.  And of course, like all the tunes I fall in love with, it is crooked.

I've been working on it on the fiddle.  I've seen at least one mandolin version of it on YouTube (mandolessons, as I recall), but it's the fiddle slurs and unisons that really give it "the sound".  Bigfoot uses two fiddles which interact beautifully.

This is, for me, a "trance tune".  I could listen to it 24/7 and just zone out.  The album version is below, but a live version from Clifftop 2010 can be heard here.

----------

Bill Findley, 

Jim Roberts, 

woodwizard

----------


## woodwizard

Thanks for the heads up on that tune Mr. Tobin. I was having fun playing along with the Big Foot recording you posted and decided to make a quickie recording playing on my Goldrush just now and here it is. Great tune that grows on you the more you play it.

----------


## woodwizard

Playing around with Freeman's Hornpipe tonight.

----------


## stringalong

Sal's Got Mud Between Her Toes

----------


## stringalong

Hi woodwizard, The mp3 link you sent gives me "gibberish."  Thanks for trying -- I'd love to hear Freeman's Hornpipe.  I searched YouTube and got Fisher's Hornpipe, many links for that one.

----------


## Lowlands Blue

Recently worked out a Norman and Nancy Blake tune called Blind Dog, originally done on a fiddle and cello, now with two mando's.
Don't have a full version recorded yet, but here's a slower (and somewhat unpolished) version of what we do now.

----------

Dave Sheets, 

tmsweeney, 

woodwizard

----------


## tmsweeney

Very cool - 

 I recently got hooked on "Devil Chased Me Around the Stump" from the Rising Fawn String Ensemble album, a lot of fun to play.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Uncle Pig
Roscoe
Lonesome Blues
Drunk at Night, Dry in the Morning

----------


## woodwizard

Re-visiting one that all Norman Blake fans know

----------


## woodwizard

> Hi woodwizard, The mp3 link you sent gives me "gibberish."  Thanks for trying -- I'd love to hear Freeman's Hornpipe.  I searched YouTube and got Fisher's Hornpipe, many links for that one.


Try this 
https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/freemans-hornpipe

----------


## sbhikes

Baby Ben. It's one of those simple tunes that has three parts, all of which sound the same so it's just impossible to get 'em straight.

----------


## woodwizard

New one today ... Drunken Billy Goat

----------


## Charles E.

Working on Dixie Hoedown and revisiting Monkey on a Dogcart.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Played lots of new tunes at the Port Townsend Fiddle tunes festival. Now I have to sit down with the Amazing Slow Downer and learn at least some of them in preparation for the next meeting of our old time community of minds, hearts, and fingers.

Old Billy Hell
Pikes Peak
Cow Crossing the Road
Mississippi Echoes.

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Garber

> Played lots of new tunes at the Port Townsend Fiddle tunes festival. Now I have to sit down with the Amazing Slow Downer and learn at least some of them in preparation for the next meeting of our old time community of minds, hearts, and fingers.
> 
> Old Billy Hell
> Pikes Peak
> Cow Crossing the Road
> Mississippi Echoes.


I used to play Pike's Peak years ago and have been resuscitating old tunes that I stopped playing. I also picked up Old Billy Hell recently but have to remember how it goes. I will check out the other two — I am not all that familiar with them by name but I also like your taste in tunes, Jim.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Thanks Jim,
Interesting timing on your reply. I spent some time last night with Brian Oberlin, whose amazing repertoire  includes some  challenging Italian mandolin pieces. He didn't know the tune _Sogno di Bimba_ which you once sent me, so I took the liberty of playing your recording to him. 

The high point of playing with some inspired (and inspiring)  old time  fiddlers at the Fiddle Tunes Festival the other day, was spending an entire evening playing tunes only in the key of C. Those last three tunes in my list came from that session.

----------


## Jim Garber

My C tunes:
Billy in the Low GroundFarewell TryonIndian Eat the Woodchuck (Salyer)KatydidLeake County BluesMonkey in a Dog CartNew MoneyPeep O' DayPikes PeakRattlesnake Bit the BabyRocking Chair JigRocky PalletSaturday Night BreakdownTake Me Back to GeorgiaTexas GalsThat's My Rabbit And My Dog Caught It

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Jim Nollman

Yah I have some playing experience with about half the tunes on your list. A few of them I know very well including Rocky Pallet, Farewell Trion,  and Saturday Night Breakdown. 

I'll definitely check out the ones you mention that I haven't heard yet.

Here's a few more straggling C tunes from my own list:


Cherry River Rag
Oklahoma Redbird
Uncle Pig
Fat back meat and dumplings
Apple Knockers

----------


## woodwizard

Here's a cool OT fiddle tune I was playing around with yesterday. Sara Armstrong's Tune

https://soundcloud.com/mike-parks-7/...rmstrongs-tune

----------

Jess L.

----------


## MikeZito

Since I am not a bluegrass guy, and I failed miserably at trying to learn to play old-time country fiddle, I don't know any fiddle tunes - so, I made one up, on the mandolin . . .  it is aptly called 'Can't Play The Fiddle'.

----------


## Tobin

> Since I am not a bluegrass guy, and I failed miserably at trying to learn to play old-time country fiddle, I don't know any fiddle tunes - so, I made one up, on the mandolin . . .  it is aptly called 'Can't Play The Fiddle'.


Oddly enough, every fiddle tune I play on the fiddle goes by that name as well.  I differentiate between them by adding expletives before or after the title.

----------


## woodwizard

Well I came across this tune accidently but it really grabbed me so I learned to play it from this tab. The more you play it the more it get's into your blood. At least it did to me. Here is my attempt at this new one for me. 
"Walk Along John to Kansas"

----------

Mark Gunter

----------


## Jim Roberts

> Well I came across this tune accidently but it really grabbed me so I learned to play it from this tab. The more you play it the more it get's into your blood. At least it did to me. Here is my attempt at this new one for me. 
> "Walk Along John to Kansas"


Here you go...great tune!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yUaITM8O3L4

----------

Mark Gunter

----------


## woodwizard

> Here you go...great tune!
> 
> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yUaITM8O3L4


Yes! I found that one...That's a great version.

----------


## woodwizard

Some folks call that  version "Rabbit Where's Your Mammy"

----------


## sumibuilt

Haymakers Hoedown off the Harvest Home cd and Squirrell Hunter..Hartfords

----------


## Mike Snyder

Charleston Gals

----------


## Jim Nollman

Whistling Rufus
Magpie
Mississippi echoes
Moon behind the hills
Banjo hornpipe

I first started to learn the last tune from a friend who couldn't recall where he learned it. Then, weeks later, I have been Unsuccessful Trying to find a recording of it to play on the amazing slow downer.  I now suspect it's never been recorded. Anybody else know the tune?

----------


## Jim Garber

I would guess, Jim, that your friend may have the name wrong or it might be better known by a different name. I see in a search that a bagpipe tune (!) called Banjo Breakdown comes up a lot on YouTube. That isn't it, is it?

----------


## Jess L.

> ... *Banjo hornpipe*
> 
> I first started to learn the last tune from a friend who couldn't recall where he learned it. Then, weeks later, I have been Unsuccessful Trying to find a recording of it to play on the amazing slow downer.  I now suspect it's never been recorded. Anybody else know the tune?


I agree with Jim Garber that it might have a different name. Or, as you suspect, maybe it's a recent original. Not sure how far you got with learning it, but if you know the first few bars (whistle or hum, pick, write, etc) that might help someone to identify it. 

Just out of curiosity, I went to Google and looked for this: 



```
"banjo hornpipe" -pinterest
```

(The "-pinterest" part eliminates (in this case) about 600 useless hits, and the quotes are _supposed_ to make Google be more specific otherwise you have to wade through 171,000  :Disbelief:  hits. So, using the search term shown above narrows the field to 'only' 1,550 hits.)

... The 2nd Google hit was the following pleasant sounding tune (has nice-sounding mandolin)  :Mandosmiley:  that someone posted a month or so ago, but in the text below the video at YouTube it says they don't know the source of it either: 



_(or direct link)_

Nice tune,  :Mandosmiley:  although it's probably not the one you were looking for... and even if it was, it still doesn't solve the mystery of where it came from.

----------

Jim Roberts

----------


## Jim Nollman

Small world. I know those guys. All are from Tucson. The mandolin player in the video is Mark, playing his wonderfully voiced Nugget. John W is on Waterloo guitar and George on Banjo. 

These are the three guys who were playing the Banjo Hornpipe when I first stumbled upon it on Soundcloud (poorly recorded and with no visuals of course). Weeks later I attended the Centralia old time campout where Mark coincidently set up his tent right next to mine.  One morning I sat down with him to partially flesh out the melody. I got the A part down fairly quickly, but never got around to learning the B part. Then, back home, and re-listening to the tune on Soundcloud,  recorded by John, I realized the B part was much too muddy to serve my purpose. I had no idea they'd also made a Youtube of the piece. Thanks for finding it for me.

Also, Mark told me they first recorded the tune in F which is the version I heard on Soundcloud. But he subsequently transposed it to G which is how he plays it now. I had only heard the F version, and immediately transposed what I knew of it to C, only because i play a lot of similar "raggy" tunes also in C, and I play with a banjo player so often (we're married as well) that lumping all these vaguely similar tunes into the same key makes life easier for her. So you can imagine the difficulty I created for myself when I finally bumped into Mark who now plays it in G. 

Mark and I are both fans of old time rags. We played and shared many of them while in camp-out. Tunes include Whistling Rufus, Walking the Dog, Oklahoma Redbird, Uncle Pig.  

As an aside, I'd like to mention that George the banjo player is a master on the banjo uke. He tunes the Uke in open G, and essentially uses it only to bar chords and play a unique percussion style that adds incredible drive to old time tunes.

----------

Jess L.

----------


## woodwizard

Did a quickie recording on my Tascam mixer last night of Norman Blake's Valley Head... Fun one to play. Re-remembering.
Here's my try

----------


## Charlieshafer

Spending a lot of time these days with Garry Harrison's Red Prairie Dawn cd. He was an amazing contemporary composer, for those who don't know him. Here's a link to a soundcloud page where someone has put up the cd, now out of print and very difficult to find. Right now, Red Prairie Dawn, Dull Chisel, and Ol' Bob are getting a workout.

Garry Harrison

----------


## Mark Gunter

Been playing a medley of _Loch Lavan Castle/Santa Ana's Retreat/Bonaparte's Retreat_ and going back to a bunch of other old time tunes_.
_

----------


## woodwizard

Re-visiting Washington's March

----------


## Bill McCall

Coleraine.

----------


## woodwizard

Twin Sisters

----------


## woodwizard

Goin' Across the Sea ... playing on my F2. Great tune Luv it! New one for me

----------


## woodwizard

Bill Cheatum

----------


## woodwizard

Just learned this cool Bruce Molsky version of Flowers of Edinburgh

----------


## Jim Nollman

Learning 2 old-time rags. On the Banks of Kaney and Lynchburg Town.

Our band took a break from playing contra dances about a year ago. Now I wonder if this new swinging and crooked repertoire means we ought to consider playing for foxtrots and jitterbug. Anybody out in Cafe land doing that with a string band?

----------


## woodwizard

3 I've been playing around with

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

Experimenting with picking double-strings on mandolin, & backing harmony on faux-'tenor' GDAEB guitar. Fiddle tune "Thanksgiving Waltz". Still learning this one, I need to work on it more:  



_(or direct link)_

More info & other videos of this tune at Mandolin Cafe Song-A-Week.

----------

Jim Nollman, 

woodwizard

----------


## Charles E.

Just learned The Old Grey Cat. Nice tune in Em.

----------


## BluesPreacher

Working on "Rocky Road to Dublin", close to acceptable.  Yea, it's not purely a fiddle tune, but it's a lot of fun to play it as a slip jig along with The High Kings' YouTube vid of them singing it.

Next:  "The King of the Fairies".  Yes, I'm starting my Irish tune list with the easier ones.

----------


## Bill McCall

A Smooth One, Benny Goodman.  Tommy Emmanuel really rips it.

----------


## woodwizard

Three more I've been working on... used my little Tascam mixer to had some back up

----------


## stringalong

I'm working on Katie Bar the Door. It's totally easy.  I read that it's composed by Rayna Gellert. She sure has some beautiful tunes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbbvUL7E3AU

----------


## woodwizard

I have been really working on this tune because I like it so much. It's a typical twisted OT tune. First heard it from my OT fiddler friends Bill & Dougie and then later found out they learned it from Bruce Molsky's Mountain Drifters. Flowers of Edinbourgh. Here's my try at it. Mixed in my guitar using my little Tascam mixer. Let me know what you think.

----------

smokinop

----------


## Jack Roberts

I just started the Inimitable Reel.  It's on the top of page 70 of Ryans.
It is attributed to "E. Christie", who would be Edwin Pearce Christy, from the mid-1800s.

----------


## woodwizard

Here's a fiddle tune I've been working on again. Used my Tascam DP-008EX little mixer.
Half Past Four. Playing my 1922 F2

----------


## JeffD

> I just started the Inimitable Reel.  It's on the top of page 70 of Ryans.
> It is attributed to "E. Christie", who would be Edwin Pearce Christy, from the mid-1800s.


That is the second time that tune has come up in conversations this year. I guess I need to learn it.

----------


## Jim Garber

Yes, Jeff, it is inimitable, and so you need to play it.

----------


## Jim Nollman

starting to play "Chattanooga". I've found versions in F and in G. Taking the wimp route (also because I happen to noodle daily with a banjo player) I've chosen the G version. 

And thanks for the tip on "Inimitable." I'll check it out. With a title like that, who can resist?

----------


## Jim Garber

I may need to learn this Canadian tune Grey Owl.

----------

bigskygirl, 

Drew Streip, 

Paulmazz, 

woodwizard

----------


## yankees1

Cold Frosty Morning

----------


## woodwizard

A new Norman Blake tune for me I'm working on... "Coming Down From Rising Fawn"

----------


## Trav'linmando

Bill Cheatham

----------


## Drew Streip

> I may need to learn this Canadian tune Grey Owl.


I did because of this video! I may post video later. My recommendation is to utilize the YouTube half-speed feature  :Smile:

----------

woodwizard

----------


## Jim Garber

> Experimenting with picking double-strings on mandolin, & backing harmony on faux-'tenor' GDAEB guitar.


Nice playing but I am not sure what you mean by "picking double-strings on mandolin." Don't those of us who play standard 8 strings always pick double strings? Or are you talking about double-stops, meaning picking chords/four strings?

----------


## Jim Garber

> I did because of this video! I may post video later. My recommendation is to utilize the YouTube half-speed feature


The half-speed feature on that video, at least on my computer, sounds like gargling. I try to capture the video (if possible) then run it thru Amazing Slowdowner to a mortal-like speed. Less distortion, tho the youtube method might work OK.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Leviathan Hornpipe.  There is a version on p222 of Ryan's.  A grand, simple tune in G that plays well on the mandolin.  

There is a fiddle version on youtube.

I'm going to try to put it into a medley with a tune in D with the same name, but a different tune, played on pipes on the youtube.

----------


## woodwizard

Found this old-time tune and really like it ... Abe's Retreat... made a quick recording of it ... Cool tune

----------


## gsflink

Thanks Jim.  The banjo I am playing is a 6 string(low bass)from Greg Galbreath of Buckeye banjos.  When I play banjo uke, it is tuned in standard uke tuning GCEA.

----------


## Jim Garber

> I may need to learn this Canadian tune Grey Owl.


BTW this tune was written by Metis fiddler John Arcand. The Berklee version I posted before is very nice but I love that Canadian fiddle lift that is prevalent in both Metis and Quebecois fiddling. it is very good to listent to multiple versions and I always like to find the source for tunes.

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

> Nice playing but I am not sure what you mean by "picking double-strings on mandolin." Don't those of us who play standard 8 strings always pick double strings? Or are you talking about double-stops, meaning picking chords/four strings?


Alternating back and forth between two different strings as a sort of fill effect. Or, I suppose to be more technically accurate, 2 different _pairs_ of strings - say, for instance, if you're going back and forth between the D and A strings. Anyway, my admittedly abnormal family  :Laughing:  has always called it double string picking. Maybe that's what the rest of y'all call cross-picking  :Confused:  or something, not sure (never heard of the word "cross-picking" until seeing it on MandolinCafe a while back, still not quite sure what it refers to, but then there are many other words I hadn't heard of even though I was using the techniques but calling them something else. Lol). I don't know what the most commonly accepted terminology would be. 

(Just saw your post today, otherwise I would've replied sooner.)  :Smile:

----------


## Jess L.

> BTW this tune was written by Metis fiddler John Arcand. The Berklee version I posted before is very nice but I love that Canadian fiddle lift that is prevalent in both Metis and Quebecois fiddling. it is very good to listent to multiple versions and I always like to find the source for tunes.


Thanks Jim, for the Metis version!  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Jim Nollman

Copper Run 
Yellow Barber

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Rdeane

Salt Creek.  I'm learning the mandolin after 50 years of guitar, so just about all the fiddle tunes are new to me on the mandolin.

----------


## mandos&turtles

I've been working on Old Dangerfield, I've got the A and B sections down, I'm still trying to memorize the C part. Once I'm done with OD it'll be on to Forked Deer but there are plenty left on my list of fiddle tunes to memorize

----------


## Jack Roberts

"Gladiator Reel" by George Lowell Tracy (1855-1921)  P. 73 of Ryan's Mammoth.

George Lowell Tracy was a child prodigy and violin virtuoso who had a number of musical achievements, including arranging piano scores for Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas.  Sullivan and Tracy worked together to assign the American copyrights to Tracy in order to protect unauthorized versions of the operettas being performed in the US.  The scheme didn't work in all cases.

He toured the country with the Hanlon Brothers, an act perhaps somewhat like "Cirque du Soleil" of today, but with more pantomime and slapstick comedy, where he composed and directed the music for their act.  

Tracy also pioneered musical therapy for institutionalized children with intellectual impairments. 

I don't know where in the extensive corpus of Tracy's works "Gladiator" might have come from, but I would look first to the Hanlon Brother's acts.  If anybody has a better idea where it came from, please let me know.

----------


## woodwizard

A little mix of me playing my new Gibson J45 Standard and my o6 goldrush
"Possum Up a Gum Stump"

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

> A little mix of me playing my new Gibson J45 Standard and my o6 goldrush
> "Possum Up a Gum Stump"


Fun! Nicely played.  :Mandosmiley:   :Smile:

----------


## Jess L.

"Banish Misfortune", with very strange chords  :Disbelief:  and extra slow!  :Grin:  Played on my favorite instrument, my GDAEB guitar (playing melody on this tune), along with mandolin (simple double stops or actually mostly just open strings). Bass line & light chords by ChordPulse. MuseScore standard notation shown so you can see the oddball chords I chose, in case anyone's curious.  :Grin:  



_(or direct link)_ 

My usual technique lately for learning tunes, is to first write the tune in MuseScore and have that playback on the computer, then simultaneously run Chordpulse to figure out which chords to use for a backing. Below is what that sounded like, just MuseScore + Chordpulse running simultaneously: 



Your browser does not support the audio element.


(There's some debate as to which plays better music, my computer or me.)  :Laughing:  

More info at MandolinCafe Song-A-Week Banish Misfortune page 2.

----------

derbex

----------


## Jim Garber

JL277z: very haunting rendition that tune. I think you may have banished some misfortune already.  :Smile:

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

> JL277z: very haunting rendition that tune. I think you may have banished some misfortune already.


Thanks Jim!  :Mandosmiley:  The sus chords give the eerie feeling at the beginning and middle of each part of the tune, but I tried to make sure to 'resolve' those chords in the last bar of each part, for a 'happy ending' type of thing.  :Smile:

----------


## Scott Rucker

Although this one's not exactly "new" for me, i keep working on the Buddy Thomas tunes, trying to get better on them.  I actually recorded this one just to show off my new mandolin, an Eastman 504 CS I received yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH6KLOpJqA4

----------


## geechee

Billy in the "Lowland" - not Lowground
Brilliancy
Last Night's Fun
Old Mother Flannigan

----------


## Jack Roberts

Telephone Reel.  Ryan's p. 74.
Attributed to C.W. Knowlton.  All I know about Knowlton is he was a violin teacher in Calais, Maine around 1900.  Calais is right on the border with New Brunswick, and there are a number of Knowltons living on both sides of the border. I may make a few pone calls to see if any of them know anything about C.W.

----------


## Anglocelt

The new fiddle tune I would like to learn is the crooked version of Flowers of Edinburgh as played by Bruce Molsky. Does anyone know where I can find the notation?

----------


## Scott Rucker

Black Jack Grove, from Walter McNew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPhckFJ14Cw&t=13s

----------


## Jack Roberts



----------


## RustyMadd

Boston Boy

----------


## yankees1

Off to California

----------


## Jess L.

> The new fiddle tune I would like to learn is the *crooked* version of *Flowers of Edinburgh* as played by *Bruce Molsky*. Does anyone know where I can find the *notation*?


My try at transcribing that tune, based on listening to it at half-speed. No guarantees of accuracy!  :Redface:  The notes with big question-marks over them, are notes that I wasn't quite sure what they were - some of the question-mark notes might be wrong. 

But I *am* certain that the **timing** is *correct*, and yeah it's a "crooked" tune alright, for instance the tune's first part has 9 bars instead of the usual 8. 

Mandolin tab & standard notation for what I'm hearing in the Bruce Molsky version of Flowers of Edinburgh:  

*1. Printable PDF*:




*2.* *TablEdit .tef* file for playback in TablEdit and TEFview: 
flowers-of-edinburgh.tef

That's about as good as I can do with that. 

If someone else would like to improve/correct those files or redo/rewrite them to make them more presentable, that would be great.  :Smile:  Also, maybe someone could make a proper compatible mandolin version, as my transcription is just the fiddle notes which might or might not be 100-percent suitable for mandolin (especially if trying to play at warp speed). I would have added a guitar backing part to the TablEdit .tef file but I'm not sure what chords the Bruce Molsky band is using - it would be a nice improvement if someone could figure out all those chords and add them to the notation.  :Smile:  

References: 
YouTube video of Molsky's Mountain Drifters.Amazon page with single tracks and album.

---
*Edited to add:* 
My transcription is of the first minute and a half or so of the tune, it's both the A & B parts, twice each with what seemed to me like some slight variations (duly notated) the 2nd time. However I didn't get to the stuff they play towards the end of the recording, don't know if it's different or not.

----------

Anglocelt

----------


## AlanN

Cedar Hill

----------


## Jim Garber

> My try at transcribing that tune, based on listening to it at half-speed. No guarantees of accuracy!


Bruce learned that version of the tune from Art Galbraith. You can listen to the original version *here*. I think Bruce's version might be a bit different and probably more regularized.

Thanks and a good try, JL277z (what is your name, anyway?). Frankly, I find it very difficult to learn a tune like that from the dots. You have to live with the crookedness for awhile. If someone played it at an old time jam I can follow after a few rounds, but I really have to pay along with the recording a bunch of times to get it in my head. The dots are helpful to me but not for a tune like this. For me, ear playing is the only way to go.

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

> Bruce learned that version of the tune from Art Galbraith. You can listen to the original version *here*. I think Bruce's version might be a bit different and probably more regularized. ...


Thanks Jim.  :Smile:  That Art Galbraith version does seem a bit different alright. 





> ... Frankly, I find it very difficult to learn a tune like that from the dots. You have to live with the crookedness for awhile. ...


I like both. One or the other by themselves, is difficult. Both together, easier. For me anyway. 




> ... If someone played it at an old time jam I can follow after a few rounds, ...


That's fast!  :Mandosmiley:  Crooked tunes really throw me for a loop, I get so confused by trying to understand the rhythm, that I can't focus very well on the melody. 




> ... but I really have to pay along with the recording a bunch of times to get it in my head. ...


Same here, for normal tunes. (I'm a slow learner nowadays.) For crooked tunes, the process takes even longer. On this particular tune, I didn't even try to get the tune in my head first (might have taken months), I just figured I'd learn as I went along with the 8-note-at-a-time half-speed loops in Audacity.  :Whistling:  




> ... The dots are helpful to me but not for a tune like this. For me, ear playing is the only way to go.


Usually, the only way I can make any sense of 'crooked' tunes is to first chart out the basic rhythm (with a super-simplified melody line to keep track of where I'm at in the tune), figure out where the main beats are, I try to figure out where I think would be the most-likely place to put the barlines (same thing IMO, determines where the main beats are). 

I can understand rhythm better when I can see/visualize it - basically the same as a graph in math class - there's time on the x-axis, and pitch on the y-axis (that's really all that standard music notation is anyway, IMO, just a specialized graph). Makes it easier to understand the rhythmic flow of the tune. 

After determining the basic rhythm, then I go back and try to hear what all of the melody notes are. Sometimes I just play along on an instrument, other times if there are tricky passages that are completely puzzling I might try to write down some/all of the notes I'm hearing. 

When I was first starting out on fiddle and banjo years ago, I wanted literally *every* note I played to be *exactly* the same as my mentors' notes were. I got to a point where I did a lot of precise note-for-note transcribing of fiddle and banjo tunes to try to get the exact same sound in my own playing. That was ok to start with, it's a good foundation I guess, gotta start somewhere. But after a long time of that (years), I found myself making my own little impromptu variations on the tunes, so eventually I would just try to get the general idea of a tune, rather than a precise note-for-note copy of someone else's playing. That's been many years ago, and I'm obviously now very out-of-practice in transcribing stuff.  :Whistling:  

There are some tunes (songs actually, not fiddle dance-tunes) where the 'crookedness' is more subtle and might not even be noticeable at first, but eventually it will become apparent when I tap my feet to the tune and keep getting 'lost' and having to reinitiate the foot-tapping sequence partway through the tune - that shouldn't happen in a non-crooked tune (my foot-tapping tends to be pretty rock solid, it's probably my best musical attribute).  :Laughing:  An example of such a subtle time-weirdness is the Zupfgeigenhansel German folk song "Und in dem Schneegebirge" which I was listening to a few years ago - after a while I noticed I kept 'losing' the beat partway through the tune - what on earth?  :Confused:  So I set about to write down the tune, to try to figure out what was going on with the rhythm. Discovered that one part of the song had one measure that consistently had only 2 beats in it, whereas all the rest of the song had 3 beats  :Disbelief:  per measure (my attempt at notation is shown here at 0:07-0:15, and 0:31-0:39, and 0:55-1:03, and 1:19-1:28)... ok that explains the 'missing' beats, they actually *were* missing!  :Disbelief:   :Laughing:  

Anyway, back to the topic here, my attempt at creating a Bruce Molsky Flowers Of Edinburgh sheet music presented additional challenges for me because I was having trouble determining the *pitch* of quite a few of the notes, a few of them seemed almost like quarter-tones or non-12TET or something, plus the other instruments in the mix made it hard to isolate the fiddle sound. Perhaps the fact that I was using Audacity's half-speed feature might have had something to do with that (I ordinarily use both the non-pitch-shifted version *and* the octave-lower version that I actually prefer), but I've been told that there are better tools for slowing down music. I imagine it would probably be a lot easier to transcribe that tune if one had access to a fiddle-only track, without the other instruments. I've never been very good at isolating individual sounds from prominent background noises, or in this case when there are several instruments, so my difficulty in determining some of the notes might just be the limitations of my own now-elderly ears. 

In any case, it's quite a lovely tune the way Molsky plays it, although I think if I were to actually learn to play it I'd revert it back to a non-crooked version... I'm old and set in my ways, grew up with 'normal' 8-bar (16-bar) dance music, and anything else is probably something I will never quite entirely 'get used to'. 

The one-and-only instance of a 'crooked' fiddle tune I ever encountered as a kid, was a version of some tune that my dad played, he put in a few extra beats even though no one else we knew did, so when playing backup for him we always had to remember to put in those extra beats on that particular tune, otherwise we'd get out-of-sync with his playing. When I got a little older (teenager) and thought I knew everything (lol!), I tried to get him to play that tune 'normal' but he had no interest in doing that, he liked his version, he didn't see anything unusual about it and he didn't want to change it. I was never able to determine if that's the way he had actually learned the tune (he'd learned most of his music down in Texas in the late 1920s and 1930s), or if he'd just somehow inadvertently added the extra beats over years of playing it. That was one of those fiddle tunes that actually *did* have lyrics, which he sometimes liked to sing while playing, and I've noticed that singers seem a lot more likely to enjoy tampering with the rhythm of tunes (adding extra notes, deleting notes, slowing down, speeding up, just generally messing with the rhythm). I guess for songs that's ok, maybe even a good thing sometimes, but not so good for dance music unless there's a specific dance that actually accomodates those timing differences.

----------


## Anglocelt

Thank you so much JL277z for posting that notation; greatly appreciated. I am so used to playing the regular version of Flowers of Edinburgh in sessions I had great difficulty picking up the crooked version by ear. I will now be able to bamboozle/ annoy other sessioners with it. I might even be able to get away with playing it in Edinburgh sessions where, I understand, they are so sick of the original they demand dark forfeits from anyone caught playing it.

Kevin

----------

Jess L.

----------


## lflngpicker

"Off to California" is a fun one I am enjoying.

----------


## Jack Roberts

Pulaski Guards' Reel.

Is it a tune about one of these?

----------


## Jack Roberts

Lamplighter's Hornpipe.  p. 185 of Ryan's Mammoth, p. 17 of Mandolin Player's Pastime.  

(As an introduction to Old Time Mandolin, MPP is a great resource if you can find it.  The photo below is an example of one of the many tunes in the book, most of which seem to come from Ryan's Mammoth but include tablature for persons with that proclivity.)

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Denny Gies

Attempting to learn New Camptown Races.

----------


## woodwizard

[QUOTE=JL277z;1651120]My try at transcribing that tune, based on listening to it at half-speed. No guarantees of accuracy!  :Redface:  The notes with big question-marks over them, are notes that I wasn't quite sure what they were - some of the question-mark notes might be wrong. 

But I *am* certain that the **timing** is *correct*, and yeah it's a "crooked" tune alright, for instance the tune's first part has 9 bars instead of the usual 8. 

Mandolin tab & standard notation for what I'm hearing in the Bruce Molsky version of Flowers of Edinburgh: 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I like your transcription especially the lower string part of it. Here is the way I have been playing it through this transcription which for the most part is very similar to yours but not all. Thanks!

----------

Anglocelt, 

Jess L.

----------


## woodwizard

Here's 4 tunes that I'm working on

Devil in the Haystack
A Bunch of Chickens
Bear Pen Hollow 
and Chinquapin Hunting

----------

Jess L.

----------


## Jess L.

> ... Here is the way I have been playing it through this transcription which for the most part is very similar to yours but not all. Thanks!


Sounds good!  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## woodwizard

Cajun Fiddle

----------


## Jim Nollman

On a  tear right now, learning many new tunes all at once:

Old Mr. Moore
Halifax
Spring Creek
Chilly Winds
John Brown's Dream
Obama's March to the White House
Moonlight
Folding Down the Sheets

----------


## yankees1

> "Off to California" is a fun one I am enjoying.


 Same here !

----------


## Jim Nollman

If any mandolin player reading this thread is going to spend next week at the Centralia Campout, If you see the large round pumpkin colored tent beside the blue-green Prius stop to say hello.

My new tunes this week are:

Old time billy in the low ground
Jaybird

----------


## Papalobo

Ain't no Sunshine - david grisman version 
La Flaca - Jarabe de Palo 
Listen My Son - The Unseen Guest

----------


## RobP

I'm working on Sail Away Ladies, Kenny Baker version with Sharon Gilchrist at the Peghead nation course.  Cool tune

----------


## Jim Nollman

Going to the Free State. The same thing that makes it crooked, also makes it breathtaking.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Going to the Free State. The same thing that makes it crooked, also makes it breathtaking.


This tune?




Sounds like one I have been playing for decades but I learned it as "Avalon Quickstep". See *Fiddler's Companion*:




> AVALON QUICKSTEP. AKA and see "New Charleston No. 1." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Mississippi. D Major. Standard or ADae tunings. AABB (irregular). The melody was first recorded in 1929 by W.T. (Willie) Namour and S.W. Smith, Mississippi musicians, and named for the town of Avalon, Mississippi (the name Avalon is the mythological isle to which King Arthur was borne after his death). The Avalon area was home to a number of influential musicians, including blues guitarist John Hurt and the string band the Mississippi Possum Hunters, who all knew each other (Narmour and Smith helped Hurt to get signed with the OKeh Records). Apparently, the town was so obscure by the latter part of the 20th century that it could only be located with the help of old maps. The alternate title was an attempt by them to cash in on the Charleston dance craze of the 1920's. The 'B' part has ten measures instead of the usual eight. Sources for notated versions: Arm and Hammer String Band (Vermont) [Brody], W.T. Narmour (Miss.) [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddlers Fakebook), 1983; pg. 30. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 16. County 528, Namour and Smith- "Traditional Fiddle Music of Mississippi, vol. 1." Kicking Mule 216, Arm and Hammer String Band‑ "New England Conta Dance Music" (1977).

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## JeffD

> Sounds like one I have been playing for decades but I learned it as "Avalon Quickstep".


Agree.

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## Jim Nollman

My fiddle player also knows this tune as *Avalon Quickstep*. To confuse the issue more, there's  a completely different tune named *Gone to the Freestate. 
*
There are so many tunes hogging the same name, for instance the 4 unique tunes I  play named *Lady of the Lake*. I've also come across tunes that have more than one name, like the jig *Dusty Bob* also called *Jack is Alive*. 

Can someone explain to me how  *Going to the Freestate* attracted two names? On the one hand, I suspect the Free State name could be the original, since it has a Civil War context. On the other hand, the mere fact that the tune is in the key of C  has significance, since almost all the C tunes I play, and especially string band tunes from Mississippi,  display direct influence from either ragtime or trad jazz.

Does anyone know what a "quickstep" dance actually looks like?

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## Jim Garber

Avalon Quickstep, at least the version I know is in the key of D. 

*Avalon Quickstep mp3 by Narmour & Smith*

As far as tune names I would imagine that fiddlers like those today confuse or forget the names of the tunes so tell each other the wrong names and those get carried on over time. "I learned this tune called 'Going to the Freestate' from Mandolinning Jim Nollmand who learned it from... blah, blah"

Quickstep article *here*.

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## soliver

After meeting David Mold to give his Silverangel a try, I watched a couple of his YouTube videos I fell in love with the tune Liza Jane. Many thanks to Barron Collins-Hill and Mandolessons for his lesson on this tune.

David's version:
https://youtu.be/oNovt-Re6hM



Good stuff for sure!

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## Jim Nollman

Thanks Jim Garber for the extra info. Heres my own take. The original tune was entitled Going to the Freestate, in the key of C, likely  composed either by a slave or someone in sympathy with slaves, and given a title that evokes a free state where a slave would be a free man. But the tune was gorgeous, with a nice snap for dancing, and so it lasted, and was picked up by a white string band in the Deep South sometime in the 1920s to play dances where the quickstep was becoming popular. Obviously they wouldnt play a tune entitled Going to the Freestate, so they simplified it, changed the name to Avalon Quickstep, and changed the key to D.

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## yankees1

Cold Frosty Morning

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## A 4

> My fiddle player also knows this tune as *Avalon Quickstep*. To confuse the issue more, there's  a completely different tune named *Gone to the Freestate. 
> *


Oh, we can confuse it more than that.  There is a tune called "Going to the Free State" by John Ashby and the Free State Ramblers:
https://fieldrecorder.bandcamp.com/t...the-free-state

In that recording he says he wrote it.  The Free State in this context is part of central Virginia.  The story I heard is that when John Marshall bought the land, the tenants figured they had never agreed to pay him rent, and so declared themselves a "Free State."  You get there by taking exit 27 off of Interstate 66, and head south on the Free State Road.

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## doc holiday

John Hartford's "Homer the Roamer"

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## Jim Garber

Working on Tomahawk I think by Tommy Jackson. Mostly playing on fiddle since it is a great dance tune and I have a square dance gig coming up.

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## yankees1

Off to California and San Antonio Rose  !

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## Jess L.

"Western Country", a fiddle tune I will be re-learning after having not played it for a bunch of decades. I wrote my own arrangement in MuseScore (video below), to give me something to follow along with while trying to relearn to play it. Not yet tested on actual instruments - I wrote the guitar part for a standard-tuned 6-string guitar, but I don't currently own such a guitar (both my guitars are permanently tuned in 5ths like a mandolin but an octave lower, imagine that!  :Grin:  lol). My arrangement also has an oldtime banjo part, but I don't have a functional banjo right now either (I bought a cheap new low-quality banjo earlier this year, it needs the frets leveled before I can seriously play the silly thing, haven't got around to it yet). Although the banjo part I wrote here is the way I remember playing it when much younger.  

The chords are intentionally wild,  :Disbelief:   :Grin:  I like them that way, IMO it more closely matches the hard-to-define oldtime banjo harmonies I was accustomed to hearing with this sort of tune. 

MIDI playback of my MuseScore arrangement: 



_(or direct link to video)_

It's intentionally slower and bouncier ("swing" rhythm) compared to how I started out playing fiddle tunes. I used to have a bad habit of sometimes tearing through tunes at warp 10 with probably insufficient attention to detail, but my new 'thing' is to slow down a little and work on details. When I get around to actually playing this tune on real instruments, I will likely play it at about the same speed as in the video, instead of a faster speed that's probably more common.  

I'm mulling over the idea of getting a "low D whistle"  :Mandosmiley:  to play the basic melody on... I'm already ok with the required "piper's grip" on such instruments, so it might be something that would work for this tune. I've wanted a new low-pitched wind instrument for a few years now, and this might be as good an excuse as any to acquire one.  :Grin:  

This tune also goes by other names. As far as I can tell, "Western Country", and "Susanna Gal", and "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" are all the same melody. The latter was a MandolinCafe Song-a-Week tune in August 2018. 

P.S.: This writing down of multi-part arrangements prior to playing them, is something new that I've been exploring the last year or so. I never used to do that, I used to just keep playing until I had the sound I wanted. The only time I used to write things down was if someone asked me for notation or tab on how to play something, or if I wanted a reference for my own uses so I wouldn't forget how tunes started out. I like to experiment with new things, and this written-arrangement stuff is still somewhat of a novelty for me, and kind of fun to tinker with as well.

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## Jim Garber

Those chords sound very much what a contradance pianist might do on this tune. The arrangement sounds pretty good and I like the swing feel. Of course, the midi makes me feel like I am on a carousel.  :Smile:

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Jess L.

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## Jess L.

> Those chords sound very much what a contradance pianist might do on this tune. The arrangement sounds pretty good and I like the swing feel. Of course, the midi makes me feel like I am on a carousel.


Thanks Jim!  :Mandosmiley:   :Smile:  

Yeah the MIDI sound quality is not exactly optimal. I'm still in the process of getting used to it. 

A while back, I did install an optional free soundfont which adds a bunch more 'instrument' choices, in addition to the default MuseScore soundfont, but it's kinda like cable TV - it gives a person a lot more options but it also takes a lot longer to scroll through all of 'em, only to determine that all the choices still kinda suck  :Whistling:   :Laughing:  in different ways.

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## lflngpicker

Billy in the Lowground is my most recent one...

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## Jim Nollman

The Salvation. I'm not sure of its origin. lots of room for adding filagree.

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## AlanN

Cincinnati Rag. The relentless circle of fifths allows for some serious improv.

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## Jim Garber

> The Salvation. I'm not sure of its origin. lots of room for adding filagree.


I always like your taste in tunes. Got a source for the dots or video or sound file?

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## Jim Nollman

My wife Katy learned The Salvation first on frailing banjo. Sounds great on banjo. Then i got onboard, putting in the Amazing Slow Downer and adding a bit more old time drive and less Celtic push. The tune is a shape shifter. There's another version on Youtube that reminds me of ska. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTh9RDId1No

 i tried putting the web address into the youtube tag, but it didn't show up.  The tag must be different than the address.

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## fatt-dad

last night I picked up my mandolin and played a few old chestnuts - stuff I often use for warm up.  Then my fingers started playing some melody I just had up there in storage.  Something I hadn't played for likely 10 years.  Just out from the ether.  I enjoyed playing it, but couldn't recall where, when or how I learned it.  I had that feeling it wasn't a jam tune.  Later on I then realized I was playing, "Twinkle Little Star," which is sort of a Texas fiddle tune.

I need to really relearn that melody!  It's one of those all 4 strings and the full first position tunes.

f-d

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## Jim Garber

> My wife Katy learned The Salvation first on frailing banjo. Sounds great on banjo. Then i got onboard, putting in the Amazing Slow Downer and adding a bit more old time drive and less Celtic push. The tune is a shape shifter. There's another version on Youtube that reminds me of ska. 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTh9RDId1No
> 
>  i tried putting the web address into the youtube tag, but it didn't show up.  The tag must be different than the address.


Thanks, Jim. I always like your taste in tunes. That is a great version but it might be a bit difficult to get that snakiness on the mandolin, fun, though, to try. I did find the tune on *The Session*.

Actually according to the notes on The Session it is a composed tune from the Orkney Islands near Scotland. Here's a rollicking version starting at around 2:15.

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## Jim Nollman

> Thanks, Jim. I always like your taste in tunes. That is a great version but it might be a bit difficult to get that snakiness on the mandolin, fun, though, to try. I did find the tune on *The Session*.
> 
> Actually according to the notes on The Session it is a composed tune from the Orkney Islands near Scotland. Here's a rollicking version starting at around 2:15.


Thanks Jim. Actually, this video reaffirms my own sense that each tune sound best when performed with respect to its own innate tempo. I've never been a big fan of musicians who push the speed of  tunes to express their own prowess. In this tune, it is the snakiness you mention,  that elevates it above the mechanical repetition on display here, and which these performers happily sacrifice in pursuit of the highest possible  BPM. 

I am NOT saying don't play anything at a high BPM. Lots of  tunes make ample room for high speed. Woodchoppers Reel, for just one example, tends to fly when its played at a fast tempo. 

I recommend taking a listen to The Salvation by Eric Eid-Reiner which has an inspired piano rhythm that could have been borrowed from Steely Dan, and which plays well off the "one" and which pushes that snakiness to its fullest. 

One other comment that will win me no fans. I sometimes wonder if most bluegrass players and their fans treat speed as the only valid measure of their own virtuosity. That same virtuosity of speed seems to be the only thing that differentiates the pros from everybody else who plays those same tunes.  When speed is the main thing going on at a concert, the musicians also seem to be saying: to hell with the idea of presenting each tune's innate musical qualities.

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Lappy

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## Jim Garber

> One other comment that will win me no fans. I sometimes wonder if most bluegrass players and their fans treat speed as the only valid measure of their own virtuosity. That same virtuosity of speed seems to be the only thing that differentiates the pros from everybody else who plays those same tunes.  When speed is the main thing going on at a concert, the musicians also seem to be saying: to hell with the idea of presenting each tune's innate musical qualities.


Actually the amazing players I know sound much slower than they appear. Maybe it is that they are completely relaxed in their execution. Thile is one, of course and Reischman, Grisman as well. I also saw Carlo Aonzo recently and he falls into that category.

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## Jim Nollman

Actually, I totally agree with you. These great players players never rush it at any speed, which is one of the things I suppose  makes them great. They have mastered the ability to relax into whatever speed they seek to play, and without  pushing the envelope to the extent of slurring, if not eliminating, the optimum expression of any tune.

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## Jim Nollman

Sweet Nell
Setauket

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## Charles E.

After posting a video of Carl Jones playing "oldtime pigeon on the gate" in another thread, I was so taken by it that it is my next tune to learn. It's a D tune with a C chord (gotta love those) and is just a little crooked.

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## Denny Gies

Finally got Back Up And Push down.

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## Jim Garber

> After posting a video of Carl Jones playing "oldtime pigeon on the gate" in another thread, I was so taken by it that it is my next tune to learn. It's a D tune with a C chord (gotta love those) and is just a little crooked.


One of my long time favorites in sub-genre (D tune with C chords) is pretty close to John Summers' *Dusty Miller*. No relation to the other Dusty Millers, though. I think I originally learned it from one of the Fuzzy Mountain String Band LPs. They probably learned it from John Summers.

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## yankees1

Woodchoppers Breakdown !

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## DeeDee44

Under the Double Eagle

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## soliver

East Tennessee Blues.... very raggy

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## Jim Nollman

Valse a deux temps

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## Jim Garber

> Valse a deux temps


Any links to that specific tune? Valse a deux temps seems to be a generic term for a waltz in two beats. I like your taste in tunes which is why I am bothering you.  :Smile:

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## Jim Nollman

Hi Jim,  I have tried, although so far, failed to locate a recorded source for this cajun waltz, at least not on spotify or itunes. I haven't been overly thorough, so it may be there but hidden. Ironically, I have found several tunes with this name, but none of them are actually waltzes. Go figure. 

The fiddler in my band found the tune in a book of old time waltzes last week. The rest of the band has  been quick to figure out parts, to create a stomping groove to it. The fiddle plays the melody straight, and I add a syncopated harmony on mandolin that instills some of that essential Cajun rhythm. Our banjo player, who usually dislikes waltzes because she only ever gets to add a simple chord rhythm, really likes this one because the Cajun groove opens it up to her clawhammer style.

If we ever get around to recording it, I'll post it here.

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## Jim Garber

Well, you gave me a hint, that it is a Cajun tune. The French name or term for the dance indicates that it is a Two-Step Waltz whch is why it is not the usual kind marked in 3 beats per measure. I assume it is this one:

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Dave Sheets

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## Jim Nollman

It is not that one. But thanks for educating me to the existence of the two step waltz. I've only ever associated waltzes with 3/4 time. 

Here's the tune I learned, from Youtube. I have attached that website address, since I simply can't figure out how to embed the video via the Cafe's Youtube button.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le9d-dk0QYc

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## Jim Garber

Hah! Actually that is a 3 beat Cajun waltz, at least the way I hear it. The emphasis is probably different than standard contradance waltzes. Nice tune!

For embedding youtube videos I just click that next to last icon above and past into the line that says "Enter your video clip URL below". Like this:

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chuck3

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## yankees1

Woodchopper's Breakdown

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## Jim Nollman

snake hunt
Jaybird

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## wormpicker

Oh, I love to play Snake Hunt (aka L’Ville) on fiddle (I. Cross-A).  I just tried it on my mando, which made me realized it’s a great exercise for alternative picking because it’s so syncopated. The B part is especially tricky, rhythmically.  It can be a real jam buster because the B part ties everyone in knots.

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## Anglocelt

The Salvation Reel is a great tune, composed by Simon Bradley, one of the many great 'Manchester Irish' musicians on the current British Isles folk scene. The second tune in the Wrigley Sisters' set is also of English origin, the Hawk, composed by the great (long dead) Tyneside fiddler, James Hill.

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## erichkopp

Lots of good tunes in here! 

Pikes Peak
Loat Indian (in D, ala Foghorn Stringband)
Take Me Back to Georgia
Texas Fair (Leake County Revelers)

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## Jim Garber

> snake hunt


That's a good one. And this recording even has mandolin.

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chuck3, 

Jim Nollman

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## Jim Nollman

Who's the mandolin player in the recording (above) of Snake Hunt. Is the tune French Canadian? 

I'm also playing the heck out of Pikes Peak in gigs. It sounds especially good as a duet between mandolin and banjo. I expect we'll perform it as part of a C set of our next Contra dance. The set is: Denver Gals/Pikes Peak/Saturday Night Breakdown.

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## Jim Garber

> Who's the mandolin player in the recording (above) of Snake Hunt. Is the tune French Canadian? 
> 
> I'm also playing the heck out of Pikes Peak in gigs. It sounds especially good as a duet between mandolin and banjo. I expect we'll perform it as part of a C set of our next Contra dance. The set is: Denver Gals/Pikes Peak/Saturday Night Breakdown.


Usually Lynn "Chirps" Smith plays mandolin IIRC. He also is an ace fiddler for the *Volo Bogtrotters*, a Chicago-based old time band. I believe that Fred Campeau wrote the tune and is another member of the band.

This would not be an ideal tune for a contra dance.  :Smile: 

Here is another wonderful tune, *Fancy Creek*, also composed by Fred Campeau and played by my good friends and occasional band members Harry Bolick and Brian Slattery.

---------
My current tune to work on is Grey Owl by John Arcand. Another thread reminded me how much i like this tune. Another delightfully crooked tune.

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Jess L.

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## erichkopp

> Who's the mandolin player in the recording (above) of Snake Hunt. Is the tune French Canadian? 
> 
> I'm also playing the heck out of Pikes Peak in gigs. It sounds especially good as a duet between mandolin and banjo. I expect we'll perform it as part of a C set of our next Contra dance. The set is: Denver Gals/Pikes Peak/Saturday Night Breakdown.


Ahh yes! Saturday Night Breakdown is one I've been meaning to learn. Those Mississippi tunes are a hoot.

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## Jim Garber

> I'm also playing the heck out of Pikes Peak in gigs. It sounds especially good as a duet between mandolin and banjo. I expect we'll perform it as part of a C set of our next Contra dance. The set is: Denver Gals/Pikes Peak/Saturday Night Breakdown.


I play Pike's Peak and Saturday Night Breakdown but what is Denver Gals? Is it the same as Denver Belle?

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## Jim Nollman

> I play Pike's Peak and Saturday Night Breakdown but what is Denver Gals? Is it the same as Denver Belle?


Sorry, yes, its denver belle.  :Disbelief:

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## Jim Garber

> Sorry, yes, it’s denver belle.


One of my favorite versions on mandolin as played by Marc McGlashan:

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Anglocelt, 

doc holiday, 

Jim Nollman, 

Kevin Winn

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## wormpicker

Yes, Im pretty sure thats Chirps playing mandolin on that LVille recording.  Chirps is great.  Hes a regular every summer at my local old-time festival (Rocky Mountain Old-Time Music Festival, CROMA) and jams with everyone.  Heres one from  couple summers ago:
https://youtu.be/JPJF6bo77e8

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## Jim Garber

Yeah, I met him and played in some jams at Wheatland and Hiawatha Festivals in Michigan in the 1980s. Nice guy, too.

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## MikeZito

> Attempting to learn New Camptown Races.


Does this song count as a fiddle tune?   If so, it's the only one that I have ever played:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT0unfsVgy4

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## goose 2

Poppycock by Andrew Marlin

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## wormpicker

Sweet Nell: https://youtu.be/DLO0y8y6BmU  and 

Pagosa Hornpipe:  https://youtu.be/4ORfmaxL_Zw

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## mmuller

Working my way through the John Hartford book. Happy birthday John!

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Mike Black

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## Jim Nollman

*Sweet Marie*

This one has an interesting syncopation that made me question whether it was crooked or not. Actually, I think it depends on how you decide to play it. I'm trying it in a set along with *Sweet Nell* and *Tipping Back the Corn*.

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## Mike Black

> *Sweet Marie*
> 
> This one has an interesting syncopation that made me question whether it was crooked or not. Actually, I think it depends on how you decide to play it. I'm trying it in a set along with *Sweet Nell* and *Tipping Back the Corn*.


This Sweet Marie?  

https://youtu.be/iYOE5fDSZho

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Jim Roberts, 

yankees1

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## wormpicker

> This Sweet Marie?  
> 
> https://youtu.be/iYOE5fDSZho


I think Howard has straightened it out in this video. When I've played it in jams, it usually has (an annoying, IMO) extra beat (or is it two beats) at the beginning of the B part. I normally love crooked tunes, but I don't see where the extra beat(s) in this one adds anything. But I do like the tune!

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## Jim Nollman

Yes Mike Black. It’s that one. Nice version too.

  I learned it with that extra beat before the B part mentioned by wormpicker. Played either way, it’s impossible to stop hearing it inside my head right now.

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Jim Roberts

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## yankees1

Woodchopper's Breakdown !

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## AlanN

Crazy Creek. Popular way back, has come back around.

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## JPS

Started on The Eighth of January last night. It's only maybe the 6th or 7th song I've learned, but I'm surprised at how much more quickly each one comes.

Now if I could just learn to redline my voice like ol' Johnny Horton does.

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## Scott Rucker

I've been polishing on this one, Frank George's Dusty Miller (not to be confused with the several other tunes by the same name), for a while and am finally happy with my playing on it.
https://soundcloud.com/scott-rucker-...8/dusty-miller

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## Bob Buckingham

Nice job Scott, hope to cross paths with you soon for more tunes.  My latest tunes are Pleasure House Rag and Jonah in the Windstorm, among others.  They keep piling up.

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Scott Rucker

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## Jim Garber

> I've been polishing on this one, Frank George's Dusty Miller (not to be confused with the several other tunes by the same name), for a while and am finally happy with my playing on it.
> https://soundcloud.com/scott-rucker-...8/dusty-miller


One of my favorites and I have been playing it for years. However, I think I might have strayed a bit and put my own flavors into it. I just listened to your rendition and then found Frank George video on YouTube and might revisit his version. Thanks. I love this thread. I have uncovered or re-covered a bunch of tunes here. Thanks to all.

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## Scott Rucker

Jim, I will admit that I learned it as much from the fiddling of friends Dave Bing and Danny Arthur as I did from Frank George.  And, yes, this thread has several times reminded me of "orphaned" tunes that I had forgotten.

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## Jim Nollman

Is it possible to play an old time tune over any period of time and not add your own flavors to it?

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## Jim Garber

> Is it possible to play an old time tune over any period of time and not add your own flavors to it?


Good question. None of us is immune to the folk process, though, and unless as players we go back to listen to the original source, there is no doubt that we will make the tune own own. Nothing wrong with that.

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## Jess L.

> Is it possible to play an old time tune over any period of time and not add your own flavors to it?


No.  :Grin:   :Smile:  




> Good question. None of us is immune to the folk process, though, and unless as players we go back to listen to the original source, there is no doubt that we will make the tune own own. Nothing wrong with that.


Yes.  :Mandosmiley:

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## Charles E.

Just learned "Squirrel Hunters" and "Squirrel Heads and Gravy" to play as a medley. If your gonna kill em you gotta eat em, right?

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Jim Garber, 

Scott Rucker

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## Scott Rucker

As far as tunes changing, I very much agree with the comments above.  I would also add that it's helpful to not be tied to a certain arrangement or phrasing of a tune when playing with others, don't stick with your "right" way when it doesn't fit in with what others around you at the time are doing.  Since people play them a little differently, learning to hear and pick up those differences is a beneficial skill.  The others in the jam will appreciate it and it will sound better, especially if the jam is one of those where everybody goes for the melody at once.  I will admit that it can be a difficult thing and even after over twenty years of playing fiddle tunes with people I'm only successful at it sometimes.  I find that trying to play along with unfamiliar tunes or versions of tunes from CDs or whatever helps develop the skill.  Sorry for not sticking to the subject of this thread.

To help bring it back, below is my version of one of my favorite tunes from one of my favorite local fiddlers, JP Fraley's Steptown.  Although it isn't new to me, I love to share the tune with others bc I like it so much.  I think it is a great example of his style.
Me playing it:  https://soundcloud.com/scott-rucker-202243268/steptown
JP Fraley fiddling it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_iJ4KX_BQ4

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Charles E., 

Jim Garber

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## Jim Garber

Scott: JP was and still is one of my very favorite fiddlers. I met him years ago at the Brandywine Festival in Maryland in the 1980s. Sweet man and an equally sweet fiddler. I play his “Sail Away Ladies” and “Wild Rose of the Mountain” among others for years.

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Scott Rucker

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## Scott Rucker

I knew him but not well.  I grew up about 15 minutes from where he lived when I was a kid and didn't even know he played music.  He and my grandfather once worked in the same coal mine when he was young.  Yes, a great guy who had such a sweet, playful style.  I play several of his tunes, too, including both of the ones you mentioned. When I tried to learn to fiddle, his Little Liza Jane was the one tune I could play that actually sounded like my source.

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## Jim Nollman

Have to mention JP Fraley's  *Annadean's Waltz.* As playful as it gets. And a big favorite whenever we pull it out at a contra dance, turning ever so slightly dissonant as the tune goes through its fourth or fifth runaround. Also like to play the crooked tune *On the Road to Maysville*. 

Never heard Stepdown before. I just fed it into the hopper of the Amazing Slow Downer  to learn next.

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Jim Garber, 

Scott Rucker

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## Jim Garber

> Have to mention JP Fraley's  *Annadean's Waltz.* As playful as it gets. And a big favorite whenever we pull it out at a contra dance, turning ever so slightly dissonant as the tune goes through its fourth or fifth runaround. Also like to play the crooked tune *On the Road to Maysville*. 
> 
> Never heard Stepdown before. I just fed it into the hopper of the Amazing Slow Downer  to learn next.


Maysville is on my list, too. A great tune.

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## Scott Rucker

Here's my Maysville as of a couple of years ago, perhaps a little too fast.  Another great tune, one of my faves, but a big time jam buster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qq7Kwh-wPc

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## Jack Roberts

Excelsior Hornpipe.  Ryan's p 172

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## ABrown

I've been playing Cazadero a lot lately, Reischman not Thile. I like it better at 115 bpm than 160, and I can't play it that fast anyway!

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## Jim Nollman

Grey Owl
StepTown

Step town is relatively a quick learn, and with such  a gorgeous b part. Thanks for mentioning it here.

Finally getting around to learning Grey Owl after playing it with fiddler Vivian Williams who recently visited for a weekend. It’s Métis in origin, but reminds me of some of the Scottish tunes I know. It’s also crooked in the A part. I found two versions of it to feed into ASD and,  wouldn’t you know it, Each of the two puts the crooked addition in a different location. After trying each, I’ve decided to focus on the Molsky rendition, but only because the melody is played straightforwardly, without the Cajun syncopation of the version by the Onlies. Learning the fingering, with its necessary pull-offs reminds me a bit of Rights of Man. I have a feeling that comparison is not a coincidence.

----------


## Jim Garber

There is a thread on this tune. I am on my phone otherwise I would post a link.

John Arcand, a virtuoso Métis fiddler wrote this tune. I would learn it from his recording.

Grey Owl

----------


## Cary Fagan

Here's my version of "Old Buck."  I might be a little late hitting that high B flat.
https://youtu.be/jpUqHi6yzVU

----------


## Cary Fagan

And here's my "Ways of the World."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XffKKfXAH-o

----------


## Jim Garber

Cary: that is one of my very favorites. I have been playing a bunch of A tunes that I normally play in cross tuning on the fiddle. I like the sound of the mandolin in A and in standard tuning. Working on some inspired by you folks. Sweet Marie, Ways of the World, and Grey Owl. Diving lately also into Wine’s Delight, Salty River Reel, Half Past Four, Bitter Creek and Wake Up Susan.

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## Jim Nollman

Here’s an essay about the various ways to learn fiddle tunes, which much to say about notation versus ear learning. I’m a full time ear learner and also a believer in improvising the nuance. 

http://oldtime-central.com/a-reasone...oldtime-music/

----------

Jess L., 

Jim Garber, 

Jim Roberts

----------


## Jim Garber

> Here’s an essay about the various ways to learn fiddle tunes, which much to say about notation versus ear learning. I’m a full time ear learner and also a believer in improvising the nuance. 
> 
> http://oldtime-central.com/a-reasone...oldtime-music/


I learned fiddle and mandolin mostly by ear and always ingest these tunes from the ether. OTOH I am an avid reader so I combine both sources. Sometimes what I hear from an original source differs what someone else hears and notates, so I take that into consideration when shaping my learning.

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## AlanN

Notes/tab, with ear work for me. Last summer, Don Stiernberg had us read sheets (had notes and tab) for the jazz tune Four Brothers. I could plow ahead fairly well and smoothly by reading the tab, all along keeping the tune's melody in my head, so both ear and notes/tab came into play.

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## Scott Rucker

Here's the latest one I'm working on.  I got this from a couple of different sources but never could find a recording of the alleged source musician, Estil (sometimes Estill) Adams, playing it.  I read that it's published in the Milliner-Koken Collection but I haven't seen the transcription.

https://soundcloud.com/scott-rucker-...on-court-house

----------


## Jim Garber

> Here's the latest one I'm working on.  I got this from a couple of different sources but never could find a recording of the alleged source musician, Estil (sometimes Estill) Adams, playing it.  I read that it's published in the Milliner-Koken Collection but I haven't seen the transcription.
> 
> https://soundcloud.com/scott-rucker-...on-court-house


Scott: Milliner-Koken has Jeff Goehring as the source for this tune. You can hear and download an mp3 of him playing it *here*.

That is the *Slippery-Hill site* which has a large collection of old time soundfiles from various sources. And excellent resource. If you start using it be sure to donate to the site.

I never heard of Estill Adams. There is a fiddler named Estill Bingham, but I don't see any reference to his playing that tune.

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## Scott Rucker

Goehring learned tunes from recordings of Adams that Jeff made himself.  This is supposed to be one of those tunes, like Putney Run and Cincinnati Hornpipe.  I got it from some friends that include Henry Barnes.

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## Jim Garber

Goehring did a bunch of field recordings of Ohio fiddlers. Some of those are issued through our site, *Field Recorders Collective* but none of Estil Adams. It is funny that the source of that tune is not mentioned in the Milliner-Koken book. I can find out more info. These are the *Goehring recordings* on FRC.

----------

Scott Rucker

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## Scott Rucker

I have his Jimmy Wheeler recordings and love them.

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## Jack Roberts

Hello, everybody.  I just started on "First Night in Leadville", Ryan's Mammoth p42.  Norman Blake does a version of this delightful tune (on guitar) on his album "Far Away Down on a Georgia Farm"  You can find it on Youtube.

----------

Don Grieser

----------


## Cary Fagan

My attempt at the Rebels Raid. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjEktlW_N-I

----------


## CavScout

Gina Lisa
L&N Rag

----------


## Jim Nollman

Nate Payne’s great big Taters. It’s seems to sound much fuller when I use double stops whenever I can manage it.

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## Don Grieser

> Hello, everybody.  I just started on "First Night in Leadville", Ryan's Mammoth p42.  Norman Blake does a version of this delightful tune (on guitar) on his album "Far Away Down on a Georgia Farm"  You can find it on Youtube.


Great tune. I started in on it too. Norman's version is so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J_1s1iKGO4

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## CavScout

Gina Lisa
9 Miles Outside Louisville

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## tkmaze

Old Grimes
Fisher's Hornpipe

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## tmsweeney

Czar of Russia's Hornpipe, and Tuttle's Reel - both from the James Bryan Lookout Blues record

Red Lion Hornpipe - from the James Bryan First of May record.

----------

Jim Garber, 

Mike Black

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## Jim Garber

> Czar of Russia's Hornpipe, and Tuttle's Reel - both from the James Bryan Lookout Blues record
> 
> Red Lion Hornpipe - from the James Bryan First of May record.


I love James Bryan’s choice of tunes. Gotta check those out.

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## tmsweeney

> I love James Bryans choice of tunes. Gotta check those out.


Czar and Red lion are both in Cole's 1001 Fiddle tunes 

Which Norman referenced on some liner notes somewhere....

Tuttle's was not hard to find on line and has a surprisingly similar form to Czar

I think James couples Czar with Atlanta Hornpipe (also in Cole's) and Ole Bull's Hornpipe
I think Ole Bull was a popular 19th century fiddler.


He couples Red Lion with Thunder Hornpipe (also in Cole's)

Take's Youtube Bluegrass Album channel has both of James Records posted.
I had them both on vinyl but lost them in the shuffle of life.

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## Jim Nollman

step around johnny. Has there ever been a funkier tune?

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## tmsweeney

So I got this new (to me) Octave and was trying different things on it when I "automatically" started playing this melody on it , and I wasn't sure what it was and then I naturally went to the B part and got it mostly the first rip. Turned out to be "Kennedy Rag". I had just heard it the other day, but never really played it, at least I don't recall ever playing it. It is the opening tune on Norman Blake and the Rising Fawn String Ensemble's "Full Moon on the Farm" album. I recall Norman mentioning visiting old radio stations around the Chattanooga region and trying to learn tunes off the old 78's. Kennedy Rag was one of those tunes. So I guess I am working on it now!

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## Jim Garber

> So I got this new (to me) Octave and was trying different things on it when I "automatically" started playing this melody on it , and I wasn't sure what it was and then I naturally went to the B part and got it mostly the first rip. Turned out to be "Kennedy Rag". I had just heard it the other day, but never really played it, at least I don't recall ever playing it. It is the opening tune on Norman Blake and the Rising Fawn String Ensemble's "Full Moon on the Farm" album. I recall Norman mentioning visiting old radio stations around the Chattanooga region and trying to learn tunes off the old 78's. Kennedy Rag was one of those tunes. So I guess I am working on it now!


Hmmmm. It must be something in the air. I have been exploring tunes played in F and Bb lately. Of the old time ones, Kennedy Rag is tops on my list. I avoided those keys for years especially on fiddle but I was playing a Québécois tune in Bb ("Reel du Pêcheur") the other day and getting somewhere. I used to play Dallas Rag in F on the mandolin or mandolin-banjo.

You can hear the original Stripling Brother's version of Kennedy Rag *here*.

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tmsweeney

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## tmsweeney

Thanks I've already written out a crude version in muse (Norman gets quite ornamental) - haven't stopped playing it all day - I will try to play other tunes, but then my mind just wanders into Kennedy Rag, infectious! I think he credited it to Ellis Hall ( at least the version he learned) on the liner notes ?

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## Jim Nollman

When I was playing contra dance music more often, our band always found room to play the very lively set of  Ross's Reel followed by  Bachelder's Reel,  both in F. Both Scottish. 

I believe U]High Up on Tug[/U] is traditionally played in F. My banjo playing wife asked me to transpose it to G where it has lived forever after.  

And let's not forget the Scott Joplin-like President Garfield's Hornpipe in Bb. This one is  a challenge, jumping across octaves in an odd key, and best mastered if we include the  second and even third position.  I recommend it to anyone interested in expanding their reach.

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## Jim Garber

> I believe U]High Up on Tug[/U] is traditionally played in F. My banjo playing wife asked me to transpose it to G where it has lived forever after.


All the versions i have found online seem to be in G from West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons. I have been noticing that a lot of old time players are tuning their instruments down a step and that might be what you are (possibly) hearing for that tune.

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## Joe Dodson

I know it's an old one for most of you all, but I just heard Chinckapin Hunting for the first time a few weeks ago and fell in love with it.  I've been picking it non-stop on guitar.  If you have recommendations of good tunes to pair it with, or good versions I should check out for mandolin I'd enjoy hearing them.  Thanks

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## Niavlys

> ..., or good versions I should check out for mandolin I'd enjoy hearing them.  Thanks


Here is a great solo mandolin version from Greg Clarke, at the Portland Old-time Music Gathering:

----------

Jim Nollman

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## Joe Dodson

Beautiful.  Love the sound of his mandolin too.  Am I right in thinking he's playing three parts to the tune?  I've found it as a two part tune played in D.  A friend of mine located a three-part version played out of A, maybe similar to this one.  I didn't sit down with the mandolin and try to figure it out, but it looks like he's playing it out of D to me.

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## Niavlys

> Beautiful.  Love the sound of his mandolin too.  Am I right in thinking he's playing three parts to the tune?  I've found it as a two part tune played in D.  A friend of mine located a three-part version played out of A, maybe similar to this one.  I didn't sit down with the mandolin and try to figure it out, but it looks like he's playing it out of D to me.


Oh right, I should have asked you which Chinquapin Hunting it was about, they are two different tunes, unrelated as far as I know. The D tune has two parts and is more played in bluegrass circles (though I think it would work just as well as an old-time tune). The A tune is a very popular old-time tune and has three parts. That's the one he's playing here, and he does play it in A and with the three parts.

Ok so here are a few mandolin versions of the D Chinquapin Hunting that I like:

Eric Robertson & Dominick Leslie jamming:



Adam Steffey (recording):



Adam Steffey & Sierra Hull jamming:

----------

Jim Nollman, 

John Van Zandt

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## Jim Nollman

Coleman's March. Such a lovely tune. 

Plus two Cajun tunes in preparation for an  upcoming session. 

la Maraine 
Reel de Nonc Will.

----------

Jim Roberts

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## dulcillini

I am working on Woodchopper Breakdown and Forked Deer.  They are proving to be a bit challenging.  I am experiencing difficulty keeping my pick direction consistent, especially when I try to add ornamentation.  I just seem to fly off the track at that point.

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## yankees1

Woodchopper's Breakdown in key of D

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## Jim Garber

Old Time: Taylor Quickstep (F/C), Kennedy Rag (F), Sweet Marie (A), Jonah in the Windstorm (D), Sailing Over England (D)
Québécois: Reel du Semeur (D), Reel du Pecheur (Bb), Reel St Joseph (D), Louis’ First Tune (G), La Tuque Bleue (F)

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## Jim Nollman

Just returned from The Centralia campout. Who knew my mandolin would sound so much at home playing with a traditional Cajun Band? My head and fingers are now abuzz with so many new tunes to learn. It seems the more old time tunes I master, the more I wonder if there are any musical boundaries to this increasingly sophisticated genre.

Newcastle Texas (as unpredictably crooked as something by Thelonious Monk)
Valley Forge (the throbbing melody reminds me more of Stravinsky than Appalachia) 
Salt Spring 

Thanks for your list, above, Jim Garber. I've been listening to a Quebecois CD almost every day this month.

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## tmsweeney

+1 Kennedy Rag!

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## dulcillini

Where is music to Blake's March posted?  I have been playing it by ear for some time, but not sure if I have it right.  Thanks

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## Jess L.

> Where is music to Blake's March posted?  I have been playing it by ear for some time, but not sure if I have it right.  Thanks


Is this the tune? 



_(or direct link)_

If so, for written notation, I found these three options: 

An older MandolinCafe post with *music notation*, posted by member Mike Black in 2013.
A rather detailed sheet music source, for fiddle apparently, is listed at Pete Showman's Tunes Page or direct link to the actual *PDF sheetmusic file*.
The MandolinCafe TablEdit library has a *page for Blake's March in TablEdit tab and standard notation*. On that page, if you click where it says "Blake's March", you'll be able to download a TablEdit .tef file of the melody with MIDI 'guitar' backing, TablEdited by Mike Stangeland. The .tef file will work with either the TablEdit app or the free TEFview app, where you can playback the .tef file as MIDI sound while watching the scrolling sheetmusic and/or tab (you can choose which one you want to see) onscreen in the app. Has the usual TablEdit/TEFview handy features such as tempo adjustment (can slow it down for practice), also the ability to selectively mute either the melody or the 'guitar' accompaniment, etc. NFI in TablEdit, it's just a useful app that, apparently, a lot of people still use. 

I haven't yet tried to play any of the above 3 sheet music files on actual instruments, might do that later, I did give the TablEdit .tef file a quick listen though and my first impression is that it seems to be in good working order as far as I can tell. 

Seems like a cool tune.  :Mandosmiley:

----------

Anglocelt, 

Jim Nollman

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## Jim Garber

I like this transcription on *Tater Joe's site*: scroll down to alphabetical to find Blake's March.

----------


## yankees1

Still working on Wood chopper's Breakdown ! Been tough for these old fingers !

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## yankees1

Still working on Woodchoppers Breakdown ! Been a tough one for me ! My 3000th post ! A few behind Jim Garber above !  :Smile:

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## Jim Nollman

Blake's March
Chinquapin Hunting

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## Jim Roberts

I used to play both of those songs, Jim. I need to pick them up again as they are both great tunes. Did you go to Centralia this summer and, if so, did you pick up these tunes there?

Here’s one I really wanna work on:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_I_hmwUMHzE

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## Jess L.

"*O'Connell's Trip To Parliament*", an Irish trad tune that fits surprisingly easily onto clawhammer banjo:  :Disbelief:   :Grin:  



_(or direct link)_ NOTE that for the above accompaniment faux-'mandolin' CGDAE guitar, in order to keep up with the banjo  :Grin:  I had to resort to only playing about half the usual melody notes,  :Redface:  best I can do right now without further practice (or at my age now, might be the best I could do regardless of how much practice). Also, it ain't bluegrass, thus no "breaks" or "solos", although I might try that in some future version. Oh, and at 0:43 above, I sort of lost the melody for a moment, but as my old piano teacher taught me "if you make a mistake, just keep on playing, keep the rhythm and jump back in when you can" so that's what I tried to do. (Yeah, I know, the high-pitched capo'd-up guitar sounds too shrill, I seldom play it that way but I don't have a mandolin right now so "it is what it is" and it suffices, sort of, for mandolin _practice_, or at least mandolin _scale-length and fingering_ practice... Although as far as fifths-tuned instruments I much prefer the more mellow-sounding lower-pitched octave-mandolin scale length as in video below.)

An *alternate* earlier *slower* version *below*, this one actually has all the melody notes (and some impromptu variations) but it's my *first try* at playing this tune so it also has some boo-boos  :Redface:  (duly noted as they occur) - melody on *octave-GDAEB electric guitar*, and trying out some different chords in Chordpulse backing. As to the pics below, I wasn't sure which parliament to send O'Connell to, so at 3:12 there are five different Parliaments to choose from,  :Whistling:  maybe one of them is the correct one. And it seems that this video's Mr or Ms O'Connell lives in a far-away region and has to travel numerous continents  :Disbelief:  via steamboat, skiing, railroad, flying, sailboats, and... a... pirate ship?  :Grin:  (such are the limitations of using only legal/free online clip art)  :Laughing:  Anyway, here's my earlier version of this tune on octave-GDAEB guitar and Chordpulse backing: 



_(or direct link)_

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## Jess L.

Addendas to my post above: 

Here's the basic standard notation and *printable PDF mandolin TAB for O'Connell's Trip To Parliament* (you can look at that PDF in your browser, and also you can use that page's Download button to save the file for later, you do _not_ have to log-in to anything). That notation is what I was loosely working from when I was first learning the tune - for the basic _melody_, anyway. I wrote out the repeats, so you don't have to decipher any repeat dots or anything, just play it straight through, but in essence there's really only 8 bars of notes to learn.  :Grin:  As with any of this stuff, adapt/modify/embellish/improvise to suit.  :Smile:  
If anyone uses the *TablEdit* app or *TefView* app, here's a *downloadable tef-format version* (skip the _"we're sorry can't preview"_ blurb and just click or tap the Download button). This one *does* use repeat dots because I was too lazy to re-write the other bars (I always have a tough time getting anything done in TablEdit, compared to MuseScore which is what I use for most stuff nowadays) and I can never remember how to copy/paste in TablEdit. This is also just the melody, no guitar accompaniment, because the chords I prefer are undoubtedly not what most people would prefer so I just didn't add any chords.

----------


## Simon DS

One of my favourite fiddle tunes. I’d really like play it, but it would have to come out sounding like John Carty’s version. Not sure if it’s possible...
Still sets me off with this crazy idea to try to (re)learn the fiddle

Paddy Lynn’s Delight.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LmMJZYtbFRI

----------


## Charles E.

"I don't love nobody" by The Skillet Lickers. Great C tune with an Am bridge.

----------


## tmsweeney

Dawg Daze ( yeah I'd call that a fiddle tune)
 Ashland Breakdown, 
heres Dixie Hoedown on the Weber Black Ice Octave

----------

Simon DS

----------


## Jim Nollman

That's some pretty nice playing there, Mr Sweeney. Do you also play mandolin? Going to have to take a close look at Dixie Hoedown.

To Jim Roberts. No I picked up the Blake's March on this thread. And Chinquapin Hunting has long been on my list and finally got around to it recently. The A of CH is easy as pie. The second B has a slightly tricky end that melds back into the A without any rest.

----------

tmsweeney

----------


## tmsweeney

> That's some pretty nice playing there, Mr Sweeney. Do you also play mandolin? Going to have to take a close look at Dixie Hoedown.


Thanks Jim, yes I've been known to play the mandolin as well, can't really do Ashland or Dawg Daze on octave anyway, got hooked on that Dixie Hoedown, Phillips Grier and Flinner did it live up in Galway NY this summer.

----------


## tmsweeney

Not really a new fiddle tune to me, but new to me on the mandola, Old Mother Flanagan's, from the Dan Gelo book, the Pigtown Fling record, and Norman  and Nancy Blake show.

----------


## tmsweeney

Here's Kennedy Rag on Mandola

----------


## Charles E.

> Dawg Daze ( yeah I'd call that a fiddle tune)
>  Ashland Breakdown, 
> heres Dixie Hoedown on the Weber Black Ice Octave


That black ice octave sounds really good, nice and growly. Nice playing too.

----------

Jim Garber, 

tmsweeney

----------


## Bill McCall

Tiny’s Rag

----------


## stringalong

Charles E. That's some nice playing!! I love this tune.  Maybe it will inspire me to learn it!

Stringalong

----------


## soliver

Ever since someone posted a video of Matt Flinner playing Midnight on the Water, I've been loving the tune. 

I gave my daughter a copy of it to learn on her violin and we played it together this evening for the first time ... lovely tune!

----------


## Jim Garber

> Ever since someone posted a video of Matt Flinner playing Midnight on the Water, I've been loving the tune. 
> 
> I gave my daughter a copy of it to learn on her violin and we played it together this evening for the first time ... lovely tune!


I am sure that Matt does a lovely job of playing it but I always like to go to an earlier source. This is Benny Thomasson, a champion Texas-style fiddler, playing this tune written by his father Luke, another champion fiddler:

----------

soliver

----------


## soliver

> I am sure that Matt does a lovely job of playing it but I always like to go to an earlier source. This is Benny Thomasson, a champion Texas-style fiddler, playing this tune written by his father Luke, another champion fiddler:


Thanks Jim! I saw that one when you posted it on the Matt Flinner thread, ... it also popped up multiple times while searching for info on the tune.

----------


## stringalong

Thanks for posting this, Jim. This is a beautiful waltz.  I want to learn it!

----------


## MarkusSpiel

I am little into Norman Blake tunes at the moment(thanks to Mike Black for the sheets)
Working on 
Dusty Rose 
Blake' s March 
Natasha's Waltz
I got  F2 ten days ago an all the tunes fit and feel so good on it  :Smile:

----------

Mike Black

----------


## stringalong

Markus, that's really great work!!  It always feels so good when we get a difficult note down pat.

Stringalong

----------


## MarkusSpiel

> Markus, that's really great work!!  It always feels so good when we get a difficult note down pat.
> 
> Stringalong


Yes that's true!

----------


## John Ritchhart

Too many irons in the fire but....

Dailey's Reel
Pleasant Beggar
Flowers of Edinburgh
Chinquapin Hunting

----------


## C2WAVE2

I fairly new to Mandolin, about a year , Working on

Old Joe Clark
Whiskey before Breakfast
Red haired boy
Cripple Creek
Soldiers Joy
June Apple
Blackberry Blossom 
Cherokee Shuffle
Paddy on the turnpike
East Tennessee Blues

----------


## Charles E.

Music for a found harmonium. I have a great recording of it by The Mando Mafia.

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## MoreThanQuinn

Today I started learning old dangerfield by ear. What a fun tune!

----------


## AlanN

Dill Pickle Rag, via a Joe Carr tab.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Today I started learning old dangerfield by ear. What a fun tune!


Just curious, what recording are you learning from?

----------


## MoreThanQuinn

For the A and B parts I was learning from this video of Sierra Hull and Stuart Duncan ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfBPcw0y2YU ), since that's what inspired me to begin learning it. However I confess that after the B part Sierra's playing gets a bit too radical for me to follow (even at a slower speed) without knowing the basic tune first. So I've been learning the rest from a recording by Jacob Joliff and Ian Fleming from the album "Tone Poets." It's clear, well-played, and not too embellished.

----------


## Jim Garber

What about this guy? He is pretty good, I think.  :Smile: 




Also, I found this *backup track* for that tune and you can even slow it down a bit in YouTube.

----------

MoreThanQuinn

----------


## MoreThanQuinn

It's true I should probably learn straight from the source! 

And thanks for the backup track! I always love playing to those when I'm working on a tune.

----------


## Jim Garber

No, nothing wrong with learning from varied sources.

----------


## MoreThanQuinn

Well, the Monroe version is probably most appropriate for learning the tune outright anyways since it is even less embellished than the second recording I was using. I'll learn the rest of the tune from Monroe and then look around at variations.

----------


## fatt-dad

I'm reacquainting myself to, "Twinkle Little Star."

f-d

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Garber

> I'm reacquainting myself to, "Twinkle Little Star."
> 
> f-d


Great tune! I will do the same. Any particular version you are learning from?

----------


## Joe Dodson

> Too many irons in the fire but....
> 
> Flowers of Edinburgh
> Chinquapin Hunting


Those are both on my to-do list.  I learned Chinquapin Hunting last year on guitar and really like it but haven't found anyone to play it with.  Just learned Flowers of Edinburgh on mandolin last weekend.

----------


## fatt-dad

> Great tune! I will do the same. Any particular version you are learning from?


mandolin fakebook version.  I do have a recording of Wayne Henderson playing it. I just like to run that tune for my fingers. Plus it has a few interesting quirks that are fun to the ear!

f-d

----------


## Jim Nollman

Cuffy
Black cat in the briar patch
Whistlebee

Whistlebee took 10 minutes to learn fluently because the melody is so strong. First recorded in 1924 in Alabama by a mr dix. 

Cuffy is great fun, with long lines and a simple fingering.

Black cat is one of those tunes with a tag on the end  that take some extra time to translate from fiddle technique to mandolin technique. After a few days of playing along with the amazing slow downer I can play it at about 2/3 speed on my own, but when a banjo joins in my fingers suddenly  stop hitting the right notes. I’ll get it right with one more day of practice. Very tricky A part in the key of C  jumping between octaves. The B part in the key of G is also tricky and very funky. Enjoy it.

----------


## AlanN

Puddle Jumper, by Ray Legere. It's like Leather Britches, buf different.

----------


## Pappyrich

I have learned a number of tunes since I have been staying at home for the last 4 weeks.  Ihad started to learn a couple of the prior, but have recently put the finishing touches on them, too.  I started playing mando about 8-9 months ago, but have played clawhammer banjo for a number of years.

Liberty
Colored Aristocracy
Johnny Don't get Drunk
Tennessee Girls
Booth Shot Lincoln (WIP)
Cherokee Shuffle
Whisky Before Breakfast
McLeods Reel

----------


## lowtone2

I got Big Scotia under my fingers pretty good today, not quite up to tempo. Half-way have The Gravel Walk, need more work to get the C and D parts. Polishing Chinquapin Hunting and Squirrel Hunters. And going back to refresh tunes I haven’t played in years that everyone used to play and we don’t hear much anymore like Blackberry Blossom, Red Headed Boy, Salt Creek...

One I just heard David Harvey play on an older Mandolin Monday sounds really good. Cruising Timber. I thought I would find some notation to get a head start on it, and then listen to his embellishments to try to make it sound half as good as he plays it. Nope, no luck on the notation. Will have to do it the hard (best) way.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Old Bob.

----------


## lowtone2

Working on Ashland Breakdown from the Kenny Baker album. With Monroe, as always, the devil is in the details. It's not hard to play an approximation, but..

----------


## fatt-dad

Ievan Polka.  Daughter wants to go out.  Mom won't let her.  The laddies are in town. She sneaks out.

Classical quarantine - old school!

Catchy melody too.  So catchy, it's widely used in Anime. To me it reminds me of, "The Muffin Man."

f-d

----------

Trader Todd

----------


## Cary Fagan

Oak Ridge Stomp.  My version is mostly from Rhys Jones' fiddle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmKMf5X5WFE

----------


## Bill McCall

Foxy, Sonny Rollins.

----------


## tmsweeney

Well not so new but revisited I guess, I strung my Weber Gallatin octave up in "Octave tuning" , I was looking for a double jig to play on it when the book opened up to this tune, which is as good as any to my liking. I obviously model this version after Norman Blake's with Mick Maloney on tenor banjo from the "Nashville Blues" Album

----------

RFluke

----------


## Jim Garber

> Ievan Polka.  Daughter wants to go out.  Mom won't let her.  The laddies are in town. She sneaks out.
> 
> Classical quarantine - old school!
> 
> Catchy melody too.  So catchy, it's widely used in Anime. To me it reminds me of, "The Muffin Man."
> 
> f-d


Cool. I love this vocal version of this Finnish folk song.

----------

fatt-dad

----------


## lowtone2

> Foxy, Sonny Rollins.


 Nice! I'm working on Miles Davis' All Glues.

----------


## Sporter323

Big Sciota
Big Sandy river
Whiskey Before Breakfast

----------


## Cary Fagan

Lost Girl.

----------


## Jim Garber

Lost Girl - Stripling Brothers definitely on my list.

----------


## tmsweeney

Swallow Tail reel, on the double octave octave, on the front porch, on a Sunday morning

----------

Jim Garber, 

Scott Rucker, 

Tom Sanderson

----------


## Cary Fagan

"Twin Sisters"

----------


## Jim Nollman

Jonah in the Windstorm. 
Half Past Four

----------


## Jim Garber

> Jonah in the Windstorm. 
> Half Past Four


Two of my favorites!

----------


## Jim Nollman

Yes, Jim Garber, both are standout tunes for me as well. I seem to be focusing a lot of attention lately on the deep wealth of  C tunes composed in the basic style of traditional jazz and often heard by jugbands both old and new. Jonah in the windstorm is of the same scalar tradition as Old Cow Crossing the Road, Old Joe, pikes peak, banks of the Kaney, Lynchburg Town to name just a few. 

Half past four I first heard Played by a band mate in the pre-covid days when I was an active member of the Pacific Northwest contra dance scene. I took it up recently, soon after picking up Cherokee Shuffle, both of which I’d put in the bag of melodic tunes usually played bluegrass style but with an old time origin. Like a bluegrass soloist,  I tend to deconstruct these melodies via improvising, but with more of a jazz-inspired pallet than the usual bluegrass styling.

----------


## Jim Garber

Jim N: I assume that you are talking about the style of the Jonah tune. Do you play it in C or in the usual D key?

----------


## Jim Nollman

I learned it In C from a recording by Henry Barnes. I use the amazing slow downer for learning most tunes. It’s funny you mention The key of D, since it seems way more typical of the world of C tunes. What do you know about the tune? It’s origin? Is it from the 1930s?

----------


## Jim Garber

Most info is here.

----------


## Jim Garber

This is where I learned Jonah in the Windstorm.

I like the Barnes version. I know lately there are some fiddlers who play everything one step down although I can also see that the tune played in C works pretty nicely on the fretboard.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Oddly, the  tune I learned reminds me Not so much of old time, but of the henry mancinii compositions from the 1950's. If I ever get to record it, I’ll do it mid-speed with a strong 50s hipster syncopation, maybe even with snapping fingers.

I have to say the recording in D you sent me sure sounds rough and difficult to pick out the melody. I’m guessing your tune in D  is by the composer. 

So often I'll hear a tune by someone with arrangement talents and deep fiddle chops like Brittany Haas record beautiful old time melodies that I just have to learn to play.  And then, say a year later,I’ll  hear the original field recording and I can’t even tell they are the same tune. It's  like apples and oranges.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Oddly, the  tune I learned reminds me Not so much of old time, but of the henry mancinii compositions from the 1950's. If I ever get to record it, Ill do it mid-speed with a strong 50s hipster syncopation, maybe even with snapping fingers.
> 
> I have to say the recording in D you sent me sure sounds rough and difficult to pick out the melody. Im guessing your tune in D  is by the composer. 
> 
> So often I'll hear a tune by someone with arrangement talents and deep fiddle chops like Brittany Haas record beautiful old time melodies that I just have to learn to play.  And then, say a year later,Ill  hear the original field recording and I cant even tell they are the same tune. It's  like apples and oranges.


Love to hear your Mancini arrangementsmaybe with a string orchestra?

I come from old time fiddling tradition and always like to go to the source, if possible. I love Brittanys playing but IMHO she has deep violin chops and only a cursive interest in the deeper end of old time music. Again, I would give one of my arms to play 1/20th as good as she, however when I last saw her play she credited Brice Molsky as the source of a very old tune. Bruce knows the original source, of course.

In the meantime, this is pretty close to the way I play it.

----------


## Jim Nollman

I love to hear these kind of homemade old tune recordings, and I especially like the harmonizing and the old time push. These two sound great.

 However, This YouTube in D doesnt  sound much like the first version in D you highlighted For me. If Id heard this D version two weeks ago I would have been  quite happy to learn it. The C tune recording sounds more like this YouTube recording,  but more jazzy in its affect. It also sounds chromatic compared to this YouTube's major scale. Now Im wondering how much the key colors the way it sounds. 

Im curious if you play this tune on fiddle or mandolin or both. And which of your several mandolins you prefer for old time. 

I play an oval hole BRW when its just me and a banjo, or me and a guitar.  The oval hole is  built  for jazz, and has a long Single note sustain that often gets lost with a fiddle because the timbre is much in the same timbral niche as most fiddles. For Performing with a fiddle I prefer my f hole Altman two point that has no tubbiness, and sounds like a throaty F5 across all the strings.

----------


## Jim Garber

I alternate between fiddle and mandolin but usually pick up the mandolin that is closest. These days it is either my snakehead or my Campanella A-5. For the last week or so, I have been heavily into playing fiddle. 

BTW to get back to the topic of this thread...

Here's one I am obsessively playing. These two folks who live in Scott's town of Lawrence have been the sources of some delightful fiddle tunes.




Here's another one that I am working on:

----------

Jim Roberts

----------


## Jim Nollman

Yes oh henry is a tune to learn for sure

----------


## Pappyrich

Learned "Swinging on the Gate" yesterday from Mandolessons.com.  My favorite recently learned song is "Colored Aristocricy".  Learned it off a Youtube video by Carl Jones.  Great song.  Another recent favorite is "Harvest Home".  Great picking practice song with lots of variation.  It also has a downhill run that is tricky.

----------


## lowtone2

Is anyone else working up Norman Blake's New Chance Blues since Dave Benedict put up the tutorial? I tried taking it off the record years ago, but was way too lazy to get very far. David makes it almost easy. Well, relatively. It's a tricky tune.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtIbOlL3R2I

----------

Mike Black

----------


## Jim Nollman

Oh Henry.

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Garber

> Oh Henry.


Yes, Jim... you have excellent taste.  :Smile: 

I have been slaving over Oklahoma Redbird in Bb recently. Exceptionally fun on fiddle as well as mandolin.

----------


## Jim Nollman

I learned Oklahoma red bird in C. Great tune.

----------


## Cary Fagan

Jimmy Shanks, a nice, easy tune.  On the new Pomeroy.

----------


## Simon DS

Wooden Whale is my favourite tune at the moment.
Still working on it...


https://youtu.be/jNwhm68mnD4

----------


## George Henry

My wife and I specialize in old fiddle tunes with her on fiddle and me on guitar/mandolin/clawhammer banjo. I read music and mine the Portland books for all they're worth.  I found some interesting tune books at the Celtic Interpretive Centre in Judique, Cape Breton Island, NS.  An interesting tune we learned was Ways of the World.  A favorite new OT tune was Elzics Farewell.

----------


## Jim Garber

On my obsessive playing list lately:

From Nile Wilson, Missouri fiddler: Oak Ridge Stomp, Old Reunion, Tune in C
From Bert Payne, Kansas Fiddler (learned from video of Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains): Kash Kersey

----------


## fatt-dad

I'm focused on Lindsey Road (Harvey Reid).  I've played this in a duet for several years using my mandolin. Now, it's coming out of my octave mandolin.  (Actually, I'm having fun re-tooling music on my OM!  Fingering's not quite the same!

All fun though!

f-d

----------


## tmsweeney

Bobby Casey's Hornpipe on the Macica F5 and the Weber Black Ice Octave

----------

Tom D

----------


## yankees1

Off to California

----------


## Bill Cameron

Lonesome Fiddle Blues. Should have started it twenty years ago because thats how long it will take me to get up to speed, by which time I wont be able to play half that fast if at all. 

Fortunately theres a couple of guys doing a nice slow mando w guitar version on Utube. 

Im a firm believer that music is not a competition, but I cant even watch Vassar playing it while Im trying to get there. What he does with it is literally impossible. 

 There is a cool vid of Sam Bush and ten-year-old Sierra Hull swapping it off, which is pretty inspiring. Just cause they have so much fun I think.

----------


## stringalong

My new fiddle tune is Cora Dye.  I found the notation from Gary Harrison -- Fiddle -- Indian Creek Delta Boys.   Another good one is Baby Ben (James Bryan, fiddle)  Both of these tunes are fairly complex to hear, so I need the notation to remember them.

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## tmsweeney

Here's Cattle in the Cane on the Octave, Art Dudley learnt me up on this one before he passed away last year.

----------

Simon DS

----------


## Simon DS

Heres my newest tune, a favourite. I really like the rhythm to this one and the C major chord at the beginning of the B part.

----------

tmsweeney

----------


## stringalong

I see you capoed up to the fifth fret.  What key do you finger this in? It's a beautiful tune and I would love to learn it.  The link says, "with tab," but I don't see a tab.

----------


## Mike Buesseler

> I see you capoed up to the fifth fret.  What key do you finger this in? It's a beautiful tune and I would love to learn it.  The link says, "with tab," but I don't see a tab.


Stringalong, if you open Simon’s video in YouTube, then click the text right below the video, all the information you want is there. I also like this one, and especially that C chord (“the major lift”) in the B part.

----------


## Mike Buesseler

Here’s some tab I found...

http://www.mandolintab.net/tabs.php?...0Ship&id=01388

----------

Simon DS

----------


## stringalong

Thanks! I'll check out this tab.  It's also on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UOW...nnel=JohnKelly  without a capo.  It's in Am here.

----------


## Simon DS

> Thanks! I'll check out this tab.  It's also on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UOW...nnel=JohnKelly  without a capo.  It's in Am here.


Ha, ha, actually there’s a bit of a discussion at John’s birthday thread here. https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/g...954&do=discuss
He plays it the right way in Am, but not with Ye Olde English rhythm.
-a rhythm once loved never forgotten   :Laughing: 
-although John Spiers and Jon Boden play it in jig rhythm.
-although they play it in Dm

Note: please don’t visit the above thread without wishing John a happy birthday. Thank you.

----------


## Simon DS

> Here’s some tab I found...
> 
> http://www.mandolintab.net/tabs.php?...0Ship&id=01388



There are two ships involved. This is the happy one.

The Minor Rigged Ship is similar in some ways, it’s a ship, but it’s quite different.
https://thesession.org/tunes/18960

----------


## Cary Fagan

"Going to the Wedding to Get a Piece of Cake"

----------


## MarkusSpiel

> "Going to the Wedding to Get a Piece of Cake"


I like that name  :Smile:

----------


## JeffD

I often tend to work on tunes in groups.  Presently playing Texas (a.k.a. Newcastle), Roscoe, and Georgia (a.k.a. Ain't No Hell in Georgia). Also dusting off a slow oooky version of Hog Eyed Man (a.k.a. Sally in the Garden).

----------


## Richard G

Waiting for the Federals

----------

Simon DS

----------


## fatt-dad

Now I'm retooling all my fiddle tunes to the octave mandolin.  Pinky struggles!  Position struggles!  Tempo struggles!

Having a blast!

f-d

----------

Simon DS

----------


## Jim Garber

> Now I'm retooling all my fiddle tunes to the octave mandolin.  Pinky struggles!  Position struggles!  Tempo struggles!
> 
> Having a blast!
> 
> f-d


Hey F-D: What OM are you playing?

----------


## Mike Buesseler

Beethovens Favorite Waltz, by James Bryan.

https://youtu.be/NzPJjd5kg4E

----------

Simon DS

----------


## Simon DS

That’s a great tune and really nicely played, thanks Mike.

----------


## Mike Buesseler

Youre welcome, of course. Be sure to listen to the Montana Mandolin Society do their take on it.

https://youtu.be/ho05fbrVtG0

----------

Simon DS

----------


## fatt-dad

> Hey F-D: What OM are you playing?


I bought the Eastman MDO-3xx a-model.  Can't quite recall the last digits of the OM; however.  It's fun!

f-d

----------


## Jim Garber

> I bought the Eastman MDO-3xx a-model.  Can't quite recall the last digits of the OM; however.  It's fun!
> 
> f-d




MDO-305? Like *this one*?

----------


## fatt-dad

> MDO-305? Like *this one*?


That's it! I got it originally when they first came out.  At that time I was building a duet repertoire with a guitar player and I was focused on my mandolin.  Now with COVID, not doing that!  So, I tuned it up and walk about the yard playing my tunes.  I'm having a few struggles and a few successes.  Just challenging my brain and my fingers!

Really enjoying the sound; however.  And, it's good for technique to wrangle such a beast!

f-d

----------

Simon DS

----------


## Cary Fagan

"Laughing Boy"

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Garber

> On my obsessive playing list lately:
> 
> From Nile Wilson, Missouri fiddler: Oak Ridge Stomp, Old Reunion, Tune in C
> From Bert Payne, Kansas Fiddler (learned from video of Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains): Kash Kersey


Still playing those above on both fiddle and mandolin but added Wes Muir's Tune, another C tune as played by Nile Wilson.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Spending time learning and relearning a few rags. Once you learn one, it gets easier to learn many others.

Peacock rag
Chattanooga
Banks of the Kaney

----------

Simon DS

----------


## yankees1

Seneca Square Dance

----------

Simon DS

----------


## Pappyrich

Maggots in the Sheep Hide  (this is a really fun song)
Devil's Dream
Blackberry Blossom
Fisher's Hornpipe

----------


## Jim Garber

Working like a dog/Dawg on Dailey's Reel and playing it daily. Inspired by Kenny Baker and in Bb on both fiddle and mandolin.

----------


## Simon DS

Been wanting to record this for quite some time, so its just been my latest fiddle tune.

Heres the TAB, hope I got it about right.
Enjoy, and Happy Christmas!

X:1
T:Hedwig's Theme (G BASS)
L: 1/8
M:6/8
K:G
|z4B,2|E3 GF2|E4 B2|A6|F4z2|E3 GF2|D4=F2|B,6|
z4B,2|E3 GF2|E4 B2|d4 ^c2|c3z _A2|c3B ^A2|^A,4 G2|E6|
|z4 G2|B4 G2|B4 G2|c4 B2|^A4 F2|G3 B^A2|^A,4 C2|B6
|z4G2|B4 G2|B4 G2|d4 _d2|c4 _A2|c3B^A2|^A,4 G2|E6|

----------


## fatt-dad

preparing to revisit, "Snowflake Reel!"

f-d

----------


## Bill McCall

Blue Drag.

----------


## Cary Fagan

This is a new old time tune, John Grimm's Butterfly Waltz.  It's on his new album.

----------

Jim Garber, 

Simon DS

----------


## yankees1

> This is a new old time tune, John Grimm's Butterfly Waltz.  It's on his new album.


Nice tune and nice playing !

----------


## Caleb

> Seneca Square Dance


I've been playing this one all morning.  Just about got it down.

----------


## John Ritchhart

Working on Devaney's Goat. Dave Surette uses some triplets in unexpected places which at 180 bpm is a challenge for me. So the last week has devolved to triplet practice, which I need.

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Bob Gnann

Reel de Montreal from Randy Miller's New England Fiddler Repertoire book.  A great resource.

----------


## yankees1

> I've been playing this one all morning.  Just about got it down.


Same here !

----------


## Jim Garber

Lately into Québécois land: Gigue du Forgeron, Marche de St. Laurent, Gigue du Sous-Marin, Reel du Semeur, and a few whose names I can never remember.

----------


## Bob Gnann

Sometimes I see a title and it piques my interest. So in the New England / Quebec repertoire I have been learning Snoring Mrs. Gobiel, Little Burnt Potato, Reel de Montreal, and Big John McNeil among others.  Gotta wonder who and where they came up with those titles but they are wonderful tunes.

----------


## Bob Gnann

And don't forget " Shove the Pigs Foot Closer Into the Fire".

----------


## Simon DS

Working on OLearys Motorcycle at the moment. https://thesession.org/tunes/4603 thanks Gortnamona for this one.
Wonderfully rhythmic, rolling, clattering tune with some great parts where you can throw in hesitant triplets and discordant double stops.

----------


## Caleb

https://youtu.be/9d9BlAhyVl4

^^^ Have not attempted to play it yet, but I’ve been enamored of late by this waltz: The Georgiana Starlington Waltz by Tom Morley.  One of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard in a long time.

----------


## yankees1

> https://youtu.be/9d9BlAhyVl4
> 
> ^^^ Have not attempted to play it yet, but I’ve been enamored of late by this waltz: The Georgiana Starlington Waltz by Tom Morley.  One of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard in a long time.


I agree beautiful !! Nothing like a fiddle for these slow songs !

----------

Caleb, 

Frankdolin

----------


## Jim Nollman

The golden ticket

----------


## Frankdolin

Hey Folks, I'm looking for fiddle/ BG  tunes with the same type of mood ect. as Midnight on the Water and Jerusalem Ridge. Any thoughts ? Thanks  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Jim Garber

Ones that come to mind immediately: Coleman’s March, Ashokan Farewell—actually a bunch of waltzes, Tombigbee is one. I’ll think some more.

----------

Frankdolin

----------


## MontanaMatt

> Hey Folks, I'm looking for fiddle/ BG  tunes with the same type of mood ect. as Midnight on the Water and Jerusalem Ridge. Any thoughts ? Thanks


Kentucky Mandolin, First Day in Town, Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom, Dusty Miller, Lonesome Fiddle Blues
Those are all similar to J Ridge...
I don’t have any in my quiver like Midnight...I’ll add that and look for other’s suggestions here.
Happy fiddlin/pickin

----------

Frankdolin

----------


## A 4

> Hey Folks, I'm looking for fiddle/ BG  tunes with the same type of mood ect. as Midnight on the Water and Jerusalem Ridge. Any thoughts ? Thanks


Of course, it all depends on how you play them, but a couple that come to mind: Farewell Trion, Elk River Blues, Neil Gao's Lament, and Coal Harbor Bend.  Maybe some of the Bill Monroe Waltzes, like Lonesome Moonlight Waltz.  His Mississippi Waltz might be more bluesy than you are looking for.

Some people play these tunes fast, but they are great nice and slow, too.

----------

Frankdolin

----------


## Bill McCall

Jay Ungar has a book of waltzes with a feel like Midnight on the Water.

----------

Frankdolin

----------


## Jim Nollman

On frankdolins question:

Here’s a few possibilities.


Ora lee
Sally in the garden
Winderslide
Magpie
Battle cry of freedom

----------

Frankdolin

----------


## Denny Gies

I've finally gotten Cherokee Shuffle half-assed, I mean half mastered.

----------


## yankees1

> I've finally gotten Cherokee Shuffle half-assed, I mean half mastered.


Let us hear it when you are ready full-assed , I mean fully mastered !!  :Smile:

----------

Denny Gies

----------


## Bob Gnann

Maple Leaf Jig.  Learning on the fiddle and mandolin.  Tricky timing with the bow / pick.  In 6/8 time (jig) but you've got to pay close attention to the note values.  Fun tune to play though!

----------


## Caleb

This morning I've been messing around with The Golden Slippers.  Fun tune!

----------


## lowtone2

Dry and Dusty. 

When I need mandospiration, I sometimes look up this youngster, Matt Witler. He plays demos for Music Emporium and is always so...musical. He reminds me of why I try to play the thing. This is a slower tempo than I've usually heard the tune, but it really sounds...musical. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=np019ssSAT0

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Garber

Sometimes slowing down a tune wrings out the flavors and emotions expressed in playing. I will also say that his excellent playing is perfect demo for that mandolin. Even in an OK set of earphones I get the sense of the depth of tones capable of that Ellis.

----------

lowtone2

----------


## Kevin Winn

In the process of hand-writing out the tab and learning 'Woodland Star' off Andrew Marlin's latest album.  

It's been a great exercise in patience, and thank gawd for the Amazing Slow Downer.  Hearing it played at half speed gives me even more appreciation for the subtlety of Andrew's playing.

----------

lowtone2

----------


## stringalong

My new fiddle tune is Ebenezer.  I learned it from this YouTube fiddle version.  The name of the player is not shown, but it's very clean and easy to hear.  I put it into Loop mode, and slowed it down to .5 and listened to it a lot, and played along with it.  I finally have the tune down now.  It's pretty tricky to hear, but is not technically difficult.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6e0...%99sHoleFiddle

----------


## A-board

Road to Columbus, Kenny Baker

----------


## Michael Romkey

Hmmm. Farewell to Whiskey, The Orthodox Priest, and Eel in the Sink.

----------


## Dick Dery

A Duck Walks Into a Pharmacy...
https://thesession.org/tunes/7316

----------

lowtone2

----------


## Cary Fagan

Kick Up the Devil on a Holiday.  I got it from James Bryant.

----------


## Jim Garber

> Kick Up the Devil on a Holiday.  I got it from James Bryant.


Very nice but I do think you mean James Bryan.

----------


## Cary Fagan

Yes, of course, Jim.

----------


## John Ritchhart

Road to Spencer

----------


## tmsweeney

Here's two from Cole's 1001 and fiddle tunes: "San Souci Hornpipe" and "The Czar of Russia's Favorite Hornpipe" played here on a 1920 Gibson F4 and and 1925 Gibson H1 Mandola. James Bryan Recorded  "the Czar of Russia's Hornpipe" on his "Look Out Blues" rounder album, seems he and Norman Blake referenced Cole's quite a bit. I have neve heard San Souci performed other than by myself, but I do think those two old time boxes sound pretty good together!

----------

Bren, 

J.C. Bryant, 

Jim Nollman

----------


## Jim Garber

Great stuff, tmsweeney! I have spent hours with Cole's seeking interesting tunes. Those two are great. I love your arrangement with the mandola. Has a nice baroque feel to it.

----------


## tmsweeney

Thanks Jim can you tell I recently attended Matt Flinner's Scales and Arpeggios class?

some others I like from Cole's

Nicodemus Johnson ( working on pairing with Golden Eagle HP)

Niagara Hornpipe, Saratoga hornpipe- ( i forsee a NY Hornpipe suite)

----------


## Jim Garber

I will have to dig in and take a look at ones I have found. I was interested in flat keys and unusual rhythms like clogs and strathspeys. I will get back to you. BTW we are only a few hours apart geographically. I wonder if we have ever met. Maybe find a place midway with our Coles/Ryans books.

Pretty funny that I have had the link covered Coles since new but like flipping thru. I couldn’t find my copy so I bought the Melbay edition new and then found my Coles. Oh well

----------


## tmsweeney

Jim its possible we've crossed paths, though I don't get down to Westchester much these days ( hardly leave the house to be honest), but if you want to pick a tune out of Coles or two for a medley I'd be happy to work up a dola part and perhaps we can find somewhere that works to try it live.

I am on a quest for a vintage Gibson cello so I can perform a vintage trio,  the K4 in the classified was a little more than I wanted to spend, but oh what a beauty!

----------


## Jim Garber

I will reply to you, tmsweeney, via PM since we may be taking this off the topic of this thread.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Wes Muir's Tune

----------


## Jim Garber

> Wes Muir's Tune


One of my favorite Missouri fiddle tunes.

----------


## Bren

My new fiddle tune is an accordion tune by Ian McPhail.
Grace Renwick Polka
Three parts , all in flat keys.
Bb, Eb and F
A good pinky workout and fun to play too.
Or it will be when I can get it to flow.
Many accordion versions online but haven't heard any other instruments playing it.

----------


## Mando Mafia

Rocky Road to Dublin, but this one:



Pete

----------

Ranald

----------


## Jim Nollman

Jenny run away in the mud at night

----------

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Nollman

plowboy hop

----------


## JeffD

I am addicted to Dandy Lusk. What a great little tune.

Coming off a high from playing Texas a.k.a. Newcastle.

----------


## Ranald

"Wally on The Deer Trail" by Reg Hill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFdE...GoldenAgeMedia

----------


## John Ritchhart

Cazadero. John Reischman version.

----------

tmsweeney

----------


## tmsweeney

We played Cazadero in D, was always a crowd pleaser,  
My new fiddle tune is Bela Fleck's "Slipstream" from the Drive album
my inspiration being Matt Flinner posted transcription at the modern mandolin online symposium.
The melody is fairly straight forward, but  the rhythm is tricky 
it goes from 4/4 to 3/4 then back to 4/4 , I am counting the 3/4 as "1 and 2 and" 
I posted it as a suggested tune at the local bluegrass jam, so far folks are excited about it, so we shall see how it goes.

----------


## Don Grieser

tmsweeney, I thought Matt's analysis of Slipstream was absolutely brilliant. Would have liked more from him in the modern mandolin symposium.

----------


## tmsweeney

Could not agree more Don, I put in Matt's comment section that all the other instructors should watch his class to see how its done. He really has a knack for presenting musical thought in manageable sections, and somehow captures a groups attention with ease. I think he conveys his interest in your performance early in the student teacher relationship and this is very effective and encouraging, participation becomes expected by yourself.

----------


## Bill McCall

Didn't take this, but alll of the classes and workshops I've done with Matt have been superb.  Finally persuaded my buddies to take a class and they are overjoyed.  

He's a great teacher and a pretty sporty player :Smile:

----------


## A 4

Just a heads up to everyone based on the Matt Flinner discussion above.  Matt is offering three classes starting in January that might be interesting to people in this forum: Old-Time Mandolin 101 and 102, and also "Advanced Fiddle Tunes and Improvisation."  See the link below.  On sale through December 12. 

I have signed up for Old-Time 102, and have taken an online class with Matt earlier this year.  He is a fantastic instructor, and I think the format of a lesson followed by  a practice session a few days later is really great.

https://www.mattflinner.com/2021/11/...start-1-10-12/

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## Don Grieser

I didn't mean to hijack this thread so I created one on Matt's classes here: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...03#post1846803

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Bill McCall

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## maxr

> I just learned Bonaparte Crossing the Rocky Mts. and have been pairing it with Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine (thanks Skip Gorman) Hint: don't start off too fast on the Rhine or you will fall off the Rockies and could hurt something important.


You could add Bonaparte Crossing The Alps, unless it's ones of those tumes with a different name:

https://thesession.org/tunes/3056

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## Jim Garber

And I wrote a medley of tunes:

Bonaparte Crossing His ArmsBonaparte Crossing His LegsBonaparte Crossing His Eyes

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Jim Nollman, 

Tom Mylet

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## nultylynch

My new fiddle tune is The Boy on the Hilltop/Johnny Goin to Ceildih, performed by Tommy Peoples and Paul Brady. Down a half step from their recording

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## Ranald

> And I wrote a medley of tunes:
> 
> Bonaparte Crossing His ArmsBonaparte Crossing His LegsBonaparte Crossing His Eyes


Someone beat you to the third one, Jim:   http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/pa...g-his-eyes.htm

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## Jim Nollman

Sleeping Lula

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## tmsweeney

Finally getting around to "Up Against the Buachalans / Tuttle's reel" from the James Bryan "Lookout Blues" recording

The Chieftain's have recorded Up against the Buachalans, I believe Cafe' member Adrian Crossey has a nice  mandolin version out there as well. 
Kevin Burke has recorded Tuttle's reel a few times, but I lean more to the James Bryan version. 
Here's my take on a 1920 Gibson F4.

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Frankdolin, 

geechee, 

J.C. Bryant, 

Jim Garber, 

Larry Ayers, 

Steve 2E

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## lowtone2

i just learned Road to Malvern from John Reischman's Peghead Nation video. New to me but apparently only me.

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J.C. Bryant, 

Jim Nollman

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## Jim Nollman

Im learning a fiddle tune called Gypsy Dance, as performed by Rhys David. When I learn a new tune, I also like to find basic info such as about its composer or origin. This one has me stumped. Dos anyone know where this tune comes from originally? With its western scale I tend to doubt its actually gypsy in derivation. Could it be old time? Or is it a modern tune composed by someone who favors old time and gypsy music.

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## Jim Garber

> I’m learning a fiddle tune called Gypsy Dance, as performed by Rhys David. When I learn a new tune, I also like to find basic info such as about its composer or origin. This one has me stumped. Dos anyone know where this tune comes from originally? With its western scale I tend to doubt it’s actually gypsy in derivation. Could it be old time? Or is it a modern tune composed by someone who favors old time and gypsy music.


The fiddler is Rhys Jones (not David) and on his recording Starry Crown. I would guess he wrote the tune but I don’t own that recording. Did you find it on YouTube?

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Charlieshafer, 

Simon DS

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## Jim Nollman

> The fiddler is Rhys Jones (not David) and on his recording Starry Crown. I would guess he wrote the tune but I dont own that recording. Did you find it on YouTube?


Yes, this is the tune and Rhys Jones is the player. I don't own the recording either. This will take some listening to learn correctly. For no good reason, the tune reminds me of the French Canadian style.

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## geechee

My list is long - I likely start on too many at a time. 

Homer the Roamer
No Corn on Tygart
Neighbor Mike
Wake Up Susan
Suzanne's Journey
Jenny Run Away in the Night...
New Broom
Sunday Morning Reel

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## Jack Roberts

"Queen of the Fair"  FFB page 223.

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## nick delmore

Oops, failed upload.

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## JeffD

I have been playing Dandy Lusk. Learning that tune has become an addiction.

Here is a clean recording of Howard Rains and Mark Gilston on fiddle and mountain dulcimer. Play it six times and I bet you can't not play it a seventh. Like Oreo cookies in that way.

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## Charlieshafer

Rhys Jones' Starry Crown that Jim mentioned is a great record. Another of Rhy's classics is the album "Bulldog" with really strong stuff. A long-time admirer of his and a great source of tunes. 

A couple of newer tunes wirth checking out is Tipping Back The Corn performed by Roger Netherton, and Laughing Mark by Tom Alder and Co. Anyway, keep up with this:

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Jim Nollman

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## Charlieshafer

Another one the group is working on is Johnson Boys, but juicing it up the way Hawktail does here. Scroll to the 3:54 mark to get to it, and watch it build. Really fun to try to get this pace going...

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## lowtone2

Nancy Blevins' A part reminds me of Last Chance, but it doesn't seem to resolve...

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Jim Nollman

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## JeffD

Paddy Won't You Drink Some Good Old Cider - This is a fun tune.

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## A 4

> Im learning a fiddle tune called Gypsy Dance, as performed by Rhys David. When I learn a new tune, I also like to find basic info such as about its composer or origin. This one has me stumped. Dos anyone know where this tune comes from originally? With its western scale I tend to doubt its actually gypsy in derivation. Could it be old time? Or is it a modern tune composed by someone who favors old time and gypsy music.


I have that CD, "Starry Crown," by Rhys Jones and Christina Wheeler, and it is excellent.  There is some info on the tunes, but no long essays.  For Gypsy Dance, it says:
"*Gypsy Dance* GDAE _George Lee Hawkins via Jeff Goehring (3:24)_"

It turns out to be hard to search for that tune, as there are many violin tunes names something like that.

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Jim Nollman

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## Jim Nollman

Portland Aires
Waynesboro
Steely rag

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## joh

I attended Fiddle Hell this past weekend (it was awesome! Thanks Dave Reiner :-)).

I picked up a couple of new tunes from various workshops:

Jake Blount taught *Roscoe's Gone*, a newer tune (by old time standards) by Hank Bradley. Jake hasn't recorded it before, but you can find an original recording by Hank on Youtube. I also quite like this George Jackson, Chris Coole, and The Slocan Ramblers version.




Bruce Molsky taught *Tie your Dog, Sally Gal*. The source recording is available on Youtube, played by Will Adams and recorded by Mike Seeger. Bruce also has a wonderful recording on his album "Can't Stay Here This a-Way."




Sharon Gilchrist and Darol Anger taught *Farewell to Trion*, which they recorded on their album E-and'a. A popular tune by all accounts, but their arrangement is particularly wonderful.

----------

andymando, 

Jim Garber, 

Jim Roberts

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## Jim Nollman

Been playing farewell trion for years, but never heard it played as melodically as on that Daryl anger recording. Joe Walsh's incredible sounding  mandolin has never been better miked. And this band is the new all star team of old time music. Definitely a sound and arrangement the rest of us curmudgeons can strive for in our own humble recordings. Given the album cover and the performances it reminds me of Dave Brubeck's classic Take Five.

----------

Jim Roberts

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## Jim Roberts

We just started working on Farewell Trion and what a great tune.  Here’s a link to Darol’s album from above: https://darolanger.com/music

This cover of Take Five, Jim?

----------

Jim Nollman

----------


## Don Grieser

I learned Farewell Trion from this video. Love James Bryan's fiddling and Carl Jones taught at Monroe Camp this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJQabRQjXEw

----------

Jim Garber, 

Jim Nollman, 

Jim Roberts, 

Mike Black, 

Ranald, 

Simon DS, 

tmsweeney

----------


## Jim Garber

> I learned Farewell Trion from this video. Love James Bryan's fiddling and Carl Jones taught at Monroe Camp this year.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJQabRQjXEw


Must be in the air. I have come back to that one which I also originally learned from James Bryan. This is one that James learned, along with a number of other wonderful tunes, from Alabama fiddler, Mack Blalock who, as far as we know, was never recorded. For me it is part of a pile of tunes in the key of C, a key that quite a few old time players avoid in their beginner stages. Other tunes in that pile I have been playing: a few by Nile Wilson, an Ozark fiddle player including one he just calls Tune in C and Wes Muir's Tune.

----------

Don Grieser, 

Jim Nollman

----------


## joh

That James Bryan recording is wonderful. I believe he was also the one who wrote the C part of the tune - the A and B parts being the original tune.

----------

Don Grieser

----------


## Don Grieser

I also heard he wrote the C part.

----------

Jim Roberts

----------


## Jim Nollman

https://youtu.be/9w9LpD-GNro

This version of farewell trion was recorded at a house concert not far from where I live.

----------

Jim Roberts

----------


## A 4

> I learned Farewell Trion from this video. Love James Bryan's fiddling and Carl Jones taught at Monroe Camp this year.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJQabRQjXEw


Just for fun, you can also watch this one also with James Bryan and Carl Jones, but 18 years earlier!  



It is a great tune that I like to play on mandolin, but have given up trying on the fiddle.  The difference between and James Bryan is vast.  Maybe in a few more years.

----------

Don Grieser, 

Jim Roberts, 

Simon DS

----------


## Simon DS

Love that style of fiddling of James Bryan, thanks.

----------


## Jim Roberts

James is such a lovely fiddle player.  Nothing fancy but powerful and with such heart and soul.

----------

Don Grieser

----------


## Jim Garber

> James is such a lovely fiddle player.  Nothing fancy but powerful and with such heart and soul.


Actually, he is my current target fiddler and the miracle of his playing is that is sounds simple but he actually plays with subtle complexity and lyricism. I have heard FTT for years and only recently someone pointed out that in the first bar or so there is a slide back on that E note to a D on the A string. There are other parts of his playing where it seems like a magician’s mirror tricks—seemingly few notes but he is smoothly playing a lot more than it appears. Outstanding…

----------

Don Grieser, 

Jim Roberts, 

Simon DS

----------


## tmsweeney

James is the man and whatever it is about his playing has always captivated me, there is a "humility" in his style that is infused into the music he plays. Plus he seems to have a penchant for picking less popular but very very cool tunes.

----------

Don Grieser, 

Jim Garber

----------


## Jim Roberts

His fiddling alongside Norman and Nancy Blake has always been such a musical treat.  Cool stuff.




> James is the man and whatever it is about his playing has always captivated me, there is a "humility" in his style that is infused into the music he plays. Plus he seems to have a penchant for picking less popular but very very cool tunes.

----------

Don Grieser, 

Jim Garber, 

tmsweeney

----------


## tmsweeney

I saw Norman and Nancy many times but somehow never with James, but he did make vinyl like "Full Moon on the Farm" and "Light House on the Shore" useless after the grooves were played off of them. I think he plays mandola on "Black Jack Davey" from Mike Seeger's  "Fresh Old Time Stringband Music" album" I still listen to his two solo efforts "Lookout Blues" and "The First of May" (they both belong in the bluegrass hall of fame for my money) on my morning drive mix, and really liked the "Two Pictures" album he did with Carl Jones.
He talks about having studied in Ireland with Bobby Casey, and I hear a fair bit of Irish in his playing, Kevin Burke and Martin Wynn coming to mind.

----------

Don Grieser, 

Jim Garber, 

Jim Nollman, 

Jim Roberts, 

WilliamWMeyer

----------


## tmsweeney

since you went and got me hooked on the tune

----------

Jim Garber, 

Simon DS

----------


## tuhker

Spotted Pony and Magpie.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Red prairie dawn. 
Such a beautiful melody, learned off YouTube channeled through The Amazing Slow Downer. 

Running through the Rain To Keep Your Hair Dry 
From a recording by Mark Tamsula.

----------


## Mando Mafia

> Red prairie dawn. 
> Such a beautiful melody, learned off YouTube channeled through The Amazing Slow Downer.


Did you know theres a slow down feature embedded on youtube videos?(or maybe thats what you were referring to?) Look for the cog wheel at the bottom of the video, click on it and choose your playback speed. You can reduce it to as little as 1/4 speed and it keeps the pitch, just like the Amazing Slow Downer. 

Pete

----------


## Bob Buckingham

The late Dave Surrette's Belle of Newcastle. Yeah he was a mandolin player but it is a beautiful waltz played by some great fiddlers.

----------


## Jim Nollman

Thanks for the tip Pete. I've been using the amazing slow downer for years, and it works well enough for me. I especially like the apps ability to save and loop  short phrases. I've worked out an easy routine for adding tunes from any internet source into TASD.

----------


## Caleb

The Queen's Jig.

----------


## Jim Garber

Lately been working on James Bryan’s rendition of Soapsuds Over the Fence and Gilsaw, a tune from the playing of Pete McMahan.

Here’s James Bryan and Carl Jones:

----------

Jim Nollman, 

Ranald

----------

