This week's winner is Sandy River Belle, which is a reel. This tune had a run as an "Other Tune"... here's the link! Here is a link to notation on abcnotation.com Here is a link to two settings on thesession.org Videos:
I seem to vaguely recall the name "Sandy River Belles" from stuff I played on banjo and fiddle as a teenager (like, a bazillion years ago) but I didn't remember the melody, so I feel like I'm learning the tune from scratch again. Here's a super-short selection of my first take I recorded last night, with missed notes and wrong this-that-etc, still a fun tune, non-trad modified "rhumba" ChordPulse backing: (or direct link) The mandolin is my usual lately, the Rogue with the stick-on pickup plugged into a Roland Micro Cube guitar amp set to "acoustic". Recorded with Audacity. Oh, a note about my choice of chords, I have *no* clue what I'm doing with chords but when I recorded this yesterday, after some experimentation, those are the chords that sounded ok at the time. Some of the chords I chose are a little odd, m6 and sus-something etc, this is what happens when I can finally experiment with such things without having to do barre chords on a guitar (arthritis prevents that). Tomorrow or next week I might change some of the chords to different ones if that seems better.
Very good JL , if there were wrong notes I didn't notice them and you just kept going to the end. I was going to play Don Grieser's arrangement but to provide a bit of variation I did it with a slide.
Neat idea Maudlin, I love that slide mandolin!
I'm late getting to this one, but here's a version. Nothing fancy; just a fairly straight-up rendition with a little guitar accompaniment. Bob Michel Near Philly
Fancy enough! How can fingers move so fast?
Well done everyone! I first recorded this when it was an "other" song, but the mandolin didn't play lead on that version. I had some time today, so this time I've recorded it on my 1913 Gibson F2 with back up provided by my Simon & Patrick guitar.
Michael and Bob, nice! Good toe-tapping cheerful rhythm, and neat backings too, would be hard to not smile while listening to this tune.
Late but now here is my version of Sandy River Belle. I liked the tune very much as it is played here. Not having it known before. So I took one of the notations above for giving it a try myself. Well, it sounds quite a bit different, surely because of the instrument (Weber Yellowstone F4 mandocello) and also because I am still a beginner. The recording app offered some rhythm backing which I added. Normally I donīt like it but here I found it to have a nice effect. As it is only a sound recording there are some pictures of a few trips to have a kind of a video. At the end with a short - sorry, only a short - glimpse of the mandocello.
Cool! Nicely played, Claudia.
Thank you, JL!
Sometimes a fiddle playing friend wants you to learn a song in another key. So I did. Here's Sandy River Belle in the key of D played on my Gibson F2 mandolin and with a Simon and Patrick guitar for backup. Putting the same song into two different keys is a good exercise and it also always amazes me how different the same song can sound in both of the keys! (Check out an earlier version I did in G just above. Same instruments, different key...)
Very nice ( in all keys) Michael !!!
I missed this one first time round, Michael. Love your 2016 version, and the difference in the two with the key change is quite interesting. Wonder too how much difference in that you have 4 more years playing experience in this new one? I find the years only affect my playing by slowing me down (hence my liking for slow airs)!
As Ginny said: nice song in either key and great sounds from your vintage F4!
Thanks Ginny, John and Christian. I've been playing mandolin since about 1972. Played it fast, slow, and in between. What the years have done for me is show me that a tune doesn't have to be fast and flashy, in fact, I now prefer playing tunes at dance tempos. Bluegrass is fun and fancy, but you can't really dance to it. Hence my interest the last few years in old time dance music.
Good to see you here, Michael. Interesting to hear the tune in the 2 different keys. Great playing as always! I'm enjoying slower tempos these days, too. Let's the beauty of melodies come through.
Love the relaxed rolling rhythm with the emphasis on the 3rd beat, Michael, getting closer to a slow reel (or even very slow rock and roll!) than the first one which, to my ears is getting on towards a jig. I like the guitar accompaniment too, as well as the way the mandolin’s ringing third (the F# on the first string held down) holds the tune together and also gives the melody a sort of jumping off point to go to the fifth and then sometimes the octave above at the end of each melodic passage. Really nice. Well done.
