Week #462 ~ Nail That Catfish to a Tree

  1. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Not a whole lot of votes this week, but it's unanimous, the winner is Nail That Catfish to a Tree, which is an old time tune. This tune made an appearance almost 7 years ago, here, as an Other Tune.



    Here's a link to notation

    Here's a link to notation, that also includes this:


    Transcribed from Steve Rosen’s playing on his page nailthatcatfish.tripod.com/nailthatcat.html. Steve plays the tune
    at several speeds so you can hear it "straight from the horse’s mouth. I mean the horse’s fiddle". This is transcribed
    from the medium-speed version. You can read more about the tune there, and read about Steve (and order Nail That
    Catfish T-shirts) on his home page, www.steverosen.com.
    Steve writes "’Nail That Catfish to the Tree’ is a fiddle tune I wrote a long time ago....
    note that the B2 has a different
    ending than the B1
    ."
    Notes: The notations in measures 1, 3 and 19 probably aren’t quite what Steve plays, though they give the idea. It
    sounds like he’s playing an open-D drone and hitching or rocking the bow to break the melody note while continuing
    the drone. And generally he plays more drones than are shown here. Also he describes measures 9, 13 and 17 as
    being just double-stops, but I’ve notated what I hear him playing, with (usually) the upper notes coming in delayed a
    half beat. But as Steve says, "Many slight variations on the melody are played." So do what feels right and sounds
    good.
    Here’s a YouTube video of the Volo Bogtrotters (Steve Rosen’s band) playing several tunes, including Nail That
    Catfish [to the tree] at around 7:30 into the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUNzthyw0c
    Transcribed 6/29/2015 by Pete Showman (Rev. 1)
  2. JLewis
    JLewis
    I found notation and abc at Folk Tune Finder. http://www.folktunefinder.com/tunes/144
  3. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    My kinda tune: five notes all played in first position (six, if you count the D played on the A string). The secret to this tune, IMHO, is to play the last measure of the B repeat with upstrokes on the down beat.

  4. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Great tune, thanks Mike, I’ll try this one.
  5. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    You have a real talent for delivering those tunes, Mike. Great picking and left-hand fretting.
  6. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    Thanks. I'm making a real effort to explore a tune a day, especially ones I've always wanted to learn, and now have time for. There are some real gems here in the SAW collection!
  7. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    There's a bit about 45 seconds in where you shift around on your chair quite noticeably without ever losing the beat or control of the instrument. Wow!
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