What is everyone working on?

Oh man… a house band for the company brand!? That’s wild. Good luck! Hopefully they will see the value in having a mandolin in the band!
I’ve got a few folks just about talked into joining me at the brewery (a new one since I relocated from NM back to WA) but I’m still so desperate for group music that I’m flying back to NM next month to play with the band

Well, here’s “Hurt”.




https://youtu.be/VmvKer7JS6w

I like that Hurt. Very spare. Johnny Cash's cover can make me tear up.

Here's the song I choked on so badly. Still a couple of muffs in this recording. Of course before I turned the camera on I did one run-through note perfect.

You guys are doing great. Way out ahead of me.

NDO: That is an interesting tune. I hadn't heard it before. Good job.
BadXMan: I am really impressed. Especially that one of us mere mortals would tackle a tune like that. Chords, double stops, up the neck - a bit of everything. I am sorry the audition didn't work out as well as hoped, but this video tells me you can get back on the horse and teach it a lesson.

BEM, that’s a great job on a tough song! Nice job on the slides and double stops.

Hank, my song was Johnny Cash’s last big hit… a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song.

Credit to the excellent transcription by mswilks!

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...y-Sarah-Jarosz

I watched vids of SJ over and over and never was able to figure out more than the bare melody. I learned the ornamentation from mswilks' transcription.

Great job, NDO & BEM! I agree about the pick grip, NDO, it's worth your while to get a more efficient hold. I hold it totally different than I would guitar.

And BEM, I'm with Hank - you're really going after the foundational mandolin stuff that you can apply to any style you decide to pursue. And in such a short time!

Well done, both of you.

Jeff et al, thanks for the encouragement to switch grips. The second video in particular was super helpful. I’m happy to say that I switched last night and played about an hour and a half without any real difficulty. I had a couple of minor snags where the different angle of the pick got me stuck in the strings momentarily or got onto the wrong string but I was able to play through chording and picking songs with no problems. And today my middle knuckle does feel better than usual, so I think the change is definitely beneficial. Thanks everyone!

BEM, you are coming along nicely.

NDO, this is nice and I am a fan of this song choice. I'm a big Johnny Cash fan, and I've tried a lot of them on mandolin, but they never sound good. His sound, at least with his band on his classic hits, depends so much on the bassline that my attempts sound incomplete. This sounds really good.

So, uh, I'm in the band.

Looks like everyone who auditioned got in, so it's kind of a participation trophy, but it'll be interesting. I've jammed a bit with a couple of the people before and they're really good. It'll be interesting because for the most part I think our song list is going to be stuff I don't know in styles I mostly don't listen to. I'm trying to take to heart some advice I heard Aoife O'Donovan give in a master class with Chris Thile and Sarah Jarosz that's on YouTube, which is leave your ego at the door. In the context of amazing performers like her and Thile and Jarosz, it means (I think she meant) don't be a prima donna. But it also applies for schmoes like me which is, don't be intimidated by people who are better players. That's your ego talking, trying to protect you from embarrassing yourself. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and risk screwing up loudly and publicly. How can you learn from mistakes if you're too afraid to risk making any?

Our first rehearsal is next Monday so we'll see how it goes. I think I'm going to play my Fender FM52-E. It's not the best-sounding instrument but it's got a good pickup so we won't have to dick around with mic-ing it like we would if I used the Kentucky. And I won't worry about leaving it at the supposedly-secure practice space if it turns out to not be so secure.

I imagine we'll all have input into the song list so I'm trying to think of tunes from the country-blues end of rock to suggest. The Stones are a rich vein to mine for this, stuff like Country Honk, Dead Flowers, or Dear Doctor. And I'd love to persuade everyone to do Harry Nilsson's You're Breaking My Heart.

Yay!

Way to go BEM!! That’s very cool and sounds like a blast!

Awwwllll Riiiiiiiiite!

Hey, congratulations on passing the audition!

Lol, takes kahunas to suggest that Nilsson tune. I’m part of a gigging duo, my gigging buddy’s borother joins on occasion to do Dead Flowers … he really nails it. It’s a good choice if you have a vocalist with the right edge.

Congrats & break a leg, brother.

I just now for the very first time was able to play Old Dangerfield at 200 bpm without completely falling apart. My previous best was 180ish.

I've had a few days when it was like I couldn't play anything right. Stuff I've been playing at speed for months, my fingers would tangle or just decide on their own to hit the wrong frets. I couldn't get my pick grip right, it felt like it was constantly squirming around and I would get tense and feel the tension all the way up my arm and - well, just nothing was going right. So since I couldn't seem to play any actual songs, I went back to exercises. In this case, some stretching exercises that Sierra Hull has in her Artistworks course, and I did nothing but that for 2 days. After about an hour of that today I sort of segued from that into Blackberry Blossom, and then to Jerusalem Ridge, and then to O.D. at 180 and - what the heck, I ticked Strum Machine up to 200 and wow. Got all the way through, like I say, fell apart a little bit at the very end but managed to get back and hit that last A on beat.

So, yay me. And if you're going through a rough patch in your practicing, BEM says: go back to fundamentals.

Band update: First show is at the company Purim party this coming week. We're going to open for Balkan Beat Box. We're going to do 2 songs for sure, I'm A Believer and this dance piece of crap called Cake By The Ocean. And maybe if we can work it out at our next practice, Miserlou. (And as a better choice than the Fender for that repertoire, I'm going with my Gold Tone electric.) I will update here on after the show on the depths of our humiliation.

200bpm! Wow! That is really moving.

I just finished up a Matt Flinner course and he (among many others) thinks in cut time (2/2) while you and I think in common time (4/4). It's funny because I have heard heated arguments about which is proper. Six of one and a half dozen of the other. So Matt's 100bpm is our 200bpm.

Knock 'em out at the party!

Congratulations BEM! And have fun with the gig!
I’m driving through New Mexico right now to meet up with the band for a gig

Safe travels, NDO. I hope you didn't run across the morning's snow.

Ironically the only snow I encountered from Washington to Carlsbad was in New Mexico
Pretty nasty roads from Clines Corners to Vaughn but no problems. And it’s supposed to be warm the next few days.

I just finished up a Matt Flinner course and he (among many others) thinks in cut time (2/2) while you and I think in common time (4/4). It's funny because I have heard heated arguments about which is proper. Six of one and a half dozen of the other. So Matt's 100bpm is our 200bpm.

I am completely unable to figure this out. All I know that setting Strum Machine to 100 \is the same speed as if I set a metronome to 200 bpm with each tick a quarter note. So yeah, when I said before that I had played a song at 200, Strum Machine was set to 100. Strum machine at 200 would be, what, almost 7 beats a second. Maybe some professional could do that but I sure can't.

Clines Corners to Vaughn: the epitome of "middle of nowhere" with Encino being the absolute middle of the middle. That area gets pounded with snow pretty regularly.

The new lesson in Joe Walsh's Advancing Mandolinist at Peghead Nation (jumping waaaaay ahead from where I am so far in that course) is the amazing song by Sarah Jarosz which I think is what won her her first Grammy, Mansinneedof. All this time I was thinking that was some weird German word or place name or something, but I had never heard it pronounced out loud until now.

Mansinneedof
Man's in need of

Derp.

BEM,

I have no idea, but when I see that as the title, it makes me think it is a play on Manzanita...maybe, maybe not, just the first thing that popped into my head

Ooh, good one, Southern Man! I didn't even think about that. And what a great excuse to go listen to Manzanita this morning!

Well I mostly played harmonica but I did break out the mando a few times during the gig

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...composer=false

Wow that's a big picture. Love the hat! Looks like fun!
(I've gotten into the habit of reducing my pictures to 1600 pixels on the long side)

Wish you guys were closer, I find myself in the position of looking for a band for my town's tricentennial festival, and we keep striking out.

Anybody got an easy way to resize pictures? I was trying to figure how to shrink it and edit it.

Edit: Aha I emailed it to myself and chose small size

Joined David Benedict’s live stream for the first time this morning, that was fun

I’m working on getting up to speed with his Moonshiner and Buffalo Girls beginners lessons
I can do Moonshiner at 60 bpm, melody and chords!
I’m almost at 85% of 60 bpm on the melody for Buffalo Gals.

Finding the backing tracks and the Amazing slow downer app really useful

Way to go TTT!

FYI I added a link to last week’s show in the post above… there is a little mandolin at 0:58:00-1:01:30 (Harvest Moon), 1:05:50-1:11:00 (Wagon Wheel), and 1:24:30-1:29:55 (Wicked Game). And solo (Hurt) is at 2:29:45.

Wow, Sarah Jarosz -- Great stuff! That's the kind of music I really love (and would love to play but I'd need way more skillz.)

Regarding Manzanita, that's a tune I've always liked and have been working on the last few months. It's my first mando tune, now that I finally got my mando finished and working (with some issues but ah well.) I'm at my father's house this week but when I get back home maybe I'll record myself.

BTW I have a backing track I made for Manzanita, with click, guiltar, and (keyboard) upright bass, at about 3/4 of the original speed. (It also uses the original chart, rather than the modified one you'll find in most charts and what Tony Rice used in later years.) Let me know if you'd like it. Also, if you post a BPM I can probably match it. Currently it's at 140, which I can do though not very cleanly.

I'm also working on David Grisman's "Swamp Dawg," but probably few people know what that is. Due to IP rights and discontinued CD, it's nowhere to be found on the interwebs. I had to rework the mando lead to make it work on guitar, and I haven't "relearned" it correctly on mando yet but soon hopefully. It's another one where I'll be happy to be able to play at 3/4 speed from the original.

Here's the original: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoI2zdBTTs-z4kya...eMn0e?e=aQ08js

Again, let me know if you'd like a backing track. I have it at 170 but could adjust that. It's a good speed for me on guitar but I'll have to slow it down for mando.

When changing BPM I have two options. I can let the software do it. The bass track sounds good because it's MIDI. The rhythm guitar part sounds a bit garbled though, so alternatively I can just re-record it at a desired rate. And I can do multiple rates using both methods, say at 10 BMP intervals.

NDO: Good gig! Sorry I missed the show! You need to get the mic closer to the mando when you're not playing chords (first mando song.) For chords the level was fine. Gonna steal your set list, btw.

Thanks Jeff! Yeah I figured out later I need to stomp on the solo button (+10dB) on the ToneDexter when playing single notes… I always underestimate how loud the rest of the band will be when I’m sound checking a single instrument. I have learned to turn the local volume knob on my harmonica mic down part way when setting up so there’s room to boost it as things get louder.

Glad you liked the set list!

I came across an old post by Mark with a version of Mr. Bojangles but the videos didn’t appear anymore. Mark do you still have a copy or feel like posting a new one? I gave it a try (NGDB style more than Jerry Jeff Walker) and wondered how it compares. Still a little rough after just a few days but it’s coming along.

https://youtu.be/CTGZZCGpAwc

I’ve been playing that one on guitar/harmonica ever since I was young and NGDB had it on the radio, Don. I do play it on mandolin. I have two embarrassing videos out … one from five years ago when I was just starting to struggle with mandolin, and another one from a little later when I was trying to compose a fancy intro, which I’ve since discarded. Here they are:

https://youtu.be/jgWe5vlLSkg

https://youtu.be/0H-S9l75FVc

I like all three of em, Don and Mark. I remember, way back when, the Nitty Gritties came to Manhattan Kansas for a concert. I knew them from Mr. Bojangles on the radio. So I went to the concert. I didn't know they had a banjo man in the group. When I saw and heard John McEuen play Bach on his banjo, I became a Dirt Band fan and a John McEuen fan, both, and have been ever since. Didn't know that was a Jerry Jeff Walker tune. He wrote a lot of good ones.

Love it Mark, thanks! Those were the ones I was looking for based on your old post.

Hank, I’ve been a NGDB fan for over 40 years too… I play a dozen of their songs but for some reason hadn’t tried that one even though it’s one of my favorites.

Hey those are all really good! I like that the arrangements all capture the movement in the originals. A lot of people murder this by more static arrangements.

Mark, you made a lot of progress in a year and a half! Either that or you're a wizard on the DAW. ;-)

I've played Bojangles since the 70's; it's one of my go-to tunes. I play it a bit differently from both. Recently I was interested in seeing whether to revise to a more original/authentic version, so I studied the NGDB album cut, and JJW original and videos over the years. I got a smile that he borrowed some of the things I liked about NGDB in his later arrangements. Mine is kinda between the two but still different (and not intentionally, just how it came out at the time.)

Now when I play it I can't remember JJW's latest (which I think I liked the best) so I fall back to my usual.

Hah I just noticed that I'd typed NDGT rather than NDGB. I guess I'm a Neil DeGrasse Tyson fan.

Yay me, I just got thru Brown County Breakdown at 95 bpm (or 190 bpm, depending on how you count it, see the metronome thread for more confusion), my goal speed. Sounded like crap, of course, most of the fretting wasn't strong enough so most everything was buzzy or muted. But there was a time that I despaired of the fingers on my left hand ever moving that quickly.

Now back to playing it slowly enough so that I can make it sound good, and working my way up.

In his OT101 class, Matt Flinner said several times to try it at speed, just so you know how it feels. It might be sloppy, but you can go back and work on that.
Now you know how it feels

I got nostalgic for some old classic soft rock tunes last week and picked up Cat’s In The Cradle (Chapin), If You Could Read My Mind (Lightfoot), and Same Old Lang Syne (Fogelberg). Chapin came pretty easy, Lightfoot wasn’t too bad, but the vocal range for Fogelberg is a stretch
All are easy playing for the mandolin.

So I was just practicing this song, and there's this one phrase in it that I always mess up, and somehow this time I got it exactly spot-on and startled myself so badly that I completely blew the rest of that section. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Meant to post this earlier but somehow put it on the wrong thread!

I despair of ever playing Manzanita or Swamp Dawg at tempo! I'm happy to get to 3/4 speed or so.

BTW my link above for David Grisman's Swamp Dawg wasn't the ideal format, so here's an MP3. Definitely worth a listen. Let me know if the link doesn't work.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoI2zdBTTs-z4lBC...rC4it?e=94jCTk

One of these days I'll post my version for some laughs. (I haven't worked out the mando part yet as I've only played it on guitar up until ... soon.)

I have been working on Hunting the Buffalo off and on for a while now. I decided to get a video of it before I started on the new tune of the month, Heart of Gold.

The first recording of this tune was in the 1950's; Jimmy Driftwood played it and attributed it to his uncle on a Library of Congress tape made by Mike Seegar. I found the tune at the Traditional Tune Archive (www.tunearch.org), which had ABC transcriptions for Driftwood's version and another version played by Alisa Jones (presumably Alisa Jones Wall, daughter of Ramona and Grandpa Jones). I adapted Jones' version for this video.

My usual recording software refused to work for me today so I used the software that came with my webcam. Unfortunately that software a) inserted its logo, and b) recorded the video about two frames later than the audio. I hope I can get my OBS software working the way it used to. Maybe I am just too old for this.

This recording is dedicated to my friend and brother-in-law-in-law, Ace, who passed away last week. I trust that he is now having a wild time hunting the buffalo somewhere in the clouds, probably on a Harley powered ultra-light.



https://youtu.be/DISLRjTn9OI

Hank, you really did that one justice. Your brother in law would be proud. Nice tempo, and that fern sounds really good and inspiring to play.

It seems like a really dumb thing, but that mandolin tunes easier than any mandolin I have played. The tuners are Grover 309's. Nothing special about them that I can see except that they turn like, well, butter ... warm butter. Smoooooooooooth. And the nut slots must be just right, too - no jumps in pitch. I think this supports the concept that an expert installation and setup is critical for good tuner operation.

All that having been said, the mandolin would still be great if the tuners operated like the average of all the mandolins I have played.

Nice tune well played, Henry. You're getting a great tone out of that Weber, the work you have been putting in on using your fourth finger has paid off, and I love the little slide up on the shift.

Sorry to hear about your brother-in-law. Lots of people leaving the planet lately.

Hank, my deepest condolences are with your family.
You played the song beautifully, that is really well done and is a great tribute.

I just put 309's on my Rigel, and the difference from the econo tuners that it came with is night & day. I don't like Rubner's ratio too much (I may be the only one), so I'm also saving myself a ton of dough!