Week #96 ~ Cuckoo's Nest

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  1. Tosh Marshall
    Tosh Marshall
    Barbara, we're the Proclaimers in disguise!!!!!!!
  2. Ten_or_Fifths
    Ten_or_Fifths
    Tosh and Michael. That is a phenomenal sound. Kudos. I'll be studying this one. One of my favorite posts that I've seen.
  3. billkilpatrick
    tosh and michael - excellent - well played.

    also ... musicians really do attract the prettiest girls
  4. Rob Fowler
    Rob Fowler
    Wow, that was just fantastic Tosh and Michael! A new chapter in the SAW group has been written and all take heed!
  5. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    Thanks everyone! It was fun.
  6. Don Grieser
    Don Grieser
    Hey, it's great to see all the folks participating in the SAW group! Michael and Tosh, that was really wonderful.
  7. Bernd Bannach
    Bernd Bannach
    Tosh and Michael what a great idea and fantastic sound! And again such a lot of great versions played in this group. Here comes my take, played on my Ovation MM 68 Mandolin. Ovations are not the favourite Mandolins of most players I know but they are good working horses and easily plugged in. Here it is unplugged.
  8. agundrum
    agundrum
    Bernd: An Ovation! I have a MCS148. I haven't been using it lately and been opting for the Crestwood F-style. No particular reason other than I've got a X-Y mic setup for the Crestwood that I've been using for recordings.
  9. Eddie Sheehy
    The Cuckoo's Nest - an Irish Hornpipe. Played on a Collings MF-O. I threw this together flubs and all so I can get started on the Fiddler's Fakebook version...

  10. Grommet
    Grommet
    Nice rendition Eddie! That Collings has a beautiful tone as well.

    Scott
  11. billkilpatrick
    here's mine stab at it. something screwy with my computer or with youtube - tried all day yesterday to post this but the video would NOT upload (playing never got any better, either):

  12. agundrum
    agundrum
    Bill: That's a great version. Very upbeat!
  13. dcdan
    dcdan
    wow every body is bringing a different angle to this tune, Here's my first attempt reading it off the sheet. On my gibson A2 .I did mange to end on an added chord...I think its called "D demolished"
  14. dcdan
    dcdan
    I only saw the second page of this before I posted. Michael and Tosh WOW!!!! what production....well it doesn't work without really great picking but that was unbelievable. I can't even figure out how to lay down the chords on a separate track so I can play with myself...er accompany myself.
  15. Eddie Sheehy
    That was great Bill!
  16. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    Bill.... ditto what Eddie said!!!
  17. Don Grieser
    Don Grieser
    Bill, that was really cool--your playing on this one is reminiscent of Jerry Garcia to my ear. And that's a high compliment in my way of thinking.

    Eddie, love the hornpipe treatment and the Collings sounds great.
  18. GKWilson
    GKWilson
    Nice job dan. Wished I could read that well.
    If I could I wouldn't be so far behind.
    Gary
  19. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Lots of great versions here. There are quite a few tunes, and indeed songs, with this name around, all sounding vaguely similar but with quite large differences when one actually compares them. The one I'm most familiar with is the wonderfully bawdy and wonderfully high-energy song/tune medley on the classic 1972 album "Morris On" which can be heard here -- check it out if you don't know this version, it's one of the high points of British folk/rock played by an all-star band of Richard Thompson, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Mattacks, Ashley Hutchings and Barry Dransfield! I was toying with the idea of singing the song myself this week, but in the end went with recording a fairly plain version of the fiddle tune, pretty much the same as the fiddler's fakebook version with a couple of double stops added for flavour:



    Martin
  20. GKWilson
    GKWilson
    Very nice Martin. You had me swaying in my chair.
    Gary
  21. Ten_or_Fifths
    Ten_or_Fifths
    I'm late this week, but for a good reason. This is the first time I was able to play the tenor banjo (20's Gretsch open back) at speed in CGDA tuning without a capo. Though it was hard enough getting a good recording, so the video's of the Big Muddy MW-0.

    Also fiddle.
  22. Ryan Zerby
    Ryan Zerby


    Couldn't keep my hands relaxed with the camera on and felt I had to "Fight It"... which of course made me more tense. Oh, well... each video has been feeling better and better!
  23. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    Nice job, Ryan. As someone who still struggles with the whole relaxation thing myself, I think you're really coming along.
  24. Ten_or_Fifths
    Ten_or_Fifths
    Ryan I like your phrasing, and your mandolin has a great tone when you play it. It shows through any tension you may be feeling.
  25. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    I can't help feeling I maybe played this a little too fast the last time. Anyway, here's a slower version:

  26. Don Grieser
    Don Grieser
    Slower means we get to hear all that beautiful tone you're getting out of your new mandolin plus you have time to do all those wonderful variations. Nice!
  27. cjprince
    cjprince
    A year later - here's my take on Cuckoo's Nest. This is pretty much the Nickel Creek version - but much.......much......sloooower...

  28. OldSausage
    OldSausage
    Very nice picking indeed, cj
  29. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I had never come across this version of the tune before. The ones I know are much more sombre and stripped-down. Andy Cutting has a very good example on his album, but the version I like the most is from Spiers and Boden. It's in a different key (Dm?), which I feel gives it the kind of hypnotic quality that makes you want to play it all day long.

    According to my information, the origin of this tune (with has obviously travelled far) is English: http://www.folktunefinder.com/tune/150581/

  30. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    That's a new version to me. I like it a lot. By the way, I'm identifying with and enjoying your blogs very much.
    Lots of fun to look back on all these great old posts too.
  31. woodenfingers
    woodenfingers
    Gelsenbury - I had not heard that version either, nice playing!

    I have been working on this one as part of my Artistworks lessons with Mike Marshall, trying to pick those triplets at speed with the correct pick direction. I used to just do them with hammer-ons but they definitely sound better picked. Much faster than this though and I am back to hammering... Nice to have Mike Marshall play backup guitar for me .

  32. James Rankine
    James Rankine
    Really good Bob. Great tone - must be the obligatory left leg raise, head of the mandolin up - Mike will be proud!
  33. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    @woodenfingers: It's time to change your nick! Nothing wooden about that at all. I really enjoyed the musicality and tasteful ornamentation. I often wonder how to put triplets, slides, hammer-ons etc. to good use, and your video is a great example.

    Like James, I think I recognise the Mike Marshall school of mandolin posture there!
  34. woodenfingers
    woodenfingers
    James, actually, Mike has suggested that I lower the peghead a bit but I forgot when I did this. I tend to raise it because it seems to ease the tendonitis I get in my left elbow. I do find that if the peghead gets too high that the pick tends to rotate in my fingers and I wind up playing with the edge of the pick instead of the point. The leg is definitely Mike and it does help a lot in keeping the mando under control without needing your left hand. Definitely enjoying the Artistworks and I hope you are too.

    Gelsenbury - Yes, the woodenfingers was part joke but I also do a lot of woodworking and get a lot of splinters in my fingers... The thing I got from Mike is that for a triplet followed by eighth notes, do DUD for the triplet and then UU to get back into sync. That seemed strange at first but is making more sense now. There's a triplet in the Congress reel that I need to go back and try. That triplet is on two different strings and I could never do it fast enough. Maybe now I'll get it...
  35. crisscross
    crisscross
  36. 9lbShellhamer
    9lbShellhamer
    Hi Gang. I'm taking an online class with Matt Flinner and this is the tune we're working on this week, so I'm going to post it up here too! I just got a new USB mic by Blue. I'm really having some fun with this thing.

    Here is the soundcloud link.

    Can't I just embed the soundcloud clip here? THANKS!!!
  37. crisscross
    crisscross
    Sounds nice. At 0:11 though, I wonder wether you throw in some odd meter or an addiditional half bar?
    To embed the sound cloud link you have to go advanced. There is a symbol above the text with a white cloud that should do the job.
  38. 9lbShellhamer
    9lbShellhamer
    Thanks CrissCross. I actually went back to add guitar backing and noticed I screwed up the timing. Great catch though! I'm just glad I figured out where it was.
  39. Hendrik Luurtsema
    Hendrik Luurtsema
    I'm a bit late I quess, but I'm playin' this for years so there finally has to be a recording. I never heared that wonderful version of you Bob! Very well done.. You made a lot of progression Gelsenbury, you made a nice recording back then, but I think you improved a lot in the last years. I recorded my version on the dutch Island Vlieland...

  40. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    Very nicely done!
  41. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    I first heard this in college on a Fairport Convention album with Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle. And I thought, "So this must be bluegrass music." Rolling Stone hated the album and gave it about the worst review I've ever read. I loved it. I'm still a fan all these years later. Got to see the band once in Chicago in its current incarnation.

  42. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Mike -- that sounds absolutely wonderful! This tune is an old favourite of mine, and I should revisit it.

    Fairport's version was on their 1971 album Angel Delight, the first after Richard Thompson left, and interestingly Dave Swarbrick doesn't play fiddle on this tune, he plays mandolin -- this would be his 1917 (I think) Gibson A style: Link. That same year, 1971, former Fairporters Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings together with Dave Mattacks (who was still in Fairport at the time), Barry Dransfield and John Kirkpatrick also recorded the song "Cuckoo's Nest" on the classic "Morris On" album: Link

    Martin
  43. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Nice, easy playing, Mike. You make it seem effortless.
  44. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    Oh my gosh, Swarbrick plays mandolin? I'll have to listen to that again. It's been a few (cough cough) decades. At least I eventually figured out it wasn't bluegrass. Thanks for the links, Martin! ... Ah ha, the fiddle comes later in the medley. I was sure there was some fiddle playing somewhere.
  45. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Great smooth playing, Mike. Angel Delight is a Fairport album that I don't really know. But I've been lucky enough to see the current line-up play here in Canterbury several times. Amazing musicians and wonderful people.
  46. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    Is Fairport still doing the festival at Cropredy? Would love to come over for that sometime.
  47. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Yes. I have been going to Cropredy every year since 1992 (except for a few years out when my kids were little -- they come along now). It's a great family event and extremely friendly. Of course, like every festival in the UK it was cancelled in 2020. We already had tickets, which are now valid for the 2021 festival instead with all the acts announced for 2020 rebooked (there was a choice of a refund, but we kept ours). Unfortunately, the fate of summer festivals this year is very much up in the air with the omens not looking good.

    Martin
  48. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    This is a pretty straightforward version of "Cuckoo's Nest". The tune is originally English, but there are quite a few different variants as reel, hornpipe or song air. This one is an Appalachian old-time version in D major with three parts, from Casey Willis's site:

    https://www.fiddlevideo.com/wp-conte...oos%20Nest.pdf

    Played again on my grandfather's mandolin -- trying to explore its character and what works on it.

    1920s/30s Majestic mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar


    https://youtu.be/bliVwihEDW4

    Martin
  49. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    I do like that mandolin a lot. This works on it. I'm sure everything would work on it. Perhaps you're still a bit less used to it than your other instruments.

    Are you going back to Cropredy this year, then?
  50. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Thanks, Dennis. The playability of the mandolin is pretty good (better than the Gibson anyway, which could do with a setup), but I was struggling to get a clean take of this tune down -- I like the feel of this take but it does have two bum notes where I got my fingers in a twist.

    Yes, I expect we will be at Cropredy this year again (we finally used our 2020 tickets in 2022). I need to get the tickets ordered!

    Martin
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