May Tune Project

  1. Sleet
    Sleet
    Next from the list is "Kentucky Waltz", a Bill Monroe tune. I don't know much about it. There is a file on the Mandozine site but I haven't looked at it yet. There are several examples on YouTube. Reviewing the discussion on the Tune of the Week group might be helpful: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/g...scussionid=596. Remember that tremolo you were practicing? It'll come in handy here.
  2. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Oh man. Easy tune without the tremolo. I think I will work on getting the plain version down pat first so I can get the timing right. Then add tremolo if I can.

    It looks like the tune is still under copyright, so there are not many versions tabbed or written out available for free.

    Edit: It is not easy even without tremolo. It looked easy at first. This will be 'interesting'.
  3. Ellsdemon
    Ellsdemon
    This will be interesting to say the least. I found these tabs after a quick search. Sleet, that link from the TOTW group is a bit old and most of the links in the thread have expired, even some of the Youtube videos.

    http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/am...ucky_waltz.htm

    Don't know if this is the same or not but it's called Kentucky Mandolin :
    http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tab/tab9/kentm.html

    Good luck to all, this is going to be learn by ear tune I guess
  4. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    There's a Roland White arrangement here: https://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin...kentucky+waltz

    This almost has to be sung, I wish I knew someone with a high voice who could sing it! I'm partial to Paul Brewster's version



    I don't care for the "fast" solo mandolins versions much. This slow vocal-heavy speed just sounds prefect to me.
  5. NEH57
    NEH57
    Here is a 'standard'....from the original TOTW......I mean..........come on
  6. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Mark, was that Adam Steffy playing the mandolin lead in for Paul Brewster?

    The guy in NEH's post looks like "[yawn] ... been there ... done that ... so many times ... [roll eyes]"
  7. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Yes, Adam was house band mandolinist for that episode. How many can you spot in the audience? Quite a few mandolin players in that bunch.
  8. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Not really a fair question that, they don't provide many shots of the audience. I've seen the program many times, from memory there's JFK White, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, Sierra Hull, Doyle Lawson, Rhonda Vincent, Jessie McReynolds, Bobby Osborne, Ronnie Reno - probably left som out
  9. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Supposed to be Buck White not JFK I can't type on a phone very well
  10. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    I am hoping that by the end of the month I will be able to play the multistring tremolo version posted above (the mandozine file and the mandolincafe file appear to be identical). But I will need to take it in steps.

    My first step is to learn a stripped down version with no tremolo or double stops. The following link will take you to a downloadable tef that I will be using to work from. Note that I have broken all the longer notes down to quarter notes so I can feel the beat. Kentucky Waltz Basic Melody and Rhythm Note that I have made a few very minor changes in addition stripping out the double stops and tremolo. These just seemed to help me get the 'feel' right for me.

    My next step will be to put the double stops back in. I will post that version when I get it notated and uploaded.

    Third step will be to add the tremolo.
  11. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Sounds beautiful in tabledit, Hank, I think I'll use that one too. Thanks for making it.
  12. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank


    Even though I am enjoying this Kentucky Bluegrass stuff, I can't wait to try some of that Fescue.
  13. Michael Kinch
    Michael Kinch
    LOL. Let me know how it turns out
  14. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Is anybody else having trouble working with the metronome? I remember a million years ago it was just second nature syncing up with it beating in the background while focusing on the notes or tune or whatever. Now, I am just falling all over my fingers in a conscious effort to sync with the darn thing. Its not a speed thing -- well not unless I have it cranked way up.

    I wanted to use the metronome to help me count out those longer tremolos and maintain the waltz rhythm. I am progressing toward a fairly good sounding (to me anyway) job without it but I wonder about steady tempo. But I can't play the thing at all when trying to match any speed on the metronome. It's almost like I am waiting to hear the beat before I can play the note but by then it's too late so I stumble trying to catch back up which gets me all off the beat and the darn thing is clicking on the off beat and I don't know what to do so I quit.

    Did I actually say something like "easy tune" up above? Sheesh. Can you smoke Fescue?
  15. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Is anybody else having trouble working with the metronome? Yes. Metronome is a hard master, but it's good to work with it. Try, fail. Try again, fail again. Keep trying until I don't fail as badly.
  16. bbcee
    bbcee
    Honestly Hank, I find it hard to play a song in 3 to a metronome. One of those things I'm working on. This one, Midnight on the Water - they drive me nuts! I've been just going by feel, but really want to get them more locked into a click.
  17. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    The cats are getting tired of hearing this. They just look at me like "can we just move on?". So here goes.
  18. bbcee
    bbcee
    Hank, well done! Forget about the clams they're a part of life (I'll have to remember to take my own advice) - your tremolo is spot on. Tell the cats that was a month well-spent!
  19. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Thanks BB. Those cats are a fickle audience. That's for sure.
  20. Sleet
    Sleet
    Bravo, Hank! A great rendition of a very tricky tune. Your work on tremelo really pays off here. There's no accounting for cats and their lack of appreciation for Bill Monroe.
  21. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Nice play, Hank!
  22. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Thanks Mark and Sleet. I think one of the most important things I got from this month's tune is that it reveals why a measured tremolo is so important. Not that I mastered it, but I did master a feeling of why it is so useful. And I found that you can make a decent sounding tremolo with 1/16th notes as long as it is measured and accurate and smooth (semi legato if you will).

    But strict structure is important if you need to pick another string immediately after the tremoloed note. You really need to know exactly where your pick will be when it is time to hit that next note. If you don't you will most likely come in late on the next note as you try to get 'into position' and the rhythm is destroyed.

    Mike Marshall, or somebody, has a lesson on tremolo somewhere in which he guides us through 4 notes per click, then 5 notes per click, then 6 notes, etc. That video by hrdrckgrl, or whatever her name was, had us doing 32nd notes (Yabadaba-dabadaba, Yabadaba-dabadaba, etc) at different metronome settings. I can see the value in these very strictly constructed tremolos now. I used to think you just wound up your spring and let fly.
  23. Louise NM
    Louise NM
    Nice job!

    Are you sure it isn't that banjo in the background that frightens the kitties?
  24. Chunta
    Chunta
    Well here goes. There's tons of standards that I just don't know, and this is one of them. I started this around the 15th of the month, so I'm about 2 weeks into this song. Apologies for the tank top, my A/C died and am getting a new system put in today, so it's dang hot in my house! Any and all feedback is much appreciated!

  25. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Very nice rendition, Chunta
  26. Sleet
    Sleet
    Good job tackling this one, Chunta, tremelo and all. I like it.
  27. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    I like it Chunta. Tremolo is coming along fine. I like your right hand technique.
  28. Chunta
    Chunta
    Thanks guys. I find the looser I hold the pick the better the tremolo becomes. I have to grip a tiny but harder to get volume on single notes but for the tremolo it seems to work well for me.
  29. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Finally got around to butchering Kentucky Waltz.



    And found to time to start learning this, been on my mind for awhile.

  30. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Mark, I like your tremolo. It comes out right and it fits your style.

    I don't think I had heard Loch Levan Castle before. I'm going to look that one up.

    Good job on both. I see no butchery on either.
  31. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Thanks Hank, I found the tab, mp3 and midi here for Loch Leven Castle http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/ir...ven_castle.htm and I used that to try to learn the tune ... I followed that music for the most part in my first play through on this video. For the second play through it is different, and there I am trying to figure out some of Norman Blake's version. He plays it at the beginning of a medley, I haven't found any music for this, but it's what brought me to the tune to start out with. I have his version on YouTube and it's worth a listen, it's great, but it's called Loch Lavan and sometimes Loch Layan instead of Loch Leven


    Loch Lavan Castle / Santa Ana's Retreat / Cattle In The Cane

  32. Sleet
    Sleet
    Mark, you just keep getting better and better. That is one sweet version of Kentucky Waltz. Loch Leven is one of those tunes that has many aliases. If you don't find it under that name try Tuamgraney Castle of a variant spelling or Loch Gowna. It's often a surprise to approach a piece of sheet music for a tune I think is new to me and have it turn out to be a familiar tune in disguise.
  33. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    Thank you Sleet! You are a wealth of information, I'll check those out. I want to transcribe and learn the medley that Norman plays, so I've been searching music to become familiar with those tunes before I start digging into his medley much. Might be a few years before I get it done

    I'm improving? Thanks, I don't see it so much, but what has helped me the most recently is working through the Mandolin Master Class stuff over at the Woodshed group. Getting help from Hank and Brad over there, and forcing myself to come up with lessons and practice them myself is good for my musical growth. HonketyHank is full of insight and I appreciate all the resources we have here, especially in comeraderie at the cafe.
  34. Sleet
    Sleet
    Your dedication shows itself in your musicality.

    Your version of Loch Leven is more like the tune I'm familiar with. Blake's seems to take a less common path. I've got a number of tunebooks accumulated over the years. I see it listed as "Tuamgraney Castle" in one, "Humours of Tuaimgreine" in another, and I know I've run into it as Loch Gowna somewhere else. All the print resources don't help my playing one bit. Turns out you have actually work with your instrument for that, something you obviously know.
  35. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Yes, I agree with Sleet, Mark. You are steadily improving even if it doesn't seem so to you. The biggest evidence that I see is your ease (or at least appearance of ease) while playing. You look like you are playing what you feel and feeling what you play. You get 'lostern a goose' and you still make music. Technical skills too, but the increased confidence is very apparent.
  36. bbcee
    bbcee
    Chunta, good job on the tremolo. You're right about holding the pick loose - it's the right way to achieve a fluid tremolo, and you can also feel the strings better, IMO.

    Mark, I concur with Sleet & Hank - you're really sounding & looking comfortable. Your "tremolo" (arpeggio? Bouncing notes?) on KW is all yours and gives it a very nice flavor and personality. And Loch Leven is very solid (in the best sense) and Blakey. Your hard work is paying off.
  37. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    bbcee, thanks for that. You have touched on the problem, the flubs don't bother me much because I only barely learned the tune and didn't get to practice it much, but where I am really having trouble is tremolo. If I try to do a smooth tremolo over multiple strings, I have to get pretty tense to control it and so it doesn't work. In order to make this recording, I had to blow off the tremolo and just go ahead and relax into the tune. I did try somewhat to get the tremolo, but was almost wholly unsuccessful.

    I'll keep trying, it's got to come eventually I'd think.
  38. Sherry Cadenhead
    Sherry Cadenhead
    This is my first attempt at using my new Logitech webcam and Windows 10's video editor app. I wanted to crop out much of my office clutter, as well as the sullen expression on the musician(?)'s face. Someone in the Forum said I would need a more advanced editor to do that. So, here it is, warts and all. Excuse the abruptly ended tremolo at the end. It's a learning process.

    2014 Weber Gallatin
    Accompaniment: Strum Machine

  39. iaindr
    iaindr
    What a great tune Sherry, thanks for sharing. Love the tremolos!
  40. Sue Rieter
    Sue Rieter
    Ha ha, your clutter is nothing next to my desk clutter

    Seriously, that was pretty darn good, especially toward the end when you relaxed a tad from the idea of the video and started to get into it. Your tremolo is sounding really good!
  41. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    I, too, noticed that tremolo. Good job with the tune and with the new webcam.
  42. Stacey Morris
    Stacey Morris
    Good job Sherry. Having the strum machine playing along with you adds a lot to the performance.
  43. Louise NM
    Louise NM
    Sounding really good, Sherry!
  44. bbcee
    bbcee
    I admire you getting in there and doing it, Sherry. it's a solid start on your tremolo, that skill that none of us will ever be "good enough" in, on a tough song.

    I admire how thoroughly you're using the Cafe to progress - it took me years to make a peep over on the SAW group, for instance, and it seemed for you, it was a couple of months. Play on!
  45. Sherry Cadenhead
    Sherry Cadenhead
    Thanks, everyone! Sue, my desk is clean - except for my post-knee-surgery stretches sheet that I see I left out. Luke has done a wonderful job with Strum Machine, so I had to give him credit. It sure has enhanced the practicing experience also.

    Bruce, for the longest time I avoided the SAW group. Those guys are pros! But, I must say posting there gives me a reason to try to play well. Having something to work toward beats playing simply for my own enjoyment. So, are you posting in SAW? If not, there's room for you!
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