I used tremolo on Crested Hens so it's DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU ...
These are just gorgeous! I am truly impressed. I also play along with You Tube. Already started practicing this one.
I see what you're doing there Eddie. I'm telling Santa.
Hold off a few days Martin, the Big Brown Truck is due on Tuesday...
Time to stop lurking. Barbara, I love this song. It was a good place for me to jump in. I decided not to work for perfect. I've only been playing for about 8 months.
polymcerchm, very nice first post! Welcome! Tell us about your mandolin!
Its a Breedlove Quartz OF. I am a fan of Breedlove, owning a 17 year old C1/MH guitar as well.
I can play it but I cant say I like it enough to play it well.
I missed this tune when it came around, but instantly loved it when I heard Tosh's version reposted over in the "10 Strings" social group. So, when I sat down today to do this week's tune, I also recorded a version of Crested Hens on my Mid-Mo: Martin
Beautiful song, thank you everyone. Hey, polymcerchm, for playing 8 months, that's incredible. You've already developed your own unique and excellent style!
I went nuts over tis one. Is the second one with the concertenia on a cd?
Lovely playing as usual Martin and an excellent rendition from Polymerchm too. I have spent all this time trying to master the art of digital multi tracking and finally made it- so here is David James' fine arrangement for 3 mandolins all played on a Savannah.
Maudlin... that was great!
a little late..
Llamela, I like the urgency of your interpretation.
Llamela, that was very interesting! Tell us about your instrument! The all downstrokes gave it an entirely different feel. Was that a cigarette hanging from your mouth?
Llamela - Very enjoyable. A lot of energy. I too felt a sense of urgency, like a chase seen in a movie. I hope to hear more of your playing in the weeks and months to come. Thanks for sharing.
The question is this, does it strike the balance between being both 6/8 and 3/4?
Wow. That had such a different feeling....very Middle Eastern sounding. If I closed my eyes and listened I would think you were Hamsa El Din, the brilliant oud player from Egypt. Very cool!
Excellent "shuffle" there llamela... a perfect 7/5... Maudlin, do you perhaps have the MP3's or WAV's of the 2nd and 3rd mandolin parts you recorded. I'd like to try to adapt them for mandola and mandocello?
llamela - very nice - you make it sound medieval (and moody) - bravo!
llamela -- that sounds great, and very different. Probably appropriately so, given the origins of the tunes in French folk music. I have the feeling from your playing style that your background is different from that of most here in the group, and indeed I suspect that you may be French yourself (maybe it's the striped bohemien top and the cigarette dangling from the lip...). I think the sense of urgency everybody has been commenting on comes from picking so close to the bridge for a more agressive tone. Great job, and welcome to the group! Martin
Eddie - I am afraid Audacity seems to combine all the tracks irretrievably into one, but you can find the music on David Jame's website which is tiompanalley. Llamela - plenty of attack in this version just like your other offerings - keep them coming!
bump for LAMO
I had recorded an unaccompanied version of this tune back in January 2011, but listening back to it I figured that I hadn't really understood the proper rhythm for this tune and as a result my version was pretty lifeless. I have since come to the conclusion that it is entirely misleading to notate this tune in 3/4 time. It should be either 3/8 or 6/8, with a few bars of 3/4 thrown into the B part. So, I've now re-recorded the tune in jig picking pattern (DUD DUD) and with a tenor guitar rhythm track giving one beat per triplet except for those 3/4 bars in the B part. It's much bouncier this way and I think more effective (also faster and with better timing compared to my old take). This recording is based on the three-part harmony arrangement by David James of Tiompan Alley Music (Link to PDF sheet music). This is the same arrangement as used by Maudlin Mandolin earlier in this thread. However, I have put the harmonies fairly low in the mix as I wanted them to enhance but not distract from the actual tune. All three voices (melody and two harmonies) played on Mid-Missouri M-0W overdubbed in Audacity, with tenor guitar rhythm track. Martin
That's a really nice arrangement and recording, Martin. I agree, it sounds more 6/8 than 3/4 to me. Thank you especially for bumping this old thread back up to the top. I wasn't familiar with this tune before. Now I'd like to learn it.
Hello everyone. I have been enjoying everyone's videos for a while now. I made it a New Years resolution to participate and not just watch so here goes. I've been playing the mandolin for a couple of years. I've been serious about it for the past year or so. I found the mandolin while learning irish fiddle music. Here's my take on Crested Hens.
Very nicely played! Don't be a stranger -- your playing is so easy to listen to.
Thanks Michael. I enjoy hearing your playing as well. I'm still at the point where I am playing the straight melody on tunes. I'm looking forward to when I'll be able to jazz it up a bit like you and OS.
Great job Shanachie - sounds good, nice mando and the best video quality I've ever seen too!
Did anyone pick up the fact that 'Cocks' and not 'hens' are crested, making this possibly the first 'animal-inter-sex' tune ever?
I refute this with Google
I stand corrected. The search continues.
On a Resonator...
Since our honeymoon was in France and I still had my mandolin with me from our mini-gig at the wedding, I felt like playing the small number of French tunes that I know. This is one of them. Back at home now, I thought this would be an opportunity to try out my new webcam and software.
Sounds like a wonderful honeymoon, and congratulations on your wedding. That's a really pretty rendering of the tune.
It's such a great tune I had to bring it back to the top of the pile. Played on a classical guitar I bought for £10 from a car boot sale, and a Jimmy Moon mandolin, hand made in Scotland, which cost rather more.
Nice job James, sounds really nice!
Very good James, great playing and tone from your mandolin.
Great picking on this one. I'm partial to a classical guitar for backing up pretty songs like this. Nice finger picking back up on the guitar, suits the song really well. The sustain on that Moon mandolin and the way you play it was perfect.
Did think of adding humble, content poultry sound effects to this one. Then I’d add the noble cry of the Chicken Hawk followed by the calamitous sound of chickens scattering, running for their dear lives. But no, this is a one track recording. And very nice to hear Dennis playing his beautiful mandolin. https://youtu.be/CEJ9uRlPJks
Always a great tune to play or listen to. Your new recording surprised me with its tempo, but since you never mispick or lose your rhythm, it works very well at the higher speed. You're also doing the right thing by going hiking in the daylight. I'm just back from an evening walk with the mandolin. No video recording possible, and the nights are getting damp.
Really like your light and sprightly rhythm with the tremolo Dennis and your mandolin, and your shirt. On my version though it’s the adrenalin, it surprises me too. Each time I hike up with the backpack I get a bit shaky, and become Mr. lurching-lumpy-staccato-man. Then I need time to get into back into mandolin-playing mode -physically, mentally and meta-physically too. Sometimes I switch on the metronome in the forest for a couple of minutes and do nocontact-dance (like Tai-Chi) and breathing exercises. Oooooooommmmm! One of the things I like about this tune is the sudden flows of the melodic phrases which can be very smooth when played in my studio but not so good in a damp, sad, lonely horrible place surrounded by big bits of voiceless vegetation. It was the 14th Sept yesterday so lots of smiling people lurking about. Which is nice.
The man sitting on a stump delivers another fine video, fast but relaxed. Nice playing, Simon!
Old Dan Tucker, Bruce version: https://youtu.be/Iuh96kiIU2M Oh yeh!!!!!
“… melodic phrases which can be very smooth when played in my studio but not so good in a damp, sad, lonely horrible place surrounded by big bits of voiceless vegetation.” You illustrated the situation very well, Simon. But we all love your recordings in nature! Great playing of Crested Hens as well.
Nice woodland scene and some great outdoor pickin'. Apparently I must know this song cause there is a video of me playing it in 2010 (unless it's a deep fake!)
