Winter Lochan (An original composition)

  1. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    I was out taking photographs this week of Loch Loskin, the beautiful wee loch very close to my home, and thought that it merited a tune to go with the pictures. Loch Loskin is already famous through the pipe march "Lochanside" composed by Pipe Major John McLellan (I have previously posted versions of some of his tunes here in the SAW group). He lived here in Dunoon and was a frequent visitor to the lochan.

    Here is my offering, which was forming in my head while I was taking my photos. Mandolin, octave and guitar are the instruments used.

  2. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    LOVE this song,John !! Your skills inspire me. Beautiful song - and if that's what you call winter, clean out your spare room. Guest arriving...drats..Covid !
  3. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Winter outside and a musical box on the mantelpiece.
    I am sure there's something I've forgotten
  4. Robert Balch
    Robert Balch
    Very nice John. Beautiful.
  5. David Hansen
    David Hansen
    You do have a flair for composition, excellent tune and playing.
  6. Bren
    Bren
    Very nice John.

    And today I learned that Lochanside was composed for Loch Loskin!
  7. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    Lovely. Thank you for sharing.
  8. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Beautiful photos and self composed music, fine video John!
  9. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Lovely tune and lovely photos!
  10. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Really nice, John, though to my ears it does sound like quite a warm winter.
    Thanks for sharing.
  11. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks, all. Great, as always, to get feedback from fellow players I admire in their own right.
  12. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Inspiration blessed you richly with this one, John. You have created a gem of a melody here. It does sound like a song, but I won't volunteer to write any lyrics for it. I've only ever lived in the Sassenach parts of the British Isles, and my words just wouldn't sound Scottish enough.
  13. Don Grieser
    Don Grieser
    A beautiful melody to go with those fine photos, John. Thanks for sharing it with us.
  14. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks, Dennis and Don. Kind words indeed.
    Great to see the SAW Group so active at the moment. It is providing a lifeline for so many of us in the present climate.
  15. Callum Murray
    Callum Murray
    Lovely composition, John
  16. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Thanks for sharing your beautiful composition with us. It’s a pleasure to listen to your playing as well as to watch the landscapes.
  17. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks, Callum and Frithjof.
  18. Frankdolin
    Frankdolin
    My kinda place and Really love your tune. Beautiful John
  19. Frankdolin
    Frankdolin
    Here is my " Cover" Of John Kellys' beautiful song. With John himself on guitar from an MP3 he shared some time ago. I uploaded that to my Tascam, and then overdubbed and shot-gunned getting the beginning timed right! Thanks John! Thanks for the Listen!
  20. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Frank, what a great job you have done on this video, both your playing and the pictures you have used. You have included many lovely shots of my home area here in Cowal in Argyll. Thanks so much for having a go at my composition. I am really delighted you decided to record this tune.
  21. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Frank did your lovely tune justice, John. Frank always does play so well it sounds very natural. Nice collab John and Frank.
  22. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    Somehow missed this thread before.

    Very nice composition, John, and very nice playing, John and Frank!

    My try at this tune, somehow sounds almost reminiscent of the old Tex-Mex German waltzes I used to hear my dad play on mandolin. I wasn't intentionally trying to change the style - I was *trying* to make it sound nice like John's and Frank's (I spent an hour or so studying John's video at half-speed to get the melody), but mine ended up turning out different anyway. My chords are just guesses, I didn't see any written chords anywhere and my ear isn't that good for chords, so I just base chords on the melody notes and hope for the best. In any case, fun tune to play!


    (or direct link)
  23. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Lovely, sensitive playing Frank. I really like the tone on your mandolin.
    And Jess nice with the harmonic improv too.
  24. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    A quite different interpretation of the tune, Jess, giving it a whole different feel from my own and Frank's versions. Interesting to hear the variations you have added. My sincere thanks for having a go at the tune.
  25. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Great job by Frank to play along so sensitive to John’s guitar.

    I also like the way Jess take a tune and build her own version.
  26. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    Thanks Simon, John, and Frithjof!

    This tune resonated with me the instant I heard it, and I was like "I gotta learn that, right now." That bypassed my usual system of putting things in my projects folder where they often sit for years while I work on a dozen other different projects all at once.

    The melody fits under the fingers nicely.

    Very much a pleasant tune to learn and play.
  27. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Two fine new versions of John's beatiful tune: Frank playing a superb mandolin to John's guitar, while Jess is doing her own thing.
  28. Frankdolin
    Frankdolin
    Thanks for the kind remarks! John's beautiful song made the whole process, ie trying to figure out his clever end of sentence phrasing, FUN. And anytime I have to "work" to figure something out, I get better.
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