Mug of Brown Ale

  1. James Rankine
    James Rankine
    I've been a bit quiet round here lately because I've been too busy playing my new Capek tenor banjo. Folk round here will know he makes a fine mandolin - well his banjos aren't bad either!
    A fine jig I learned from our local session.

  2. woodenfingers
    woodenfingers
    Hey James, Great sounding banjo and great playing too! I know that jig from somewhere and thanks to you I now know its name!!
  3. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Very good sound and fine picking on this, James. Lovely clean delivery!
  4. Michael Pastucha
    Michael Pastucha
    Great tune, wonderful playing, georgeous banjo, & a knockout video!
  5. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    I love tenor banjos, and that one sounds especially nice. Glad to hear you're enjoying it so well. What a fun tune!
  6. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    Excellent! I love the sound. Great banjo pickin', good foot-tapping rhythm, wonderful!

    And I like your choice of backing too, I don't know if you're playing the backing yourself or if it's a track, but either way I think it's the perfect choice of sound for this tune, it does the accompaniment wonderfully without trompling all over the melody or being 'too' chordy. Just perfect.

    Hauntingly beautiful. I could listen to this type of wonderful music for hours.
  7. James Rankine
    James Rankine
    Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

    JL, I played the accompaniment myself on bouzouki. Not "too chordy" is what I aim for, and now I have a phrase to articulate my approach so thanks for that.
  8. Robert Balch
    Robert Balch
    I really like the "not too chordy" sound of this too. Great job James.
    I have recently started playing this jig and it has quickly become one of my favorites.
  9. jonny250
    jonny250
    very nice! that banjo is quite smooth [as is your playing] really nice tone.
  10. gortnamona
    gortnamona
    thanks for sharing and introducing me to this one James, well played and you've got yourself a great sounding banjo there. thought i would have a go at it on the octave , though its sounds a little pedestrian beside your banjo version

  11. woodenfingers
    woodenfingers
    Very nice picking there Gortnamona and a nice sounding octave mando too.
  12. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    I totally missed out on this one. Congrats on the new black machine James, displayed with what I suspect to be an irresponsibly expensive pick
    Lawrence's rendition may be pedestrian (I prefer "sauntering") but no less grooving for it, an ideal role for the OM.
  13. gortnamona
    gortnamona
    thanks Bertram, i'll take sauntering any day of the week , first time i've heard that word used outside of Derry
  14. James Rankine
    James Rankine
    Lovely triplets Lawrence, as usual.
    The prominent display of the pick was not intended as an ostentatious display of wealth Bertram. In fact 'tis but a humble Dunlop Primetone -the poor man's blue chip.
  15. gortnamona
    gortnamona
    well worth revisiting this great tune for Jame's great tenor banjo version alone, as my pervious video is long gone i thought i would give it another shot on a nice little used eastman 315 i picked up recently

  16. Frankdolin
    Frankdolin
    Fine pick'n Lawrence! And the new Mando sounds great, very pretty.
  17. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Fine playing and a great-sounding instrument, Lawrence. Well played triplets throughout the tune.
  18. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Nice one Lawrence, lovely ring off that Eastman as well!
  19. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Great jig playing, Lawrence. I also like this slide into the a in the B part.
    You picked up a nice sounding Eastman 315!
  20. Jess L.
    Jess L.
    Cool!
  21. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Fine playing with great rhythm as usual Lawrence.
  22. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Nice jig picking on a fine instrument; Lawrence
  23. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    So what’s with the extra half measure in the B part, Lawrence?
  24. gortnamona
    gortnamona
    haven't a clue Simon, not even sure what a half measure is !
  25. Simon DS
    Simon DS
  26. Frankdolin
    Frankdolin
    It's half of a full measure. Whatever that is!
  27. gortnamona
    gortnamona
    Simon as i only play alone for my own pleasure it would be no surprise if i inadvertently added a extra skip or a jump , this is the version i originally used to learn the tune

    T: The Mug Of Brown Ale
    R: jig
    M: 6/8
    L: 1/8
    K: Ador
    f|eAA fAA|~g3 age|dBA ~G3|BAG Bcd|
    eAA fAA|~g3 age|def gdB|cAA A2:|
    z|efg ~a3|aba age|def ~g3|gba ged|
    efg ~a3|aba age|def gdB|cAA A2:|
  28. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Sounds great! Like a medieval song where they sometimes extend the lines by odd but regular amounts to fit lyrics. Or Blues improv singing sometimes.
  29. Simon DS
    Simon DS


    https://youtu.be/wXonF7TG-90

    Had to use a click track to line up the vids though one incongruity remains…
  30. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    The tempo seems familiar to me, Simon
  31. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    It’s Tmax, Bertram. Well for me at least!
  32. John W.
    John W.
    Nice tempo, Simon…I can contemplate how someone may pop out for a hair cut between takes…but you seem to have grown yours between takes…???
  33. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Ha! You win the prize for being the first to comment on this bodily function John!
    Yes indeed I play the tune at Tmax, but my hair grows at Tmax too!
  34. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Well played once again, Simon. You really bring the tune to life here.
  35. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks Gents. You’ve probably noticed I tried this in different keys…
  36. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Had I known there were easter eggs in there, I'd found them all, Simon. So not only can you decapitate an OM with a capo, you can do the same to your head, and in reverse order - time machines are in high demand nowadays, you might get rich with this trick.
  37. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Funny video, Simon Tmax (you may change your MC name today).
  38. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    I was going to say that there’s another one, Bertram. But no, it’s otherwise all pretty normal.

    Thanks Frithjof, I most of the time enjoy a good laugh. And that was funny!
    About the name change, not sure about that (on YT) apparently the privileged will be able to choose first
    Is ‘@mandolinsunrise’ a winning YT short name?
  39. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    “mandolin sunrise” is just great. Don’t change a successful trademark.
  40. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Your hair grows as fast as your wrist moves cross the strings, Simon!
  41. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    I did try this slightly but regularly crooked, adding half measures here and there.
    Sounds like a medieval singer who changes the line lengths and rhythm to fit the words of each stanza. I really like that.
  42. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Interesting that you say you tried it in different keys, Simon, and the video shows that you have moved the capo from 3rd to 5th fret where you merge the two parts of the video, yet the tune remains in the same key throughout your performance!
  43. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    This is show business John.
    E dorian, D dorian, what’s the difference?!
  44. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Simon, in reply to your query above, "E dorian, D dorian, what’s the difference?! " E Dorian is a mode of the D major scale, including G# and C#, while D Dorian has all the notes of the C major scale, with the G and C natural.
  45. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Yes but why discuss it?
    Relatively speaking, E dorian and D dorian are the same.
    https://youtu.be/ZFXDAm35QDM
  46. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    John, I think Simon is trying to define his capoed OM as a transposing instrument, like saxophones and other reed instruments are, reading everything with a reference to their own base tone, misusing standard notation for a kind of instrument-specific tab and confusing the rest of the world with a Houdini trick to defy music theory And isn't that just like him. Got to give him that leeway.
  47. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks Bertram, that’s it.
    I often wonder how many more people (and kids) would play music if all of our keys were simple pre-agreed capo shifts so that tunes were entirely defined in terms of mode. Fingering would be really simple as well as learning by ear.
  48. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    It's the Simon TMax Express! Great, clean picking at speed. I admire your ability to do that.
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