This week was a close one! The winner is Sweet Georgia Brown, which was submitted as a swing tune. Here's a link to info on Wikipedia Here's a You Tube video: Here's a link to some notation. That's all I have time for! Any more input would be great!
Here's a link on the main board to Swing Tunes. Click on the attachment in the first post from Don Julin and d/l the tunes - Sweet Georgia is one of them. http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...11#post1062911 good luck!
I have a cool rendition of it from the Jim Richter camp, but it's an MP3 and I have no idea how to get it here
Doc & Dawg!
Eddie thanks for the link. Here's my short and simple version.
Nicely played Mr. Hansen! The sound of the recording is just great,especially on the mandolin. Thank you.
Superb sound, David, and your playing is not exactly simple ...
Alright here's my first mandolin video. This is only the second day that I have played the instrument so I need all the advice I can get haha. In particular, how do I avoid the choppy sound and let the strings ring out more? David, I love your playing! It's an inspiration to me. Great job with the tune.
Really great first mando clip Katie. As someone who also came to mandolin from fiddle, I think the issue of ringing notes is first a matter of practicing clean fretting which fiddlers have no experience with. And even when you get the mechanics of your left hand down cleanly, smooth playing is also the challenge of leaving your fretting finger on the string as long as possible and mentally imagining each note flowing seamlessly into the next. Depending on which style you're aiming to play in, there are several ornaments that help smooth out the choppiness. For example, in OT, you can use slides, double stops and drones just like a fiddler would. IT players use triplets and drones a lot I've noticed. But even with all this, the mandolin is going to be more choppy than a violin, that's why a lot of us call in for back up with guitars, banjos, etc. Wow, David what a swinging version you have there. If you're going to have to follow Doc and the Dawg, that's the way to do it.
Mr Hansen, that was simply magnificent. I have been inpsired to give this one a whirl now. Thank you! Kadenza, keep up the good work. You will be amazed at how quickly your playing style and tone matures. Having these videos as a snapshot of your progress is a really useful tool as you won't necessarily notice the gradual day to day improvements that you will make.
I always liked this tune, got it memorized but every time I went to record last night with my blackberry playbook I ggoofed up..lol... hoping to soon have something to post.... Wayne
Here we go... oops, forgot the bass soundratck... and no breaks/leads... yet...
This is a tune which is probably in everybody's head, but transferring it to the fingers isn't as simple as you'd think. Three great versions there, all very different, Eddie, hope that leg is mending ok.
David, that was a very nice arrangement and excellent playing. Kadenza, you are off to a great start. Learning mandolin should be a lot easier with your violin background. I started contributing weekly to the song a week forum around a year ago. It has really helped me progress on the instrument. Do you happen to know of anything similar for a beginner on fiddle? I got one a couple months ago, but I still haven't motivated to play it much. Eddie, you should give us the tour of your instruments. Is that a mandolin, mandola, and OM in there? I really enjoyed learning this one. I played it straight the first time through, then improvised, then played the melody with improv mixed together.
Great job there Laura, nice work on the improvisation.
Excellent first video Katie hope to see more from you. David Eddie and Laura all up to your usual high standards. This guitar arrangement is by Will Fly and can be found on his website.
Here's Sweet Georgia Brown with Texas swing backup on both the guitar and mandolin! I recorded the backup first at what seemed a nice tempo only to find when I came to overdub the lead mandolin that it was moving along rather briskly... so a few days practice and here it is... last two times thru the mandolin was improvising. https://youtu.be/yRYCWC8lMx4 Eddie, David, Laura, Katie and Maudlin: Well done!
Michael. Unbelievably good, my mandolin is going into the fireplace...
Hey woodenfingers don't burn the mandolin... think of all the global warming gasses that would be released! Instead, I've heard that a mandolin also makes a very nice canoe paddle. Seriously, don't ever give up playing. I joined my first bluegrass band in 1972 as the mandolin player and didn't even have a mandolin or know how to play one. It's been 40 years since then and I still get the same thrill at learning a new song... it just takes less time now because of all the practice I've put in.
Stuche, David Hansen, and OS are pretty much gods in this forum. Huddle with the rest of us and strive for their perfection... and each of them shares tips and techniques to make our struggle easier...
Never cease being amazed by this group. WOW!
OK, it was too warm last night to get the fireplace going so I'll keep practicing for 40 years. Problem now is that at that point I'll be 101 and probably need help just picking it up. Back in the 70s I got a guitar and was playing folk and bluegrass with friends in University but that declined after moving for work. I played fiddle for a decade in the 90s but never got it sounding right. Started on the mandolin (eastman 515) about a year ago after retiring because it was tuned like a fiddle, but had frets, and I just love it and play it everyday. Can't play chords on it to any great extent yet but I can wail away on it fairly well and work in an occasional double stop. I've been picking up some of the songs a week and learning them and thoroughly love listening to all the versions here. Some day I'll see if I can record one for the group. BTW: Here's one of my favourite versions of Sweet Georgia Brown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1ThSi1wbqU
Kadenza, this must be an all time record posting a video on the second day of playing the mando. Very well done. Laura, another proof of your amazing musicianship. Michael, great swinging mandolin. Also like the sound of your guitar accompaniment. I can recognize your playing out ouf chord positions, but will need several more years to figure out how to apply this to my playing. Eddie, great job on multiple instruments.
Still workin' on it. Love this tune.
Nice job!
Thanks Michael. I only have about a gazillion miles more to go with my playin' but you always are one, along with others here, who keep me inspired to keep workin'. Tomorrow will be my 11 month anniversary of beginning to learn...and hoping a couple more years will give me enough to enjoy playing. Well...to tell the truth....I already enjoy it ... maybe others will begin to in a couple more years.
This is my version of Sweet Georgia, with a midi backing track. I'm not improvising yet, but I'm working on it.
I enjoyed this one, Jairo. An old favourite and you play it well here and it transfers well to the mandolin. The backing track works well and your repeating end phrase is a nice touch.
Jairo, that’s a nice one, too.
Thanks John and Frithjof, you are very kind gentlemen!
John, you don't use the tremolo often, but you are a complete musician who makes exquisite music! and Frithoff, please us with more mandolin and concertina!
Thanks Jairo, nice playing and I really like these different tunes.
Well, I found out that this tune is from at least as early as 1925, so I've decided to repost the thing as it is in the public domain. I've played it on a mandolin with the guitar and 2nd mandolin playing swing chords. Hope you enjoy! https://youtu.be/yRYCWC8lMx4
LOve it Michael! One of my favorite tunes I forgot I knew. You put that together and played, I don't know,,, pretty darn perfect.
Excellent Michael, I went running for my bass to play along. I even went and tried to find my original video but I think it got lost in my HD crash a few years back.
Thanks guys! What a jam we could have...
Absolutely super, Michael. I really enjoyed your improvised soloing on this one and the great chordal backing.
Outstanding, Michael. Too many things to say WoW about - just all around a great production !
Yes wonderful performance Michael, I have to try and learn at least a couple of your techniques of embellishment. A marvel to listen to.
Great, Michael. My first thought was "Dango..."
Thanks John... but my solos for this song weren't improvised or off the cuff! What happens is that I learn the melody for the first break and then play it "straight". For the other breaks I work out what I am going to play in advance (the variations) and then memorize these breaks so that they sound effortless. Finally, the last time through I return to the head of the tune (the basic melody that is) to bring it on home! I believe that the majority of improvised breaks are probably arranged in this manner. Some of the jazz giants could truly improvise off the cuff, but for the rest of us we have to work them out first! It does get easier the more you do it however.
So great to have you active again in the SAW group Michael. Wonderful playing on SGB. Now I want to join the Harlem Globe Trotters. (They used this as their theme music, remember that?)
Yes, I do remember the Harlem Globetrotters and their theme song! My dad was in the Air Force and the Globetrotters would play at the airbases, so I saw them a number of times as a kid. Meadowlark Lemon was my favorite! Thanks for bringing that memory back Don.
I think someone whistled it for their theme. Meadowlark Lemon was the best.
You're right... I looked it up and the song was recorded in 1949 by Brother Bones and His Shadows and used as the theme song for the Globetrotters... it was another time and another place, but both the music and the basketball are still super cool! https://youtu.be/AuIgor5_PaQ
Michael, thanks for that insight on how you construct your breaks. I'm relieved to know I'm on the right path and in good company. And half-court swish on your version!!
