What's your new fiddle tune?

[fatt-dad]

WW! Very nice tune and you're making great progress too! I'll work on that, one day, one day. . .

f-d

[Mike Snyder]

Whoeeeeee! had a fine run at Midnight on the Water with a mountain dulcimer pickin' friend over the weekend. I never appreciated that one much before. Also got a new book of obscure Irish trad stuff. The Bag of Spuds, Tar Road to Sligo, The Fairy Princess.
Next weekend, Harrison Arkansas Fiddlers Convention, you up for it, wizard?

[Bernie Daniel]

[QUOTE=woodwizard;907115]

What the heck... I don't know it very well yet but here ya go fat-dad. Just now did the vid and up loaded. "Lady of the Lake" You don't hear this version very much. Hopefully I will get better at it
***
Well ... I'm playing that one a little different now. ... didn't have it quite right on the A part. Sure is fun working thru this stuff.

Sounded very nice to me. With your video and the mp3 (slowed way done) I should have it soon. You're right its a great tune. Lots of fun to play -- for me it seems like a "natural" progression (maybe just not crooked?) -- both A & B parts. On tunes like that I can learn them faster -- others leave me "off balance" for days trying to get them.

Thanks for posting it!

[woodwizard]

Thanks...
Pretty much all up down strokes through all the notes. That makes it a lot easier to go faster. 2 chords in the A part and 3 chords on the B part. Nothing tricky. I was still kind of figuring it out when I recorded the vid. I'm where I can play it with the boys now up to speed I think and I will find out for sure tomorrow. We're having a little OT jam again. I have it all tabbed out correct I think now just incase I forget something I can go back to it. I'm working on aother tune called "Rugged Road" now. Another great Lymon Enloe tune I believe.

Hey Mike ...I really wish I could make that Harrison thing but I have to work this Sat. Are you going to try to make the Mountain View Folk Festival April 15, 16 & 17 ? I'm going to that. It's always fun!

[Jim Nollman]

I've been learning a few new tunes for a significant dance our band is playing next month. In a way, I can't believe i never learned some of these tunes before, since they are standard contra repertoire, and relatively easy: shoofly (not the "don't bother me" version), and maple sugar. For the latter, I do like woofing along with different rhythms to match that unusual change of key. We're also working on a new arrangement for Sandy Boys in A, which includes a few odd D9 chords thrown in, but only for a single beat. It's a very effective addition.

While learning all these tunes, a strange thing happened. My fiddler taught me two of the new tunes about a month ago. They have similar names but sound quite different: Big Liza Jane and Little Liza Jane. Then she went away on a trip. I especially liked Little Liza, with that sweet change to F#m, when played in A. As I learned the tune, I noticed that the change was suddenly sounding much better if i substituted a Bm7 for the F#m. I know, I know, that made no musical sense. Then I got the bug for that tune, and played it over and over again until i could play it to speed: about 122 bpm on a beeper. I'm sure you know how that bug operates. Every time you pick up the mando you play the same tune.

The fiddler returned yesterday, and we played together at a local dance tonight. As it turns out, I have apparently composed a brand new tune that takes some of its elements from Little Liza Jane, and also a few phrases from Big Liza Jane. But most of it shows nothing obvious from either tune. The fiddler liked this new tune enough that we played it tonight for quite a while. We both like the place in the new melody where i hang on the Bm, then resolve it to E7 and back to A.

I think I'll call the tune: Medium Sized Liza Jane.

I'll eventually try to work up an arrangement in the studio, and maybe post it here. It will have to wait until April, since i'm about to go on the road for 2 weeks.

[AlanN]

Well, I've gone back and researched Kissimmee Kid, and now I'm not sure. I have 3 transcriptions of this number:

- In the book David Grisman Bluegrass Mandolin Solos, from the first OAITW,
- Acoustic Disc sheet from ACD-28, OAITW Breakdown recording,
- Sheet music a buddy sent me.

In the B part, the first shows G to F#, the second shows Gm to F#, the third Bb to F#(Gb). The notes Dawg plays on the 2 recordings can fit over both the major and minor. In a youtube Max posted with McCoury, I hear Bb. In another youtube with Vassar, Rice, Flux, O'Connor (on mando) - excellent performance, btw - I hear...not sure. In the first OAITW, I hear G major.

So....there is latitude there, as long as everybody plays the same chord. Ain't it grand.

[JeffD]

Early in the Year - another great tune buried in the Portland Collection

[woodwizard]

I think I'll call the tune: Medium Sized Liza Jane. I like that Jim !

[woodwizard]

Just in case anyone is interested ...here's "Lady of the Lake" tab -to play around with
(Have Fun!)

[Rob Gerety]

I especially liked Little Liza, with that sweet change to F#m, when played in A. As I learned the tune, I noticed that the change was suddenly sounding much better if i substituted a Bm7 for the F#m. I know, I know, that made no musical sense.

I certainly can't explain the theory - but that particular chord substitution is something I was taught to try and it really does work in a lot of situations so I am sure there is some theoretical explanation for it. I know that we look for that substitution all the time. Builds tension. Our keyboard player is a jazz guy and he explained it to me - went in one ear and out the other. For my purposes it fits completely in the only important theory there is - it sounds good.

[fatt-dad]

Last week at the jam a buddy called, "Georgia Railroad." Anybody know that or have tab? I picked it up pretty good by lap 3, but can't recall how it goes and the YouTubes I find just don't quite give it to me. . .

f-d

p.s., WW, thanks for the tab.

[woodwizard]

p.s., WW, thanks for the tab.

Your welcome.
Made a mistake on the A part ... the 2 4 2 on the A string should be 2 5 2 both places ... sorry bout that.

[woodwizard]

I really like "Hell Among the Yearlings" Here is video clip of my band doing a little bit of it. This was when we use to just play acousticly in this small restaurant. My friend on vacation from Boston took the video. Fun tune.

[catmandu2]

Got my fiddle out today after about a month lay-off into other things..

Three tunes I worked on today:

Beaumont Rag
Sally Ann (as played on Dirk Powell's Time Again)
And a tune off a Vasen CD that for the life of me I can't find...thankfully I've played it enough to remember how it goes...

[woodwizard]

Here is a tune called "Sandy Boys" that we've been playing some lately. This was at an OT jam with some friends.
Another fun OT tune!

[Rob Gerety]

Anyone know of a nice recording of Beaumont Rag in F? I need to learn it by ear in that key.

[woodwizard]

Here's me and my Old-time pickin buddies doing "Hangman's Reel"

[Jim Nollman]

suddenly in new-tune-learning mode again, after a 4 or 5 week hiatus. Hey you guys, Josefin's Waltz has got to be among the most beautiful tunes in the old time repertoire. The extra two phrases added on to the second B gives me goose bumps. Anyone know the country of origin of this tune?

Also learning Cheat. This is not the same as Cheat Mountain which is another tune we do. Also doing Johnny Cope, often in tandem with Shoes and Stockings, which is the way it's done on a Clyde Curley recording.

We're going to try the very unusual step of playing a foxtrot at our next contra dance. In this case, it will probably be the slow-to-mid-tempo 4/4 fiddle tune The Defeat of Paris, which we learned off an old Kevin Burke recording. It has an A,B, and C part. We've also asked our caller to find a mid-tempo contra dance so we can play either WinderSlide or Swinging on a Gate. Sure, either of these can played at the usual dance speed, but the former sounds so much better with its distinct cakewalk syncopation, and the latter has lots of essential notes that hold together best when slowed down to about 112 bpm. She found an old English aristocratic line dance to fulfill our request, which is traditionally accompanied by any of several lilting tunes.

[catmandu2]

Josefin's Waltz has got to be among the most beautiful tunes in the old time repertoire. The extra two phrases added on to the second B gives me goose bumps. Anyone know the country of origin of this tune?

When I was playing with a hardanger fiddler and seeking tunes, someone recommended this one. Maybe it has Scandi origins?

[Mike Black]

suddenly in new-tune-learning mode again, after a 4 or 5 week hiatus. Hey you guys, Josefin's Waltz has got to be among the most beautiful tunes in the old time repertoire. The extra two phrases added on to the second B gives me goose bumps. Anyone know the country of origin of this tune?

Josefin's Waltz is by Roger Tallroth. This tune is on the CD Trio from the Swedish group Vasen with Tallroth.

Here is a video of Roger and a few other people you might have heard of playing the tune.

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/19075251

[Mike Black]

We've also asked our caller to find a mid-tempo contra dance so we can play either WinderSlide or Swinging on a Gate. Sure, either of these can played at the usual dance speed, but the former sounds so much better with its distinct cakewalk syncopation, and the latter has lots of essential notes that hold together best when slowed down to about 112 bpm. She found an old English aristocratic line dance to fulfill our request, which is traditionally accompanied by any of several lilting tunes.

I thought that Winder Slide was a crooked tune. Going to be hard to find a dance for it.

[fatt-dad]

I really like Swinging on a Gate too! New tune for me is, "Sarah Armstrong's Tune." It's in D.

f-d

[Mike Bunting]

I just discovered an online radio station called Sugar in the Gourd that plays only oldtime music. I'm addicted, how come no one told me about this one before!

[Jim Nollman]

I thought that Winder Slide was a crooked tune. Going to be hard to find a dance for it.

What do you mean by a "crooked tune". In my naivete I'm curious if this is a proper term used by fiddle tune aficionados, or something you made up to describe the odd meter of the tune. I definitely agree that the tune displays a unique mix of "sad" melody, and lilting meter. I call it a cakewalk, but I'm not really sure that's accurate. Colored Aristocracy is definitely a cakewalk, and it has much of the same syncopated rhyhthm as Winder Slide.

Anyway, just curious what you meant. Our caller is a whiz with over a hundred dances in her repertoire. If you're interested, I'm happy to post again when i find out if she's found a proper dance to fit this tune, and also for Swinging on a Gate. Our next dance is in 2 weeks.

[Mike Snyder]

Pretty Little Widow, Maggie in the Woods, Swingin' On a Gate, Church Street Polka.