What's your new fiddle tune?

[Mark Wilson]

Kitchen Girl.

[Mark Wilson]

and Blackberry Blossom

You never know who you'll run into playing that tune
Her rhythm and chord selection is so fine on the B part. Impressive

[JeffD]

I just learned "Clear the Kitchen", an old song with a checkered past, and likely an even older tune. The tune has some surprises, and the lyrics, depending on whose version you find, are kind of kookie. Kind of Mid-Western old time? I found it in a Missouri tune book.

[bbcee]

As a beginner, I'm getting lots & lots of knowledge out of mandolessons.com. Well worth contributing, to keep it evolving.

"Steamboat Quickstep" was just posted, and it's really fun to play. Love the vibe of it.

[Jess L.]

I'm currently having a torrid love affair with Brushy Fork of John's Creek. Been hearing it on Pandora and got it stuck in my head. It has that same grooviness as Squirrel Hunters.

First time I heard that tune was an awesome gourd-banjo version by Adam Hurt:


(In the 1970s I experimented with fretless low-tuned nylon-strung banjo but I sure never sounded that good.)

I'm playing the Hiram Stamper version from the Milliner Koken collection, slightly modified as most people play it (i.e. not crooked).

This one? I like Hiram Stamper's fiddling:

[Jess L.]

So I finally got around to transposing the YouTube version of Bring Me Back My Hodi Cakes

Wanted to thank you again for transposing the tune, I find it so much easier to learn a new tune when I can listen to it and follow along with the written music at the same time.

But I hadn't actually seriously tried to play it until today, this is how it turned out, it's a li'l rough and I play some wrong notes at 1:15, hopefully it'll smooth out with practice:



It's probably unlikely that my quasi-variants are in an authentic style or whatever, but that's what I found myself gravitating towards while playing, kind of an auto-pilot thing I guess, borrowing standard note sequences/riffs from other tunes or something, not sure. I also got the parts mixed up as far as how many times to play each part... oh well. Work-in-progress.

P.S.: Played on new $50 Rogue, using a cheap stick-on pickup because I'm not set up here to use a proper mic (too much ambient noise going on all the time, machinery and powertools etc. - whereas the stickon pickup only picks up vibrations from the mandolin's top wood, not any of the background noise). However, the sound still isn't very good. Some of that can probably be fixed by EQ and other things, but I haven't got that far yet.

P.S. #2: The video's black-and-white because the color got screwed up by me using a bright white LED worklight to provide more light. It made the video blue! I couldn't figure out the right combination of things to do in my video editor, to get rid of the garish and unexpectedly blue tint in the video, and I was too lazy to redo the video (out of 7 minutes of playing, only 1:40 of that was marginally-usable), so I figured I'd just convert it to black-and-white and see if it looked better. Ok not sure about "better", but at least it doesn't have that garish blue tint now.

[Tobin]

This one? I like Hiram Stamper's fiddling:

Yep, that's the base version that was transcribed for the MK Collection. I agree - his fiddle style is great. His grandson, Art Stamper, plays a pretty good version of it too.

The grooviness of the tune really comes out in this version from Clifftop in 2012, and like I mentioned previously, it has the same sort of feel as Squirrel Hunters when played like that. I love hearing the mandolin and fiddle playing together, which really comes out at about 1:15.

Wanted to thank you again for transposing the tune, I find it so much easier to learn a new tune when I can listen to it and follow along with the written music at the same time.

But I hadn't actually seriously tried to play it until today, this is how it turned out, it's a li'l rough and I play some wrong notes at 1:15, hopefully it'll smooth out with practice:

I liked your recording of it! Yeah, you took some liberties with the turnarounds and such, but there ain't nothing wrong with that. Make it your own - that's half the fun of fiddle tunes. I thought you sounded good. And I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but the style you were playing almost came across like a clawhammer banjo, in terms of the "feel" of the picking. If I closed my eyes and listened to you play, it really had that clawhammer banjo groove. I mean that as a good thing - it was great!

[AlanN]

and Blackberry Blossom

You never know who you'll run into playing that tune
Her rhythm and chord selection is so fine on the B part. Impressive

Thanks, Mark. Fun to listen to.

[Jess L.]

The grooviness of the tune really comes out in this version from Clifftop in 2012, and like I mentioned previously, it has the same sort of feel as Squirrel Hunters when played like that. I love hearing the mandolin and fiddle playing together, which really comes out at about 1:15.

That's a wonderful version! I see what you mean about the Squirrel Hunters-type grooviness, and that mandolin/fiddle combination is great, I'm in awe of the unison sound they get when they're both playing melody (such as between 2:00-2:30). Nice stuff.

I liked your recording of it! Yeah, you took some liberties with the turnarounds and such, but there ain't nothing wrong with that. Make it your own - that's half the fun of fiddle tunes. I thought you sounded good.

Thanks! And I agree about making tunes your own, definitely fun.

And I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but the style you were playing almost came across like a clawhammer banjo, in terms of the "feel" of the picking. If I closed my eyes and listened to you play, it really had that clawhammer banjo groove. I mean that as a good thing - it was great!

I'm honored actually, thank you!

Clawhammer banjo was actually my first serious musical instrument (not counting casual dabbling in dulcimer and piano) - I'd practice/play banjo for several hours every day trying to get the sound I wanted. My dad played banjo and other instruments, that's who I learned from, and there was usually one kind or another of banjo/fiddle music going in the house every since I could remember. So that clawhammer rhythm/style kind of worked its way into my musical subconscious I guess. Here's what we sounded like, years later, me on mandola backup in 1981:


I don't intentionally try for a clawhammer sound on other instruments, but when I happen to notice it, it's alright I guess.

Partly it's just habit, like the pull-offs etc., I got used to doing lots of pulls/hammers on banjo and now I play them on everything without even thinking about it.

But one thing is different the last few years, from how I used to play flatpicked fiddle tunes: I finally realized I don't have to play all the notes. Just play the important notes, enough to define the melody, and everything else is for rhythm. Nowadays for fiddle tunes (on non-fiddle instruments) I often do intentionally emphasize the downbeat (one TWO three FOUR) even if I have to leave out melody notes to do so. I want something I can tap my foot to, the rhythm is foremost but I want some melody to be there too, that's kind of my current musical strategy... still working on it.

[Jim Garber]

To respond to multiple posts above.

Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones are wonderful musicians. The tightness of their playing reminds me also of the Foghorn String Band mandolin and fiddle playing.

Here is a recording of Snake Chapman playing this tune: Give Me Back My Hoedy Cake You Long Tailed Nanny from the Berea site. I also downloaded the mp3 below.

BTW I was a little confused, Tobin. I assume you meant transcribe not transpose.

[Tobin]

Ha, yeah, I did mean transcribe. Not sure why I typed transpose. Mea culpa!

I'd never heard the Snake Chapman version you posted. It's actually much different from his other version that I hear on Pandora (from his Walnut Gap album), where he starts on the "B" part and only plays the "A" part on the higher octave, as I recall. The version you posted has him starting on the "A" part and only playing it on the low octave each time. Even the name is different than it is shown on the album from 1999. This is the first time I've seen it spelled "Hoedy" and including the "you long tailed nanny" part. That's hilarious! Also interesting to note the difference between "Give" and "Bring" in the titles.

Good tune, though, no matter how it's played! I wonder why this one doesn't get more exposure and play time.

[vernob]

"Over the Waterfall" on my home made cittern. Not a strong swimmer either.

[crisscross]

I finally learned "Turkey in the Straw" on my tenor uke tuned as a tenor guitar. I tried to give it some Django-feeling and renamed it "La dinde dans la paille". Excuse my french

[Mark Gunter]

Blackberry Blossom
Julia Delaney's
Coleman's March
Shove That Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire

And not fiddle tunes, but:
Tennessee Flattop Box (Johnny Cash)
Superstition (Stevie Wonder)

[Cary Fagan]

Don't know why I haven't looked at this thread before.

Lately I've been learning tunes by listening only to fiddlers, either on recordings or youtube. I've found that I get the 'groove' of the tune much better that way and can get more of a fiddle-shuffle sound. The tunes I tend to learn are played in our local old time scene. I love crooked tunes, though they are a challenge.

Most recent tunes:
Fort Smith Breakdown
Ora Lee
Mike in the Wilderness
Lost Girl

All fun to play.

[JeffD]

Lately I've been learning tunes by listening only to fiddlers, either on recordings or youtube. I've found that I get the 'groove' of the tune much better that way and can get more of a fiddle-shuffle sound. .... I love crooked tunes, though they are a challenge.
.

That is the way I have been until very recently, learning fiddle tunes from fiddle players. Not until the last few years I started listening to recorded mandolin with an ear to learning anything.

Crooked tunes are the best. Especially, after getting it down, and being able to smoothly navigate the riffle and sound like you mean it. Nothing better.

[Tobin]

I recently fell in love with Five Miles of Ellum Wood. I've heard it played fast & furious, as well as slow & mournful, and it's one of those tunes that just works no matter how you play it. Here are a couple of fast ones in the videos below. Mandolin content in the second one (the usual Foghorn style of fiddle and mandolin played in unison - I just love this sound).

I've been playing it on both my fiddle and mandolin, so the attached PDF is sort of a blend of the two styles I play it. I use lots of drones and double stops throughout the tune when playing it on the fiddle, but it might be confusing to read if you're just looking for the bare melody. I've attached the TEF file for anyone who is interested.

[Jack Roberts]

I'm working on "Good for the Tongue", in Bb. There are a few different Youtube versions, but none on mandolin. I'll probably learn it on fiddle first and then adapt it to mandolin.

[Jack Roberts]

I'm enjoying "League and Slasher Reel" in E Dorian. This is a great little mandolin tune. Has anyone else played it?

[woodwizard]

Practicing on this one ... North Shore

[woodwizard]

Johnny don't get drunk

[Jim Nollman]

we do Johnny Don't Get Drunk in our band in a set with that tune first, then into Buck Mountain, and ending with Mason's Apron.

[woodwizard]

Wouldn't call this a fiddle tune but I got my A4 out and messed around with a Beatles tune

[june39]

I am obsessing this tune as well. Is there mandolin tab available?

[tmsweeney]

a little out of season but here's the Green Leaf Fancy on mandola and octave