Parking lot pickers book

[Coachz]

I got the book and while i can strum the chords to most of the songs i was suprised that the accompanying cds dont have the mandolin solo part so i can see that im playing them right. The mandolin is left out for me to accompany but as a beginner it would be nice to have the song with mandolin following it the version without it can check my playing.

I also didnt realize that bluegrass lyrics were so disturbing !

Are there any better cd book sets that give you both?

[Earl Gamage]

That is one of the best books to learn out of. There are a lot of easy mandolin versions of songs on youtube, you just have to sort of learn what's good and what is not. Don't worry about the lyrics, they usually get caught and pay the price for their deeds.

http://toneway.com/songs/are-you-tired-of-me-my-darling

You can go here and find lots of tunes to play along with too.

[F-2 Dave]

It's not a real bluegrass song unless somebody dies.

[Jim Ferguson]

Well Coachz.......you think you have it bad with the bluegrass lyrics......my wife & I have gone to a local assisted living facility a # of times to play & sing (she on guitar & me on my mandolin) & all the songs are bluegrass and all about death & dying......the piece de resistance was singing Will the Circle be Unbroken as well as Victim to the Tomb to 75 seniors over 70 years of age!!!!! Despite the lyrics.....they loved the music...:-)
Peace,
Jim

[Joe Mendel]

You know what you call a bluegrass song without death, disease or destruction?


An instrumental.

[Coachz]

It is a good book but without being able to hear the mandolin part (chords and melodies) it not easy to know if you are playing it right.

[Alex Orr]

I know you said you're a beginner, but honestly, those are some really, really basic tabs. Just listen to the song and then play the tabs. Work at making the notes sound like the melody. Putting in the effort to make the tabs sound like the melody will help you get a better feel for playing melodies and translating what you hear to the fretboard - in a sense, it will help you learn to play the mandolin rather than just memorize where a book says to put your fingers for a specific song in a specific key. I'm looking at "All The Good Times" and it's about as intuitive as you're going to find. I do know that for the sake of simplicity, some of the tabs in that book actually dumb down the melody line to the point where it seems incorrect, but for a lot of those tabs, you honestly will not find any simpler melodies or tabs.

In terms of fiddle tunes, Steve Kaufman's Parking Lot Picker books contain audio versions of all the lead lines he has written out, as well as detailed breakdowns on playing them. They're pricey, but I think they're an excellent resource for learning fiddle tunes, which can often make up a good chunk of the songs that are played at a jam. Don't neglect fiddle tunes, especially early one, since they are also a great tool for improving your right hand and getting a feel for scales.

Butch Baldasari has some beginner DVDs that show the melody line being tabbed. Those are a good resource, especially if you're just staring out. There is also a book called "Teach Yourself Bluegrass Mandolin" that has a CD containing all the melody lines tabbed out in the book, however, IMO, the lead lines are a bit more complicated than a beginner might want, and certainly more difficult than the basic tab in the Parking Lot Picker book you have.

[Markus]

Agree about the book. It's useful, though the CD really isn't beyond getting the melody if you've never heard it before.

And as for the lyrics ... well, like Jim I've sung some of these songs to a room full of assisted living folks.

Just because I can sing Old Home Place well doesn't mean it's a good idea.
`I've lost my love, I've lost my home, and now I wish I was dead'
Not exactly comfortable words to mumble as you look at dozens of people who have lost both love and home.

Feet were tapping, smiles on faces ... probably the most enjoyable place to play as we got a great reaction and there's no more attentive audience.

I couldn't encourage it more ... though I'd also re-read all your song lyrics before thinking about singing them there. While death is a sad but relevant subject in such a place, glib sayings and too much nastiness just make you as performer incredibly uncomfortable - don't shy away from darkness, something like Will The Circle in such a context IS positive.

[Coachz]

mommas not dead, she's only sleeping !! priceless

[Mattg]

Sounds like you might want something like the "All Star Bluegrass Jam-alongfor the Mandolin" by Matt Flinner. Not as many songs but the CD demonstrates the solo and then does a couple of rounds of backing tracks so you can try it.

[CES]

CoachZ,

If you haven't done so yet, you may want to check out Elderly.com and Janet Davis Music...both have a wealth of resources including books/cds and DVDs. There's a ton of stuff out there, and both of the sites above give pretty decent descriptions about what the books/cds contain. I agree that not knowing how a song should sound makes it tough to figure out if you don't read music...you may get the notes correct, but the rhythm can be tough. Alex's suggestion to just make the tab fit is a good exercise, though, and is pretty much what people do when they improvise a solo in a jam (usually with imbellishments, of course).

Off the top of my head I think Roland White's book/cd consistently gets good reviews, as does Greg Horne's. You can also go to youtube, type in the name of the song, and see what pops up...likely everything from simple beginner to virtuosity, but either can at least give you an idea of how the melody goes.

A guy I know who's a music therapist (and awesome musician/guitar player/singer) does a lot of work in nursing homes. He rarely plays anything out before 1950, excepting some classic country. Don't worry so much about the lyrics...the folks there are happy to have the music, it's likely familiar and oddly comforting to them. And, not joking at all, they either are VERY aware of their situation (ie, your songs are not going to make the "lightbulb" come on, so to speak), or have severe enough dementia that they're just not so aware...

[musix]

CoachZ,

If you haven't done so yet, you may want to check out Elderly.com and Janet Davis Music...both have a wealth of resources including books/cds and DVDs. There's a ton of stuff out there, and both of the sites above give pretty decent descriptions about what the books/cds contain. I agree that not knowing how a song should sound makes it tough to figure out if you don't read music...you may get the notes correct, but the rhythm can be tough. Alex's suggestion to just make the tab fit is a good exercise, though, and is pretty much what people do when they improvise a solo in a jam (usually with imbellishments, of course).

Off the top of my head I think Roland White's book/cd consistently gets good reviews, as does Greg Horne's. You can also go to youtube, type in the name of the song, and see what pops up...likely everything from simple beginner to virtuosity, but either can at least give you an idea of how the melody goes.

A guy I know who's a music therapist (and awesome musician/guitar player/singer) does a lot of work in nursing homes. He rarely plays anything out before 1950, excepting some classic country. Don't worry so much about the lyrics...the folks there are happy to have the music, it's likely familiar and oddly comforting to them. And, not joking at all, they either are VERY aware of their situation (ie, your songs are not going to make the "lightbulb" come on, so to speak), or have severe enough dementia that they're just not so aware...

Dix Bruce here. I'm the author or co-author of the six Parking Lot Pickers' Songbooks. I wanted to pass on a few of my thoughts on the subject.

The Parking Lot Pickers' Songbooks are designed to be "songbooks," hence the term in the title, not method books. I wanted to provide a collection of great songs and help pickers go about playing this collection with other pickers. Here's how the books came about: Mel Bay asked me to collect a number of songs from the bluegrass and old time repertoire into a songbook. As I pondered the project, I tried to come up with ideas that would expand and improve on similar books already on the market.

The first thing I wanted to do was include as many songs as possible. I wanted a large collection of popular jam songs, a volume that a player could take to a jam, share with friends, work on songs at home. I wanted it to be a big book with over 200 songs! I love big ol' songbooks that you can open year after year and keep discovering new songs that you missed previously.

I also wanted to include TAB for individual instruments so players could locate every melody from the book on their instrument. This to me is the most important thing to do in learning to play leads on an instrument.

I wanted to include info on male and female vocal keys --- since it's a songbook, meant to be played and sung --- on how to change the keys of the songs, and a recording of each song from the book so players could hear how any of the songs sounds. This last idea proved to be a massive undertaking: performing and recording EVERY one of the over 200 songs. But we did it, had fun, and the resulting two CDs come with every Parking Lot Pickers' Songbook set. Yes, it would have been nice to include recordings of the TAB melodies but I felt that would be a whole other project. And, I'd feel obliged to record each solo at two speeds, slow and regular, just like in the rest of my books, plus I'd want to show fingering numbers and notations in the music, and pretty soon we've have a 600-page, 4-CD project. In short I wanted The Parking Lot Pickers' Songbooks to be a sourcebook that would help people prepare to jam with other people.

After I put together the guitar and mandolin books, I began working with Bill Evans on the banjo version, Stacy Phillips on the reso-guitar book, Gerald Jones on the fiddle book. We're expecting the bass book to be published this Spring (with actual bass lines in the book and recorded on the CDs!). We all agreed that the TAB was to be an accurate representation of the melody --- which was sung on the CDs --- and, as explained in each book intro, an essential element to learn, along with the chords. We felt that learning the "song" was a most important first step to anything that followed.

Coachz started this tread by posting: "i was suprised that the accompanying cds dont have the mandolin solo part so i can see that im playing them right. The mandolin is left out for me to accompany but as a beginner it would be nice to have the song with mandolin following it the version without it can check my playing."

Alex Orr, who is possibly psychic, wrote beautifully what would be my response and posted: "I know you said you're a beginner, but honestly, those are some really, really basic tabs. Just listen to the song and then play the tabs. Work at making the notes sound like the melody. Putting in the effort to make the tabs sound like the melody will help you get a better feel for playing melodies and translating what you hear to the fretboard - in a sense, it will help you learn to play the mandolin rather than just memorize where a book says to put your fingers for a specific song in a specific key. I'm looking at "All The Good Times" and it's about as intuitive as you're going to find. I do know that for the sake of simplicity, some of the tabs in that book actually dumb down the melody line to the point where it seems incorrect, but for a lot of those tabs, you honestly will not find any simpler melodies or tabs."

That's it in a nutshell. Listen to the melody, fool around with the TAB, and turn it into a solo --- as you learn the chords, the lyrics, the keys, and so on. Practicing the process will make the next song you tackle easier. Each bit of work you do will improve your ear, your hands, your whole musical method.

I've worked a lot with students on the road from melody to solo. I try to get them to repeat whatever they're working on again and again and again until it's second nature. The process, even mistakes made along the way, show you the possibilities of where you can take a basic melody. Sometimes the shear weight --- and possibly the boredom --- of that repetition forces you to change it a little here and there.

I considered all of these ideas when I put together The Parking Lot Picker's Songbooks. Of course I wish that they could be everything to everybody but that's just not possible. So, I went with my instincts and put together a collection of songs, chords, melodies, lyrics, info about keys, singing, soloing, etc., that I thought would help pickers go about playing music with other pickers. And, above all, having a great time!

Coachz mentioned "mommas not dead, she's only sleeping !!" and it reminded me of some of the alternate titles the great Frank Wakefield used to suggest for the most tragic songs. One concerned that particular song which he introduced as "Mother's Not Dead, She's Just Passed Out in the Back Seat Sleeping it Off." Yes, I know it's irreverent but it's funny!

[Coachz]

Thanks for the awesome reply. I will do as you all suggest and star woodshedding. Is there a printable chord chart with about 50 or 75 of the most common chords including fingerings. I have a few printouts that have about 10 or so chords but could use more.

Thanks for the hard work on the 200 songs. The ones with only one verse played are a hoot because of how fast they low by.

[JonZ]

You might find it helpful to use a looping program like "The Amazing Slow Downer" while working with the CD. That way you can keep repeating those short snips until you are comfortable with them.

[Alex Orr]

Thanks for the awesome reply. I will do as you all suggest and star woodshedding. Is there a printable chord chart with about 50 or 75 of the most common chords including fingerings. I have a few printouts that have about 10 or so chords but could use more.

Thanks for the hard work on the 200 songs. The ones with only one verse played are a hoot because of how fast they low by.

I think you're going about this wrong, or maybe just seeing it as harder than it is. You really only need to know about ten chords for the whole book, toss in basic three finger chop chord variations and you're looking at maybe twenty chords. Given that those chords may be using the same fingering on different strings, you're really only talking about ten or so fingerings. In any case, the chord glossary in the back of the book should be totally sufficient for any beginning player.

Do you have anyone around who teaches mandolin? It probably wouldn't hurt to take some lessons if you can. Bring in Dix's book and see if they'll use it as source material.

Wow! Cool to see Dix Bruce posting. My only issue with the book is the binding. The plastic comb kept getting caught in the pages so I took it to Kinkos and had then re-cut it for a spiral-bind which works a lot better. Other than that, your book has received quite a lot of use from me and in many ways, I think it's just about the best bluegrass songbook I've come across. Thanks for all the hard work.

Also, if I ever go through with my psychic hotline, can I get an endorsement from you?

[Coachz]

Sweet, I didn't see the chord chart in the back till now ! That's all I need to get going. Thanks very much. I would recommend putting that chart up front or having a BIG NOTE up front.

Jam on !

[Charley wild]

Dix, I enjoyed "Getting into Bluegrass Mandolin" a whole lot! When is "Mel" going to let you finish the sequel??

[musix]

Wow, thanks for all the nice words. I sure appreciate them! Coachz: I concur, "Amazing Slow Downer" is an excellent practice aid. Just keep swatting it!

To Alex: Sorry the binding is giving you trouble. They've changed it a couple of times since the first printing. During the initial production period I insisted on a spiral binding but they didn't have the option of plastic, only the wire.

Here's your blurb. Take it to the bank. "I consult Alex Orr's Psychic Hotline for all my psychic needs. He has given me excellent advice on when to change my mandolin strings, my attitude, and my socks. My tone has improved as has the general perception among friends of my personal hygiene. Saying nothin' but 'thanks' to Alex Orr's Psychic Hotline!"

D. Bruce, mandolinist

Does "mandolinist" sound too snooty? If it does, use "mandolin player" or "mandolin picker."

To Charley Wild: I've been working on material for a followup for years. In fact, I wrote out three more pieces this A.M. It'll have a lot more technique and solos in it. (Of course now I have too much material!) One of these days we'll settle on a general format and get it out. Thanks for asking.

Dix

[michaelpthompson]

And as for the lyrics ... well, like Jim I've sung some of these songs to a room full of assisted living folks.

Just because I can sing Old Home Place well doesn't mean it's a good idea.
`I've lost my love, I've lost my home, and now I wish I was dead'
Not exactly comfortable words to mumble as you look at dozens of people who have lost both love and home.

Feet were tapping, smiles on faces ... probably the most enjoyable place to play as we got a great reaction and there's no more attentive audience.

I couldn't encourage it more ... though I'd also re-read all your song lyrics before thinking about singing them there. While death is a sad but relevant subject in such a place, glib sayings and too much nastiness just make you as performer incredibly uncomfortable - don't shy away from darkness, something like Will The Circle in such a context IS positive.

Keep in mind that this kind of Bluegrass is very spiritually related to Blues. Singing about the bad stuff somehow makes it feel better.

Chuck makes a good point. These people are not going to hear lyrics about death and dying and suddenly say, "Oh wow, I'm old and decrepit. I had forgotten!" They know their situation and they're from a generation that dealt with it in a more positive manner than we do today. It may even be encouraging to them to hear somebody singing about stuff they can identify with.

As Markus points out, this music is familiar to them and nostalgia is an enjoyable emotion.

[gnossie]

I admit I found the idea behind this book promising, but the actual execution unprofessional:

1. It was not composited professionally. I'm guessing by some guy in his basement. Most sheet music will, for example, leave a little blank space after a half-note to help the player out with counting. This one doesn't: you've got the same space after half notes as after quarter notes. It's disorienting.

2. Now you might say that's not a major problem. After all, it should help you to focus on more accurate counting. Fine, but a more serious problem is that if you're following along with the CD, they do not keep strictly to the time indicated in the book, something that screws you up whether or not you know the song. In fact, the only way to end up playing along with the CDs (there are 2) is to basically memorize the notes and then just ignore the timing on the page, playing along with the music as feels right. The fact that the actual CD performances do not hew to the indicated time on the page can be easily confirmed by slowing the CD down with a program such as "Amazing Slow Downer."

Needs a partial re-do.

[Mattg]

"It was not composited professionally. I'm guessing by some guy in his basement."

some guy in his basement = Dix Bruce. Read previous posts by Dix (Musix)

[Alex Orr]

I admit I found the idea behind this book promising, but the actual execution unprofessional:

1. It was not composited professionally. I'm guessing by some guy in his basement. Most sheet music will, for example, leave a little blank space after a half-note to help the player out with counting. This one doesn't: you've got the same space after half notes as after quarter notes. It's disorienting.

2. Now you might say that's not a major problem. After all, it should help you to focus on more accurate counting. Fine, but a more serious problem is that if you're following along with the CD, they do not keep strictly to the time indicated in the book, something that screws you up whether or not you know the song. In fact, the only way to end up playing along with the CDs (there are 2) is to basically memorize the notes and then just ignore the timing on the page, playing along with the music as feels right. The fact that the actual CD performances do not hew to the indicated time on the page can be easily confirmed by slowing the CD down with a program such as "Amazing Slow Downer."

Needs a partial re-do.

I think you're kind of missing the point. The book was not constructed to be the equivalent of a collection of scores for classical pieces to be played note-for-note and strictly memorized. It's meant to give the basic outlines for what are (for the most part) folk songs. It's a quick-reference cheat sheet for those of us who forget words a lot, or for a player who might need light help with the basic chord changes, or for anyone to get a really basic idea of a melody line. These aren't hard melodies for the most part. Play the CD if you don't know song, get the melody in your head and toy around with the stuff printed on the page 'till it sounds like the melody and you should have at least enough of a grasp to play and sing the thing. I've used several of the printed melody lines as starting points for a break, but almost always (sometimes immediately) I make changes for both stylistic reasons and/or because I have my own idea of how the melody line should go. That's sort've the point I think.

[Ed Goist]

For those who would like to know what songs are in the book, the complete list can be seen by going to the amazon.com reader for this book, and clicking on "Table of Contents" in the column on the left.

[GRW3]

Geez, I've been playing music for over forty years and my experience is that evenly spaced published music is an exception, not a rule. It's the notes that tell you how much time each takes, not the width of the measure. Don't look at Pete Wiernick's Bluegrass Songbook or you'll have apoplexy and that book it a primary reference on how to play Bluegrass music.

This is not a beginning player's book. This is a book for people wanting more songs to sing beside Nine Pound Hammer and Let the Circle be Unbroken. Each song is a guide, not a recipe. It gives you the words, the flow of the chords and fundamental version of the tune to the song. That's plenty if you know how to play. If not, you need another book.

[nobullmando74]

I have and like this book. A lot of songs in one place. However my copies spiral binding got bent and the pages started to fall out within a couple of weeks. I was carrying it a regular book bag. Sorry to get off the OP's question. Just wondering if any other owners had a similar issue. I would love to get something similar, but made better. Any Ideas?