When I first started playing, I noticed that you could always stick a pair of two note slurs into sawstroke.

I usually did it like this:

2-2-1-1-1-1

or

1-1-1-1-2-2,

if i remember correctly.

But doing it like that sounds a little too Baroque somehow for my taste in Old Time.

I then moved on to Nashville, then 3 note slur patterns, like Smoothshuffle and Sawshuffle, then Syncoshuffle and Offset Nashville that feature off-the-beat 2 note slurs, but never thought much anymore about pairs of two note slurs.

A few days ago I was recalling how you can reverse Nashville Shuffle into what I call the "Jingle Bells Shuffle":

1-1-2-1-1-2.

Well, Sawshuffle is a measure of sawstroke with the latter half of a Nashville spliced on the end.

Syncoshuffle is half of an Offset Nashville with the latter half of a regular Nashville spliced on the end.

And in a similar way, it occurred to me to try splicing the first half of the Jingle Bells Shuffle onto the latter half of a Nashville Shuffle:

1-1-2-2-1-1.

It doesn't LOOK all that earthshaking, but putting the two note slurs in the middle like that seems to have more drive than having the two note slurs filling the first half or the second half of the measure.

In some ways it's not hard... but it's hard for me to use it reliably because I tend to throw in 3 note slurs when I do!

But when I manage to play it, I like what I hear.

The two single strokes at the beginning give it an effect much like Sawshuffle, where the beginning of the phrase is crisp and clear.

And it ends like Nashville, giving you some of the flavor of that famous pattern, but different at the beginning.  Many of my favorite patterns do that.

Because it ends like Nashville, you could use it as the opening lick for a series of Nashvilles, but get more clarity at the beginning of the phrase.

So, does anybody else use it?

Or know of anybody who did, or does???

I'd like to hear somebody's playing using this that has some confidence at it, to get a better idea of what it can do.

​What's an offset Nashville?

That's when an earthquake hits Middle Tennessee, and our state capital gets moved a little, generally in the direction of Reelfoot Lake. That's how I think of it anyhow.

Edited by - DougD on 07/19/2012 17:36:04

LOL!!!

Offset Nashville is 1-2-1-1-2-1

It has the same motions as Nashville Shuffle but offset a single note to the right so that the 2 note slur is in the middle of each group of four notes.  It could be called the Hornpipe Shuffle because it gives tunes a bouncy, hornpipey feel.

Seems to also work well on things like Shove That Pig's Foot a Little Further Into the Fire and Grasshopper Sittin' On A Sweet Potato Vine.

​Thank you.  Both of you.

I think I might've done it but heck I don't really knw. Im working at that smooth shuffle today...I might be misusing it, the way I'm getting it on The Old Blind Sw...practiced it while extremely sleepy late last night...so I hope to try again today. But I mighta done that thing you're talking about sometimes when I pay Mississippi Sawyer...just on the porch messin around...I've been so hung up on Nashville Shuffle I think it's morphed along into little stuff lie that. I hate to keep comparing it with guitar finger picking...but, even though offset N. shuffle sounds interesting...I don't think I've stumbled into that one on the fidde yet,mbut yes to fingerpicking...my usual groove on guitar fingerpicking sometimes goes "sideways" to make the rhythm different...and I think that's what it is doing. Anyway, I'm gonna sit dwn and try a few of these things...I tried before...but I'm wondering if I wasn't paying long enough...so we'll give it another shot since I'm learning so much new stuff from VFF...even with very little time to play...im getting new tunes that just might give me some openings to stop wagging my jaws about owing and either see if the patterns will or won't work for me now...hopefully I'll get some kinda YouTube up in a few days.

Sorry for all the typos...too lazy to edit them out.

Um . . . Peggy? You're doing pattern bowing again?

Not exactly...I mean not on purpose...but with all the back and forth discussion, and me always feeling on the fence...I figure I should try them again ( didn't ge it before, but I'll see if I get it now) since VFF is now spending the rest of July reviewing the new tunes we learned. I figure Pogo does have a point when he points out in these discussions that usually anti-pattern advocates have never really played patterns. It seems to be only those who can play patterns who are for patterns. So I figure take two or three of my new VFF tunes and try ONE, only. One pattern to see if I can make it work enough to slip it in there somewhere among all of my many Nashville Shuffles ( oh that's a pattern, right? Lol!). Either it'll work r it won't...but I'm thinking I'd be better at discussion if I could get both sides of the argument equally.

Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 07/20/2012 15:41:04