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RichJ - Posted - 01/17/2020: 08:02:07
Sorry for reposting this if it's been previously seen. I stumbled over this a few days ago and was blown away by how much this lady packed into a 9 minute video. Actually I kinda got lost after the first 3 - 4 progressions and wondering if fiddlers have any reason to go beyond.
youtube.com/watch?v=fXIEmMDwc7...&t=78
farmerjones - Posted - 01/17/2020: 10:29:07
Hey, don't de-mystify it too much. Folks think im some sort of wizard. 
It's amazing to me, how folks that have played for years still just memorize chord progressions per song/tune. They agonize over changing keys.
One guy asked me how i do it? I said, "it either goes to the 4 or the 5." He was even more confused. Now my stock answer is, "Google, Nashville Numbering system."
Thing is, if you're used to playing I-IV-V tunes, a ii-V-I motif sounds very different/obvious. Also, if you're lucky enough to find a 4 chord tune, chances are the 4th chord is a ii or a vi.
Edited by - farmerjones on 01/17/2020 10:29:44
RichJ - Posted - 01/17/2020: 11:10:34
When I started fiddling 7-8 years ago I stuck a copy of the "Circle of 5ths" on my fiddle case, mostly to help me with key signatures and relative minors for each of the major keys. What I did't realize until I saw the above video is the thing is BOTH a circle of 5ths AND 4ths depending on which way you go.
buckhenry - Posted - 01/17/2020: 14:12:26
First time I seen a reversed circle of fifths....
farmerjones - Posted - 01/17/2020: 14:54:12
I don't know why, but a circle of 5ths, the 5ths are in a clockwise direction, and the 4ths are in an anti-clockwise direction. But to find them on Google i type in "circle of 5ths."
The good diagrams have minors and the number of sharps or flats too.
It's interesting she refers to the piano keyboard too. Another diagram in itself, but it "talks." So one can hear the intervals.
boxbow - Posted - 01/17/2020: 15:30:26
I just lost an hour trying it out on my mandolin. I'm not sure where I'm at with it, but it does eat time.
carlb - Posted - 01/18/2020: 05:14:12
quote:
Originally posted by RichJ
...... wondering if fiddlers have any reason to go beyond.
Here's an example where the choice of a chord can be up the air. In "Mississippi Sawyer" most people us a G chord after the opening D chord. Now the important note is "G". I have heard versions in which an A7 chord (which contains the note G) used, and it sounds just fine. So the fiddler choice of double stops can be important. If you play the B on the A string and G on the E string then it's a G chord. However, if you choose to play the open A string against the G on the E string, then the chord is an A7.
Often the choice of a chord is not written in stone.
UsuallyPickin - Posted - 01/18/2020: 06:03:21
String instruments tuned in fourths and fifths are so cool. The layouts of moving through chord progressions are always going to be in a given pattern physically on the instrument. I-IV-V adding a II or a IIm or a VIm is still falling in the pattern of full and half steps. It is easier to see in doublestops than full chords on a guitar but ... it can be worked out ... extrapolated if you will, without pulling out your hair. I wish I had learned this in my second lesson and not by umpteenth. < sigh .... play on friends... R/
boxbow - Posted - 01/18/2020: 08:43:53
quote:
Originally posted by UsuallyPickin
... I wish I had learned this in my second lesson and not by umpteenth. < sigh .... play on friends... R/
I've often thought this for one reason or another. I always come back to knowing that I had no context to relate it to back in the beginning. By context, I mean music. Until I turned 50, the mechanics of operating a musical instrument and making music were entirely separate. No explanation. I've always been a late bloomer. Yesterday, paper in hand, I messed around with the progressions in Bb, just to be difficult. Then, mandolin in hand, I messed around with the progressions in D, the key my hands like to go to on fiddle. I could hear music in there, but the fun lay in the patterns I saw up and down the fretboard of my mandolin. I'm slow and laborious with the chord shapes these days, so it was very...experimental sounding.
farmerjones - Posted - 01/18/2020: 11:18:07
Some of my earliest chord exploration was to print out the two finger chords from mandolin Caf'e. But it's true about the extrapolation factor. Because you can then grasp one finger chords as well.
Mandolin Caf'e was where i found (FFCF)Four Finger Closed Formations as well. On the fiddle, any two adjacent strings from the closed chord gives you a double stop (fiddle chord) I look at it like, if i'm playing two strings at once, I'm playing a fiddle chord. Some mince words about double stops vs. one stopped string with an open or drone string. I don't mentally map them as different. I may have said it before, but i mentally map the fingerboard per key. So if you're going to the 4 or 5 in the correct key you've greatly narrowed down the guess.
'Estate sale bow question ' 4 days
