groundhogpeggy - Posted - 01/31/2022:  16:53:32

It's our first Virtual Fiddle Festival tune! Watch as Bob the Climber mysteriously picks our random tune from the Old Time Jam collection of tunes. I'll remind you that at oldtimejam.com/ you can find this tune in the D tunes. You can listen to their examples with fiddle and / or banjo, plus they have both a slow and faster speed of jam track you can use to play along with if you want. However you want, feel free, invited, and welcome to play the tune (either on fiddle or any other instrument), link a favorite player of the tune, talk about the tune, listen to the tune, whatever you want...if you have a way to record an mp3 or video, please share and join in the fun. We have the entire month of February to wrangle with this tune. I hope to try to record/ play the tune, maybe tomorrow if time allows, with the oldtimejam track. Then I hope if I get time later in the month to record with a jam track of my own. Bob seems to have landed on an easy tune for us to start with. Here's the tune...Enjoy!  



youtu.be/aNcuRvm0mQE

Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 01/31/2022 16:58:07

Cyndy - Posted - 01/31/2022:  17:04:13

Okay, that was fun! :)

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/01/2022:  06:35:53

Well I've never played this one before, but seems pretty easy for our first tune. In the key of D. I went down to the frozen tundra room where I record and tried going through it this morning and trying to just get a feel for the tune. I noticed the B part at OTJ is shorter than what I've heard other people do on youtubes...in my mind, shorter is probably older version...longer is probably newer versions...I don't know. Anybody that DOES know is invited to jump and and tell us about that difference in the B part. Once I get the feel for the tune, and if I get the time, I'd like to record something on my multi track system using viola and backup instruments and see what happens with that...still unsure if I want the short B part, as OTJ does it, or the extended B part, as everybody else seems to do it. Gonna have to think about what I like best on that.

Anyhow, thought I'd try to be first in the long line of critters banging at the Virtual Fiddle Festival door wanting in to have their chance to play this tune...yay...I made it. So here's my runthrough, just to see what I feel about this tune. Kinda fits my mood this morning too...so...great tune. Come on in guys...the water's freezing!!!

youtu.be/bESRfJRPrHE

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/01/2022:  07:24:24

Anyway, a few more thoughts on this tune. When I hear the word, "Winder," I think of snakes. Can't help but wonder how this tune got its name..."Slide" sounds dancy, though the tune as I've heard it seems very pensive, or is that just my mood????



Of course winder snakes do slide down rocky hills...not sure if that would be pensive or something to increase a person's running speed...oh, never run from a snake though. I did that once as a child and was chased quite a ways with a blue racer at my heels. Had nightmares for a couple of years after that...lol. Yeah, just slowly step back and tell the snake you have great appreciation for his / her role in nature but please just leave me out of it.



Maybe some info will come our way and my long and desultory soliloquies will dissolve away into nothingness.  Have a great day...watch out for snakes.

Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 02/01/2022 07:26:17

RichJ - Posted - 02/01/2022:  10:34:50

OK, so here goes. My first attempt at VFF and also my first YT upload. Actually took way more time for me to make the dang upload then to learn this tune. Well I know absolutely nothing about it and just started playing it today after "Bob" landed, but I love it because it's such a simple tune I just can't help messin' with it and adding more melody. Hope the OT Police aren't listening. lol

youtube.com/watch?v=Kci65-WD1EE

 

RichJ - Posted - 02/01/2022:  10:53:12

quote:

---

Originally posted by groundhogpeggy

Anyway, a few more thoughts on this tune. When I hear the word, "Winder," I think of snakes. Can't help but wonder how this tune got its name..."Slide" sounds dancy, though the tune as I've heard it seems very pensive, or is that just my mood????



Of course winder snakes do slide down rocky hills...not sure if that would be pensive or something to increase a person's running speed...oh, never run from a snake though. I did that once as a child and was chased quite a ways with a blue racer at my heels. Had nightmares for a couple of years after that...lol. Yeah, just slowly step back and tell the snake you have great appreciation for his / her role in nature but please just leave me out of it.



Maybe some info will come our way and my long and desultory soliloquies will dissolve away into nothingness.  Have a great day...watch out for snakes.

---

I remember being chased by a black racer when I was 3 years old at my Aunt Irene's chicken farm. She brought me inside and I watched through the window while she did a number on that snake with an axe. Man, I always had a lot of respect for my Aunt Irene.

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/01/2022:  10:58:51

Great job, Rich! Old-Timey all the way through! Thanks for sharing Bob's special selection for us.

Just think, we still have the rest of February to throw in some other ideas on this tune if we feel like it.

Thanks for your contribution!

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/01/2022:  11:07:44

It mighta been a black racer that got after me...everybody called it a blue racer...anyway, it was terrifying, as you and your brave aunt well know!

pete_fiddle - Posted - 02/01/2022:  14:15:23

Ahhh.... Sidewinder...Snake

Nice tune to start your VFF as well...

RichJ - Posted - 02/01/2022:  15:57:35

Here's some info I found for this tune. Apparently a comparatively new arrival on the OT scene. Says it was composed by Joe LaRose in 1980. Love the midi recording provided, kinda' syncopated rhythm.

folktunefinder.com/tunes/7703

And, I'm goin' out on a limb here, regardless of what Peggy says. I don't think this tune has ANYTHING to do with snakes!

Also just found this old FHO (2008) discussion thread here: fiddlehangout.com/archive/3779

 

Edited by - RichJ on 02/01/2022 16:05:10

ChickenMan - Posted - 02/01/2022:  21:46:52

Rayna Gellert has a nice learning video of this tune (several others too).

raynagellert.com/tune-videos

pete_fiddle - Posted - 02/02/2022:  00:33:51

i like it when i can find the original version played by the composer. See if i can make it sound anything like it in standard tuning...

Joe LaRose "Winder Slide"

 

RichJ - Posted - 02/02/2022:  02:13:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by pete_fiddle

i like it when i can find the original version played by the composer. See if i can make it sound anything like it in standard tuning...

Joe LaRose "Winder Slide"

 

---

Great link Pete. Many thanks, love the Gellert's fiddlin'. I'm sure this site will come in handy for future tunes. Surprised Rayna chose ADAE, isn't that tuning called high base standard?

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/02/2022:  04:41:48

Well it sure sounds like LaRose is in standard tuning. And has the short B part...I've never heard it as fast as the original. I think I read on one of the links Rich put up earlier that LaRose himself added more to the B part later, after others were playing his original...did I read that? lol...I think I did up there somewhere on one of those links. But the speed...it reminds me of the one about the flooded valley...oh gosh now I can't even think of the name of the tune or the guy in WV who came up with it just before they all lost everything including the community, as happens, sadly, when they flood out a place to dam up a river and make a big lake. The name'll come to me later...anyway, if you hear his version, it's pretty fast...anybody else usually slows it down...it's understandably morose, but the fast playing hides that aspect some. It's the one that sounds similar to Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens...but it's different...well, anyway, I can't think. My brain is overwhelmed with a lot of stuff.

But anyhow, I tuned my G up to A before sitting down with this tune...but I didn't really get up to that string as I just went through it really quick with OTJ's track...I tried to at least hit it at the very end...lol. But I think whenever I do get the presence of mind and mental quiet to think about how I'd like to do this tune on my presonus, I will try to utilize that A drone more.

Thanks for the input, guys...fun to learn new stuff or even new stuff about old stuff...and now, back to coffee...not awake...I'm writing this in my sleep...dangerous...who knows what I'm sayin'...lol.

tonyelder - Posted - 02/02/2022:  10:39:08

quote:

---

Originally posted by ChickenMan

Rayna Gellert has a nice learning video of this tune (several others too).

raynagellert.com/tune-videos

---

I (unashamed) play several of her versions of tunes. gooood!

excuse for the drift...

pete_fiddle - Posted - 02/02/2022:  10:51:55

Yep, Rayna Gellert's fiddlin is really nice, prolly get a version between the two....With a good chunk of my fiddlin (such as it is), thrown in.

NCnotes - Posted - 02/02/2022:  12:05:11

Quite a nice tune picking by Bob there! :-)

Enjoyed hearing Peggy and RichJ playing it (great job on your first YT upload, RichJ!)

WyoBob - Posted - 02/02/2022:  13:37:02

Here's my attempt.  Sorry, no video.  I haven't taken time to figure out how to do that, yet.  Perhaps in my next life.   Winder Slide

NCnotes - Posted - 02/02/2022:  13:54:26

Y'all are so far ahead of me!
I am just starting on Rayna Gellert's YouTube tutorial
(thank you Chickenman for the link!) :-)

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/02/2022:  16:54:10

Nice job, Bob! I think you really captured a lonesome old time sound with that. Nice fiddling...thanks for playing it for us/ with us!!!

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/02/2022:  16:56:11

NC...no rush...got a whole month to get 'er done!

Well guys I found myself with both some unexpected spare moments this afternoon plus a fear of time running out on me, plus a lonely-looking often neglected viola...so I decided to go for it. My preferred pace for this tune, and I used the extended B part. Played in G to get the same fingering as you get in D on the fiddle.

youtu.be/TJTuL6R047Y

ChickenMan - Posted - 02/02/2022:  20:03:43

quote:

---

Originally posted by groundhogpeggy

Well it sure sounds like LaRose is in standard tuning. And has the short B part...I've never heard it as fast as the original. I think I read on one of the links Rich put up earlier that LaRose himself added more to the B part later, after others were playing his original...did I read that? lol...I think I did up there somewhere on one of those links. But the speed...it reminds me of the one about the flooded valley...oh gosh now I can't even think of the name of the tune or the guy in WV who came up with it just before they all lost everything including the community, as happens, sadly, when they flood out a place to dam up a river and make a big lake. The name'll come to me later...anyway, if you hear his version, it's pretty fast...anybody else usually slows it down...it's understandably morose, but the fast playing hides that aspect some. It's the one that sounds similar to Come All Ye Fair and Tender Maidens...but it's different...well, anyway, I can't think. My brain is overwhelmed with a lot of stuff.



But anyhow, I tuned my G up to A before sitting down with this tune...but I didn't really get up to that string as I just went through it really quick with OTJ's track...I tried to at least hit it at the very end...lol. But I think whenever I do get the presence of mind and mental quiet to think about how I'd like to do this tune on my presonus, I will try to utilize that A drone more.



Thanks for the input, guys...fun to learn new stuff or even new stuff about old stuff...and now, back to coffee...not awake...I'm writing this in my sleep...dangerous...who knows what I'm sayin'...lol.

---

Elk Eiver Blues? 

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/02/2022:  20:05:02

Yes...thank you, Chickenman!

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/04/2022:  04:32:30

Well I've kinda thought about this tune a few times and checked out other people's youtubes, and by far and away, my favorite version I've found so far doesn't involve a fiddle at all...don't know where these guys are, but the comments look like German. But anyway...this is the version I love the best.

youtu.be/WLZM3KzSVGc

ChickenMan - Posted - 02/04/2022:  05:19:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by pete_fiddle

i like it when i can find the original version played by the composer. See if i can make it sound anything like it in standard tuning...

Joe LaRose "Winder Slide"

 

---

If you look in the comments, there is mention of Joe saying he originally wrote it with the one part, and Bruce Molsky recorded it pretty true to that. But then Joe wrote a second part and showed it to Rayna Gellert, so her recording appears to now be closer to the author's intentions that his own original recording. An interesting situation. 

Edited by - ChickenMan on 02/04/2022 05:19:42

ChickenMan - Posted - 02/04/2022:  05:31:59

Well, I tried to use the Old Time Jam with my phone and can only see A tunes in the player. What is the trick to see the D tunes?

pete_fiddle - Posted - 02/04/2022:  06:28:44

quote:

---

Originally posted by ChickenMan

quote:

---

Originally posted by pete_fiddle

i like it when i can find the original version played by the composer. See if i can make it sound anything like it in standard tuning...

Joe LaRose "Winder Slide"

 

---

If you look in the comments, there is mention of Joe saying he originally wrote it with the one part, and Bruce Molsky recorded it pretty true to that. But then Joe wrote a second part and showed it to Rayna Gellert, so her recording appears to now be closer to the author's intentions that his own original recording. An interesting situation. 

---

Pretty easy to switch between the two anyhoo. But i do like it a bit quicker than the more "Plaintive" versions

NCnotes - Posted - 02/04/2022:  06:58:14

I've been working on learning the Rayna Gellert version, and listening to different versions on YT...
Nice banjo version of it!

youtube.com/watch?v=hNW6NwMVhj8

NCnotes - Posted - 02/04/2022:  07:05:18

And Peggy, I'm with ya...
I like that Jam in the Woods one too, really pretty.

For anybody looking for backing...I found the backing track in Strum Machine (I signed up for the 14-day trial).
strummachine.com/app

Just search "Winder Slide". It's kind of educational to see the chords going by while you play!
It's also nice because you can adjust the tempo - I started out at a slow 70bpm.

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/04/2022:  07:50:56

Chickenman, I never tried to access OTJ on a phone...weird that you can only see A tunes on there...usually if it's mobile device friendly it's all covered...wonder if somebody oughta ask Josh Turnkett (probably spelled that wrong) if everything's ok in the html department...lol. Seems not quite right, doesn't it?



NC Notes...that banjo version you linked is sweet...I love that. Richj uses strum machine and seems he really likes what he can do with his subscription...great way to get backup tracks to play along with, sounds like to me.



Winder Slide has a sorta "crooked" history, doesn't it? When I first heard the tune, back several years ago I think I heard someone playing it...it struck me as strange somehow...not sure why...but now that I'm thinking about it maybe there's an audible "leap" in the thinking between a and b parts????  Then that little funny tag at the end of the b part strikes me as peculiar...lol. Don't know...maybe not...but also, I think if you think about the melodic contour, the shape of the melody line...I think it took me a while to be able to think in terms of that final note in the first phrase of the a part...it goes up, when my senses want that note to go down. Of course, being OT, in my mind we are free to wriggle around notes and phrases as we see fit, within reason...but I went ahead and tried to remember that note goes up, not down, when I played it for myself. I think it's just now sinking into my poor ol' mind what good that note is...and that it really gives it its own uniqueness that that note does go up...hope everybody knows what note I'm talkin' about...I do love the b part too. I love the tune quite a bit. But it was just sort of a hard concept for my mind to wrap around. I think it sounds good on lots of instruments...probably better on some than it does on the fiddle...just my humble opinion, very humble because I know how often I change my mind and how often I am flatout as wrong as wrong can be...lol.

Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 02/04/2022 07:53:02

NCnotes - Posted - 02/04/2022:  11:32:34

Yea that ending tag, few beats after part B, is a tough one, to know what to put there!
I kept forgetting to include it and then falling out of sync with the backing.

And Peggy, maybe you can make that note go down in a pretty way on your "variation" the second or third time through :-)

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/04/2022:  12:05:48

Yeah that's a good idea, NC. And as to forgetting the tag and getting out of sync, I remembered the tag when I played it with OTJ, but kept forgetting about the extended b part, er about the missing extended b part...so i kept adding the extensions...lol...I had to think hard to try to remember to keep that b part short...lol...always a challenge, ain't it?

Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 02/04/2022 12:06:26

NCnotes - Posted - 02/04/2022:  13:33:16

Yep I first tried it with OTj as well, but it only has like half or 2/3 of the B part (vs Rayna Gellert's version) so I just got stuck and lost! I can't creatively change things yet...once I learn a tune version, I get kind of stuck on it.

The Strum Machine one has a full B section, so if you prefer the B part where the phrase repeats 2x, you can check that one out! To me, repeating that phrase in part B twice, feels more "complete" and "balanced" (I'm just kind of a square :-).

ChickenMan - Posted - 02/04/2022:  16:56:17

quote:

---

Originally posted by pete_fiddle

quote:

---

Originally posted by ChickenMan

quote:

---

Originally posted by pete_fiddle

i like it when i can find the original version played by the composer. See if i can make it sound anything like it in standard tuning...

Joe LaRose "Winder Slide"

 

---

If you look in the comments, there is mention of Joe saying he originally wrote it with the one part, and Bruce Molsky recorded it pretty true to that. But then Joe wrote a second part and showed it to Rayna Gellert, so her recording appears to now be closer to the author's intentions that his own original recording. An interesting situation. 

---

Pretty easy to switch between the two anyhoo. But i do like it a bit quicker than the more "Plaintive" versions

---

Me too. When I was listening to the Gellert version, I used the settings gear to bump it up to 1.5 speed so it felt more like a dance tune. 

pete_fiddle - Posted - 02/05/2022:  01:11:26

yeah! 1.25 speed is my favourite.
Never thought of speed ing the youtube up.

RichJ - Posted - 02/05/2022:  08:52:46

quote:

---

Originally posted by ChickenMan

Well, I tried to use the Old Time Jam with my phone and can only see A tunes in the player. What is the trick to see the D tunes?

---

You should be able to keep scrolling through that list. It's continuous - A tunes, C tunes (only one), D tunes (by far the largest), G tunes.. Only C tune on the list is Billy in the Low Ground. Gee, and I know how much Peggy loves C tunes. lol 

A bit late in seeing this, someone else may have given better info???

Edited by - RichJ on 02/05/2022 08:55:42

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/05/2022:  11:32:22

Rich, there is no better info in this world than how much GHPeggy just loves fiddling in C...lol.

RichJ - Posted - 02/06/2022:  09:21:03

I find this thread has opened up a lot of new things for me. The joy (?) of leaning to mess with techy stuff being one. Peggy got me into Presonus recording about a year ago. That was the beginning of a bunch of "technoheadaches",  but a lot of fun as well. I justified my venture into audio tech Level One with the excuse it might improve my playing by hearing how I sounded to others, realize how horrible I sounded and try to improve. Well maybe I did, slightly. Eventually got to the point of  saying "what the h..., may as well put an mp3 file up on FHO (if only to share the pain-lol). Now comes Peggy with this VFF thing and I find myself making YT vids, something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing when I retired nearly 12 years ago. Some could look at all this as a sure way to drag a 82 year old duffer way out of his comfort zone. But, It seems the opposite has occurred.  All this stuff has brought a new level of excitement into fiddling and playing OT music.

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/06/2022:  10:11:46

Lol...I hear ya! It's a bunch of struggle, headaches and frustration...but, BOY IS IT FUN!!!!!

Earworm - Posted - 02/06/2022:  10:36:07

quote:

---

Originally posted by pete_fiddle

Ahhh.... Sidewinder...Snake

---

Regarding the title, my fiddle teacher had told me he thought it had something to do with a dance move, not a snake, which is what I had thought. I have no idea if that's true, but if someone knows a dance name or dance step with that name, that would be interesting to know.

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/06/2022:  15:10:57

It's probably more likely something to do with a dance step than a snake, I'd guess...yet, to me, it really doesn't sound dancy at all...sounds sort of pensive to me...so...I don't know...I can't imagine people dancing to such a pensive sounding tune...lol...but then, I'm no dancer so I have no idea.  Either way, it sure is a beautiful tune.

Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 02/06/2022 15:11:42

imapicker2 - Posted - 02/06/2022:  20:11:59

In a post on this forum ,in the archives, dated 2/26/13, lee and Peggy discussed "winder". It was said to be a dance and the tune Kentucky Winder was mentioned.

I also ran across Damon's Winder on U-tube. I read that Rayna wrote Winder Slide.
Good stuff.

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/07/2022:  04:34:01

Wow, I could get into a good argument with my old self...lol...words/titles can throw people into one type thinking...yet the sound of the tune can throw people into some other frame of mind. Not to mention life experience...lol...I have to admit my mood has been very pensive since events in recent months, and especially after the death of my dad in september. So...who knows what shapes our views of tunes? It would be an interesting psychological study, wouldn't it?  Oh but seems to me I remember wind something or other as a shuffle?????  Of coursse since it's a newer ot tune, maybe the words refer to something more contemporary.  Who knows.



I remember when older folks pronounced wind, like the wind that blows the trees, the same as wind, like a winding road. Somehow, the thought always comes to me when I hear the title of this tune if it refers something windy...lol. Or it's most likely just the name of some dance step. My mind can't think dancy at the moment...just more like cloudy...lol...windy and cloudy.  Generally sort of morose, I guess.

Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 02/07/2022 04:39:03

Astrang - Posted - 02/07/2022:  06:17:41

There is a town named Winder, in Georgia. I wonder if?

A blue racer got after me when I was a kid. Chased me about seventy-five yards, plum up on the porch. Scared me to death. I’ve wondered what it would have done if it had of caught me.

NCnotes - Posted - 02/07/2022:  08:43:08

Hmm, do you think the second part of name refers to the type of dancing called a "slide"? 

I know that in Irish Trad there are jigs and slides and polkas...?? Here's a description of an Irish slide (Wikipedia):



" In Irish traditional music, a slide (Irish: sleamhnán) is a tune type in 12/8 akin to, and often confused with, a single jig. Slides are played mostly in the Sliabh Luachra region of Ireland, but originate from quadrilles.



Though slides contain the same number of beats per tune as a single jig, melodies are phrased in four rather than two beats. Consequently, single jigs are notated as having eight bars per part and slides as having four bars. Furthermore, the pace is quicker than single jigs, often around 150bpm. While single jigs are often danced solo by step dancers, slides are usually danced in groups by set dancers, sometimes in sets with polkas."

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/07/2022:  12:09:59

Well the title has all of us baffled...lol. Doesn't that drive ya nuts?

Anyway I thought up what seemed to be a brilliant idea in my mind for doing this one on guitar, and I really made a mess of the thing...all bogged down and terrible...I'm not happy with the clashing D chords in the thing...anyhow...here's my attempt on guitar. I probably will end up removing this one from my youtube channel at some point or other...but for the sake of our Virtual Fiddle Festival...here 'tis...snakes, shuffles, dances and Georgia towns and all!

youtu.be/6uaCSImprlA

Earworm - Posted - 02/09/2022:  07:50:03

Ok, tell me if this works ... here's my shot at Winder Slide in ADAE. Is this the best way to post it?

fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/me...archived=

I first learned this tune a few years ago, actually, but it has never been one I played much, or even liked the best. When I found it in ADAE tuning a couple months ago, it seemed to be more natural to me though, so it was cool to see that Rayna Gellert uses that tuning too. :) I'm trying to break through the sound barrier a wee little bit at a time. Recording still makes me break out in a rash or something, but I am getting a little more comfortable with it.

Edited by - Earworm on 02/09/2022 07:53:37

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 02/09/2022:  10:24:21

Sounds good, Donna! Thanks for sharing and participating in Virtual Fiddle Festival. Nice fiddling!

WyoBob - Posted - 02/09/2022:  13:22:18

Nice fiddling for sure.   And a great sounding fiddle.  Mind telling us what kind of fiddle but perhaps more importantly, strings, bow and rosin.