Posted by fiddlepogo on Thursday, September 23, 2010
I was replying to a question by groundhogpeggy in the thread
"Drones and that fiddle groove" started by yopparai.
It occurred to me to explain the Smoothshuffle pattern to her this way:
Smoothshuffle
AGE-GAG-E-G
The letters are the first eight notes of the version of June Apple I play. I have used it for decades as a framework for learning patterns.
Then it occurred to me that I'd never actually written it out in a post on bowing, and that it might be beneficial (and less headache inducing) to explain all of the patterns that way.
Here we go-
this is downbowing, so everything begins on a downbow and ends on an upbow:
The 1st string notes in the intro:
AGEGAGEG
Sawstroke:
A-G-E-G-A-G-E-G
Nashville Shuffle:
AG-E-G-AG-E-G
Unshuffle aka Downbeat Georgia Shuffle:
A-GEG-A-GEG
(I usually mix it up with sawstroke like this:
A-GEG-A-G-E-G)
Sawshuffle:
A-G-E-GAG-E-G
Smoothshuffle
AGE-GAG-E-G
Syncoshuffle:
A-GE-G-AG-E-G
Offset Nashville:
A-GE-G-A-GE-G
Anyway, PERHAPS having some left hand notes to play
will make the patterns seem more practical, and less HEADACHE INDUCING!!!
EDIT:
I remembered that while my bowing pattern exercises are based on June Apple, I transposed them down to D modal, so the main notes were on the A string. The reason for that is that the E string can be problematic for a lot of people, and when you are experimenting with patterns, the tendency is for the bowing to get more hesitant, resulting in general unpleasantness. So it occurred to me to also write these out for the second string to make it easier on your ears.
Sawstroke:
D-C-A-C-D-C-A-C
Nashville Shuffle:
DC-A-C-DC-A-C
Unshuffle aka Downbeat Georgia Shuffle:
D-CAC-D-CAC
(I usually mix it up with sawstroke like this:
D-CAC-D-C-A-C )
Sawshuffle:
D-C-A-CDC-A-C
Smoothshuffle
DCA-CDC-A-C
Syncoshuffle:
D-CA-C-DC-A-C
Offset Nashville:
D-CA-C-D-CA-C
5 comments on “A Slightly Different Way of Explaining Shuffles...”
robinja Says:
Thursday, September 23, 2010 @11:54:55 AM
I am actually going to try this, but I probably won't get to it for a couple of weeks. I've got a big gig a week from Sunday, and I don't want to be in the midst of a bowing experiment when I play for it!
bj Says:
Thursday, September 23, 2010 @12:44:56 PM
You sure that nashville notation is right? Either that or I don't understand . . .
robinja Says:
Thursday, September 23, 2010 @12:57:23 PM
Looks right to me - there are two note slurs on the long bow parts.
ChickenMan Says:
Thursday, September 23, 2010 @1:34:11 PM
Nashville looks right to me
2-1-1-2-1-1
AG-E-G-AG-E-G
AG=2 notes per stroke, the long of the long-short-short
fiddlepogo Says:
Thursday, September 23, 2010 @6:52:46 PM
Robin,
Yeah, you gotta be careful of the timing of experryments... sort of like golfers rearranging their swing.
Thanks ChickenMan, you're a good egg!!! ;^D
Did that explanation suffice, bj???
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