For me, I'm tweaking Evening Shade and learning to play Lichfield smoothly.. Ok, that means I'm tweaking both!
How about you?
I contacted a friend of mine who years ago introduced me to a rag..he had played it for me once and I never got the chance to learn it... so three days ago I contacted him again and he kindly recorded it for me.. now I have to learn a tune called Red's Rag... well, that one and about seven others that I am working on...
Play Happy
Swing
quote:
Originally posted by SwingI contacted a friend of mine who years ago introduced me to a rag..he had played it for me once and I never got the chance to learn it... so three days ago I contacted him again and he kindly recorded it for me.. now I have to learn a tune called Red's Rag... well, that one and about seven others that I am working on...
Play Happy
Swing
A rag for each day of the week.. Sounds like a plan!! Could you be referring to the RED APPLE RAG?..
Edited by - TuneWeaver on 02/01/2023 16:28:04
No, it is not Red Apple Rag... this is a very different tune with three parts.... I will post it when I get the thing under my fingers
Play Happy
Swing
Working on Banks of Ireland and Lucy Campbell. Going to work on Kelly Mills Barndance and Willow Waltz.
Irish stuff, as usual…
Pigeon on the Gate ( reel ) and the 3-3-2 bowing pattern commonly used in Irish reels ( feels very weird).
and
Toss the Feathers (reel)
Gravel Walk (reel)
Yup, lots of reels lately!
Wow, everybody's busy. I gotta say i've never heard of ANY of the tunes y'all are a-workin' on...lol...so I hope one of these days they'll be shared.
I guess I ain't workin' on anything in particular. I've been trying to learn Gardenia Waltz forever, it seems...maybe a little less than forever, but for a good long while...it's been at an "almost" stage, stuck right there so i don't know that I'll ever progress with it. Tonight my daughter came over and sang Will the Circle be Unbroken, on the Presonus with me...I normally just try to figure up a fiddle part as I record...which probably ain't the best way to go about such things. But that's what I do...and tonight I already had the guitar, bass, and banjo on there for singing, but I like to put the fiddle on AFTER the singing...because otherwise I find the fiddle and voices are often in conflict. So I put on the fiddle break...just a short little break, in standard tuning, in D, doing some "fancy" (fancy for me at least) sliding double stops and stuff...then listened to it and thought I wanted something more simple, more old time plain and simple...so I tuned to ADAD and tried it again...happier with it. So I guess I worked on that.
I gotta work on something else next...hmmm...I think it's time for me to play another one of the old ones I've played a lot...maybe Liberty or Turkey in the Straw or one of those. We;ll see.
I stumbled across this version of Little Birdie, fiddle by Art Stamper. I love the way it bounces, and I'm trying to learn to play it like him.
youtube.com/watch?v=9UBqR2lXX7o
I don't know if these are "projects", but (1) I'm working on learning some rags, (2) I have a group of F and B-flat tunes I've been trying to polish over the last few years, (3) I'm updating my repertoire list for jams, and (4) I'm trying to play my tenor violas more at jams.
Went to a three hour waltz jam this past Sunday and just played in a timing I rarely play in.
I've been stripping and refinishing some of my fiddles. Took the top off one to work on cleating the seam crack. Been playing some, too, and transcribing tunes.
Everyone is busy (in a happy way, seems like)!
My bass student, asked about guitar. So I showed him some basic techniques. So now I play the bass for him. Also sit and wallow in my own gratification. Can't help it.
Long time lurker, first time poster!
I've picked the fiddle back up after focusing more on guitar the last couple of years. Approaching 7 years of violin ownership.
Concentrating on my rhythm and bowing, and have been transcribing Emmet Lund's Ducks on the Millpond - just love how he varies the tune.
There's a few sources but they seem to miss a lot of the nuances (think DougD may have mentioned something in an old thread that led me to it). Like the second time through he puts an extra open D on the last beat. Writing it down helped to get what was happening.
Early days, and not up to speed yet but happy to share the transcription when done.
It's more to understand what he was doing and learn from it, rather than playing by rote. Struggle to get the bowing but I'm ok with the notes I reckon!
Peggy, most of those tunes are Irish tunes.
quote:
Originally posted by Brian Woodquote:
Originally posted by snootWriting it down helped to get what was happening.
I found transcribing helps me learn nuance in tunes I'm learning, too. I've been doing it for several years and I share them online here if you're interested.
Some great stuff there, Brian!!
I am going to add to my 'latest' ...a tune that I have wanted to learn for a long time but never sat down with it...I just came across a recording of the Timejumpers playing it.... A Spade Cooley Tune called Fidoodlin...a bit if a finger twister in the key of C...
Play Happy
Swing
The Kildare Fancy from my O'Neill's fiddle book. The tune is essentially Soldier's Joy done up as a hornpipe.
quote:
Originally posted by Lonesome FiddlerThe Kildare Fancy from my O'Neill's fiddle book. The tune is essentially Soldier's Joy done up as a hornpipe.
yes. I play that tune.. Kildare's Fancy.. Did you know that it was the theme tune for The Woodwright's Shop, hosted by Roy Underhill? The series was on PBS for years.. I looked in the credits of the series and saw that the tune was Kildare's Fancy and I just happened to have a copy of O'Neill's book so I learned it.... I love and still play that tune.. and now that you mention it I can see the similarity to Soldier's Joy.. Let jam!!!
quote:
Originally posted by TuneWeaverSome great stuff there, Brian!!
Well, thanks Lee!
@TuneWeaver -- Yeah! I know I've mentioned this before, but now that I've become a pretty good sight-reader for fiddle tunes, I often just drift through the O'Neill's looking for head riffs or individual phrases that might sound promising. I gotta tell ya, too, that it's considerably easier to sight read Irish fiddle tunes than hunkering down at the piano and deciphering Chopin...my other current musical obsession.
I'm still working on Pig Ankle Rag. Showed up to my lesson, with 2 weeks off and found that I'm playing it wrong and my habits were so poor that it's hard to break. Trying to find time to correct that. I'm so new to game that I know a lot of stuff already but can't compute it to an actual song. Meaning if someone asked me, "Hey play us a tune" I wouldn't be able to piece it all together rhythmically. I am having more luck playing along with recordings and "jamming"
Made strides with Whiteface and I'm able to play along with the whole tune.
I did attend my second jam last night and boy did I stink it up...lol. I did find "B Blues" was quite easy to find which is a key I'm not fond of on the mandolin but I found a way last night which was satisfying.
Don’t be too hard on yourself! :-)
I was the same way with my “ second instrument” ( classical guitar). I wanted to play Everything, beautifully, Right Away. I probably drove my teacher nuts. Because I skipped a lot of the “slow build” of technique like scales and beginner tunes, I suspect that’s how I got my hand injury. Looking back, I wish I had gone at a patient slow solid standard pace, I would be a much better player today…
quote:
Originally posted by Brian Woodquote:
Originally posted by snootWriting it down helped to get what was happening.
I found transcribing helps me learn nuance in tunes I'm learning, too. I've been doing it for several years and I share them online here if you're interested.
Wow, that's quite a lot of transcriptions you've built up, nice work! I believe I've stumbled onto your site in the past.
What do you use to transcribe? I use Guitar Pro - I started with it a couple of years ago for writing down my own guitar pieces. It adapts to fiddle OK, though the hammer-on and pull-offs notations it adds for slurs look weird.
And @Erockin - Pig Ankle Rag is one I learnt early on from the Pete Cooper book. The second part is fun to play with back up! I could do with figuring out some variations on it, though.
Edited by - snoot on 02/03/2023 06:42:21
quote:
Originally posted by snootWow, that's quite a lot of transcriptions you've built up, nice work! I believe I've stumbled onto your site in the past.
What do you use to transcribe?
Yeah, a lot. Over time it became a hobby. There are 2 programs I use to help me. Transcribe! is a program with a slow down feature and looping etc. And For notation I use Musescore. I think it is very good, and it is free!
Edited by - Brian Wood on 02/03/2023 07:55:21
