Hey Anja...I've got some ideas for you. Congrats on getting that Strum Machine and looks like you are jumping right in there with it. You mentioned gettting the Old Time Sound...and for me at least, learning Nashville Shuffle and then getting very familiar with Nashville Shuffle, I believe has helped me get the Old Time sound I've wanted to strive for. A while back I made a little video about that, and oddly enough, I was using Angeline the Baker as my tune for working through Nashville Shuffle with. I'll link that video here and hope maybe it gives you some more ideas. Let me know if it helps or if it hurts. Let me know how the fiddling with Strum Machine goes.
Here's the video youtu.be/Zvg06JHmF18?si=Tc_513REaEkpxsi0
Well Anja...I love Nashville Shuffle so much and here's another attempt i'd made of shuffling through Angeline the Baker. youtu.be/hK9CC6TkjSw?si=Y3efoXLL8ng_17Cd If these videos are not helpful just ignore them. I'm not trying to make it out that I know how to do anything...I'm certainly no expert, but this is just how I get through life with a fiddle as an amateur back porch fiddler. I hope it can help, but if it doesn't, I'm ok with that.
Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 09/28/2024 05:30:57
Things have been so busy for me lately...but I'm hoping to just get those ol' dusty fiddles down from the wall soon and play, or at least practice. I'm getting so rusty... haven't been playing enough years to leave it alone or else it just starts to rot...lol...can't let that happen. So, lots of things to get through for the next few days...gonna try to play some too...ANYTHING...just play!
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Originally posted by groundhogpeggyHey Anja...I've got some ideas for you. Congrats on getting that Strum Machine and looks like you are jumping right in there with it. You mentioned gettting the Old Time Sound...and for me at least, learning Nashville Shuffle and then getting very familiar with Nashville Shuffle, I believe has helped me get the Old Time sound I've wanted to strive for. A while back I made a little video about that, and oddly enough, I was using Angeline the Baker as my tune for working through Nashville Shuffle with. I'll link that video here and hope maybe it gives you some more ideas. Let me know if it helps or if it hurts. Let me know how the fiddling with Strum Machine goes.
Here's the video youtu.be/Zvg06JHmF18?si=Tc_513REaEkpxsi0
When trying to play along with Strum Machine's presetted songs it tends to confuse me, I do not recognize the songs with the presettings for each tune, I have to modify the settings to my liking, In the video I showed above it was the foot percussion (and before the bassline I tried in another similar background track for the same tune ) that were guiding me.
How handy your video comes in right now!! That is like perfect timing and how convenient that you are using the tune I just learned haha. I have been skipping to learn this shuffle because my first attempts failed each time I gave it a try. But now I kind of feel ready for it! You explain it crystal clear. Plus you sound as OT as OT can be, especially in this video.
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Originally posted by QuincyI did some weird stuff with Angelina the Baker this morning.
FINALLY my fiddling starts to sound danceable. But not sure whether I should apologize for taking the tune totally out of its context, be scared I might never ever be able to catch that OT feel or just be amused because it DOES sound quite catchy.
I know the way I play it must be far from old time , but can someone explain to me as what this way of playing would classify?I have no clue. Where am I going to? What will this lead to?
Angelina the Baker
Your strum machine is literally doing the shuffle as rhythm bum ba-da bum ba-da bum ba-da bum ba-da...... Instead of those long how strokes you are doing over the track, try to match that pattern in the backup (maybe slow it down, but not necessarily).
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Originally posted by ChickenManquote:
Originally posted by QuincyI did some weird stuff with Angelina the Baker this morning.
FINALLY my fiddling starts to sound danceable. But not sure whether I should apologize for taking the tune totally out of its context, be scared I might never ever be able to catch that OT feel or just be amused because it DOES sound quite catchy.
I know the way I play it must be far from old time , but can someone explain to me as what this way of playing would classify?I have no clue. Where am I going to? What will this lead to?
Angelina the BakerYour strum machine is literally doing the shuffle as rhythm bum ba-da bum ba-da bum ba-da bum ba-da...... Instead of those long how strokes you are doing over the track, try to match that pattern in the backup (maybe slow it down, but not necessarily).
I will try! How I did it here above sounds to me like I put Angelina on Lucky Luke's Jolly Jumper and she's trying to hold on to it while it is hopping around :-p
quote:
Originally posted by Quincyquote:
Originally posted by ChickenManquote:
Originally posted by QuincyI did some weird stuff with Angelina the Baker this morning.
FINALLY my fiddling starts to sound danceable. But not sure whether I should apologize for taking the tune totally out of its context, be scared I might never ever be able to catch that OT feel or just be amused because it DOES sound quite catchy.
I know the way I play it must be far from old time , but can someone explain to me as what this way of playing would classify?I have no clue. Where am I going to? What will this lead to?
Angelina the BakerYour strum machine is literally doing the shuffle as rhythm bum ba-da bum ba-da bum ba-da bum ba-da...... Instead of those long how strokes you are doing over the track, try to match that pattern in the backup (maybe slow it down, but not necessarily).
I will try! How I did it here above sounds to me like I put Angelina on Lucky Luke's Jolly Jumper and she's trying to hold on to it while it is hopping around :-p
If you'd like, I can try to play over your video to show you how the bowing fits the rhythm track. I've got a dance tonight but will give it a go later and see how it might sound.
That would be fantastic Billy ... I really wonder how that will sound :-D
Been working on "Roscoe", "Old Time Billy in the Lowground", Bob Townsend's "Prettiest Gal in the County", and Indian Corn" - all in G.
quote:
Originally posted by groundhogpeggyHey Anja...I've got some ideas for you. Congrats on getting that Strum Machine and looks like you are jumping right in there with it. You mentioned gettting the Old Time Sound...and for me at least, learning Nashville Shuffle and then getting very familiar with Nashville Shuffle, I believe has helped me get the Old Time sound I've wanted to strive for. A while back I made a little video about that, and oddly enough, I was using Angeline the Baker as my tune for working through Nashville Shuffle with. I'll link that video here and hope maybe it gives you some more ideas. Let me know if it helps or if it hurts. Let me know how the fiddling with Strum Machine goes.
Here's the video youtu.be/Zvg06JHmF18?si=Tc_513REaEkpxsi0
These two videos are pure gold!!!! FINALLY I get it woohoo! I remember a long while ago I saw the first video before and I tried it, but I just couldn't follow you back then, I just couldn't figure it out.
I love how you shift / balance between the two first strings, you got that on camera very well.
Anyway so currently playing Angelina the baker , WITH shuffling :-))
Edited by - Quincy on 09/29/2024 19:50:42
Anja, that's so cool! Keep shuffling! I don't know if you've heard the old tale about when the Old Time fiddler was asked how to learn the fiddle. His advice, as the story goes, was to sit out on the porch with the fiddle, and practice until the shadow of your bowing arm wears a hole in the porch floor boards. Once that happens, you got it! Kind of a silly story, but it gets the point across that the shuffle, or the bowing, has to become practiced enough that it's second nature and the fiddler doesn't have to think about it, and can even vary it up while keeping that thread, the groove of that shuffle, running true. But for me at least, I shuffled a whole lot before I felt like I could forget about the shuffle but keep it going at the same time, and I'll keep learning what I can do with the shuffle as long as I can get the time to play. I think that's something like wearing a hole in your porch floor...lol...keep going...let me know how it goes.
Edited by - groundhogpeggy on 09/30/2024 04:38:43
oh no... not shuffles again... it's like a religious cult!
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Originally posted by Shawn Craver Fiddleroh no... not shuffles again... it's like a religious cult!
HA! You aren't wrong 
Shuffles aren't inherently bad. They can teach you bow arm control. The trick is to learn it and move on. Overuse is the true sin. I can shuffle the heck out of the tune if I want, and did in my early years, but can also now every note. Most tunes, unless they are an unbroken string of equal notes, have a small pattern somewhere within the tune - a mix of single strokes and patterns. Having the ability to insert as small rhythmic variation/emphasis is valuable when playing for dancers. Knowing those small patterns makes those variations easier. Plus it's fun!
That said, I've been playing "Fischer's Hornpipe" in a small variety of keys (D, F and G).
Regarding shuffling: they say a warned man of woman is worth two, so I will absolutely try not to overuse it once it has become a part of playing here, don't want to make the same mistake as with playing two strings :-p It took me a lot of time to learn again how to play one string only.
Oh the struggle! But then the joy when something is starting to pay off <3
Shawn, sorry to have to say that you are way out of bounds comparing a fiddling tool to a serious psychological illness, "cult," in which a person believes things counter to reality no matter who tries to show them the truth. Nope, that's not what shuffling is...that's what the Jim Jones kool-aid followers were. Shuffling is a rhythm tool for fiddling...it's especially helpful for beginners. Most people will find their way into other grooves once they spend enough time with a shuffle or two. You can parse out and analyze the ups and downs, or you might just find them naturally through practice, but the regular ol' N. Shuffle (as it's called in modern times) is a huge help and for some all they ever want or need.
I think back on my own learning of fingerpicking on guitar...which I started, on my own, over 60 years ago. I could have sat and randomly plucked string and maybe still be searching desperately for a groove or two...but fortunately, a handful of neighbors and friends were able to break down and lay on the table their own fingerpicking, enough for me to get a grasp on something similar enough to practice as I was growing up. Today, I have no idea what I'm doing when I fingerpick a guitar, but I still remember how much I practiced a few patterns until my own groove gradually evolved into picking grooves I feel comfortable with in various situations.
For me...I didn't start fiddling until I was in my mid-50s...I was searching for a lot of similarities that guitar and banjo had just to get me going...I spent time with too many types of shuffles and then remembered an old fiddler...like probably in his 90s, telling to me one time that all you need is a shuffle...he play what we now called N. Shuffle. Which to me seems to be the mother of all shuffles. He didn't play it the way you hear it now...it was much sneakier sounding...very rhythmic and not the way you hear it. But I remember it. I finally came back to that idea...and found all sorts of goodies hiding in the way a person might handle that shuffle...and also found, as I have said here before, that it's something like playing jump rope...people spin the rope with a regular groove and the jumpers can jump in and out without breaking that groove. I found that to be true once I got comfortable with N.Shuffle...I found that it sets the feel, the groove, and one day you finally get to where you can jump out of it and come back in when you're ready...or stay out of it, but the feel of that groove continues on like a thread running true. You find that if you did study other shuffles or patterns some people parsed out and explained...you might be doing them within your own intuition to keep that groove running along outside of the N. Shuffle...you might find lots of ways to play the N. shuffle too. This is not some misguided belief disease...it's a tool that is useful for some...maybe not everybody...but for those who find their groove that way...it's just a useful tool. It's not a belief system.
'twas just a joke... as the shuffle subject has ventured into some pretty wild opinionated and super-dogmatic territory on this site... shuffle all you'd like... i'm actually still open minded to the idea...
Edited by - ShawnCraver on 10/06/2024 08:12:39
as for the tune, i think sticking to the melody with a little syncopation, especially going into the high part is about all a person needs. there ain't much to angeline, but she's always a good one
youtu.be/9RsqmK-zlO8
this is a related nice listen with some fun fiddle (even train noises) ... youtu.be/1ORGYqilm28
Edited by - ShawnCraver on 10/06/2024 08:35:58
I like to see people encouraging each other...not making them feel self-conscious for how they learn or what they learn.
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Originally posted by carlbLast night's Irish session
Temperance/Green Fields of America/Honeymoon Reel
Fig for a Kiss/Comb Your Hair and Curl It/Hardyman the Fiddler
Garrett Barry's Jig/Banish Misfortune
CarlB, I learned "Comb your Hair and Curl It" after you suggested it, and now I play that same set! :-)
Your set has made it to NC!
I do Garrett Barry's / Whelan's but I think your combo is really pretty too, and more people know Banish...
Oddly, I have been searching for tunes to go with Green Fields & Honeymoon Reel, I never thought of putting them together! Will check it out.
Latest set (I guess this goes with thread topic): Boy in the Boat / Rakish Paddy
I'll test this one out this weekend, wish me luck :-D
i hope i didn't discourage anyone. the shuffle thing has just been discussed on this site a lot
& more and more i hear more fiddlers say they had to get away from the shuffle mindset to progress...
so that's something beginners can consider as well.
Great point, in the vein of what I was trying to get at. Do it, if you want, then don't.
I'm Irishing it up today, working on tunes I already play on the wind instruments.
"Jimmy Ward's" into "Mouse in the Mug"
I've been learning "Lochaber No More," a Scottish air or lament that seems to suit the mood around here. While looking on YouTube for a version I'd recorded for Guy Carawan, I came across this very nice one, which I suspect may be played by a member here under an assumed name (that is I "assume" its his real name). youtu.be/LCUnIQKyDjg?feature=shared
Been playing it on my C harmonica (cross in G) but the comb came apart today, so I have to try something else. Where did I put that set of Great Highland bagpipes?
