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Originally posted by TuneWeaverToday I've been playing Whiteface a lot...which reminds me.. at a recent jam of 6 fiddlers (all accomplished) and two banjos and a uke and a mandolin...I was asked by the jam host to lead a tune. I chose Whiteface but when I was playing I noticed that only One fiddler was joining me.. I apologized afterwards saying that I chose the tune because I was sure that everyone knew it.. We have played it in this area for well over ten years.. Ya never know..! I sent a youtube video of the tune to other fiddlers.
I LOVE THIS ONE! Learned it early on. I'd love to play this with someone who knows it!
I recently rediscovered "Give the Fiddler a Dram." What a great tune! It's G modal. (For you youngsters out there, find the recording (YouTube) of the Holy Modal Rounders. This is what ruint many of us back in the day!
Also on my current playlist is "Road to Mabou Ridge." Goodness, what a fun Cape Breton strathspey march! Buddy MacMaster has the definitive recording in my mind!
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Originally posted by FiddlerI recently rediscovered "Give the Fiddler a Dram." What a great tune! It's G modal. (For you youngsters out there, find the recording (YouTube) of the Holy Modal Rounders. This is what ruint many of us back in the day!
What do you mean by ruint? Really? Or is it just a joke ? :-D I like this recording a lot, and it was on my mind when I first heard this tune being played : really need to remember this tune title because I want it! Then I forgot , now it's on my mind again! Yay!
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Originally posted by Quincyquote:
Originally posted by FiddlerI recently rediscovered "Give the Fiddler a Dram." What a great tune! It's G modal. (For you youngsters out there, find the recording (YouTube) of the Holy Modal Rounders. This is what ruint many of us back in the day!
What do you mean by ruint? Really? Or is it just a joke ? :-D I like this recording a lot, and it was on my mind when I first heard this tune being played : really need to remember this tune title because I want it! Then I forgot , now it's on my mind again! Yay!
Ruint - tongue in cheek. (ruined) The Holy Modal Rounders were the first exposure to old time music back in the 1970s for many of us aging hippies. They were quirky enough to be cool. Who knew that Flop-eared Mule had lyrics?? I think I have all of their albums. One of my favorite songs is "Voodoo Queen Marie" about a real person in New Orleans. The album, or at least the liner notes, was considered obscene. Some of the stories I could tell about us listening to HMR. Oh, man!
Kirk, I used to do gigs with the Holy Modal Rounders back in the 70's and knew Peter and his green fiddle well. Dated the girl who did the "Tears of a Clone" pic they used on the album. WILD times and wild folks they were.
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Originally posted by ErockinSarah Armstrong's Paddy on the Turnpike! Loving this tune. Love being able to add a tune to my list. Here is the version I'm privy to.
I know there are many versions out there but these kids do it justice.
youtu.be/yNYTxKOfyD0?si=t3RtlUpUpegftxsJ
Here's another video of this tune, played at Clifftop 2016 by Emily Schaad and Adam Hurt on fiddles, Beth Hartness on guitar, and Kate Brett on banjo:
Brendan, I love that version. I have jammed along with it a few times.
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Originally posted by wrench13Kirk, I used to do gigs with the Holy Modal Rounders back in the 70's and knew Peter and his green fiddle well. Dated the girl who did the "Tears of a Clone" pic they used on the album. WILD times and wild folks they were.
When I lived in Austin, I got to know Luke Faust who was with HMR for a bit in the late 70s. As you said, LOTS of wild times!
Who, besides me, plays Wild John????
Bump
i think you could probably reduce this whole site to this topic 
Edited by - pete_fiddle on 04/29/2025 14:03:13
Still working up a version of "Si Bheag Si Mhor", or "The Cuckoo" in C maj with a few double stops etc.
I'm waiting to hear "The Cuckoo" this spring, Cherry blossom is over and the Bee's are looking to swarm. A bit dry here, but hoping for some rain to get the kitchen garden going again.
Two of my long-term projects have been Hull's Victory in F and President Garfield's Hornpipe in B flat. They're sounding pretty good, though an another one- or two-thousand repetitions wouldn't hurt. Maybe it's time to move onto something else. So I started working on the Good For the Tongue Hornpipe. The melody and bowing on that is a lot more natural for me, so that should go a lot faster.
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Originally posted by TuneWeaverWho, besides me, plays Wild John????
I don't play it, but that's a good one for me to add to the to-learn list!
And I decided to work on the Three Way Hornpipe. I could already play the B and C parts, but I was faking the A part. The A part sounds similar to a bunch of other tunes. I want to play it truer to the John Sharp recording.
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Originally posted by RinconMtnErnieAnd I decided to work on the Three Way Hornpipe. I could already play the B and C parts, but I was faking the A part. The A part sounds similar to a bunch of other tunes. I want to play it truer to the John Sharp recording.
I have issues remembering tunes that are too much like one I already know, and for that reason I rarely learn them lol. A three part tune with only one "crossover" might make it into my permanent list as I tend to like John Sharp's tunes. Thanks for the title.
Same old stuff but hopefully with a bit more insight
Old Aunt Jenny with Her Night Cap On
Goodbye Girls, I'm Gone To Boston
For normal fiddle tunes I worked on Deerwalk (Doc Roberts) today. I thought I was close to having it down, but my bowing on the A part has been not so great the last few days so I worked on that. It sounded a lot better at the end, so hopefully that will stick.
For something completely different, I played along with some Bakersfield sound songs today (Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart). I like that sound and it's something I can play by ear pretty naturally. I learned that Buck Owns like to tune down a half step in the studio (D flat anyone?). But with Audacity I can tune back up to standard pitch for playing along.
Wagon Wheel. Don't we love to hate it? Problem being, I got a pretty good scald on the fiddle part, so I made a backing track.
All of Me. I mix single strings with the double stops to get the picture painted. Nobody's going to make a backing track for this. Gotta DIY.
Arkansas Traveler. Back to this. . . The backup is ten times tougher for me than playing it.
"All of Me... Nobody's going to make a backing track for this."
I found this hard to believe and sure enough a quick Google brought up five YouTubes, but maybe not in the style you're thinking of. Good song.
I am relearning Midnight On The Water, this one I never really got right, because it was aimed too high as a beginner . Now I can try to make it shine:-D Playing also with different moods and different intentions ... My fierced energy was not a good match at all for this specific tune , but I can do lightly and soft also, especially listening to different versions on YouTube. It gets me in the right atmosphere
Edited by - Quincy on 05/18/2025 08:49:56
After trying to relearn Midnight On The Water for two days I feel the great desire to do something completely 'freestyling' and totally personal with this specific tune. So I made two totally different recordings and like to see them as two separate raw sketches or two possible directions to work with. Now I need to make a choice between the two, which one I will work out until it feels like finished?
Hmm, I like them both, Anja! I think I personally like it a little higher (as in #1) but it's your personal choice...
Playing here:
Soggy's - finally got it by memory now!
Pipe on the Hob / Nightingale / ??
Green Fields of Rossbeigh / Toss the Feathers ( Corrs version) / ??
Anderson's / Drunken Landlady / John Brennan's
& a bunch of O'Carolan tunes (cuz there is now a monthly O'Carolan session with harp, YAY)
( If anybody has thoughts on the ?? of the sets, feel free to share! :-). I am still horrible at making sets and have to plan every set out in advance...)
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Originally posted by NCnotesHmm, I like them both, Anja! I think I personally like it a little higher (as in #1) but it's your personal choice...
Thanks, I like the ideas in 1 a bit better but I fall for tuning as low as possible.I'll try to work on 1 but tuned as in 2 :-D
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Originally posted by Quincyquote:
Originally posted by NCnotesHmm, I like them both, Anja! I think I personally like it a little higher (as in #1) but it's your personal choice...
Thanks, I like the ideas in 1 a bit better but I fall for tuning as low as possible.I'll try to work on 1 but tuned as in 2 :-D
Anja, do you have jams/peers that you play with?
