View Full Version : Some New Video Clips
I've been playing with the camera and video encoders, and have figured out how to put up some Divx (http://www.divx.com) encoded video clips of me playing the mandolin.
When looking on the divix page, scroll down for the free player.. you don't have to get the ad-ware or pay version!
Here's the first one, Midnight on the Water / Bonaparte's Retreat (http://www.celticmusic.com/dan/Midnight_on_the_Water.divx) (approx 10Mb!) played on my ex-Steve Owsley Smith mandolin, tuned DDAD.
The second clip is Ragtime Annie (http://www.celticmusic.com/dan/Ragtime_Annie.divx) (5.2Mb) played on my Lebeda F5.
I guess you have to have a divx decoder to see the video...
Cool danb! Quality is really good (playing and video) Could you post another 500 please? ;)
Martin Jonas
Jun-16-2004, 3:04am
Dan: Very nice! Seeing you play made me wonder about your pick grip. Especially on Midnight On The Water, you seem to lift your thumb off the index finger frequently. How do you not lose your pick when you do that? Or don't you hold the pick between thumb and index?
Martin
(Clearly having to work on my speed on Bonaparte's Retreat.)
pickinBob
Jun-16-2004, 5:42am
How can we get a program to paly this stuff? Is it shared software or payable?
Martin Jonas
Jun-16-2004, 5:47am
Follow the link in Dan's post to the DivX site and download the free Codec/Player. The link is a bit hidden on their homepage, as they want to sell you the premium player instead, but there's no need for that. Look for the link titled "Standard DivX Codec (FREE)" on the download page. There's also a Mac and a Linux version.
Martin
mandonewbie
Jun-16-2004, 8:33am
That is really cool...thanks for sharing that with us.
jiffyfeet
Jun-16-2004, 10:01am
Hmm, I tried to download the codec, but it has "adware" right in the filename. As much as I'd love to watch these, I'm not downloading that, and I wouldn't recommend anybody else to either.
I can watch them from home though, I'll get to it tonight. Thanks for posting, sounds like it's pretty cool.
Martin Jonas
Jun-16-2004, 10:13am
There are two links on the divx download page. One link is a very prominent button labelled "download". This is for the ad-supported "DivX Pro" player, which is entirely unnecessary unless you want to create your own DivX files, and I suspect this is what jiffyfeet is referring to (the filename is "DivXPro511Adware.exe"). The link for plain codec/player is a much less conspicuous text link to the left of that (filename "DivX511.exe") and it does not have ads in it. This is all you need to play Dan's file (or any other DivX files). Compared to RealMedia, who are one of the most obnoxious companies I can think of in terms of stealth advertising and trying to take over your computer, DivX is really quite harmless.
Martin
dasspunk
Jun-16-2004, 10:49am
FYI,
These files don't work on a Mac even after installing the DivX codec...
craigtoo
Jun-16-2004, 1:52pm
I got it to work no problem on VLC cersion version 0.7.2
Available at versiontracker for a free download...
iMac G4
enjoy,
craig
Dan, that Steve Owsley Smith you had sounds great, why did you leave it? # You gonna make it back to Milwaukee anytime for the fests? # Irishfest is calling your name.
Another question, what would MOW/BR sound like on the Lebeda?
Sorry about the video decoder issue, I keep forgetting to mention that the free player is kind of buried in the page.
I picked DIVX because it seems to make nice small video clips of decent quality.
Martinjonas: I re-adjust my grip on the pick a lot on the fly, usually after an upstroke.. I hit pretty hard and it starts to escape, so I take those opportunities to grab it down again!
Neal: I guess I'm fairly dumb is why http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif New owner seems to love it though, and I wasn't really playing it enough. I have mostly been playing in sessions and needed a new fridge, so I kept the louder F5 I have and bought the fridge. Standard story I bet! I'll try for Irish Fest next summer I suppose, it's been a while!
I'll see if I can get a decent one recorded on a nifty mandolin I've been borrowing.
The Lebeda doesn't quite jump off your lap dropped to D, but sounds pretty good.. That SOS in DDAD was a force of nature though
grandmainger
Jun-21-2004, 8:16am
For those of you who are having problems with playback, there are a few things to try:
1) rename the file to .avi so it will open in Media Player. If your system is recent-ish, media player should update itself and let you watch it, since divx is a 'variant' of AVI (ie AVI encoded via divx codec).
2) If that fails, quit media player and download/install the codec manually using this file: http://download.divx.com/divx/DivX511.exe . This is NOT a player, and therefore has NO adware whatsoever, it is only an algorythm that will allow media player to decode the video. Once that's done, open your video again, should work.
3) If that fails (blame micro$oft), download a proper movie player such as #VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc) or BSplayer.
For Mac users (you are so right), rename your file to .avi, install the divx codec from http://download.divx.com/divx/mac/DivX511Installer.sit and download VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc) for Mac (OSX only).
Hope this helps! These are very nice clips!
Germain
Mark Normand
Jun-21-2004, 8:53am
Thx Dan, very nice playing, great for us newer players to watch that up close.
Divx is pretty cool. I might have to experiment with that more...
Martin Jonas
Jun-21-2004, 9:22am
2) If that fails, quit media player and download/install the codec manually using this file: http://download.divx.com/divx/DivX511.exe . This is NOT a player, and therefore has NO adware whatsoever, it is only an algorythm that will allow media player to decode the video. Once that's done, open your video again, should work.
Actually, that file contains both the Codec (for use by Microsoft Media Player or any other movie player) as well as a standalone DivX player (without Adware). So, no other player required, but you can use one if you prefer a different user interface.
Martin
Thanks for all the tech support guys, sorry I picked a format that appears to have caused grief http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Martin Jonas
Jun-22-2004, 2:13am
Thanks for all the tech support guys, sorry I picked a format that appears to have caused grief http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Not at all, Dan, your clips are much appreciated and DivX is one of the best formats you could have picked -- it's just not as well known as it should be. The problem is with the software industry who haven't settled on a viable standard for small decent quality video files.
If you can be persuaded to do more videos (yes, please!), then sticking with DivX is a much better choice than, say, switching to RealMedia. I try to have as little to do with them as I can.
Martin
ethanopia
Jun-22-2004, 5:05am
yeah if DivX can catch on it will be great. Hopefully someday it will be included in most players like flash now comes with browsers.
You can fit a great quality DVD rip onto a CD. Pretty slick if you ask me.
Not that I do anything like that mind you...
samuel
Jun-22-2004, 7:45am
Great picking Dan... keep the videos coming!
grandmainger
Jun-22-2004, 3:21pm
Dan,
My girlfriend watched the videos and was asking me how long you have been playing the mandolin for?
10 years or so.
Hmm, actually about 13 years. Time flies
grandmainger
Jun-23-2004, 8:34am
Right! Since I've only just started, she'll have to wait until she can see videos of me playing... ;)
Yeah, the thing with playing is that eventually everybody gets there, so long as you don't want to stop! I think it's all just something you can chalk up to stubbornness, or maybe the simple love of the sound of the instrument. I've always wondered why I stuck with it, I guess it's like having an addiction. I feel really edgy and irritable if I haven't played in a while, and even when I'm not playing well it's a very theraputic activity to just play the mandolin!
grandmainger
Jun-24-2004, 7:31am
I find this also. It's a very soothing activity.
Out of interest, how much daily practice do you do? At the moment, I do 30-45 minutes before my hand starts getting tired...
MandoNoob
Jun-24-2004, 8:52am
You know Dan, it's only a small step from what you've just done to releasing potentially-lucrative instructional videos for download...
Make some vids showing how you play that stuff, step by step, close-ups on the left hand etc, maybe add the tab .gifs, and I'd cheerfully part with lots of loot for those files. I am pretty sure many others here would too.
Great playing btw!
I've worked on the idea of doing instructional videos. Kind of stalled at the moment, though I completed 2 lessons' worth. It's a difficult process, but I might pick it up again after the next CD is finished!
I practice anywhere from zero to 3 hours a day, usually I go for an hour and a half if there isn't too much going on. Also a 3 hour session a week, minimum. I'd go to one every night if I didn't have to get up for work http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
MandoNoob
Jun-24-2004, 9:17am
Re. instructional videos:
> ... I completed 2 lessons' worth ...
Linkety-link? Pretty please??
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif
Here's Jim Beehan's Jig (http://www.celticmusic.com/dan/jim_beehans_jig.avi).. not a lesson actually, but I forget if I've linked it before
Martin Jonas
Jun-24-2004, 10:03am
Great playing -- I love those fast picked triplets.
Martin
trickymonk
Jun-24-2004, 1:07pm
Dan, I'm loving the clips. Any chance of getting tab for any of these (especially Jim Beehan's Jig)?
-Jeff
Here are the Dots for Jim Beehan's Jig
OK, what the heck. The video project is stalled at the moment, so I'm sure it won't hurt to share another one. This clip takes a simple tune, shows two alternate ways of decorating it, then combines them together into a fancier setting. Here's the video clip (DIVX again, about 10mb) of The Concertina Reel (http://www.celticmusic.com/dan/The_Concertina_Reel.divx), and here's a pdf file with sheet music and tab (http://www.celticmusic.com/dan/The_Concertina_Reel.pdf) for 3 variants shown in the clip.
MandoNoob
Jun-27-2004, 5:13am
Wow! That's just what I always wanted dan - thanks! I am learning the simplest version now...
jasona
Jun-27-2004, 10:32am
Great stuff Dan! I just love how you drones seem to come from nowhere--but they really fill the sound out.
Dan how are you playing those extremely fast triplets about 22 seconds into Jim Beehan's? Is it a fast DUD followed by U? Thanks for sharing this stuff.
My jig pattern is DDU DDU.. if it's the beginning of a beat it's DUD D DUD D, end of the beat is D UDU D UDU. Generally speaking, it's picking one of those patterns, then repeat as many times as you can tolerate, creeping the speed up a little at a time. Eventually you reach roughly the limit of what your hands can do. 1 Beer can help, 2 or more hurts (substantially!)
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Just listened again... those are DUD D DUD D triplets. I remember working that phrase specifically to get that effect- I practiced playing the fastest triplet I could on a nice slow rhythm (good excercise, by the way) so that the triplet was a rhythm, a kind of explosion.. not too hard if you play it slooooow.. then gradually working it back up to a normal speed, then a slightly unreasonable speed (like in the video clip). The trick is really getting the finger motion memorized, once you have the *feel* of it down, you can slowly creep up the tempo.
I don't think the actual picking pattern is vital so much as the time spent memorizing it. Hope that helps!
Laura Harmon
Jun-27-2004, 2:49pm
Thanks Dan for the videos. #Are you still going to make instructional videos? #I remember you talking about doing that a while back and I sure could learn a lot by watching.
You wouldn't even have to explain things, although that would be a plus.
It appears that rather than doing pull-offs, you look like you are doing "push-offs" in some parts. #
Playing mandolin is good medicine and you're the doctor.
Laura
PS: After I posted and refreshed the page, there were several posts about videos. You seem to be the one we all want instruction from.
Laura- yes, sometimes I'm, flicking the left hand fingers "forward" rather than back (towards the palm). Not quite sure how to articulate the how or when of it yet, but I'll think about it. I *think* I'm getting "Sam Bush" style triplets by picking a normal reel pattern, but flicking a finger forward (as my son says, "like flicking a booger") on the first note to sneak a second note in the middle, which makes a triplet sound. I'll see if I can catch that on video or audio, though I'm pretty sure that's what I'm doing.
trickymonk
Jun-28-2004, 6:57am
Thanks Dan! This stuff is extremely helpful. Keep it coming!
grandmainger
Jul-15-2004, 4:46am
The Concertina Reel, and here's a pdf file with sheet music and tab for 3 variants shown in the clip.
Dan, any chance of getting TablEdit versions of these, rather than PDFs. I'm terrible at tablediting myself, having only a very old version.
I'd very much like to be able to slow down the playback in TEFView to focus on a #couple of measures I'[m having trouble with.
Thanks!
Germain
Pete Braccio
Jul-18-2004, 10:33pm
Hi Dan,
Fantastic version of Rodeo tacked on to the Midnight on the Water! (I've played it a couple of times since I downloaded it a few minutes ago.) I never thought to try Aaron Copland on the mando. I'm searching for music for it now.
Thanks for distributing these clips and notation to the Cafe.
Pete
Sure thing. That second tune is actually one of the handful of similar melodies that go by the name "Bonaparte's Retreat".. which was (I assume) the source melody for "Rodeo", an nice old-timey tune typically played in DDAD fiddle . I'm just assuming this is the case as I have that tune in a number of Old-Timey books that I suspect would pre-date "Oaklahoma"..
Sorry but I don't have tabledit.. I usually use ABC2Win, though I can't actually recall how I created that PDF now (mix of word doc tab and notes maybe?)
Samando
Jul-19-2004, 6:04am
I can't get it to work, Darnit! Ahh well..
So Dan, what do you think of your Lebeda?? I was thinking about buying a really sweet one a while ago, but my Dad wasn't to crazy with the idea..
What do you think of them?? Would you recomend??
Try the plugin from adobe.com, it's pretty easy to get that one working.
I've been quite happy with the lebeda. I'm adding a pickguard to mine to make me pick higher up though. Craig & I were comparing ours and also against the Loar.. the Loar feels incredibly easy to play, the string tension seems exactly right. I think a big part of that is the pickguard.. it makes you pick about 3/4 up the extension, where the tension is less.. without the guard I pick lower, which makes the action a little hard and the tone a little harsher.
Little to do with the Lebeda, of course, more just general technique stuff. I think pickguards are important http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Dan,
Didn't you once post here with a video clip, looking over your shoulder down at your right hand showing your picking pattern? If you still have that, would you post it again?
Thanks for the video posts, it is fun to see what others are doing.
Thanks
hmm, I'll have a hunt for that, not sure where it is :|
craigtoo
Jul-22-2004, 5:00am
I've spent alot of time trying to figure out Dan's triplets too...I came up with an exercise that worked...I actually figured out the "end of the beat" triplets first and worked on a slow exercise like this. #NOTE: #I am a DUD DUD DUD picker for Jigs.
D(udu) DUD D(udu)DUD # # (trips)
For the "front of the beat" trips (I call them downbeat trips..although that can be misleading). I do this exercise.
DUD(dud)U # DUD(dud)U
Maybe that could help someone...
enjoy,
craig
"Dan,
Didn't you once post here with a video clip, looking over your shoulder down at your right hand showing your picking pattern? If you still have that, would you post it again? "
-Yoods
"hmm, I'll have a hunt for that, not sure where it is :|"
-DanB
DanB, while checking out another site, I came across this link, http://www.celticmusic.com/dan/technique.html which I believe has a video link at the bottom that shows how hold your pick, etc. I think this is the video I was asking about.
Bluegrasstjej
Jul-25-2004, 4:49pm
Lovely stuff, Dan!!!!!!!!!!