What's your new Bluegrass instrumental?

[mandozilla]

I'm starting this thread because I feel like a red headed stepkid when I post on the "What's your new fiddle tune?" thread in the Old Timey forum. :grin:

I feel like we need a bluegrass equivalent so I don't have an identity crisis. :confused:

Right now, I'm working on Lonesome Moonlight Waltz...:cool:

Remember, "There's a fine line between playing Old Time music...and not playing music at all"...JUST KIDDING! :))

:mandosmiley:

[woodwizard]

How bout "Big Country" ... That's a goodern! That I like. :mandosmiley:

[CES]

Amanda Jewell...

[Mike Snyder]

We appreciate your input over in the fiddle tune thread, and your identity is safe with us. Me, I'm still trying to get "Monroes Farewell to Longhollow" up and running. Now, that's gotta be 'grass, cuz its got THE MANs name on it.

[Ivan Kelsall]

My 'old one' ! - I'm still working my way through John Reischman's "Eigth of February",although in the meantime i've learned to play "Southern Flavour" & i'm putting together the different sections of "Jerusalem Ridge",
Saska:)

[tango_grass]

Been polishing up Daybreak In Dixie lately!

[man dough nollij]

"Southern Flavour"[/I] Saska:)

That spellin' ain't no part o'nothin'!!

[Ivan Kelsall]

Sorry,but that's the way the Inglish spell it (wy did i ever contribute to that thred ???),
Saska :whistling:

[mandopete]

Been polishing up Daybreak In Dixie lately!

Dude, you got that one down already!

I've been working on a new waltz I wrote while waiting for the Superbowl to start - it's called Super Sunday oddly enough. Also working on a Latin/Choro inspired tune called La Nieve, El Sol from a wierd Sunday weather pattern here in the Puget Sound that had snow in the morning and sun in the afternoon.

I guess I write most of my songs on a Sunday, huh.

[AlanN]

Someone posted a thread about Jake Joliff, he picks a tune in A chord, nice little number, been working on that.

Big Country is a fun one, especially with those Vernon Derrick flat licks in there. Just make sure the guitar man knows where to change, it's a bit crooked.

[56 Gibson Hoss]

BIG COUNTRY!!!!
and here is Dan's band to do it for you......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u6eZeNe9aY

[DannyB]

#6 Barn dance is the one I'm actively working on right now and also brushing up on Daybreak and cherokee shuffle!

[farmerjones]

i figured out i was leaving a whole measure out of the A part of Jerusalems Ridge. So to unlearn the old and drill in the new, i been playing it eight ways to Monday.

I never learnt Patty on the Turnpike so iza playin that one a bit too.

A freind gave me Kenny Baker doing Bluegrass in the Backwoods. I'm kinda ruined for awhile.

[AlanN]

BIG COUNTRY!!!!
and here is Dan's band to do it for you......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u6eZeNe9aY


Thanks for linking that. The original 'Planter's Peanut' Adam 'Machine Gun' Steffey :mandosmiley: :mandosmiley:

[Mike Bromley]

Snowflake Reel.

[tree]

Whayasay.

Mostly on my own, but I never would've figured out the C part without Sammy's most helpful instructional dvd.

[Steve Perry]

North Country Waltz. A nice little Doyle Lawson tune in G with some off-chords(as the boys around here would say;)) like e flat and f sharp in the B part.

[tango_grass]

Dude, you got that one down already!

I've been working on a new waltz I wrote while waiting for the Superbowl to start - it's called Super Sunday oddly enough. Also working on a Latin/Choro inspired tune called La Nieve, El Sol from a wierd Sunday weather pattern here in the Puget Sound that had snow in the morning and sun in the afternoon.

I guess I write most of my songs on a Sunday, huh.

Not on Mandolin!! well, okay..but it still needs work! :whistling:

I'm gonna write myself something titled "Sunday Mundo-Pete!" :mandosmiley:

[mandopete]

Okay, I guess my "bluegrass" instrumental should be Roanoke. I have played this wrong for a number of years and decided it's about time I learnt it the right way. Think I'm gonna work on the Herschel Sizemore version, it's not too fast <grins>.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Blackberry Blosson:mandosmiley::cool::whistling:

[Bob Stolkin]

Dixie Hoedown & New Camptown Races.

[56 Gibson Hoss]

Blackberry Blosson:mandosmiley::cool::whistling:

I call it "Black Hairy Possum"

Too many notes fer me...I wont play the tune.

[mandopete]

Dixie Hoedown & New Camptown Races.

Doncha mean Hokey Dixdown & Campy Newton Races?

<sorry, the post above made me do it>

[mandozilla]

Another one I've been polishing up is the old Jesse McReynolds tune, Border Ride...One of my pickin' buddies' wife is a nice lady from Nicaragua and she just loves that one...she gets so excited she can hardly contain herself...she's a lot of fun. :grin:

Back before I started playing mandolin...when I was just a little guitar picker, I used to love seeing/hearing Tom (56 Gibson Hoss...see below) play Border Ride with 'Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party'...he picked the bejeezes out of it. :grin:

That tune made me think how versatile the mandolin was/is and was probably one the things that inspired me to play mandolin...and he wore a pretty cool coon skin cap to boot...:))

:mandosmiley:

[jimbob]

:mandosmiley:Old Ebenezer Scrooge and Old Danger Field. After months of fiddle tunes, my teacher is now moving me to some more challenging but much cooler stuff. I think if I could play either of these tunes anywhere close to the Master of Bluegrass recording, I would be in madolin heaven !

[56 Gibson Hoss]

Back before I started playing mandolin...when I was just a little guitar picker, I used to love seeing/hearing Tom (56 Gibson Hoss...see below) play Border Ride with 'Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party'...he picked the bejeezes out of it. :grin:

That tune made me think how versatile the mandolin was/is and was probably one the things that inspired me to play mandolin...and he wore a pretty cool coon skin cap to boot...:))

:mandosmiley:

Here is a pick of the mentioned coonskin in action.

BTW, Mark, I have some pix of your bro to send you when he played bass for ADQP.

[mandozilla]

Wow Tom..what a blast from the past! There's my first guitar hero, Cowboy Maynard...wow! :grin:

:mandosmiley:

[mandozilla]

Started working on "Down Yonder". A pretty simple tune I never gave much thought to or bothered to learn properly. I've been hearing it at jams a lot lately. Don't like nodding no :disbelief: when it's my turn for a solo! :))

:mandosmiley:

[AlanN]

Listening to Teddy Francesco's banjo recording called Pick 'n Roll, with the great (and un-sung) Tim Laughlin on mando. My tune du jour off of that is Follow The Leader.

[papawhisky]

i've been working on Miller's Reel and Cotton Patch Rag. The B part of Miller's reel is still kicking my rear, but I have it up to 160 on the metronome and climbing.

[wallygator]

Washington County

[mandozilla]

Just learned a b**jo tune, Dear Old Dixie...now all i have to do is get it up to warp speed so I can hang with my b**jo pickin' buds.

:mandosmiley:

[Denny Gies]

Not really bluegrass but I'm working on the David Grisman version of "Caravan" from the Early Dawg album.. It's a fun tune.

[JeffD]

Remember, "There's a fine line between playing Old Time music...and not playing music at all:


Wasn't that a quote from Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad?


In a way, the advent of BG gave a secure place for mandolin inside the greater tent of Old Time music. In traditional Old Time, fiddle, banjo, and perhaps guitar, are the main, and the mandolin is kind of the "red headed stepkid". Bill Monroe changed all that.

[mandozilla]

Wasn't that a quote from Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad?

You are correct sir! Sorry, no prize.


the mandolin is kind of the "red headed stepkid".

Yeah, in the Old Time forum but not here in the Bluegrass forum! That's why I started this thread.

:mandosmiley:

[banjotom]

I've been working on Ronoake for over a month. Now I'm sanding out the MANY bumps and trying my best to clear it out.

[mandozilla]

The hardest thing about learning 'Roanoke" is the intro IMHO and getting it into hyperdrive! HaHaHa. Fun tune though huh b**jotom?

:mandosmiley:

[banjotom]

Oh,yeah. Definately a fun tune, and one of my favorite mando tunes... ha ha, I just didn't know what I was getting into when I downloaded the tab for it. But shoot, if I didn't have this to work on I'd probably die of boredom.

[Mike Bunting]

I've been working on Poor White Folks, mainly to get a handle on that holding the pinkie down on the D string A while playing notes on the A string. I'm also spending time on Monroe's Farewell to Long Hollow.

[Bill Bradshaw]

Texas Gales, Cotton Patch Rag, Old Dangerfield, Little Cabin Home on the Hill, Say Old Man, Roanoke, Wheel Hoss, and Big Mon. I know, probably too many to work on at a time to be effective, but they are all such cool tunes to my ears.

How's it go? So many songs, so little time. Something like that.

Cheers,

Bill

[woodwizard]

Actually the mandolin works very well in Old Time Music ... ofcourse this is coming from a mandolin player that loves Old Time Fiddle tunes. :grin: ... Anyway it works in my OTM band. My new tune is one by Mark Schatz "Black Mountain Aire" a really beautiful slow one. :mandosmiley:

[JeffD]

Mark I took up the challenge. If your gonna start a thread on BG instrumentals, I have to learn one. :grin:

I have become addicted to Bill Monroe's Watson's Blues, from the Classic Bluegrass Vol 2 Smithsonian Folkways album. I just like the tune.

See attached.


I will have it down by the weekend, cuz I promised I'd do it on an open mike. All I need is Doc Watson to back me up!

:))

[JeffD]

Actually the mandolin works very well in Old Time Music ... ofcourse this is coming from a mandolin player that loves Old Time Fiddle tunes.


I quite agree. And I too am addicted to the OT tunes.


But like a dobro in bluegrass, the mandolin in old time is a "nice to" not a "must".

[mandozilla]

Mark I took up the challenge. If your gonna start a thread on BG instrumentals, I have to learn one

Good for you Jeff! :grin:

It seems like b**jo pickers are coming out of the woodwork at jams around here all of a sudden...gotta learn more b**jo tunes. Working on 'Remington Ride' now.

~o):popcorn:

[mandozilla]

Geez! I just started working on "New Camptown Races". I've avoided trying this one like the plague cause I thought it would be a bear in Bb.

That tune was getting a lot of jam play at the BG fest I attended this past weekend so when I got home I was determined to give it a try.

I play in Bb a lot for vocal breaks but somehow I thought "NCR" was out of my reach...Boy, do I feel stupid?...it's a blast to play...Who knew?...thanks Frank!

~o):mandosmiley:

[Mike Bromley]

NCR is a wacky tune, somewhat like its composer. I don't mean that in the wicest nay possible.

I learned it years ago, and it needs revisiting. There is some deft use of open strings, especially across the C- and F-chord-backed sections.

Meanwhile, I've become nicely distracted by John Reischman's lovely "Eighth of February" and its cool old-timey intro and bridges, which lend a somewhat lofty urgency to the tune.

Thanks to Ivan Kelsall for steering me to that tune.

:mandosmiley:

[JeffD]

Started working on "Down Yonder". A pretty simple tune I never gave much thought to or bothered to learn properly. :

Thats a bluegrass tune. Wow, had I but known.

I played that in a string band many (no, many) years ago, straw hats, string ties, two mandolins, 7 banjos and a tuba or baritone sax depending on who showed up.

We played Down Yonder, Baby Face, Don't Bring Lulu, If You Knew Susie, Bye Bye Blues, and stuff like that.

I have played Down Yonder ever since, though I forgot the name of the tune a couple of times. I'll bring it up at the BG jam and see what happens. (I brought up Grandfathers Clock once, and got the hairy eyeball from one of the guitar players who said: "that'n's traditional, id'nit?")

[mandozilla]

Thats a bluegrass tune. Wow, had I but known.

Geez, it's as much a bluegras tune as Old Joe Clark, Sally Goodin', BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Any time you get around fiddlers in a BG setting, a lot of 'Non BG' fiddle tunes are played. I can't believe you've never heard 'Down Yonder' played in a BG context...Ah, you're just joshin' me. :))

ATTENTION! The OLD TIMEY POLICE are patrolling the BG forum! :))

~o):popcorn:

[loess]

I spent the better part of last night tackling "Swallow" off of Larry McNeely's "Confederation" album. Fun way to break in my new Blue Chip pick!

[Gutbucket]

Jerusalem Ridge and Blackberry Blossom on guitar. Blossom was a lot easier then I thought. I have a hard time remembering all the little twists in Jerusalem Ridge. Gee, thanks Bill.

[JeffD]

Geez, it's as much a bluegras tune as Old Joe Clark, Sally Goodin', BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Any time you get around fiddlers in a BG setting, a lot of 'Non BG' fiddle tunes are played. I can't believe you've never heard 'Down Yonder' played in a BG context...Ah, you're just joshin' me. :))

:

Don't get me wrong, I love the tune, and from time to time I have heard it at a jam, though I've not heard it in BG jam.

The sweetest version I have heard is from the fiddle of Speedy Tolliver, in Arlington VA. Oh my, he makes that song fun. But Speedy can play most anything. He's amazing.

[mandozilla]

Just learned "Bluegrass Twist"(Bluegrass Part 1)...love them bluesy numbers. :cool:

Also, though it's not really a Bluegrass tune, friends bugged me to learn "Ashokan Farewell" to play for them. :grin:

~o):mandosmiley:

[ralph johansson]

Don't get me wrong, I love the tune, and from time to time I have heard it at a jam, though I've not heard it in BG jam.

The sweetest version I have heard is from the fiddle of Speedy Tolliver, in Arlington VA. Oh my, he makes that song fun. But Speedy can play most anything. He's amazing.

down yonder (by leo wolfe gilbert, 1921) is on monroe's bean blossom album,
with many fiddlers. it's not exactly unique among pop and jazz songs treated as old time/bg numbers. earl scruggs introduced bugle call rag and farewell blues. the country gentlemen did
(the world is waiting for the) sunrise (but they never played the melody!)
and heartaches. reno&smiley did too many to enumerate here.
silver bell, red wing, and snow deer are pop songs from the early
20th century, with native american motives.

and monroe recorded milenburg joys (leon roppolo and paul mares, c:a 1925)!

[AlanN]

Down Yonder has entered into the pantheon of 'Can not, Should not, Will not do' (for me). Even moreso than OBS or DB.

[Jim Gallaher]

"Southern Flavor" from Bill's repertoire. My banjo player can't understand how he missed this gem!

[AlanN]

Any and all tunes from Master of Bluegrass.

Ray Legere 'Cruisin' The Autobahn' (except my version travels at 35 MPH!)

[farmerjones]

i was gonna say Done Gone but that's for the fiddle.
Had a guy show me how to play Ro Hide the other night, so that'd be the latest.

Down Yonder? Everybody else plays it so i decided not, just for orneryness. The words indicate it's a minstrel tune, like Waiting on the Robert E. Lee, or Alabama Jubilee. I'm really not one way or the other about it.

[mandopete]

For mandolin it's Spam Jelly and Missing Vassar from the Ricky Skaggs Instrumentals recording. For guitar it's Neilia's Dance by Bryan Sutton.

[Amandalyn]

"Chilly Winds of Shannon" playing on the Octave- to me it sounds better in the lower register. This is BG? has an ancient celtic feel to it.

[Mike Bromley]

I'm busy revamping (pun intended?) Daybreak in Dixie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cg7WbEjhsU)à la Sierra Hull, after seeing her blow the doors off it at Blueberry Bluegrass on August 2. Always liked the tune....it was the one that Louis Benoit was playing the first time I saw someone who was good at the mandolin.

[AlanN]

On a Butch kick:

Slocum Hollow - simple, and great
Old Town - trying it on higher positions, different fingering
Sleigh Ride - this is on the NME holiday recording Gifts. Butch doesn't play on this tune, but the solos are killer, especially the 2 by Aubrey Haynie and Richard Kriehn. Some very hip playing by these fellows.

[Stephanie Reiser]

Blackberry Blossom, ala Natalie MacMaster.

[evanreilly]

I am not certain, but Chilly Winds of Shannon may be a Monroe original. I have not heard it played other than by Monroe. But Monroe was always playing some old fiddle tune or the other; he loved them.

[Michael Ellis]

For me, it'd have to be Ode to a Butterfly by Nickel Creek....

[yoshka]

At Kamp, Gold Rush and Billy Cheatham were both played a couple of times at jams I played in. I've been working on learning both of them.
Yossi

[fredfrank]

I've just added Daley's Reel and Stuart Duncan's New Democracy. Both fun tunes.

[Tracy Tucker]

Bluegrass Stomp. Coming along nicely!

[AlanN]

Ah, Daley's Reel, with the killer B part.

Now on a Joe Carr kick:

Mando #1
Livin The Good Life
and his versions of the common numbers found in his Texas Fiddle Favorities, he has a knack of throwing in a lick or 2 to jazz things up.

Joe is cool.

[adgefan]

Jefferson by Sara Watkins. A fantastic little tune, as crooked as they come.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Having found a version that i can easily hear the different parts of by Becky Buller,i'm tying down "Old Dangerfield". I think it's one of BM's best,easily on a par with 'Jerusalem Ridge' IMHO,
Ivan

[AlanN]

This A.M.,

Brilliancy, Sam Bush version
I've Found A New Baby, Jethroian
Howdy In Hickman County from the pick of the un-sung, un-picked, un-recognized Tim Laughlin. Arpeggios, triplets, h-p-p, you name it. Tim is awesome.

[Pete Hicks]

Chicken Under the Washtub, by Jason Carter, and The Old Cat Sneezed, by Frank Wakefield.:mandosmiley:

[Darren Bailey]

East Tennessee Blues - it's beginning to sound right, 4/5 of the way there - a few more nights and I'll go down to perform to the family!