adding notes to fiddle tunes

[Sadw/OMyMando]

hows it going everyone? i just started that mandolin and i've been learning tunes like the arkansas traveler and whiskey before breakfast. when i listen to these songs i hear musicians adding fast notes inbetween the melody. I was wondering if there are some tips on how to do something like this. Should i only add the notes that are in the chords triad or am i thinking about it to hard and i just need to practice till i understand the sounds of the scale???

thanks

[farmerjones]

To add notes, there has to be space for them. Try a waltz but put twice as many notes in. I'm thinking of Tenn. Waltz in my head. Just as an experiment.
Why not try three notes for every note? Then the middle of the three notes, lower the middle note if you're ascending, or higher if you're descending. Soon the melody takes a back seat, and nobody can tell what you're playing. So you throw three quarters of the fancy stuff away. But you're still thinking it. That's an idea John Hartford came up with. Good Luck

[lenf12]

You may be referring to ornamentation or adding notes that are neighbors to the melody notes. They are sometimes added to provide interest or variation to the basic melody. This is a huge topic that may have been covered by other posts. Try a search and I'm sure someone else will chime into this interesting topic.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Laurence Firth]

You might want to check out this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Non-Jazz-Improvisation-Mandolin/dp/078667394X

The author starts you out with a melody and then teaches you when and how to improvise (add notes) to the melody. Lots of scale study and applications.

I've found this book useful

[EdSherry]

John McGann has a fine book entitled "Developing Melodic Variations For Fiddle Tunes" (available in both a guitar and a mandolin version) which addresses exactly the issue the OP mentions.
It's available from John here (NFI):

http://www.johnmcgann.com/books.html

As for the OP's question, the "added' notes need not be part of the chord, or even part of the main scale of the tune, but can be 'passing notes" (including "blue" notes such as the b3 and b7).

[Sadw/OMyMando]

yea that book looks sweet. i'll probably buy that. i know all the theory, i guess i need to develop an ear. thanks everyone.

[farmerjones]

My suggestion may have sounded unorthadox. I put the suggestion in practice to better convey the idea. You'll hear the passages differ from simple to more elaborate.

Tenn. Waltz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLiqWSnYb5Q

Arkansas Traveler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oT3DNGHjIs

You mentioned Whiskey Before Breakfast. There's alot of versions to that.
Listen to Cyril Stinnett's insanely complex version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c95tu3-_Gtw

[EarlG]

Good work Farmerjones

[Skip Kelley]

Buy Butch's Fiddle tune books! Highly recommended!

[John McGann]

A real masterclass in melodic variation is "Mark O'Connor- The Championship Years" by Stacy Phillips- especially if you can track down the CD.

Texas contest fiddle is all about melodic variation, a form of improvisation (for many, really a modular vocabulary of worked out lines) that varies from the 'just make something up on the chord changes' approach (or the dreaded 'hot lick' syndrome).

Before Mark, there was the great Benny Thomasson, Texas Shorty, Terry Morris (all 3 of whom recorded with Mark on an album called "Texas Fiddle Jam Session" that was never released on CD but is a gold mine!) and many others...there are some young(er) players today like Luke Price, Ellie Goodman, Tashina Claridge, Kimber Ludiker, Mike Barnett, and many more who are just ripping it up in that style. The door is wide open for mandolinists to keep it going- Sam Bush is one the first to bring that vocabulary into the mando world (check out "Sam and Alan Together Again" on Ridge Runner, another vinyl-only gem).

Thanks for the plug, Ed!

[woodwizard]

Buy Butch's Fiddle tune books! Highly recommended!

I'll second that! Butch Baldassari's fiddle tune books are hard to beat if you are wanting to learn some wonderful ways to play some great melodies.

[EarlG]

Before Mark, there was the great Benny Thomasson, Texas Shorty, Terry Morris (all 3 of whom recorded with Mark on an album called "Texas Fiddle Jam Session" that was never released on CD but is a gold mine!)

Texas Shorty will be at the Acoustic music camp in Arlington, Tx in August. So is Paul Glasse

[Tim2723]

It may help too if you listen to the Celtic music forms and the Baroque masters. Ornamentation is masterful in those genres as well.

[HddnKat]

My method is probably too simplistic, but I start by learning the melody well enough that I can hum or whistle it, away from the mandolin. Then I just try to start playing around with the tune as I hum, then I go back and see whether I can find the 'new and improved' melody I've been humming on my fretboard.

[tree]

...- Sam Bush is one the first to bring that vocabulary into the mando world (check out "Sam and Alan Together Again" on Ridge Runner, another vinyl-only gem).


I've been looking around for that on cd - guess that explains why I haven't been able to find it.

Any ideas for how to get a copy of it in digital format?

[doc holiday]

Check out the Sam Bush mandolin/cd book. He plays & teaches Leather Britches & Cotten Patch Rag in the texas style.