This week's runaway winner is Morrison's Jig, which is an IT tune. Here is a link to the tune on thesession.org Here is the ABC from that site: X: 1 T: Morrison's M: 6/8 L: 1/8 R: jig K: Edor |:E3 B3|EBE AFD|EDE B3|dcB AFD| E3 B3|EBE AFD|G3 FGA|dAG FED:| Bee fee|aee fee|Bee fee|a2g fed| Bee fee|aee fee|gfe d2A|BAG FGA| Bee fee|aee fee|Bee fee|faf def| g3 gfe|def g2d|edc d2A|BAG FED| I actually know this one, so here is my video of it twice through, on my Collings MT2O mandolin. I played it twice. The first time through, I played the C# in the next to last measure (as notated), the second time through, I played the C natural, which I like better... Please excuse the more than messy mess in the background.... we are in the process of moving! And yes, my cat is napping in my mandolin case in the background!
Very nicely played... your Collings sounds great on this one.
Very nice, Barb! You're playing is always so clean and this one has great lilt to it. I'm waiting for a cat shaped mandolin case to come out.
Really nice playing Barbara, sweet music.
Very clean playing, as usual, Barbara. It's a great tune and I expect lots of versions to begin popping up now. Well done for setting the bar.
Sounds nice, Barbara - I've always found this a very tricky jig for some reason, I think the combination of a lot of moves between notes on the same fret of different strings, and the way the ending differs so much each time make it tough, but you've got it no prob. I'm going to have to give this weeks a miss as Summer's finally arrived here and I'm gonna be away for a week and a half at a festival, but hopefully will catch up with some on my return.
This was one of the first tunes I learned some 30 yrs ago. I played it on the TB then (that was on the dark side, before I repented), so I recorded it in 2010 with that same TB (still a wallhanger of mine).
Here's my take on Morrison's. I know this tune really well, having played it for many years. I play it here on an unloved cheapo mandolin, multi tracked in a rush this morning, with Bouzouki backup. Try to visualise laughing giggling children dancing around a maypole.....thats what I see when I play jigs.
Nice job Francis, I like it. Bertram, got to love a banjo!
I thought this tune had already been done as an 'other tune', but didn't find it on my original search! Here's a link to the discussion a couple of years ago!
A quick submission this week as summer has finally arrived...as has the Isle of Man TT races, so I might not get time later in the week. I decided to play this one on the TB. The triplets are easier
Sounds great, peddyrmac! Love those triplets. Good stuff all. Gotta love a good jig. Bertram, I'm cornfused (not being banjo literate). You're barring at the third fret but everyone else is playing off the second fret? What's up with that?
Don, there's a story full of anger, despair, hope, an idea and a nutectomy. It was on a session evening in Ireland (in Clifden, Connemara, I think). The banjo was tuned CGDA at that time, and the long scale made tuning the A string up to pitch a nerve-wrecking adventure. That evening, when an A string broke on me with that "THWACK!" I'd come to hate, for the grillionth time, I finally decided to put an end to it. That night, by the light of a petroleum lantern in my tent, I got my Swiss army knife out, which has a saw, and cut all 4 nut slots down to the fretboard and beyond, making the first fret a zero fret and shortening the scale length by approx. a full inch. The fret markers were now all wrong, but I had never looked at them anyway. And no A string broke on me ever again. Very good backing Francis, and the price of the mando is neither audible nor is it important in this genre However, I can't do well with the maypole picture here - this is in a Dorian scale, made to express agression and bitterness, and if it has to be a maypole, probably someone is striding towards it with grim determination, saw in hand. Absolutely cool machine gun triplets Peddyr - you're certainly exploiting that instrument to the maximum, a worthy wielder of heavy metal.
tis a nice , working on it..
Hi I am new. I was referred here by Bill Killpatrick. I like this so far although I guess I am not playing it fast enough. But I am now going to add some ornamentation based on the comments from thesession.org and I agree that the C# also sounds nice as C Natural
Nice one Peddyr, you've got great solid timing.
peddyrmac, you're really getting in the groove with that banjo. Bertram, I must try to be more observant, I never spotted the approaching murderer with the saw. Too late, the gore is on the floor! Maybe it would make a suitable backdrop to a Hitchcock, or Tarantino movie. Maybe I need to rework it with that in mind?
Bertram you have rumbled me. In a previous life I was a guitar wielding rock n' roller. Those triplets are straight from the heavy metal special effects locker...
Welcome to the group, Deb! As far as playing it fast enough... playing it well, is far more important than playing it fast. The more you play it slower, ingraining the tune, you'll soon surprise yourself with how fast you can then play!
Peddy. Your sounding nice, very nice on your banjo. I seem to see your mandolin less and less. I fear your turning to the dark side. Francis for a 'cheapo' you sure get a nice clean and round tone out of it. Welcome Deb. You already know the difference between a C and C#. That puts you ahead of [me] some of us. Gary
I love jigs! I love tenor banjos! I should be doing other things (like packing) instead of making videos! To me, the important thing about jigs is the picking. Not everyone subscribes to DUD DUD picking for jigs, but I feel it is essential to get the right sound. I started this video out with just a short demonstration of DUD DUD, then played this one time through without ornamentation, then twice through with triplets.
The DUD does have a nice groove to it Barbara. Nice triplets too.
I don't want to alarm you Laura, but there appeared to be two children standing behind you while you made that video. I'd get someone to look into that if I were you
Two very well behaved children, it seems!
Summer vacation is almost here, so I figured I better get used to making my videos with all the usual distractions of my household. They were making all kinds of noise until I invited them to be in the video and see how quiet they could be. They actually tried to hold their breath for me!
...plus, I think I saw faint hints at Irish stepdancing! They might be on to something...
I love the tenor banjo -- an instrument that seems hard to find in my neck of the woods (also the tenor guitar is not easy to find). @Laura -- I also noticed some Irish dancing too-- very cute. Thanks for the 'Welcomes'!
Great work everyone. GKW...I recorded my previous 2 SAW's on mando, but you are right it was sorely neglected for a while. I think I can say that parity has been restored between the 2 instruments now after an initial love affair with the new tenor!
HI again - here's my attempt (only picked up mandolin 2 month's ago) - any tips greatfully received!!
You asked for it, Peter: A and B part are supposed to be played twice each. Apart from that, that's pretty cool for just 2 months on an instrument that must be like Liliput for a bass player. There must be some hidden talent that just waited to come out all the time.
Ah, ok, so AABB then... Will remember next time. At present I am playing the mandolin every day, so the weird thing is when I then get the bass out at a gig, it just feels huge! Also my mando strings feel like cheese wire on my fingers... Ouch!
Here is my contribution. It seems that this is, by consensus, a banjo tune so I am playing my Masterclone. This is a great tune that seems to go with a lot of other jigs. Mike Keyes
Compared to my other stringed instruments, the mandolin hurts my fingers too for some reason. Must be the double set of strings.
Very nice job Mike. Truth be said. I would like to have a Tenor Banjo. Luckily I haven't run accross one yet. I have enough on my plate at the moment. Peter. My comment would be about the way you hold your pick. Check Mike and Micheal's vids on Instuctional Videos. Gary
Oh Peter. Didn't mean to just sound critical. Your video was very nice. Good and clean picking and very good rythm.
Thanks Gary - no problem - need some pointers - have watched the video on the site and have tried to change my pick grip, so thanks for that!! have posted a new video on the Glaway Hornpipe thread and would be grateful for feedback...
Your version really brings the image of children around the May Pole, Francis. Love the banjos! I'm such a dork, I started practicing this, by ear .... and realized I was playing the Swallowtail Jig! Back to the drawing board. Hopefully I can get this down by Friday. Yeesh.
You know, and this may just be me so holler if it is, but children dancing round maypoles to a minor key tune seems more like it would be the opening scene of a horror movie. Something spooky about it, is what I'm trying to say. And Loretta, Swallowtail Jig, you're absolutely right I keep playing that too.
Hahaha, Mr. S. .... actually, you're right. Perhaps I was channeling some kind of horror flick .... I do that. Glad I'm not the only one who's playing The Swallowtail Jig!
OS it's not just you, I said something to the same effect 4 days ago. There might be children dancing, but they're being watched from behind the dark windows of a black van, while the driver is contemplating ways to remove that metal plate from his mouth...
Right, so you did Bertram, I knew I could count on you on that one. Here's my spooky version then. I'm still reading this, because I just couldn't make the end of the B part stick in my head.
Nice arrangement, cool guitar chords, great sounding mandolins – a very nice recording with a good mix! Thanks!
I'm inspired and impressed by those amazing videos! Please stop adding to my list of "tunes to learn when I have time"!
Really nice playing David, that hammered-on run to the d in the A part is lovely. Mike, that's a setting of Morrison'sI haven't heard before, very interesting! Laura, that Gibby is so sweet!
Yo David, that's the first intrusion of the murder ballad genre into ITM I've ever heard.
I've been enjoying working on this one all week, so felt I now needed to post an updated version!
Nice work Peter, that's sounding much better - nice tone and really solid timing. You've earned yourself a mandolin strap!
Ha ha - that'll be on my Christmas list then!
I have a terrible angle for lookalikes - Peter, you weren't the one who founded Wikileaks, were you?
Well, when you're under house arrest waiting deportation, there isn't much to do, so why not learn to play the mandolin! Ha Ha - no, I'm afraid not, but he is living about 12 miles away from me, near Tunbridge Wells...
