fiddle tunes - what's your favorite

[mbruno]

Hey all.

I'm trying to expand my knowledge of good fiddle tunes. I want to add 5 to 10 fiddle tunes to my song list before festival season starts up. Looking for a range of simple tunes for basic jams and more complex stuff.

I know the below - so exclude these

Old joe Clark
Goodbye liza Jane
Red haired boy
Salt creek
Old dangerfield
Salt springs
Whiskey before breakfast
Devils dream
Cherokee shuffle

Second question. I have the fiddlers fakebook but i find that the recordings i hear often are different compared to the written sheet music -sometimes it's close but sometimes it's far off. Whiskey before breakfast for example. Anyone know where to find more "standard" written melodies for fiddle tunes?

[onassis]

Bill Cheatham
Red Wing
Gold Rush
Blackberry Blossom
Shuckin' the Corn
Clinch Mt Backstep
Cripple Creek
Soldier's Joy
John Hardy

These are all fairly common BG fest tunes, but there's pretty much an infinite supply of tunes you might run into.
As for the second part, I usually look for a version at the Mandozine Tabledit files, and try to find one that sounds close to the recording I'm following. They have very basic versions of a lot of tunes. And they also show them in notation, not just in TAB.

[bigskygirl]

Here's a few more....

Golden Slippers
Fishers hornpipe
Big sciota
Big Sandy river
Cuckoos nest

[mbruno]

Thanks for the replies guys

[crisscross]

John Hardy

Though it's one of my favorite Bluegrass-style songs, and I'm sure it works well played on the fiddle, "John Hardy" started as a vocal song.

A fiddle tune I always liked because it changes from minor to major is "Cattle in the cane"

There seems to be a bit of variety allowed in playing fiddle tunes, so no two versions of the same tune are identical. They're not classical compostions, where you have to follow the sheet music note by note, after all.

You should find some ideas in this thread ( if you got the time )http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ew-fiddle-tune

[JeffD]

What tunes do they play at the local jam you attend regularly?

Seriously, I bet there is a jam not far from you and that they likely have a tune list and maybe even a list posted to a website. That would be your best bet.

[Jackgaryk]

fiddler's dram and uncle penn are a couple of my favorites. Norman Blake did a great medley...fiddler's dram/whiskey before breakfast that I really like. check it out if you haven't already heard it...since you already know whiskey before breakfast i think you might like it.

[Ivan Kelsall]

One of my favourite tunes is ''On The Move'' played by Del McCoury's fiddle player,Jason Carter. It's originally a guitar tune composed by David Grier,but JC makes it all his own. Jason's CD of the same name is well worth having. I also love one of Kenny Baker's tunes,''Spider Bit The Baby''. I don't know if KB composed it,but it's a really catchy tune. Two other tunes i like very much played on anything,are ''Sally Goodin'' & ''Angeline The Baker'',2 of the first tunes i taught myself to play when i took up mandolin,
Ivan

[farmerjones]

Salt Creek
Bonaparte's Retreat
8th of January
Dusty Miller

Any Kenny Baker stuff;
Road to Columbus
Jerusalem Ridge
Bluegrass in the Backwoods

[JeffD]

This thread might be of interest.

[mbruno]

What tunes do they play at the local jam you attend regularly?

I was waiting for that comment

Couple of reasons:
1) I don't often remember all the tunes we play there and probably will forget the name before I leave (I know, write it down haha)
2) My local jam is on Thursdays about 45 minutes - 1 hour from my house starting at 7. I get out of work usually around 6. Hard to make that regularly
3) Since I travel a lot, I want to get a good cross section of popular fiddle tunes across the country.

[mbruno]

There seems to be a bit of variety allowed in playing fiddle tunes, so no two versions of the same tune are identical. They're not classical compositions, where you have to follow the sheet music note by note, after all.

True and even the stuff written is always right since a lot of this music is passed down from player to player - so little changes are always present. However, I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone here - I'd like to learn more fiddle tunes for the festival season this year and I'd like to get better at sight reading notation.

I've been really pushing reading more in all the styles I play lately and I've noticed some good changes - better timing, better tone (probably from playing slower at the start), learning multiple fingering variations, better understanding of common licks for the genre, etc. I'm getting a lot better with the flat keys b/c I'm focusing on Stevie Wonder and jazz. I figure Bluegrass is great for the natural keys.

[JeffD]

3) Since I travel a lot, I want to get a good cross section of popular fiddle tunes across the country.

What I do, and isn't it wonderful that it is possible these days, is look on line for jams in the city I am traveling too and download their tune lists. I also send an email to the jam coordinator, if there is one, to introduce myself and tell him I am coming to town.

Depending on the genre however, I have found that about a third of the tunes we play at home are played everywhere. So again, that local jam is a real resource. Also hearing and playing with the group will help sort out what is the core tune and what is decoration when you see it in print, as in the fiddlers fake book, or the Portland collection, or whatever.

Its a fun journey.

[dwc]

When I start adding new tunes to my repertoire, I like to think of it in terms of what other people like to play. Raw Hide and Fire on the Mountain are great tunes, but they are fiddle/mandolin centric. I know them, but I try to call tunes like Jerusalem Ridge or Blackberry Blossom; these tunes are fun for everyone. It also helps to have a couple of banjo-centric tunes like Cripple Creek and Foggy Mountain Breakdown. I don't consider either of these to be among my favorite tunes, but banjo players light up when you call them.

I also keep a couple of swing tunes in my back pocket, Avalon and Sweet Georgia Brown spring to mind immediately. Although, by now, I really think a tune like Sweet Georgia Brown is as much a bluegrass tune as it is a jazz standard.

[mbruno]

I would think the same about Sweet Georgia and Limehouse Blues for that matter - every time I call them out, I get the weird "that's too many chords" look.

[tree]

A few more possibilities:

Big Mon
Greencastle Hornpipe
Washington County Breakdown
Arab Bounce
Grey Eagle

[Mark Wilson]

One of my favorites to play is Billy in the Lowground.

Never heard it called in a group tho.

I sometimes use "Paul and Tony’s Popular Picking List" as a guide when looking for new tunes. It's just another list - nothing gospel.

[UsuallyPickin]

I could no more say what my favorite fiddle tune is than who the prettiest woman is. A sunrise is as beautiful as a sunset. The Star of the County Down or Londonderry Air give me as great a kick in playing as Forked Deer or Blackberry Blossom......... For me the beauty is in the playing and the playing is in the moment. R/

[mbruno]

I hear ya - all music is fun to play but let's say you had to pick 3 fiddle tunes with a group of your choosing - which three non-original tunes would you choose? I'm betting there are a few you like to play better than others.

This has been a great thread and I've added a lot to my "to learn" list. I'm close to 100% on a couple from this list

Old dangerfield
Clinch mt
Blackberry blossom (i know, should have been like the first fiddle tune i learned haha)

Really appreciate the help!

[Pete Martin]

Golden Eagle Hornpipe. It's like a Bebop tune.

[farmerjones]

Lately:
Arkansas Traveler, I play to keep my joints active.
Bonaparte's Retreat, I play for the drive.
Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine, I slow down.
Frog on a Lillipad, b/c everyone wants us to play it.
Padi on the Turnpike, I dunno.

Yknow, they say there's really no such thing as muscle memory, but sometimes I just let my fingers tell me what to play. I honestly don't have a clue.

[LongBlackVeil]

Quail is a pretty bird
Laughing Boy
Forked Deer
Texas Girls
Goodbye my little darlin

[John Ritchhart]

Temperence Reel
Miss McCloed's Reel
June Apple

[Keith Witty]

Temperance Reel and Big Sciota are by far my two favorites.