Cafe Mando Clips: Quality & Intimidation Factor at All-Time High

[Brent Hutto]

I'm with Bertram, you're a bit of "groove" away from a real fine-sounding jig there. And if we're not allowed by play jigs at <100bpm then you're not the only one in big trouble! Just make it great sounding and slow and nobody will mind except the dancers...and I don't see any dancers here.

[journeybear]

You're picking cleanly, hitting all the notes (as far as I know, not knowing the tune.) What you need to work on is defininition - accenting ever so slightly the 1 and 4 beats (jigs are in 6/8, so that's 1 2 3 4 5 6 and so on). It will be much easier for listeners - and you too - to know where you are. The tune may not be written with that notation, but it helps to put it in. And until some purist tells you otherwise or the composer rises from the grave and haunts you, you are free to interpret this or any tune to your liking.

And remember always always ALWAYS - Don't run yourself down. The world is full of chuckleheads only too eager to do that, so you needn't bother - they've got it covered. This is all about enjoying yourself, doing the best you can, and improving. When you feel you are ready to share something, go right ahead. We are here for you, buddy!

[Matt DeBlass]

I figure there's two ways you can go with your reaction to seeing a great performance of something you love but do less brilliantly: you can be intimidated and clam up or you can be inspired and want to try it yourself. I can tell you which is more fun.

[Laird]

Don't take this personally--you or anyone else--but it would never occur to me to click on a thread titled "Here's me learning a new song."

It occurred to me that this might have come across as mean-spirited, which was certainly not my intent. My point was simply that I doubt whether many of those people who fail to respond actually even heard the clip, so please don't take the lack of response personally.

[journeybear]

Can't speak for Ed, but I understood it more or less that way. It's only natural to decide whether or not to look at a new thread partly on the basis of its title. That's why posting something like that in an existing thread devoted to that purpose is best. People who are interested in that sort of thing are used to going there and keeping an eye out for new posts to that thread. I don't always notice the forum a new thread was posted in until later.

For example, when I finally get off my butt (takes an effort) and do some videos of the Italian tunes I have been playing, I will post them in two places - the video thread (for people interested in the musician (me)) and the Southern Italian Mandolin thread (for people interested in the music). Makes sense to me.

[Chip Booth]

Another thing to seriously consider when looking at the number of views vs. the number of replies is that many of the views are by people who are not members, or are not logged on, and therefore cannot reply.

As I typed this there were 23 members & 142 guests in the General forum.

[journeybear]

Dang, dude! To heck with all this frettin' and fritterin' - Happy Birthday!!!

[mandograss]

Ed, you got it down dude, just need to keep it up and you will be leading the jam soon. I have thought the same about posting clips, but I plan on posting one up soon with my new Kentucky 1500. I'm not near as good as some of the clips I have heard, but I would like to see if I can get some constructive words of advice. One thing I did see from your video clip and somthing that took me some time to work on was how high your fingers are coming off the fretboard. Try playing that piece but keeping your fingers as close to the fret board as possible when changing notes/strings. Less work as possible is the key and it will get you there faster and you will speed up the licks in no time flat. You got the licks down that's for sure. Good work.

[Fstpicker]

Jeff, what a fantastic post.
Thank you for that.
Here's my take on the jig The Rose in the Heather recorded yesterday after my daughter helped me adjust the webcam so that we got to at least usable quality.

Nice job, Ed!

Jeff

[Jill McAuley]

Nice one Ed - see, it's not so intimidating, is it? Great point from mandograss re: economy of motion - it's applicable to both the fretting hand and the picking hand and all the great players have it. I would potentially play this a wee bit slower for the moment and concentrate on the emphasis and once that's in place then build your speed back up. Here's a slow version of "The Rose in the Heather" from the Riley School of Music site - it's played on fiddle but you can still hear how the accent is on the 1 and the 4, even at slow speed, which gives it that inherent jig feel: The Rose in the Heather, slow fiddle version

Cheers,
Jill

[Ed Goist]

Thanks very much for all of the generous (very generous) comments.
Thanks also for the insightful and helpful suggestions.
The points about economy of motion (especially with the fretting hand), and focusing on proper accenting/emphasis on the 1 & 4 beats are well taken and very helpful.
I worked on both of those things this evening, and at a slower tempo, and I could notice the difference almost immediately.
Oh, and I love these jigs...Began working on The Eavesdropper and Sliabh Russell this evening. Great stuff.
Thanks again so much for the encouragement and the guidance.
The Cafe is a remarkable place.

[Bertram Henze]

Began working on The Eavesdropper and Sliabh Russell this evening.

As for Sliabh Russel, maybe you have noticed Dan Beimborn's great version of it here in the MP3 section, featuring his unique DDU DDU picking technique which delivers the emphasis on 1 and 4 as an automatic by-product.