The tune for Cherokee Shuffle

[Misty Stanley-Jones]

I'm trying to learn Cherokee Shuffle because it seems to come up all the time at jams and I really like the sound of it. I know the chord progression and I've listened to heaps or versions, but they are all so embellished that I can't hear what the tune is actually meant to be. I've looked at lots of tabs including the one in Fiddler's Fakebook. But even they seem embellished! For whatever reason I am having a hard time with this one. Any ideas? ~:>

[Rotoman]

Hmmm, I'm too much of a noob at this point to know what is 'embellished' or not but I found this:

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-music-mandolin-tab/cherokee_shuffle.htm

Then I searched the same site and found this:

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/american-mandolin-tab/cherokee_shuffle.htm

And now I think I see what you mean. :D

[sgrexa]

Do not be discouraged, there are numerous ways of playing this tune and it took me a LONG time (years and still working on it!) to get a version I am somewhat satisfied with. I have come up with a "simple" version which uses more double stops and less notes and a "hard" version which has all the notes at least as far as I can tell. Learn a basic version slowly and cleanly before trying to increase speed and embellish with "blue" notes and fancy stuff. This is a great version IMO, although I still can't play it like this but there are some good licks I pulled out of the tab which is provided in the description.


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

Sean

[Misty Stanley-Jones]

sgrexa, it will be some time before I can get all those notes in!!

[sgrexa]

I will try and make a video over the weekend to show you how I play it. This is a hard tune and it is somewhat comforting to share in your struggle!

Check out Cory Piatt and friends ripping up this version which is pretty much textbook how it is played at "master" level here in the USA. He is one of my favorites of the many "young gun" players emerging that make you kind of either want to throw in the towel or practice more. I choose the latter ;)


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

Sean

[Misty Stanley-Jones]

Who is that kid on the guitar around 2:00? Wow!

[Marc Berman]

Here's is a very basic version -


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OWT6-xNRIc

[Misty Stanley-Jones]

Perfect!

[sgrexa]

That is in the key of D, not sure about Australia but most play it in A around here. Same idea though, just transposed up starting on the D string. The guitar player is Zeb Snyder who is very, very talented.

Sean

[doc holiday]

Misty, Lots of choices out there....lots of notes. Tommy Jackson wrote the tune & the original is on iTunes. Both the mandolin & the fiddle play it pretty straight. Always worth going to the original

[AlanN]

Who is that kid on the guitar around 2:00? Wow!

That is the young lion Zeb Snyder, a great player and even nicer fella.

Misty, send me a PM with an email address and I'll see about sending you a rather bare-bones version of this great and fun tune to pick.

[tkdboyd]

I know you were looking for a simple version, but this needs to be seen/heard if you haven't:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9AXKt7YIhM

[Marc Berman]

That is in the key of D, not sure about Australia but most play it in A around here. Same idea though, just transposed up starting on the D string. The guitar player is Zeb Snyder who is very, very talented.

Sean

OOPS - I forgot to note
that on my post. Thanks for picking it up. Misty - What sgrexa said. Just start on the D string and you'll be good to go.

[Killian King]

I had the same experience as you with the different versions of this tune.

I started learning a version from the mandozine tabledit files that sounded nice, and then I found the video that sgrexa posted above and started working on that version. I believe it tracks fairly well with the jam session version posted above. This version is also nice because the embellishments are subtle and don't come into the song until after the melody has been established.

If you have trouble finding the tab/notation pdf, message me and I will send you a copy.

[Randy Smith]

Misty, Lots of choices out there....lots of notes. Tommy Jackson wrote the tune & the original is on iTunes. Both the mandolin & the fiddle play it pretty straight. Always worth going to the original

Thanks for bringing in Tommy Jackson to this discussion. Two things interesting differences between his recording and the versions I hear in jams: he plays the second part of the tune only once; and also in the end of the second part, his band often plays what sounds like a D chord instead of an F#minor. (The first part of the tune uses the minor.)

And of course, he plays the tune quickly but not so fast that it sounds like a banjo breakdown.

[Manfred Hacker]

Misty, send me your email and I will send you a nice version.

I had first learned an intricate version and was never able to play it fast enough at jams. Now I have discovered a version with lots of moments to "breathe" which I can play at a reasonable tempo in the jams I go to.

[lenf12]

It's a deceptively difficult tune, it sounds simple enough but playing it up to speed is quite difficult and time consuming. I've been "working" on this one for years and still can't cut it at a jam. Take the time to make it an ear worm that you can't get out of your head and definitely slow it down.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[sgrexa]

Decided to try this on my new Nugget that is about six months old and a Girouard F5 that is about a year and a half. A couple mistakes even slowed down a notch or two.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fQ_D8x9ALs

Sean

[Rex Hart]

Not to mention but the tune is very similar to another tune called "Lost Indian". I always get confused on which is what!

[SincereCorgi]

Not to mention but the tune is very similar to another tune called "Lost Indian". I always get confused on which is what!

According to the Fiddler database, Cherokee Shuffle is a direct mutation of Lost Indian, probably by the great Tommy Jackson who presumably wrote the B part and changed the key from D to A. From what I've heard, Lost Indian is more common east of the Rockies and Cherokee Shuffle is more common in the west. I don't know if there is a totally standard version of the tune- it's kinda like Soldier's Joy where the gestures have certain directions but the actual notes vary a lot from player to player.

[JeffD]

I play a version based on one I heard from a recording of Jackie Burgess, and even simplified from that. Its less bluegrass and more old time, but the same tune. I learned about it from this link.

http://www.fiddlehangout.com/archive/10187

[bayAreaDude]

I use this as the reference for straight chords and melody - http://www.hughcan.com/music/cherokee_shuffle/cherokee_shuffle_fiddle_mandolin_notation_tab.pdf .

[Marc Ferry]

Cherokee Shuffle is one of those tunes that needs to be embellished, so don't shy away from learning an embellished version.

[JeffD]

I just noticed my version (and the version we all play around here) as an extra couple of bars on the A and on the B. Interesting. I love it.

[JeffD]

Cherokee Shuffle is one of those tunes that needs to be embellished, so don't shy away from learning an embellished version.

Hmmm. What about looking for the most unadorned version - so that you can apply the embellishments you want, and not learn someone else's embellishments.

Well its all good anyway.

[sgrexa]

I have a hard enough time just playing the melody without embellishments but I keep trying. An interesting footnote- Steve Earle used the melody of Cherokee Shuffle to write the great song Dixieland which is on the great record the Mountain he recorded with the Del McCourey Band.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syHDYKVsbhM

Sean

[Paul Cowham]

I really like the tune and agree that it can be daunting to learn a bluegrass tune such as this as there are so many versions that individual players play. I suggest learning a simple version (like the one posted by Marc although learn it in A not D as others have said) and then learn a few embellishments to add interest. One tricky aspect of this tune is that in the second part it goes up to high C# (9th fret) so you need to move to a higher position up the fingerboard.

I really like this version by Aaron Ramsey (the tune is at the 2:00 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJgsMlyA0CA

Good luck!

[JeffD]

An interesting footnote- Steve Earle used the melody of Cherokee Shuffle to write the great song Dixieland which is on the great record the Mountain he recorded with the Del McCourey Band.


The tune was used by the great Stan Rogers for one of his songs, Watching the Apple Grow.

POlMKesby1g

[AlanN]

I like these threads because they make me break out tunes that I haven't picked in a while. One thing I do on this is on the B part, after the IV-I repetitions, is to hit the IV (not vi) at the end, a nice variance from the typical. I think I got this from a Herschel Sizemore version.

[farmerjones]

Listening to these examples, I kept hearing the fiddle's melody line as being the simplest. I think I figured out why. When CS is slowed down to a lope, it gives more time to throw in another up/down pick, but the fiddle just sustains. We're sort of taught to fill up the space, but when one's trying to learn a tune, that filler can be confusing. It could help the OP to isolate the fiddle's line in some of those examples. Just a thought.

[Andy Hatfield]

I'm trying to learn Cherokee Shuffle because it seems to come up all the time at jams and I really like the sound of it. I know the chord progression and I've listened to heaps or versions, but they are all so embellished that I can't hear what the tune is actually meant to be. I've looked at lots of tabs including the one in Fiddler's Fakebook. But even they seem embellished! For whatever reason I am having a hard time with this one. Any ideas? ~:>

Here's a very simple version:

mandolintabs.weebly.com (http://mandolintabs.weebly.com)

Jack

[JeffD]

Listening to these examples, I kept hearing the fiddle's melody line as being the simplest. I think I figured out why. When CS is slowed down to a lope, it gives more time to throw in another up/down pick, but the fiddle just sustains. We're sort of taught to fill up the space, but when one's trying to learn a tune, that filler can be confusing. It could help the OP to isolate the fiddle's line in some of those examples. Just a thought.

I think you are right.

Most of the tunes I have learned, of whatever kind, I have learned from the fiddler. Not that I thought it through as you have, but just my natural inclination. My reason was more egotistical, I didn't want to play some mandolin players version of the tune. I figured I would rather learn some fiddler's version, and "mandolin it" myself.

But as to filler, there is always the choice of our version of the fiddlers sustain - namely tremolo.

[Capt. E]

I find the Mudcat Cafe to be pretty helpful for info on many many tunes. Check out this thread http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=36675#1239728