I've been working out "Going to North Carolina" (Waterbound/Stay all night) as Mike Seeger plays it on the album of that name. I love the arrangement, but it seems like some of the ornaments would be easier to play in third position. How likely would you guess it is that he played it that way?
What key are you going for?
Well, that arrangement appears to be in G, so that's what I'm going for...
In particular it seems like there are two repeated phrases that travel across the strings into a triplet that might be easier if you weren't changing strings.
Here's the arrangement in question! http://mikezurer.com/mp3/Seeger_Carolina.mp3
I dunno. I saw Mike play many times. My guess would be rarely would he go to third position for a number of reasons. I think he could if he wanted but he would want to learn it like the people he learned it from and they would likely not go into positions. Then again, that is completely my conjecture. I would have to play this version and see how it works. I believe that I used to play Stay All Night in cross A tuning. it is also possible that Mike played it in cross G tuning.
You know if it were in cross G that would eliminate the string changes that are puzzling me, they're all from the third finger over to the open string, and dropping the two high strings down a pitch would eliminate them... Makes some of the drone double stops make more sense too.
Cross G = GDGD?
Exactly, walt33...
Thanks, I'm a beginner!