On a slippery slope to the darkside you are, peddyrmac, and good at it, too. I was there, once. It's all so easy and loud. The left hand stretch is easily compensated because of the slack strings (not much to press down), and you'll find that you can do with a thinner pick and less wrist motion on the right. That machine practically runs by itself. But a stony path lies in wait for those sorry infidels who try to return to the chores of mando playing...
Thanks Bertram. I will never abandon the mandolin. It has many advantages over the banjo. I can play it whislt slouching on the sofa and I can play it all night without fear of waking up half the neighbourhood. It is also one of the sweetest sounding instruments around and generally quite difficult to make it sound unpleasant...
It looks like you are adjusting quickly peddyrmac. What type of tenor banjo did you get?
Thanks Laura. It's not too fancy, but is a nice solid instrument. It's a Grafton Clipper #3 with a white lady tone ring that I bought second-hand from andybanjo.com It has a few custom bits added, including tailpiece and some decorative hardware and a flat resonator on the back. The link below is for a similar instrument without the custom bits. http://www.andybanjo.com/cgi-bin/tro...FTONCLIP3WLSBO
What a cool new banjo, Peddyr. It sounds really nice. Hope you bring it out for tunes here often.
Did not take you too long to get to grips with the tenor! They do add to one's playing range and are great for tunes like this. Well done.
Well, this seems quite the week and great renditions of this cool tune. I know few Irish tunes, so it's fun for me to learn more. I really enjoy playing, "The Maid Behind the Bar!" Here's Take 1. Not as smooth as I'd like and a few clams, but I do have it beneath my fingers, so it'll only get better with continued therapy (i.e., practice). f-d
So many great renditions. And speed demons galore. I am always telling myself: you are an old man, no wonder that kids like Laura and Neil can play faster than you after just a few months while you have been laboring for 5 years This version is from the Fiddler's Fakebook:
Nice work f-d and Manfred. Manfred, you made me wish I'd looked in the fiddlers fakebook, the b part is very pretty, or maybe you just brought out the beauty in the tune.
Lots of nice play this week. Peddy. The new banjo looks like fun. And already sounds good. fd. I'm still waiting to hear those clams. Sounds good to me. Manfred. I, as O.S., like your version also. It's Thursday night and I only have time to run through it once quickly. I have a few ornamentations in the B part. But, when that red light comes on they disappear.
f-d, I remember a time when it was mandatory to publish take #1, thanks for reviving it, and lively and fluent at that! Manfred, I like those HOPOs you do in the A part. Make playing a lot easier, don't they! GKWilson I think I heard two single extra notes in the B part that shifted the beat - were those the ornaments? What are they called?
f-d, excellent, a lot better than my first take. Maybe I might try a first take for next week's song, but see how it goes. Manfred, that version sounds great, and a perfect speed too; faster isn't always better GK, enjoyed your version and the ornamentations.
Wow, lovely tune, and some great renditions here! Can't wait to get the stitches out of my hand and get back to playing again...
Bertram. I would call those 'Clams finding there way home', and no time for a second take.
Yet more very good renditions, all. Tavy, sorry to hear you have been temporarily incapacitated.
posted my first take effort here, the tune is that well known that although i've never played it before, it definitely felt like i already knew it. i'm struggling with my right hand position with this gibson, its my first carved top and i just can't seem to get out of the way of the high bridge, my poor technique is restricting me playing the e string freely, feels a bit like i'm starting from scratch, hopefully sorting it out will improved my right hand.
Gort, that was great! I want to try tripletts like that! f-d
What f-d said, Gort, those Thompson-gun triplets are a milestone of Irish mandolin playing. Didn't hear those alleged right hand position problems yet, wherever you are hiding them.
thanks lads, i've recently jumped from a 0.63 to a 1.5 pick, its certainly more comfortable to hold and seems to do triplets all by itself.
Is tha a new axe GnM? Looks and sounds great. My triplet ability comes and goes with the weather and I find changing pick helps (both up and down thickness). My whole right hand technique is starting to change (hopefully evolve, not regress) after getting that tenor banjo last week!
aye Paddy, a 1919 gibson whiteface a3, i broke the bank for it a month or so ago there, lovely tone ( i neglected to tune it prior to recording though), a bit battered looking but i feel quite privileged to own one. i'm in the same boat regarding the right hand, i would like to get my forearm down nearer the bridge and i'm messing about with different plectrum grips, as you say hopefully it will evolve into something. you've put me in the mood for a banjo myself, good craic if you've tolerant neighbours
peddyrmac, Go to my website at https://sites.google.com/a/mikekeyes.com/www/banjomute and you will see how you can save your marriage and still play the tenor banjo Mike Keyes
Mike, that's one intriguing concept - much more elegant than the usual stuffing-your-laundry-into-the-banjo-instead-of-the-washing-machine routine.
A vintage Gibson. i am jealous! Where do you go finding things like that? Surely not in Belfast. I love the tenor and am so glad I took the jump. I'm currently gtting to grips with 'Farewell to Ireland' on it. A tune made for a tenor. Mike, great tip re the mute and a great website. I could see links to thesession and banjohangout...but not mandolincafe!
look forward to hearing your farewell to Ireland Paddy, i'm having a go at the Cathal Hayen version listed in the session org, taken from my favourite trad album. i see Andy Perkins has a nice short scale 1920's Weymann for sale, if its still there in a few weeks, i could well be joining you on the dark side.
Short and not so sweet...
I've heard a lot of melodic variations I'm clearly going to have to set aside a chunk of time to study them all properly, as I only know one way to play this. Here's my version, I get funny looks at the session as I tend to swing my reels (a bit like Michael's version), I think because it makes it a bit easier to insert the odd triplet (though not as nicely as Gort's). I should have stuck to twice thro' - there is a bit of a carcrash at the end (if you get that far!):
Very nice! And nobody was hurt in the crash...
Really nice picking, Mike.
I know that kind of crash, Mike - it's more like a wrong right turn in a foreign town, landing you in an unknown hostile neighborhood...
Fine picking, Mike, and I like your rhythm and the triplets.
It appears my homework assignment is eight years late...
Better late than never, Mike. Well up to your usual playing standard, fluent and clean. Quite a percussive sound in your recording there - the pick strokes are all really clear in this one.
Nice sounding mandolin, very well played!
Lovely stuff Mike!
I never got a chance to post this one as 2012 was one of my "lost years", where I wasn't playing mandolin or tenor banjo due to my jazz drumming obsession! Here's a version on the tenor banjo from about 3 years ago though:
Ah, the sound of an Irish lass playing Irish music, Jill. Lovely! Great to have you posting again. Have you made it back to Ireland yet, or are things on hold with all that's going on in our crazy world?
Thanks John! Yes, I did finally make it back home to Ireland! It took a total of 3.5 weeks from the day I got in a rental van with all me belongings and 2 dogs in San Francisco to the day we all got on the flight to Dublin from Chicago - the journey involved driving across the USA, arriving in New York to catch a flight there only to find out 36 hrs before our flight that they'd bumped the dogs off the flight due to excessive heat being forecast! There was then a mad scramble to find a different way out and we eventually got onto a flight out of Chicago and arrived back home in Ireland on the 3rd of August! Thankfully all animals and instruments arrived safely! Drove to my wee farm and did our two weeks quarantine and since then have been working away like mad fixing the place up as much as we can before the winter weather really sets in! I'm over the moon to be back here, and once I dig my mics and mic stand out of one of the many boxes I still haven't unpacked I'll get recording some new tunes!
Nice clean playing there Mike, and thanks, you’ve reminded me to think more about my technique. And good to hear you playing and posting Jill, I hope you’re knee’s healed up.
Cheers Simon! The knee is much better, though I didn't get full use of it back and at this stage probably never will. Nonetheless I have about 60% use of it and it doesn't stop me from doing stuff around my wee farm, so that'll do me! I'm just thankful to be able to move around again!
Your use of those fast triplets is very impressive Jill, I never got the hang of it. For variety's sake, I'm going to present the French version of this tune: La fille derrière le Zinc trying to sound a bit like Django.
Nice!
I love this version,Christian. Light-hearted treatment and captures the manouche vibe well. Your pictures add so much, and your mix, with the rhythm to the left and melody to the right in stereo, is excellent. One of your best postings, I'd say.
Love it Christian - that was the business!
Very nice CC. I didn't miss the triplets because I don't know this song, so it sounded great to me. What a trip Jill went on - but sounds like the end result was awesome. I would like a wee farm in Ireland to
Very entertaining vid CC, fine playing too. The Manouche stuff seems to work quite well, gives the tune something, je ne sais quoi. Could be fun to jump into some Django melodies and back again. I like doing this to tunes, play them in harmonic minor etc, see how they travel. Well done. As luck would have it, this is the second or third tune that I ever tried to learn. I say ‘tried’ because in the beginning I had the crazy idea that if I learned all the different settings of one tune, at the same time, then I would somehow know the tune. Repeated mistakes. It doesn’t work like that. So now this is the tune that I trip up on all the time -another reason I don't go to bars.
What a wild world, rushing past and me missing out on most of it. Mike's straightforward no-prisoners rendition, Jill back after a reverse emigration and sounding good as ever, Christian with a waltzy wersion. Staying more alert from now on!
Thanks folks!
https://youtu.be/k3RiAxcvBXE
That cheered me up, Simon! Nice bubbles, good playing, and I love those church bells towards the end. It's authentic, happy, competently produced music for times that sometimes seem fake and sinister.
