Well I thought I'd throw my squirrel hide on the pile. First take, fast and sloppy (fast for me, sloppy for anybody). I'll save perfection for another tune.
sore ears - that's good - with the regulated syncopated style you have i'll bet it would sound great with guitar - complimenti. david - very neatly played - i envy your "no flubs" approach - well done. chris - that's how i learn a tune as well - extracting the basic melody - sometimes by listening to it in another room or working out the bass line first and building a tune on that. all these old-time songs have been kicking around for so long that one variation of the basic melody is as valid as another ... it's "folk" music, right?
Sore Ears, I like your version -- lots of jiggy feel. What are you playing that on? You have an intersting and nice sounding (mandolin?) -- it looks big for a mandolin but is obviously tuned in the mandolin range? Not sure - you might have a sore ear .... but I have a bad ear!!
Thanks, Bernie and Bill, That's my first mando, an old Kentucky 200s. Still plays easily and I take it when I travel on planes. Bill, I've never been accused of a "style" before, more like an affliction. Both of you might be onto something, my first instrument is fiddle and I have been doing too much Irish over the years. Still working on the Big Sciatica, who knows what that will sound like when I get done with it.
I finally got around to having some time again. Here's my version. I'm also working on getting that kind of shuffle groove - it's still got a lot of warts on it, but here it is.
This song is kind of addicting. I just want to keep playing it...
Don, that was great... you must have double tracked, I was trying to watch closely, to see how you got those chord-y sounds in there, then realized... no way!
David, very nice version. Tell us about the mandolin, or is it a bandolim? Barbara, definitely multi-tracked. I used Garageband to get a rhythm track and then played the melody over it. there's got to be a smarter way ... since i started the rhythm part-way through the first a part, I had a devil of a time coming in at the right time and hitting the mark.
You can give yourself a lead in of dead space plus four beats or so, so that you know when to start playing to the track. (and give you time to start it and then get set to play) nice work on both of yall's versions
I'm new to this social group and I came across this tune and had to give it a quick learn. What a great tune. Never heard it before. I like all the slides in it. Anyway I hope you enjoy! Playing my '09 Distressed Silverangel on this one. jamann
Jamann.... very nice! There's probably more than a few of us kinda jealous that you could 'give it a quick learn' and do so well!
Well, after watching all the other videos I'm the one who's jealous. There's some really good videos. I really liked this tune so I dove into it and had to learn it. It's a fun one to play.
The mistakes in the B part are actually me trying to improvise and second guessing myself. I'm listening to a beat track to keep me oriented, but don't have speakers that will let it be heard by the camera mike (it just sounds too muddy). Clearly, it is time for me to learn to multitrack.
It actually did sound like improvisation in the B part to me, Ryan. Oh, and the backup track in the headphones definitely lends an ethereal vibe to the recording.
I guess I am playing catchup on these, but you might recognize this one despite the "Hail Against the Barn Door" title.
Excellent, Steve. I really enjoy your versions of these tunes. That's the style I'm shooting for, so it's helpful to hear it in action as much as possible.
A golden oldie for the Cafe (Week 6!), but a new one to me
Okay, every time this tune surfaces I swear I'm going to learn it. Now you've made me do it Peddyr. Thanks for the inspiration. And just in case anyone is still curious from the discussion of what key this is in from over a hundred weeks ago--I'm pretty sure it's A in the dorian mode.
Here's neat version - arranged by Adam Steffey for the Mandolin Symposium Bluegrass Ensemble - yes I'm the guy in the Waldo t-shirt...
Brilliant Eddie. I so thought you were going to stand up and take a solo at the end there.
The Octave Mandolin - with the Mandola at the other end of the row - were too low-voiced to compete with the mandolins. Adam Steffey was the Ensemble leader but had to leave before the performance so Mike Mullins stepped in.
Here is a link to this tune in a different discussion.
Now off to the Big Sciota.
Nice job Karon!
Karon, well done and thanks for bringing this tune back up again as I really enjoyed it. I haven't had time to do too much recording lately but wanted to give this one a go. Had a serious timing break towards the end but decided not to mess with it. I tend to miss a beat here and there when trying to improvise, really throws the guitarists into spasms!!
good playing and stunning visuals beware for those animals!
This is dedicated to all the renegades who weren’t relaxed enough to attempt Week#516, Three Little Birds!
This is nice Simon. Are you following the songs of SAW past? - like the ghost of Christmas past? At least the Squirrel Bounty Hunters song was done by many. You and David own Three Little Birds.
Thanks Ginny but I didn’t get enough swing/triplet or bounce into it, just the day, rain etc.. Yes I’m doing the top ten MandolinCafe tunes so that I can freely post some ‘other’ exotic tunes.
I, too, am going back to cover tunes I missed. Here's the Squirrel Hunters played on my 80's Kentucky KM600. It was backed up with a Martin 00X1AE guitar. There's also a backup mandolin track added. It was recorded to a Yamaha MD8 with Rode NT1 mics. Then the tracks were transfered to my computer for mixing in Cubase. The images came from the Library of Congress and the video was assembled in iMovie. Voila!
Michael - Mighty fine picking and nice mix. I really enjoy the 'bounce' you manage to give to it. (Also its another great tune to learn - you guys are keeping me busy!) I hope you don't mind, but one of these days I am going to attempt to copy your style of video - they are really enjoyable to me. Thank you for sharing.
Simon, a great bit of position playing there - you certainly used the neck well and a very fluent delivery. Michael, great to see you back posting regularly. This is another super video, pictures and melody so beautifully intertwined.
Bad Habbits, thanks for the kind words. My style of video has a name. In iMovie the panning type is called "Ken Burns" and it is how I move through the images. (They mostly come from the Library of Congress Digital Collection.) I am a retired graphic artist and prepress technician who worked in the printing industry since before the advent of desktop computers. To tell the truth, the videos sometimes take longer to make than the recording of the music... but fixing up pictures was one of the more enjoyable aspects of my job in printing. Thanks John. I notice that you are busy posting away as well. Keep up the good work...
Next tune up on our "REVISITING" past winners.... Squirrel Hunters. I see that it, also, had recently been posted on, and I hope to see more!
Hey, ya'll..... Here I am about to post the next revisited tune, and there were NO takers on Squirrel Hunters, with I believe to be one of the BG classics!
