Bertram - Nice set of tunes! But, Nullpointer Exceptions?? I take it this is an original tune, done after a tough night of C programming??
Chris Travers - that ROCKED!! Keith - Nice one there, and your Floodtone sure sounds sweet! I've had this tune going thru my head non stop for the past few days, hopefully will get a chance to record it soon - thought I'd get round to it today but ended up out in the first storm of the season trying to get my friend's stolen bike back (and we did!!).
Thanks Jill. Congratulations on getting the bike back! That doesn't often happen.
Here we go!
Chris, Keith and Eddie You guys rock! Eddie, What's the mandolin on the wall behind you?
great stuff, Eddie! Is that the Dean you're playing? Sounds lovely that!
Chris, awesome acoustics there - sounds like a completely empty room - just moved in? Keith, what a wide fretboard. Makes it look like a lute. Brilliant triplets on the B part. Dana, Nullpointer Exception is a reel I composed 20 years ago but baptized it much later, after a few years of Java programming; well - I thought I composed it but later remembered why it seemed so familiar: compare it to this...
Bertram - Mike Oldfield of Tubular Bells fame? That drags out a few brain cells I haven't seen since the 70's. Fun stuff. Yes, writing tunes is tricky; I've done a few and then think they sound awfully familiar. A few others that are totally original only because everyone else had the good taste not to write them. Still, I don't see too much resemblance between Nullpointer and Oldfield. Nullpointer is a fun tune, nicely done (any ABC's?). And if I ever go for an OM, the Fylde sounds like a good choice.
Dana, I don't have ABC, just standard notation. The Fylde is good. I won't give mine away, but I guess Roger Bucknall of Fylde, Penrith, Cumbria has plenty of them
Bertram, No I didn't just move in... but We did just get that room cleaned out. It's actually my bedroom. Right now, all it's got in it is a ping pong table, and 2 bunk beds. It's a big room. Used to be a 2 car garage. And yeah, I love the acoustics in there.
Dukaine, the mando on the wall is a 10-string Vega CylinderBack 305. Jill, yes, that's the Dean I'm playing. Thank you.
I hate to be the late kid who always brings in the homework at the last minute. I worked and worked on this one but never could get it to come out the same way twice. So here's my offering. Wish it were better but I guess if it were easy every one would be doing it. I did enjoy learning it. However, I am looking forward to the next song so this one will vacate my head. I've found myself unconsciously humbling it. Best.
Sounds good Dukaine. Keep it up. I've only managed to post two official tune videos within the week they came out and others I'm still working on weeks later. I agree that the tunes do take over in one's head while learning them. I find it helps sometimes to work on learning two tunes at the same time so I can switch back and forth for a mental rest.
Being the late kid is a role reserved for me. I have dug up months-old threads with my contributions and never regretted it. This is not Indianapolis. I am currently practising the Rights of Man and I will post it when I think I have a personal version ready - I always have to rearrange these tunes for the OM - if I don't make it this weekend it'll have to wait till after my holidays (2 weeks on Orkney, I guess I'll have time to practise there, with a turf fire and a glass of Highland Park to keep me company, does it get any better?) And I am whistling it most of the time, that's as it should be: to learn a tune, you must be the tune, and the tune must be you. If the tune haunts your dreams at night, that's an indication that you'll get it down.
Thanks guys. Knowing that I don't have to post within the week takes the pressure off. I'm sure my family will appreciate that. I have one son left at home and he and my wife threatened my life if I didn't stop playing Rights of Man. I'm afraid its like the kid who comes home with a trumpet excited to practice his first band piece. Maybe I should buy them each a pair of industrial ear muffs. Bertram, have a great holiday. I don't know where Orkney is but a turf fire sounds relaxing. Sweet dreams.
Here is mine. I just grabbed my camera out of the car to record this and didn't realize til after that the lens was all fogged up. Oh well. It gives it a real nice foggy Irish effect!
Orkney? In Winter? I hope you don't have to cut the turf... Enjoy your break Bertram.
Thanx Eddie, I will. Looking forward to moodily howling winds and horizontal rain. Plus, a visit to Highland Park distillery that'll not leave me empty-handed... Kyle, that's right out of a Sherlock Holmes movie, the silk stocking murderer waiting for his moment in the murky gaslight... Big saving to go without a stage fog machine!
Kyle, nicely played! That fog effect would go perfectly with a recording of "Whiskey Before Breakfast"! Bertram, enjoy those turf fires! I do miss the smell of turf burning, but absolutely do not miss having to spend an hour every morning bringing the turf in/chopping firewood.. Here's to warm California weather, or in the absence of that, central heating!
late with me homework as usual! Played this one on my recently acquired '08 Weber Custom Gallatin F oval - wanted a decent back up mandolin so as to not run the Pomeroy into the ground!
Very nice Jill. How are you liking the Weber?
I'm quite pleased with it - I got it from The Mandolin Store, so of course it was really well set up. It's easy to play, and even though the neck profile is different to the Pomeroy (the Pom's is slimmer, and a soft V shape whereas the Weber is a bit "chunkier", being a C shape) I don't tend to have problems switching between them. It isn't quite as complex sounding as the Pomeroy, but is definitely more complex sounding than my old Weber Aspen #2, which I traded for it. The sound quality on the youtube clips don't really do it justice - I'll have to try to record some mp3's with my Zoom H2, as they'll give a truer account of it.
Jill, your version is lovely, and your playing is clean and nice - I really enjoyed listening to it!
Jill, I agree with everyone else; your playing is very good, on all 3 videos (you were busy) , and this is a nice setting. I'm quite shocked though. I thought you were a dyed in the wool A-style mandolinist (mandolier?). Now I may have to get an f-style too...
Thanks for the kind words, Susi! Dana - I am definitely biased towards A style mandolins, but the Gallatin was a good price and for some reason I just found myself constantly checking the Mandolin Store website to see if it was still there - finally decided to inquire and see if Dennis would do a trade, and there you have it - an F style mandolin now resides in my home! But I likely would've been just as intrigued if it had been an A style Custom Gallatin.
Only a few days late on this one! This isn't as ambitious as I originally thought it would be, but I couldn't get it working past the basic theme and variation I recorded. I focused a lot on good technique for this one. I really wanted every note and every pick stroke to ring out with full tone, and as few flubs as possible. It's not 100% perfect, but I think it's a step in the right direction. Playing clean is hard!
Excellent Ken, that worked really well - it sure is hard to play as nice as that!
The Hobbit Version - on a Soares Y' Tenor guitar...
That's really great Eddie, two thumbs up. Oh, and remember, don't wear the ring.
After two weeks on Orkney (West Mainland and Hoy) with enough time to practise, and with my OM having survived airline transport There And Back Again (that's my Hobbit contribution - b.t.w. there's a place called Hobbiston on West Mainland), I finally did my homework as well. You never know what you need your musical gear for... one day I found a dead dolphin on Birsay beach. Sent an SMS home to my daughter telling about it, the answer was "Ma wants a tooth". So I took the pliers I use for restringing from my OM case, drove back to the beach and pulled a tooth (had I known how easy that is I would've become a dentist).
Great versions, each and every one of you! Bertram, I'm thinking that dead dolphins might be a little easier to perform dentristry on than wiggly people!
Nice stuff Bertram. You're the king of the double stops! It really gives your playing an assertive sound.
Bertram, I always enjoy your version of the tunes and I particularly enjoyed this one. Nice shot of the Ring of Brodgar as well. No need for dentistry here though.
This tune sounds great in the lower registers - nice stuff, Eddie and Bertram!
Bertram, what was the porpoise of the tooth? What about the Rights of Dead Dolphins? The least you could do is come up with a tune for him/her/it... Also thanks for those double stops... I feel like Bilbo the master-thief every time I steal them...
Thanks all, it's good to be back. Eddie, the dolphin was definitely a "he", and the request for the tooth was, of course, a joke - but I like to counter jokes by making them true. I brought it home in a small sample bottle of Highland Park, together with a dram of 12-year-old for desinfection (and no, I didn't drink it afterwards).
Errr, "porpoise".... a poor pun I think...
Eddie, only a poor pun 'cuz I didn't think of it first...
Talking of poor puns... this version of Rights of Man seems like a border case
Bertram, hmm, I think discretion on this one is the way to go, as there are just too many ways for me to get myself in trouble...
Too fast for me, in every sense... He deserves a crown...
Eddie, Imagine how fast he could have played it without his shirt on...
Another contribution to the SOW archives.
Nice Martin, I am sure one day you will play a whole tune in one pickstroke
Bertram, LOL! Necessity is the mother of invention. This is what happens when I have a retarded picking technique.
Nicely picked Martin. This is my contribution to the archive played on a Savannah.
Kudos Maudlin!
M.M. I can tell you got the right pick and pick angle, such a strong attack! - just what it takes to cut through a noisy session.
Just taking a break from the painting! One of the rights of man, surely?
Ringing out Francis!
