Close voting this week, and the winner by 1 vote is Kitchen Girl Here is Kitchen Girl on www.thesession.org Here is another Kitchen Girl, notation & ABC And another notation... And another ABC Here are the TabEdit results from Mandozine. I don't have enough time to go through these and see if they even resemble each other... any other links or tune history would be appreciated!
It sounds like a cool tune. I downloaded the music from the session, will check those other abc:s as well.
Omigawd, I'm posting first... Here it is, a no-frills version: This is one I played with the recent band, and one of the few reels I can play at dance speed. A fun tune I may "multitrack" if I get ambitious (and can shanghai a fiddler...)
Very, very nice! Tom
very hot, cd ... normally, with reels and the like - played at speed - it's difficult for me to distinguish the tune from its embellishments but that was crystal clear and very well played.
Celtic Dude....You da' man!!
Smokin' Dude!
David, you can certainly rock that Octar. CD, love the double stops - very clean.
Dana and David - nice work lads!
Dana and David--great playing.
Very nice playing from CD and David Hansen. This turned out to be quite a bluegrass tune, although I thought at first it wouldn't be:
OS, that was awesome!
Thanks Jill - it's a great little tune with all the switching between major and minor and the dorian sounds too, I'm definitely going to add it to my long-term repertoire. I don't think many bluegrass people play it, at least it's new to me.
There's a nice bluegrass version on Bryan Sutton's new CD, "Almost Live". You can hear most of the mandolin break at Amazon.Com (I tried to link but it didn't work). I'm not sure who is playing as I don't have the liner notes, but I'd guess Tim O'Brien.
Thanks, I looked it up on iTunes and downloaded it. You're right, that is a nice version, and I'm sure it's Tim O'Brien on mandolin too.
Here is mine. I didn't practice it enough that's why there are a few mistakes. I bought a new digital camera and just had to record this right away! lol
OS: very nice, and VERY bluegrassy indeed! Kyle: You sound great!!! Very nice playing. Don't worry about hitting wrong notes (hmm, I should tell myself that too) And your new camera is great too! I'll have to dig into this tune real soon.
Here's my Kitchen Girl. For once I'm quite happy with my playing, just upset that I hit that F# all the time and destroy all the fun (=the modal sound). My tempo is drifting a bit. I play too little with other people these days! But right now my goal is to play smoothly and to play at all. Tempo issues will be dealt with later.
Sounds great, Susi.
That's very nice indeed Susi. I like the F# too.
Here's mine. The whole way through I'm weak on the high B notes, then realized after uploading it and watching it, it's because of my left hand placement.. if I move it 'down' (to where my thumb is nearer the 3rd fret than the 2nd fret where it is in this video), I can reach those high B notes with more authority. But, didn't feel like re-recording it....
Barbara I am going to try that. One of my biggest problems is hitting those higher notes with my pinky.
That pinky is a strange animal! I play the OM and the tenor banjo, and use my pinky for the 5th frets on those instruments....no problem! It's using the pinky on the 7th frets of the mando that gets me!
Nice all! Here's my Try...
I like it - that's a really cool version too, where's it from?
Excellent, Chris. That opening phrase sounds like Wheel Hoss and fits really well into the character of this tune.
Thanks guys! OS, It's one of the ones from Mandozine. I think it's the second or third on the list.
Barbara, I really like your double stops!!! Sounds nice! I'll have to try those too. The high B is a killer but if you continue to play Irish music, it'll come to you, no doubt! I think it's mostly the Irish tunes that got me practicing the pinky!!
Barbara it is the same for me. When I play with my pinky on the guitar it is no problem. But the 7th fret is the worst. I don't know why but it is!
Very nice Chris! The same version I played. You had a different feel than I did and you played it much better!
Great stuff Chris.
Nice one Barbara. You sure have been busy recording videos.
Great job everyone!
Here's my version, recorded in the basement of my daughter's house, during a break from baby-sitting for my 10 week old granddaughter. I solved the "solemn face" problem by not showing mine. Tom
Tom, nice job. I like that downward slide on the doublestop--it has a pedal steel sound to it. Here's my version. I had a mandolin in AEAE tuning so I thought I'd try Kitchen Girl on it. You can really make a lot of noise in AEAE. Playing in crosstuning is really fun, and if you've got more than one mandolin, you might as well put one in crosstuning and explore it. You can get lost in it.
Don, that was awesome!
Very nice, Tom, and intriguing stuff from Don - I've never tried that tuning so maybe I'll give it a go, it sounds very good in your hands.
Thanks, Jill. OS, crosstuning takes a little getting used to, but once you do, it gets fun. You can play all the strings all the time.
Well after watching Don's video I had to try and work on my right hand. I usually have my right hand resting behind the bridge and I know I shouldn't. So I recorded this with the proper right hand technique. Still have to work on it more.
Don, I second Jill. That was awesome! I must give that a try. Very cool stuff. Kyle, Your really getting it down. I enjoyed it!
Tom, that was a very very nice version!!! I'm never brave enough to throw in more notes than necessary - that will just make me screw up. But you do it nicely. Don, that was cool with the cross tuning. I use cross tunings a bit on the fiddle, but since I have only one mandolin and it is quite hard to tune, and now stays in tune since months, I don't want to take the risk to re-tune it. But it really sounded nice with the AEAE. Kyle, I think there are very few players who don't rest their right hand behind the bridge. Don't worry about it as long as it doesn't disturb the sound. Nice work.
Susi, yes there are a lot of players that do. But if you look at all of the great players they don't. When you rest it mutes the sound a little.
Tom! That was great, and it seems to me that you've taken some of the suggestions from your 'technique critique' request, and worked on them! This tune had more expression! While in the beginning, I videoed my face, and then worked on smiling (a good thing to work on, if you are going to perform in public), now I tend to video just the mandolin, as I think you can see what the fingers are doing a little better, with the closer up shots).... I do like seeing the faces of the people on here, though, as it's nice to associate a FACE with the friends we are all becoming!!! However, I think it takes a little of the pressure of videoing OFF when you don't also have to worry about how funny your face looks! I play the mandolin for my grandchildren, and have since they were tiny, and they all love it.... congrats on the new granddaughter! Don, I DO have more than one mando, so I'm going to have to try tuning one in AEAE and experimenting! Do you have some tips, etc., as to what possibilities, techniques this tuning opens up for a person? I just wish there were more hours in the day to play music! Kyle, if you notice, there are quite a few different right hand positions amongst us (and amongst the pros, as well!) Do you use an armrest on your mando? I noticed in looking at this video, that your right hand pick motion seems to be coming from your elbow (I don't know if it was before)... and many of the discussions I've read, have said that the motion should be from your wrist (described as the motion one would use when flyfishing (which I've never done) or if you had a hardboiled egg that you were tapping to crack with a spoon). I've been working hard on trying to get this technique down.... I'd be thinking my motion was in my wrist, and then in my video, I'd see it wasn't! However, if you watch the videos here, there are many who employ the elbow movement! I think it also has to do with the angle your arm is approaching the strings. Look at Chris Travers video. His motion is ALL in his wrist, but if you look, his hand is more over the body of the mando, not by the bridge at all! He seems to have mastered that right hand position... In this video of yours, though, your mando does seem to be 'ringing out' more, so you must not be muting the strings!
Well, Barb has already said it all! Personally I don't think it makes any difference in the sound whether you rest your hand behind the bridge or not, of course depending on how much of your hand/arm you rest and exactly where you rest it. I rest a little bit of my hand lightly on the strings behind the bridge, at least when I play melody, if I play chords it's another story. I don't see anything wrong in that as long as you don't see it interferes with your tone and overall technique. I don't think there is ONE and only way to play the mandolin (or any other instrument for that matter), we are all different, and if it works for you, go ahead. If not, change technique. Whatever you do, I think you are progressing extremely well with your mandolin playing!!!!
Barbara yes there are many different techniques out there. Yes alot of my motion was in my elbow. I have been trying to get it all in the wrist. When you rest your hand then your motion can come from your wrist. But when you try and not rest then it is a lot harder to do. I have noticed much more sound coming out with the hand off. It is just very uncomfortable after playing the other way for some time.
Tom, I second what Barb said about your progress. Way to go! However, my face expression adds nothing to tension in front of a camera. Decades of looking into a mirror every morning have utterly disillusioned me - I'll never look like Doris Day (on the plus side, coming of age, Sean Connery and George Clooney begin to look like me - get in line for the joiner boys).
Kyle, if you're going rest your wrist behind the bridge, I can't recommend an arm rest highly enough. It gives you a much better angle on the strings, and keeps your arm off the top, allowing it to vibrate freely. I noticed a huge difference as soon as I put mine on, and I now find it very uncomfortable to play a mandolin without one.
Here here on the armrest! By putting an armrest on your mandolin, you can stabilize your mando, maintain your hand positioning, have your motion come from your wrist without having to rest your hand near the bridge. I find that the little bone on the lower side (the one toward the ground) slightly brushed right behind the bridge, but isn't resting on the strings.
Yes Ken I already have a McClung armrest on mine. Since it gives you a much better angle it is easier for me to not rest my wrist.
Kyle, since you already have a McClung armrest (mine is too, don't you just love Doug Edwards' work?), I'd say to concentrate a little more on exerting some pressure with your forearm on the armrest, to stabilize your arm & mando.
