First Assignment, Road to Lisdoonvarna. Chris linked to it in TAB here. Here is another link to the standard notation on http://www.thesession.org. This is a slide (12/8 time signature) in the modal key of E Dorian (same notes as the key of D). This fits in the category of Irish or Celtic tunes.
Well, this is a tune I can play in my sleep, so I quickly recorded a video to get this started. It contains some mistakes, but you can figure those out pretty easily. Barbara
my irish born wife says i snore in my sleep (pure fabrication, of course) but i imagine a celtic tune in the wee small hours would be welcome all'round.
Here is a recording I made last month. I had heard the tune before but did not know the name. http://www.banjongout.s/banjohangout...-875842009.mp3
For those of you who are going to be learning to play this tune for this first assignment, here are some thoughts I have on it. Pick direction: This is a slide, in 12/8 time. I believe it calls for DUD picking. While there are 12 counts per measure, the measures are comprised of quarter and eighth notes (never 12 notes in a measure). So, in order to get your pick direction right, it helps to play it slowly, and count the beats. Quarter notes get 2 counts, eighth notes get 1 count. Pick direction is down on counts 1,3,4,6,7,9,10 & 12. The first measure is picked with all down strokes, the 2nd measure is D D DUD D D DUD. NOTE: Tab has this in 6/8 time rather than 12/8. Same tune, just notated with twice as many measures. So, referring to what I just said, the measures would be D D D D / D D D - / D D DUD / D D DUD
The Cafe' also has tab for this song...
Here is the tab on mandolin cafe. It is also tabbed out as a jig, rather than a slide, this TAB does show the counts at the top, so you can get a feel of the beat. I much prefer reading standard notation; its so much easier to see just how the tune is meant to sound...
Dear All, The Mandozine ABC version is different to the tab version which is the one Barbara is playing. If you're an ABC person here it is: X:1 T:Road to Lisdoonvarna, The M:6/8 L:1/8 K:EDor D |: E2 B B2 A | B2 c d3 | F2 A vAuBvA | D2 E vFuEvD | E2 B B2 A | B2 c d3 | vcudvc B2 A | [1 B2 E E2 D :|2 B2 E E2 e| |: e2 f vgufve | d2 B vBucvd | c2 A vAuBvc | d2 B B3 | e2 f vgufve | d2 B vBucvd | vcudvc B2 A | [1 B2 E E2 e :|2 B2 E E2 z | Edited for minor errors and DUDs added
Here's mine. http://vimeo.com/4474729
Mandophyte, thanks for posting the ABC of the tune. As with most tunes, the various transcriptions are going to be slightly different. I compared the ones that have been submitted, the two tabs, the ABC, the standard notation, and they all seem to be pretty close! I learned this tune by ear, and from the people I play with. I use www.concertina.net to plug in whatever ABC notation I come across! Barb
Chris, that was great! You're quite a young man, aren't you!
Thanks, I've been playing for almost 4 years. I started when I was 13. Chris
Someone with a bouzouki please post a vid. This would sound great on bouzouki! My birthday is at the end of this month and I REALLY want to get a zouk. Chris
Here's mine. Slip jigs r us. The A part the second time through is faux counterpoint. Or something. I'm totally cheating since I know this tune.
Mike, that was great! I think that one of the great things about this social group, should we really get it off the ground for a while, is to be able to hear and see these tunes being played simply by some, and embellished by others. A great learning tool! Barb
Barbara, [quote] Pick direction: This is a slide, in 12/8 time. .....Pick direction is down on counts 1,3,4,6,7,9,10 & 12. The first measure is picked with all down strokes, the 2nd measure is D D DUD D D DUD. [quote] Is this "rule" just for this tune or all slides? Cheers,
I'm not sure if I followed all the rules for a "Slide" jig, but I'm not much on theory... I let my ear be my guide. I did this on my bouzouki since I saw Barbara was looking for a version on the zouk, and learned and recorded it in about 20 minutes. There's a little mistake but I pressed on and here it is. And by the way, I'm staring at my tabs on the desk, that's why I'm not practicing the patented Barbara Shultz play and smile technique Trinity college bouzouki, GDAD tuning.
Well done Kyle! I love the sound you get out of that zouk. Even more impressive considering you just picked up the tune and were still reading tab as you played.
Man I love the bouzouki! I wanna get one SO BADLY! Great job Kyle. how do you like your TC zouk? I'm thinking about getting a TC and wanted some input. Chris
It's great Chris! I can't afford anything much more pricey than one of these at this point in my life, but it sounds nice, stays in tune, has low action and great intonation. What more could a poor young fella ask for? Some day I'd like to upgrade, but there's definitely no hurry with an instrument as capable as a trinity college. I own a hora Romanian zouk as well and it sucks in comparison to the TC. The TC was good to go right off the bat, whereas the hora's need a lot of mod's to bring them up to snuff... Best 'o' luck to ya! Kyle
I'm certainly not an authority on anything concerning playing music, BUT, I believe that slides should be played DUD DUD DUD DUD (taking into consideration quarter notes and eighth notes). I subscribe to the DUD DUD pick direction for jigs (6/8), but not everyone does. It just makes the most sense to me, and helps me keep the right rhythm going. Barbara
There's 27 members in this group. I wanna see at least 20 vids posted. That would help me so much to see how others play their own variations of the same song. No pressure. Also, it's halfway through the week, Have we chosen a song for next week? Seems like a couple people wanna do Fisher's hornpipe. Chris
here's what i ended up with - more disco than country claire ... (i looked but couldn't find how to post videos directly to the group): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aTEYbFoRq8
Very nice, Bill. To embed a video you've put on youtube, you start at your youtube video, and on the right is something you can select that says "embed". Click it to highlight, then copy that. Then go to your message on here, and click the icon at the top that says 'tube' and it will open a window where you paste the URL you copied from your youtube site. Click OK, and it will show up on your message. You can preview it to make sure it works. You can still go to your message right now, and edit it, so it shows here! Barb
Ok, I know you wanted different versions, and I seem to always play the same way, but it's a different instrument! This is my no name tenor banjo, in Irish tuning GDAE.
Cool! So it's like a 4 string banjolin? I like! the D string sounds a little flat though. Other than that, great job Barbara! Chris
Chris, yes, it's a 19 fret 4 string tenor banjo. I'm sure the tuning is a little off. I have a better tenor banjo, but I don't have it here with me right now. They are a blast to play!
Barbara, what gauge are the strings on your 19 fret banjo to get it in GDAE? I just got a 19 fret tenor banjo and need to change the strings to tune it GDAE instead of CGDA. thanks
I recorded it on my Alabama 19 fret tenor banjo this time. The banjo has not yet been converted to GDAE, so I played it in a different key... it's in G, but you get the drift. ~Kyle
Kyle, that was great! Is this your first tenor banjo? I think I saw a HINT of a smile there! Anyway, I believe the strings on my May Bell are the D'Addario Irish Banjo strings, J631 Nickel Wound .012, .016, .024 & .036. My first tenor was my no-name. I was on the road when I bought it, & I'd done some research, & found that Mike Keyes had said that .010, .020, .030 and .040 were a good starting point. I just went into a Guitar Center, and bought the closest I could find in individual strings. They were Ernie Ball guitar strings: 12 & 18P Electric or Acoustic Guitar, 30 & 42 nickel wound electric guitar, in ball end, which worked on that particular tenor. Have you joined the Tenor Banjo Social group yet?
Barbara, yes this is my first tenor banjo. I'm very excited, even if it is a Chinese made unit, it sure plays and sounds nice to me I haven't joined the tenor banjo social group yet... I just picked up the banjo last Sunday, but I can't wait to get it tuned to GDAE and bring it to my next session Thanks, Kyle
I love the variety of styles and instrumentation here, Nice job by all! Okay, a few days late and many dollars short...solo mandolin only. Was there some discussion about not being able to post mp3s in the social groups? I haven't attempted to post one yet but have a 3-4 track version of this tune in the works. Every take seems to bring out new variations. What a great tune. Anything good in my performance has been directly lifted from Barbara and Chuck. I don't use much ornamentation, as trying to keep time was enough challenge for the moment. I played with the pick direction and can see the merits of Barbara's suggested patterns. It will take me till about week four to become comfortable breaking out of my DUDUDUDU patterns for these jigs... so this version is picked as described on the video.
Joel, that was great! And, by positioning your camera so we didn't see your picking hand.... your pick direction was kept secret I don't know about posting mp3's directly. When I go to the mp3 section here on the cafe, it looks like the ones posted are those that are on official cd releases, but I'm not sure about that. I think that the one that Chuck linked to earlier in this thread, is stored on banjo hangout... maybe he can tell us about that. It may be that they have an area that members can upload their mp3's to, and then link to them like Chuck did. Barb
Finally got around to recording my version of this tune. I was under the weather earlier this week, or it would have been sooner. I managed to completely dodge the issue of pick direction with liberal use of hammer ons and pull offs. I wanted to try something a little fancy for the second time, but I'm not sure how well it comes off. I'll let you all be the judge:
KenP, that was awesome! I loved the ornamentation! And, what a beautiful mandolin! As far as the pick direction, I'm no expert. I do study what the experts and instructors say. I know that its best to have a guideline of the picking pattern, but I also have noticed that all instructors say that there are exceptions, and places in tunes that you go against the pick direction momentarily, and then get back to the pattern. I would like to suggest for our future submissions, that we also tell a little about the instrument we are playing, and the tuning, if we are using something out of the ordinary! Barb
Great tune and great picking by everyone. Anyone else google images of Lisdoonvarna? It brought up a spectacular bridge that must be on the road to Lisdoonvarna. It's interesting to see pictures of the place the tune was written about. I think that adds something to the understanding of it. I also found it written out in 12/8 and that makes way more sense in terms of the phrasing. There's a gif of it in 12/8 at http://www.slowplayers.org/BASS/tune...onvarna161.gif Thanks for the tune!
Don, thanks for that link. Nice and big and easy to read!
OK, I'm late, but I wanted to experiment with this process. This is an attempt at recording from a month ago. I am really testing the process of posting. I hope it works. Please excuse the gafs in the playing. Will
Willh, thanks! Even though we are on the 2nd week, I encourage anyone who wants to post their videos, please do! If you want to embed your video directly in the message, like the others, go to your youtube video, and there is a place on the right that says 'embed'. Click that and copy it. Then, go to your message on this message board, type your message, then click the icon above the message panel that says 'tube'. It will open a pop up window, where you will paste the 'imbed' from youtube. Click OK, and it will embed the video directly into your message, rather than just linking to it. Thanks for participating in the Song-A-Week Social group, and I hope to see more videos! Barb
Thanks, Barb, I got it to work. Now I'm just waiting for the new mandolin to arrive. Will
You may be on week 2, but I'm still wrapping up week 1. 5 days to learn the tune, 1 day to install and fight with the webcam, another 1 hr figuring out how to embed the youtube video - plus that pesky day-job thing, plus kids.... anyway, here is my flub-fingered attempt
Congrats on the perserverance! You even managed to do some video editing on there, too! I haven't been able to get my video editing program to work! I'd recommend to turn the volume down on your video camera when recording. It took me several attempts to get the right setting, to avoid that 'too much' sound on my recordings! Your timing and your left hand technique and position are great! All you need is practice, and you'll have this tune down pat! Thanks for submitting your video! Look forward to many more from you! Barb
Nice job HddnKat! Sounds great. I'm no expert but, you might want to train that little finger to stay closer to the fretboard. It's a little high up there. It'll Really help you in the future, believe me! Chris
I have a slightly silly question, but how are we counting the weeks in this group? Is it going to be Sunday to Saturday, Monday to Sunday, or something else?
nice job Will and HddnKat, I hear learning these tunes gets faster the more you do it (at least that is what by better half says) I do know the more you work with these computers the better you get at doing things on them. I had to turn my mike volume all the way down before I got a clean recording and even still it seems a little bit hot to me. What's the new mando going to be Will?
OK, I'm not familiar with this tune before this, and I'm reading from tab, so dont expect much. I don't think I quite have the pick direction right for this song. But here goes.
Ken P. I'll announce the new tune each Friday. However, as we go along from week to week, please feel free, if you joined us late, to participate and submit your videos of tunes in the past weeks!
ducati, that was great! This is a tune I've played for a few years. When I first learned it, it was at the beginning of my mandolin playing, and I didn't know about pick direction, and was just learning by ear, not reading any notation. So, my pick direction was just whatever. Then, maybe last year (or so, you know how time flies!) I started studying proper pick direction, and had to re-teach my right hand how to play a LOT of tunes I already had learned. This was one. I've tried to read up on what all the 'experts' or more knowlegable than I, have to say about pick direction, especially when it comes to playing traditional Irish music, especially jigs, slip jigs, and slides. I understand how to follow the pattern, I'm still not sure of the places where the 'experts' say it's ok to deviate from the pattern. I THINK that the part of this tune, that the notes of 3 counts are a quarter note and an eighth note, MIGHT be a place you could deviate... and play it D U, rather than D D, IF you don't like playing that many downstrokes in a row. For me, though, it's easier to get my right hand going in a pattern, and NOT deviating!
Barbara, as far as video editing goes, I use Windows Media Encoder (free download from Microsoft) to encode the video, then import into Windows Movie Maker (included with XP and Vista) to edit - very simple. Lets me cut out all my false starts, too ;=) - I have to play the song through two or three times on camera to get one clean recording, so I edit out the first couple of flubbed versions.
Thanks for the encouragement, Chris. I started with a mandolin that had been laying around the house. It has a Russian label from 1957 and belonged to my wife's cousin. He broke the neck during one of his many moves and my wife got it and put a new neck on it years ago. I still play it evry once in ahile. My current mandolin is a Hohner HFM-200, solid mahogany F style that I bought used. I have ordered an Octave Mandolin from Walt Kuhlman at gypsysmusic.com. He is a member on the board here and a supporter through advertising. It will be his basic model with walnut back and sides and a AAA solid spruce top. Can't wait. Will
