Week #542 ~ Devil's Dream

  1. Barbara Shultz
    Barbara Shultz
    This week's winner is Devil's Dream.

    Here is what I've found for tunes by that name.

    Here is a link to notation on abcnotation.com from John Chambers' abc collection.

    Here is a link to notation on thesession.org

    Here's a link to the notation in the key of D

    Here's another link, that includes TAB









  2. GHall
    GHall
    This was from almost two years ago, but one of my favorites

  3. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Absolutely amazing picking! Not only fast but so well controlled, and her improvising is great too. And that was two years ago.
  4. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Wonderful performance guys!
  5. Jairo Ramos
    Jairo Ramos
    oh god, although I greatly enjoy watching these videos, I also suffer watching them, they make it evident how bad a mandolinist I am!
  6. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Jairo, you are right about how young Miss Hall can affect our assessment of our mandolin playing. Someone has to stick his/her head above the parapet, so here is my MUCH SLOWER version of The De'il Amang the Tailors, paired with the great hornpipe Staten Island. I paired them as I reckoned that I would never get through either tune twice.

    Having listened again to her delivery, I know why I love playing slow airs and waltzes! Can't even blame my advancing years - I never played in a controlled way at that speed at any age.

    Who else is up for posting a version?

  7. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Miss Hall is one of the reason, why I gave up trying to become a decent bluegrass mandolin player. I'll never play with that relaxed speed. But John demonstrates, that even played slower, this tune sounds fine!
  8. Jairo Ramos
    Jairo Ramos
    hmm I don't think using John as an example is fair, he is a merlin who has given examples of turning a simple melody into something beautiful!
  9. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Miss Hall’s version has got me thinking I should try this with the electric ukulele or something similar. I’m inspired!
    Very nice John, the tune now sounds a bit Scottish. And Staten Island’s a great one to go with it.

    As it happens, this is one of the first melodies I tried to learn on guitar back in California about 25 years ago!
    So...
  10. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    These are beautiful tunes. And as Jairo says, John you a merlin....but what happened to the camera.?
  11. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Thanks very much, everyone. Simon, The tune is originally Scottish and is believed to refer to a game of table skittles. There is a Scottish country dance performed to the tune. It became The Devil's Dream when it got to the USA, and has lots of different titles. No idea about the origins of Staten Island.

    Ginny, I hope you are referring to the distortion that I missed until I uploaded the video. I had the camera set at a different resolution from the 720 pixel format that the video was rendered into, so I imagine my original stretched to fill the space. I think I may have forgotten to tick the box to change both width and height?
  12. Callum Murray
    Callum Murray
    Two fantastic versions! I always find it interesting and very enjoyable listening to tunes with Scottish and Irish origins played in a Bluegrass style.
  13. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Callum, interesting that you mention the Bluegrass style in the origins. My teacher is a die-hard bluegrass player who can play any genre including some beautiful classical pieces. But every now and then when we are doing a Celtic number I can hear his bluegrass poking through - it's in his blood.
  14. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    The bluegrass version played by Miss Hall sounds amazing.
    Many thanks to John who broke it down into a speed I’m barely able to achieve. But I’ll give my best…
  15. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    That's the spirit, Frithjof. Onwards and upwards. Looking forward to your posting soon.
  16. Callum Murray
    Callum Murray
    That's interesting Ginny, sounds like he must have soaked it up from playing and listening to so much bluegrass over the years.
  17. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Neighbour’s angry with me again. So thanks guys!!!

    This Sunday I had a great time playing this tune Bluegrass style.
    Can’t play it slow, it’s too much fun!!!

    This what I’m working on at the moment, really interesting switching modes, you can play this tune for an hour and it’s still different, cool and fun as long as everyone plays alternate modes. For example, check out the version with two voices of fourths and sixths above.

    X:10
    T:Devil's Dream (D major)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:dcdA dcdA|dcdA BAGF|GBEB GBEB|GBEB dcBA|
    |dcdA dcdA|dcdA BAGF|GBAG FAGF|1EDC2 D4:|2EDC2 D2AG|
    |:FADA FADA| FADA BAGF|GBEB GBEB| GBEB dcBA|
    FADA FADA| FADA BAGF|GBAG FAGF|1EDC2 D2 AG:|2EDC2D4|
    X:20
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 2nds above)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:edeB edeB|edeB cBAG|AcFc AcFc|AcFc edcB|
    |edeB edeB|edeB cBAG|AcBA GBAG|1FED2 E4:|2FED2 E2BA|
    |:GBEB GBEB| GBEB cBAG|AcFc AcFc| AcFc edcB|
    GBEB GBEB| GBEB cBAG|AcBA GBAG|1FED2 E2 BA:|2FED2E4|
    X:30
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 3rds above)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:fefc fefc|fefc dcBA|BdGd BdGd|BdGd fedc|
    |fefc fefc|fefc dcBA|BdcB AcBA|1GFE2 F4:|2GFE2 F2cB|
    |:AcFc AcFc| AcFc dcBA|BdGd BdGd| BdGd fedc|
    AcFc AcFc| AcFc dcBA|BdcB AcBA|1GFE2 F2 cB:|2GFE2F4|
    X:40
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 4ths above)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:gfgd gfgd|gfgd edcB|ceAe ceAe|ceAe gfed|
    |gfgd gfgd|gfgd edcB|cedc BdcB|1AGF2 G4:|2AGF2 G2dc|
    |:BdGd BdGd| BdGd edcB|ceAe ceAe| ceAe gfed|
    BdGd BdGd| BdGd edcB|cedc BdcB|1AGF2 G2 dc:|2AGF2G4|
    X:41
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 4ths below)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:GFGD GFGD|GFGD EDc,B,|c,EA,E c,EA,E|c,EA,E GFED|
    |GFGD GFGD|GFGD EDc,B,|c,EDc, B,Dc,B,|1A,G,A,2 G,4:|2A,G,A,2 G,2Dc,|
    |:B,DG,D B,DG,D| B,DG,D EDc,B,|c,EA,E c,EA,E| c,EA,E GFED|
    B,DG,D B,DG,D| B,DG,D EDc,B,|c,EDc, B,Dc,B,|1A,G,A,2 G,2 Dc,:|2A,G,A,2G,4|
    X:50
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 5ths above)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:A'gA'e A'gA'e|A'gA'e fedc|dfBf dfBf|dfBf A'gfe|
    |A'gA'e A'gA'e|A'gA'e fedc|dfed cedc|1BAG2 A4:|2BAG2 A2ed|
    |:ceAe ceAe| ceAe fedc|dfBf dfBf| dfBf A'gfe|
    ceAe ceAe| ceAe fedc|dfed cedc|1BAG2 A2 ed:|2BAG2A4|
    X:51
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 5ths below)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:AGAE AGAE|AGAE FEDC|DFB,F DFB,F|DFB,F AGFE|
    |AGAE AGAE|AGAE FEDC|DFED CEDC|1B,A,G,2 A,4:|2B,A,G,2 A,2ED|
    |:CEA,E CEA,E| CEA,E FEDC|DFB,F DFB,F| DFB,F AGFE|
    CEA,E CEA,E| CEA,E FEDC|DFED CEDC|1B,A,G,2 A,2 ED:|2B,A,G,2A,4|
    X:60
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 6ths above)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:babf babf|babf gfed|egcg egcg|egcg bagf|
    |babf babf|babf gfed|egfe dfed|1cBA2 B4:|2cBA2 B2fe|
    |:dfBf dfBf| dfBf gfed|egcg egcg| egcg bagf|
    dfBf dfBf| dfBf gfed|egfe dfed|1cBA2 B2 fe:|2cBA2B4|
    X:70
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 7ths below)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:cBcG cBcG|cBcG AGFE|FADA FADA|FADA cBAG|
    |cBcG cBcG|cBcG AGFE|FAGF EGFE|1Dc,B,2 c,4:|2Dc,B,2 c,2GF|
    |:EGc,G EGc,G| EGc,G AGFE|FADA FADA| FADA cBAG|
    EGc,G EGc,G| EGc,G AGFE|FAGF EGFE|1Dc,B,2 c,2 GF:|2Dc,B,2c,4|
    X:42
    T:Devil's Dream (D major 4ths and 6ths above)
    L: 1/8
    M:4/4
    K:D
    |:babf babf|babf gfed|egcg egcg|egcg bagf|
    |babf babf|babf gfed|egfe dfed|1cBA2 B4:|2cBA2 B2fe|
    |:dfBf dfBf| dfBf gfed|egcg egcg| egcg bagf|
    dfBf dfBf| dfBf gfed|egfe dfed|1cBA2 B2 fe:|2cBA2B4|
    V:2
    |:gfgd gfgd|gfgd edcB|ceAe ceAe|ceAe gfed|
    |gfgd gfgd|gfgd edcB|cedc BdcB|1AGF2 G4:|2AGF2 G2dc|
    |:BdGd BdGd| BdGd edcB|ceAe ceAe| ceAe gfed|
    BdGd BdGd| BdGd edcB|cedc BdcB|1AGF2 G2 dc:|2AGF2G4|
  18. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    Recorded this one last weekend in the middle of a Bucktown Revue segment. Finally got to editing it today. We do this song at gigs to torture each other. We usually speed up and up and up until someone crashes. This one is slightly kinder and gentler.

  19. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Nice to see you all playing together, Mike, I like the rolling rhythm and the lighting too!
  20. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Mike, I am getting an error message when I try to open your video here.
  21. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Of course Mike will fix the bug as soon as he know about.

    Until that we go to his website – The Bucktown Revue:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvi7INFSj6g

    Great fun to watch his group playing the tune with amazing speed and with so much joy.
  22. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    That was indeed fun to watch, your bodhran player is an nice bonus to the group. And she can keep up with you.
  23. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    What a fun performance by all the group, Mike. I loved the controlled raising of the tempo as the tune progressed and the different rhythmic feel you give the tune compared to my Scottish version.

    Thanks, Frithjof, for pointing me to Mike's site.
  24. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    Hey, thanks everybody. The video plays for me so I don’t know if quite what’s up. I’ll try it a couple of ways below. ... Hmmm. Both of the below play. The first is the entire YouTube url in the advanced/YouTube link. The second is just the last part of the link, which used to be what worked, I think. For some reason I thought the site had updated. Does anybody know the preferred way?


  25. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    First one still not opening, Mike. The second one opens with no problem. I upload my videos by doing as you do: going to the Advanced setting, YT link, then pasting in the video url (copied from the video I have just uploaded to my YT channel) THEN deleting everything in the url to the left of the forward slash. I keep the "/" in. This always works for me.
  26. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    I do pretty much the same as you John. This is what i see over here in France:


  27. Michael Romkey
    Michael Romkey
    Ok great! I’ll go back to just pasting the YT ID and not the entire URL code. It’s strange because the whole URL used to give me an error when I posted that way. Now they’ve started to show up properly in the feed — at least for me — when posted that way, which does seem logical; pasting the URL is generally how it works with FB and web embeds and etc. But apparently these only view for me, or the person posting, or some people, or something! I’ll just go back to using the ID tag and not the URL. Happy Easter, everybody!
  28. Kevin B
    Kevin B

    Enjoyed the versions posted. I play it slow. I played this on my Kmise tenor guitar, tuned GDAE.
  29. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Kevin, you played a nice clean tone out of your tenor guitar. Thanks.
  30. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Great sound out of your guitar, Kevin, and an interesting version of the tune you play here. It is quite different from the Scottish version I used but I like the phrasing and runs you have in it. Great job.
  31. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Nice clean picking Kevin, thanks.

    I wonder if Frithjof will have a go at this tune?
  32. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    I enjoyed all the versions above and had fun learning this tune.
    Between the many versions of sheet music I decided for the setting #1564 of O’Neill’s Music of Ireland.
    After waiting a long time for inspiration from Simon I gave up and recorded my version in the morning.




    For the title I used a free picture of Martina Fuksová at Pixabay.
  33. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Fine version, Frithjof. You did not need to wait for the inspiration after all. An interesting set of postings now, ranging from young Miss Hall's virtuoso performance through all of the ones by the others of us who had a go at it. A great wee tune that can exist in so many variations.
  34. Christian DP
    Christian DP
    Three nice dreams since the last time I visited this thread!
    Michaels group does a controlled speed-up, Kevin gets a nice tone out of his tenor guitar and Frithjiof plays a fine solo version on his flat top made in the Vogtland.
  35. Callum Murray
    Callum Murray
    Here's my attempt at The Devil's Dream/The De'il Amang the Tailors which I've paired with James Scott Skinner's The Spey in Spate.

  36. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    What a great wee set, Callum. The Spey in Spate really gives the fingers a workout, especially the downward run from the high G on 1st string to the low A on the G string. You are getting a lovely tone from your mandolin. Now, about those Gaelic waltzes....
  37. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Admirable and Gaelic sounding performance Callum, well done.
  38. maudlin mandolin
    maudlin mandolin


    Good playing Callum - on what sounded to me like a slightly different version.
    I have taken mine from Burton Isaac's book "Folk Fiddle" where the B part has some arpeggios. To this I added the solo part from Andy Statman's book "Bluegrass Mandolin" which features in the B part what he calls an Osbourne Shuffle.
  39. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Good effort, Duncan. I would say you are certainly playing The Devil's Dream in your posting here while Callum and I are sticking with the Scottish version (The De'il Amang The Tailors), and even then we both have variations in how we are playing it! Amazing how tunes morph as they travel the world, and every version has its own merits.
  40. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Thanks Callum and Duncan for joining the party. Callum combined his version with a nice James Scott Skinner tune. And Duncan introduced us to two interesting versions of Devil’s Dream. A real enrichment for this thread.
  41. Callum Murray
    Callum Murray
    Nice playing, Duncan. I enjoyed both versions, but especially liked the 'Osbourne Shuffle' part in the second B section.

    I noticed I had learned a different version after trying to play along to John's recording! My version was from The Glen Collection available from the National Library of Scotland website.
  42. Ginny Aitchison
    Ginny Aitchison
    Lots of players for this song and all are excellent. I didn't know Maudlin mandolin was Duncan, sorry Duncan.
  43. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Nice playing Duncan, I could almost see the mists rolling across the glen, great atmosphere.

    There’s a bonus bit at the end of this one, I can’t seem to be able to record a sort of impro jam though, and I very nearly wacked that capo onto the fifth fret, but didn’t...

  44. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Good effort there, Simon. Interesting wee variation at the end had your fingers fairly flexing!
  45. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Fast and effective playing as usual, Simon. Did you use a different hand position or another pick for this video? The sound differs.

    And oh, wonder: the background in your video shakes as you would beat a carpet with every beat. Did you manage that only with the acoustic pressure out of the sound hole of your octave mandolin? Amazing!!!
  46. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    Thanks John and Frithjof, actually John I play it much better than that! Problem is that when I’m really cooking I can’t bring myself to stop and get the camera set up.
    I mean to say, actually that’s the best I’ve ever done and luckily I caught it on camera.

    The drapes moving, yes. I live in a very old building that would be horrendous in a 4.0 earthquake!

    The floors are of oak and about 3 inches lower in the centre of the room. They bounce if I walk across the room, or if I get foot stomping excited with a new tune.
    Then the furniture and curtains jump too. It’s all a lot of fun, unless there’s an earthquake.
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