Can You Play Any Chris Thile Tunes?

[9lbShellhamer]

What Chris Thile tunes can you play?

Just curious.

Thanks

[JeffD]

He plays some tunes that I have played, but I have never tried to play a tune that he wrote.

[George R. Lane]

Only on the radio.

[CES]

Jealous of the Moon and Destination, both from Nickel Creek. Of course, I don't play them anything like he does, but my daughter sings along, so great fun is had by all...

At a guitar lesson Tuesday I picked Dillon's "Don't Think Twice" to learn after hearing Chris play it live a couple of weeks ago, thinking I'd transpose it to mando (which I've done, just not anything close to his version). A John Mayer cover popped up first in the search, so we used that as our template. After we were done, I played the CT version for my instructor, expecting to just play 30 seconds or so to give him an idea where I got the idea, and we ended up listening to the whole thing. My teacher was really impressed, and said, "wow, he's just so musically 'right.'" I continue to be amazed by this guy's talent, and how he continues to grow as an artist. The next time I'm at my local GC I'm going to pick up his video to try to learn "Butterfly," but am sure I'll crash and burn, lol!

[jmp]

Bach Partitas...only much, much slower...

[Ivan Kelsall]

I can pick a few of the tunes on his first recording,''Leading Off''. 'Holding Down the Fort' is a firm favourite & i can play a bit of 'Shadow Ridge' & a couple of others that appeal to me. Considering that nearly all of these tunes were composed & recorded by a 12 year old, (as far as i know) they're nothing short of spectacular. 'Ode to a Butterfly' is a lovely tune 'in parts',but it's not consistent enough in tempo all the way through for me so i'll save myself the struggle,
Ivan

[PVia]

Waltz for Dewayne Pomeroy, Jessamyn's Reel (just the head, not the improvising), working on Rabbit in a Log, Here and Heaven, Set Me Up with One of Your Friends...and of course, the Bach Sonatas & Partitas. In fact, Andrew Mowry just put my recording of the Gm Adagio up on his site, played on my Mowry F5...

http://mowrystrings.com/listen.htm

3rd tune on the list

[pit lenz]

What Chris Thile tunes can you play?

None!
(Who can?)
But I'm working on his version of Ookpik waltz...

[jaycat]

No, but if you think he needs the royalties, I could work something into my set.

[dang]

Not any better than this guy does... Wish I could play 'Ode' this good

Just had to throw out some OldSausage:

[JeffD]

I prefer his playing, and improvising over, tunes other than his own. Just my tastes. We all like prefer different things. And, thank goodness, some same things.

I love his music, and I love his playing, and I love what he has done and continues to do for mandolinning, its just as a preference...

[David Lewis]

I'm working through 'I threw it off' by the punch brothers. And I've played bits and pieces of other punch bros pieces.

What a great player he is.

[lenf12]

I can tune my mandolin so it is in tune with CT's mandolin. That's as close as I can get.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Marty Jacobson]

The Mel Bay transcriptions from Chris's first solo albums, Leading Off and Stealing Second, are excellent, and the tunes are surprisingly straightforward to play. Intermediate players should have no trouble playing them, though it might take some time to get them up to speed. Tabs and notation are included.

[JeffD]

There are many reasons for not playing Chris Thile tunes, and being insufficiently able or downright intimidated by Chris's technical ability is a small part of the story.

A negative answer to the original question does not address whether or not his music is something you want to play, whether or not you want to play like him or not, (even if you could), and whether or not you like playing recently composed music at all, or anyone else's music at all. Its a big can of very different worms.

I am not much into emulation, but if I were, I guess my choices of hero would be Marty Stuart (on one side and Avi Avital on the other).

But I am in awe of what Chris does, especially when improvising.

[9lbShellhamer]

Ha! These responses are great and are making me feel better! I'm getting pretty solid on the typical BG stuff, but still struggle with Thile...

It's funny. I've been going back and listening to his albums all the back to Leading off...

I think in his second album, Stealing Second, he starts to find the vocabulary and style that would take him through the next decade. I hear some of his trademark stylistic elements in that early second album.

Not All Who Wonder is probably my favorite album. I really love them all...but that one embodies that particular sound I find most pleasing. I really enjoy all of his work...but those instrumentals on Not All Who Wonder...wow.

I'd like to go back now and try to pull apart the Stealing Second album. The Leading Off album is pretty straight forward, and so you can follow his progress from "typical" mandolin sounds, to the stylistic elements that give him "his" trademark sounds since they are mildly present in the Stealing Second album. From there, tackle Not All Who Wonder...

[Steve VandeWater]

I pick around the tunes of The Lighthouse's Tale, The Fox, and The House Carpenter, but all horribly, unfotunately. I love those songs though and someday maybe I'll do them well enough to satisfy myself. But I'll likely never be good enough to play them for others.

[Bslot0622]

I learned the solo from "The Fox" on the self titled Nickle Creek album, and use a couple licks from his long solo on the video of Mike Marshall and him playing "Gator Strut". But that's as far as I've gotten.

[Willie Poole]

I don`t play any of his songs and by the same token he don`t play of mine either, sort of an agreement that we have between us...Lol

[JeffD]

I don`t play any of his songs and by the same token he don`t play of mine either, sort of an agreement that we have between us...Lol

[allenhopkins]

Willie, I like your arrangement with Thile. I have a similar one, with the difference that he could play any of my tunes if he wanted to, and I couldn't play most of his.

[Nathaniel Winthrop]

There's a tune Thile plays at the end of his recording of "Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel" with Michael Daves. I've heard it before and I can play it pretty decent but I can't remember the name of it. It's a reel of some sort, I think.

[9lbShellhamer]

There's a tune Thile plays at the end of his recording of "Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel" with Michael Daves. I've heard it before and I can play it pretty decent but I can't remember the name of it. It's a reel of some sort, I think.

Thanks for pointing this tune out. I hadn't heard it before. I'm looking forward to hearing some of the tunes from other artists like Chris Stapleton, Dawg, OCMS!

[Mark Gunter]

Just curious, Troy, did you recently come into a Thile anthology of some sort? New to the mandolin and to bluegrass, I don't have many albums in the genre yet. No Thile yet, and no Tim O'Brien yet, both of whom I admire. I did just recently get several Bill Monroe albums, but I need to start a collection of Thile, O'Brien, Sam Bush.

[9lbShellhamer]

Just curious, Troy, did you recently come into a Thile anthology of some sort? New to the mandolin and to bluegrass, I don't have many albums in the genre yet. No Thile yet, and no Tim O'Brien yet, both of whom I admire. I did just recently get several Bill Monroe albums, but I need to start a collection of Thile, O'Brien, Sam Bush.

I've actually been a fan for quite some time of Thile, and luckily enough, had acquired most of his albums long before I even began playing mandolin. The only two solo albums I didn't have were stealing second and leading off which I recently acquired. Stealing second is much better in my humble opinion.

Now, what I didn't realize, was how many "other" albums Thile was on!

The best thing to happen to my ears in a long time was purchasing a membership to Spotify! I pretty much have 99% of most US recorded music at my disposal. It's incredibly thorough for my needs. It's opened up new worlds, particularly to some incredible Skaggs lately! Dawgs Breath, 1st Corinthians, and more, purely awesome!

One of my FAVORITE albums of ALL time, I actually lucked out and found at a library and downloaded, wss the first Tim Obrien with Hot Rize album with nellie kane, ninety nine years, and blue night. Honestly, blue night is so flawless it almost gives me chills still with Tim's mandolin riff.

Sorry for any typos here...I'm on my phone...