Tennessee Waltz

[Laurence Firth]

I've decided to learn this tune today. What key is this usually played in at jams?

Thank you

[dhergert]

I've decided to learn this tune today. What key is this usually played in at jams?

Thank you

I've done it in C and G but we'll typically key it to the singers.

[Laurence Firth]

If it were an instrumental jam with a fiddle would there be a preference for a specific key?

[Laurence Firth]

I decided to try it in D first. That's a good key for me on the mandolin in open position. Then I tried it in G in open position. Works well there too. I tried C in open position - that works too and fits within the C chord shape nicely. Next I tried closed position G (at the5th fret). Lots of possibilities for double stops there. And with closed position I can move that around to suit the singer if I'm in a jam where someone wants to sing it.

[CarlM]

Here is Del and Dawg in C. Usually at jams I have seen it in G.

[Manfred Hacker]

I learned this double stop version in D from the Janet Davis book:
And it has been played in this key in jams I go to

[Charlie Bernstein]

I always play it in G. Sounds good on guitar that way. No one seems to mind.

[crisscross]

Another vote for D, it's in this key in the sheet music at Traditional Music co.uk., so who am I to play it in another key?Attachment 159589
My bowlback played an OK tremolo and even my electric tenor guitar and ukulele agreed on the key:

Nice version and fine playing, Manfred!

[Willie Poole]

Most make voices seem to fit the key of C but if doing it as an instrumental do it anywhere you feel comfortable with....when its your turn at a jam just call out the song and the key that you like best and others will use their capos to get with you...

Willie

[lflngpicker]

It is in a nice vocal range when placed in A. I sing/perform it in A, though I am a lower-voiced lead singer. G would be my second choice, and a good one.

[Laurence Firth]

My wife plays guitar. She chose G as the key she would like to play it in so that's what we will do it in. I'm also playing it in C an D myself so that I will have a familiarity with it in those keys as well when I find myself in jams with other players. Thanks for the input.

[Bren]

D at most sessions I've been to in Scotland , but usually no singing, so whatever suits fiddles.

I played with a singer for a few gigs who sang it in F.
Then we switched to D for the mandolin instrumental bit because I did it cross-picked.

[Ge23ev]

It's your lucky day I guess. David Benedict posted this new arrangement of the tune of him playing in all keys just now and it's beautiful. You can contact him through his website for a copy of his arrangement and maybe a simpler one if he's got it
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/e...see-Waltz-quot
Enjoy

[Amandalyn]

Usually in D.

[jaycat]

"I was dancing
with your sister
at your cousin's
bar mitzvah..."

I know, I always say that.....

[oxygenman1]

Thanks for that. It's beautiful.

[red7flag]

Every jam with a fiddler that I have played in plays it in D. When started by a banjo picker, G. I like D using A as a drone.

[JeffD]

I usually play it in D. I played with a fiddler who favored playing it in C. I worked it out, but it felt like a different tune.

[HonketyHank]

It's your lucky day I guess. David Benedict posted this new arrangement of the tune of him playing in all keys just now and it's beautiful. You can contact him through his website for a copy of his arrangement and maybe a simpler one if he's got it
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/e...see-Waltz-quot
Enjoy

Wow. Just ... well ... wow. He even uses all the 'oddball' chords.

Thanks for posting the video. I really liked it. Even though jazz is not a strong suit with me.

[George R. Lane]

Like Hank, David's version is a little beyond my capabilities. I just wish some would post a tab version with some simple embellishments to make the beginner version a little more lively. Jazz style is not my style, but I do enjoy listening to David.

[ralph johansson]

I started working it out in the key o D a couple of years ago; then I realized I had far too many songs in that key so I moved it to the key of F, with a lot of playing along the strings, rather than in fixed positions. I like to include it in a medley: Tennessee Waltz in F, Missouri Waltz in D, Kentucky Waltz in Eb, and occasionally return to Tennessee in the key of G, to cover the three standard modulations. It's really a song that's worth exploring in almost any key. Buell Neidlinger recorded it in A with Richard Greene on fiddle,
Les Paul and Mary Ford did it in D, Slim Whitman in Bb, and Redd Stewart in G.

[Charlieshafer]

We play it in C. Here's my all-time favorite version, which I do realize has no mandolin or fiddle parts...

[ago]

I think Janet Davis's Ultimate Mandolin Songbook might be a good start on this gem of a song.

[mandobassman]

Hard to beat this mandolin version by Sierra Hull

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...223E&FORM=VIRE

[JeffD]

Hard to beat this mandolin version by Sierra Hull

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...223E&FORM=VIRE

Or this one by Chris Thile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf9A5RF96kg