Grey Owl - Jean Baptiste Arcand - Mandolin Tab Anyone?

[MISTAHCOUGHDROP]

Hola... looking for the mandolin tab for Grey Owl (not Gray Eagle). Anyone know of a source for this? Can't seem to locate it. Some friends of mine did this on guitar/fiddle the other night but thought perhaps someone had tabbed it here on manolin.

Many thanks! MATTHEW

[bigskygirl]

This is a great tune, I learned it by listening to Sierra Hull’s version, it was tough with the little extra measure in there but good practice. Not sure if there is mandolin TAB out there but here’s a guitar version if you or someone you know reads notation.

https://www.flatpick.com/category_s/2321.htm

Here’s a fun version as well:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aBD1yOj9Gxo

[Jim Garber]

I am a firm believer in going back to the original source. Here is John Arcand playing it. You will also notice that his phrasing is much different from others. He has that Metis/Quebecois "lift" accent.



And here is a nice video about the man, fiddle player and fiddle maker.



A friend in our Quebecois fiddle group transcribed this version—sorry, in standard notation, not mandolin tab. No guarantees how accurate. The B part sounds real close to my ears.

[onassis]

Pretty cool to hear the original version. I've actually learned it from the Darol Anger/Joe Walsh versions, but it's nice to find that the melody is essentially unchanged - they've just altered the chords/harmonic structure. It's an incredibly fun tune to play (hard to stop playing, in fact - we tend to go on and on.) I do prefer the Anger/Walsh chord structure, though. It gives it a nice flow that is fun to improvise over.

[Dave Reiner]

Pretty cool to hear the original version. I've actually learned it from the Darol Anger/Joe Walsh versions, but it's nice to find that the melody is essentially unchanged - they've just altered the chords/harmonic structure. It's an incredibly fun tune to play (hard to stop playing, in fact - we tend to go on and on.) I do prefer the Anger/Walsh chord structure, though. It gives it a nice flow that is fun to improvise over.

And what is that chord structure? Thanks!

[Jim Garber]

Pretty cool to hear the original version. I've actually learned it from the Darol Anger/Joe Walsh versions, but it's nice to find that the melody is essentially unchanged - they've just altered the chords/harmonic structure. It's an incredibly fun tune to play (hard to stop playing, in fact - we tend to go on and on.) I do prefer the Anger/Walsh chord structure, though. It gives it a nice flow that is fun to improvise over.

They also smooth out the rhythm to a more modern bluegrassy sound. I prefer the original but I am a big fan of Métis and Québécois fiddling and love that subtle sort of hiccoughing accent that is present in both those styles. For more of that style of playing see the music section of The Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture.

Here is another sound file of John Arcand playing the Red River Jig — a very crooked tune and not really a jig.

[Jim Garber]

I must thank you, Matthew, for reminding me of this tune and how much i love it. It has always been on my list but today I put Mr. Arcand's version into Amazing Slow Downer and learned it note for note. I planned on uploading a more accurate transcription but found this flatpicking guitar version which is much more accurate than the other one I uploaded. Actually, it is just the A part that is different. The B parts in both are pretty close to each other and to the recording. Just remember that the TAB is for guitar, not mandolin. Just another example where notation can work for multiple instruments vs. TAB. With the exception of the extra 2/4 measure to make the A part crooked, it is not a complex tune. Like many fiddle tunes or even other tunes, it is made up of arpeggios and scales.

[onassis]

And what is that chord structure? Thanks!

Not terribly different than the flatpicking version that Jim linked, it just changes chords a bit more often, and occasionally at odd points in the measure. Essentially just D-Em-G-Bm-G-A-D for the A part, D-Bm-G-A for the B. If you watch the Molly Tuttle/Joe Walsh/John Mailander video, you'll get an idea of the timing of the changes.

BTW, that flatpicking notation that Jim linked was also the best printed version I could find on the interwebs, but I too ended up putting a recording in the slowdowner to learn it.

[Jim Garber]

Here’s another version by Brittany Haas and Lauren Rioux. That has some of that syncopated phrasing that Arcand uses.

[jbylsma]

I had recently come across Molly Tuttle and crew's version and transcribed the head. I had seen the Flatpick transcription but there were enough differences (quibbling on 2/4 measure placement, chord changes) that I wanted a separate version.

I stumbled across this thread and was wowed by Arcand's version; drove me to finally register an account. There were enough differences there that I decided to write it out, too. I'm not familiar with the Quebecois style (curious mode mixture with the trills!), and was intrigued by the unbalanced chord changes, especially during the B section.

Hopefully they aren't too problematic!

[MISTAHCOUGHDROP]

Many thanks Mandolin Café Community for your responses. Love this tune and will spend the next few weeks getting it down on the mandolin. Appreciate the links and the guitar tabs. You are generous people.

[tmsweeney]

The original John Arcand version has a very Scottish feel, and I am not hearing that extra bar in the original version but that is probably just me.
I like the Darol Anger version from E&A but I also like the Sierra Hull solo octave version, and am trying to do that melody. What chord structure I wind up with will probably be somewhere in the middle (the variations on the web are myriad), I know David Benedict covered this tune and has a youtube out there as well as a pdf on his patron page.

[tmsweeney]

Well listening to Sierra (Molly Tuttle, Joe K Walsh and John Mailander play a hypergrass version), Darol Anger (with Joe K W again) as well as David Benedict and John Arcand, I put together a version that is mostly from Sierra's solo Northfield Octave version, with parts and pieces from the others. I am following the JKW and David Benedict arrangement of the extra 2 beats as changing time signature from 4/4 to 2/4 then back to 4/4,

but it occurred to me you could write it as one bar of 3/2,

I count is as 1, 2, 3&a4, 5, 6 anyway.