Page 5 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 101 to 125 of 138

Thread: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

  1. #101

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This one is still pretty difficult for me to play. I do that sometimes, write a tune that is beyond my technical skills. It's not intentional, just the way the tune came out. But it is a great motivator to get better. This is the best recording I have of it. Unfortunately the guitar is a bit too loud. The first pass was a bit frantic but I think I got it more under control the second time thru.

    Desolation Sound.mp3

  2. #102
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Albany NY
    Posts
    2,054

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    very cool, I like that, the playing was as good as usual, if you have it written out I'd like to take a stab at it.
    Did you write that recently ?
    Stormy Morning Orchestra

    My YouTube Channel

    "Mean Old Timer, He's got grey hair, Mean Old Timer he just don't care
    Got no compassion, thinks its a sin
    All he does is sit around an play the Mandolin"

  3. The following members say thank you to tmsweeney for this post:


  4. #103

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by tmsweeney View Post
    very cool, I like that, the playing was as good as usual, if you have it written out I'd like to take a stab at it.
    Did you write that recently ?
    Sorry, but I don't read or write music, strictly an ear player. The tune is an oldie, written about ten years or so ago.

  5. #104

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Hi all. Took a break from mining my old CD's & USB's for recordings of my original tunes. Here's a fairly recent one, no title yet. I still haven't quite got my fingers around the "B" part.

    untitled #1.mp3

  6. #105

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Here's one I'd completely forgotten about. I guess that's why I recorded them. Probably a few more surprises awaiting me.

    MB_Caleb's Riff.mp3

  7. #106

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Here's another from my "dark" period.

    MB_Long Road Home.mp3

  8. #107

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Back when I was teaching I had some students interested in old time music. I was looking for a simple tune to get them started, had a few ideas in mind but wound up just writing one instead:

    MB_Going To Sorrento.mp3

  9. #108

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This is a recording to document the tune just after I finished writing it. It's the only one I have. It's never been performed but if it was, it should be at a fairly brisk tempo I think.

    MB_Spider Lips.mp3

  10. #109
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    San Jose and Roanoke, VA
    Posts
    22

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Top notch, Nick!! I've just listened to Windermere so far.

  11. #110

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    That's a studio recording. Most of what is on here are rehearsals, live gigs & a lot of me just playing the tunes on mandolin. Some of them I clearly needed more practice time on. Some of the stuff I write is too hard for me to play cleanly at first, I need to workshop it.

    I wish everything I've written was recorded with the quality of Windermere. This one's an example of me recording a tune for documentation just after finishing it. I would have to spend some time with it if I were performing or recording it. The funny thing about this one is a friend heard it & asked if he could borrow the melody for a song, with words. He wrote a pretty good one, a train song. as it turned out. I'll add it to this thread if I can find a recording of it.

    MB_Ride The Rail.mp3

  12. #111

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    I really struggled with this one. I couldn't get a "B" part. The great flatpicker Slavek Hanzlik was staying with me at the time and he suggested going to the "C" chord for the second part. The rest just flowed so I named it after him. It's in the great bluegrass key of "Eb".

    Slavek Waltz.mp3

  13. #112

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin


  14. #113

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This little ditty is the last thing I wrote before my hand injury took me off the field. I was working a lot with arpeggios when it popped out. This was a document recording right afte I finished it. I needed to work on it some and make a better recording but I didn't get the chance to do that before I lost the ability to play. I wish I was a more natural player but I'm not. I have to work a lot to get a good sound. A lot of the tunes I write are beyond my ability, so I have to up my game to be able to play them well. They say hard work & talent will take you far but I only have the hard work component. Talent-wise...not so much.

    untitled#2.mp3

  15. #114

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This one sounds kind of "jiggy" to me but it's not. For one thing, the first bar has five beats. That's a disqualification right there.

    MB_False Jig.mp3

  16. #115

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    I just posted this one but I totally forgot that I'd written another tune to medley it with. Good thing I recorded all this stuff. I'm finding several things I had no memory of writing, although I am remebering a grumpy bandmate from long ago who generally figured people were the author of their own misfortune. He'd say "that's because you write too many tunes. You don't need a lot, just a few good ones". I miss that guy. I guess I have a soft spot for curmudgeons.

    False JigUnnamedTune.mp3

  17. #116

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This is a demo. It's meant to be a banjo tune, a real burner.

    MB_Stop Gap.mp3

  18. #117

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This is something I was fooling around with just before the accident. It's a bit abstract, needs some work but promising, I think. A-D-A-E tuning.

    Oops, this is me fooling around with the idea. I'll try to find the recording of what I ended up with.
    Attached Files Attached Files

  19. #118

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by nick delmore View Post
    This is something I was fooling around with just before the accident. It's a bit abstract, needs some work but promising, I think. A-D-A-E tuning.

    Oops, this is me fooling around with the idea. I'll try to find the recording of what I ended up with.
    Arggh, I found it but it won't load. File must have been corrupted. Anyway, I'll say this much - try tuning your G string up to A & play a regular chop chord. Pretty interesting result!

  20. #119

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    There's a few hiccups in this but it's the only recording I can find. It's a bit of a crazy tune that rambles through four keys before it gets back to the original key of "E".

    Kitsilano Turnaround.mp3

  21. #120

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Another oldtimey kind of tune, from a practice session.

    Green Lake.mp3

  22. #121

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    I wrote this after listening to a whole lot of Sam Bush's playing, so I named it after him. Sorry about the hiccup going into the octave section. Octaves Man, they give me trouble. Wish I knew Sam's secret.

    Bushwacked.mp3

  23. #122

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    I was trying to write a fiddle tune that had a kind of classical feel to it.

    Over The Malahat.mp3

  24. #123

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This was my attempt at writing a "Dawg" type tune. This is a demo recording for a band I was in. The first pass is me playing the melody at the tempo I thought it should be performed at. The second time through are the chords & rhythm feel & the third is slow melody so they rest of the group could learn it. The title refers to a pot grower, so that's a kind of Dawgy connection too.

    Gerry's Patch.mp3

  25. #124

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    This is called "Pagliacci's Lament". I wrote a harmony for it but I can't seem to find a recording of that.

    Pagliacci's Lament.mp3

  26. #125

    Default Re: Nick's Front Porch Mandolin

    Well, that about brings the curtain down on "Nick's Front Porch Mandolin". I have a few more tunes but I can't find any recordings of them. I'm still recovering from a serious injury to my left hand, so I can't play very well at the moment. As I mentioned in another post, none of this stuff is under copywrite and I'm well past the point in life where I'll be doing any more performing or recording so if you hear anything you like, feel free to learn it, perform it, record it...whatever you want. I'd be flattered.

    The only recommendation I would make is for anyone who has a house gig with a dance floor. I did a gig like that for years & "Bluegrass Stomp No. 2" would always fill the dance floor for us. As the regular crowd got to know our material, we'd hit the first two shots & folks would jump out of their chairs & onto the floor.

    So, HUGE THANKS to everyone who checked out this thread.

    To wrap this up, I'll post this. It's "Jerusalem Ridge". Obviously not my tune but I played in a Klezmer band for a long time & got interested in trying to "klezify" it. I haven't figured out what to do with the last part (where it goes to "C"). I'm thinking about not changing it, having the arrangement swing back into bluegrass, to maybe give it more of a connection to the original tune, since I've changed it so much. That might be the tasteful move. Sorry about the background hum. The only thing I had around when I did this was a shoebox type cassette recorder. The hum came from the analog to digital transfer.

    ATTACH]207656[/ATTACH]

    Finally, I just wanted to mention that recovery is going well. I can play slowly, not experiencing as much pain, stiffness is starting to diminish. I'm not sure I'll get all the way back but I expect to get most of the way there. To inspire myself, I ordered a new mandolin. I'll follow this post with a few pics just before the hardware was installed. Thanks again to everyone who listened to my tunes. Happy picking and all the best to everyone here at the Mandolin Cafe.
    Attached Files Attached Files

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •