Mandolin Tab for 250 To Vigo - Shooglenifty, Ceili Bandits

The last tune I'll post today is 250 To Vigo by the Scottish band Shooglenifty.  It was written by their fiddler Angus R. Grant and appears on the Shooglenifty album Venus In Tweeds.  However, this recording is taken from the album Hangin' at the Crossroads by The Ceili Bandits.  I came across The Ceili Bandits (Yvonne Casey, Eoin O'Neill and Quentin Cooper) during my first visit to Ireland in 2004 where I saw them play in Doolin.  They were also my first exposure to Irish trad music.

Shooglenifty can be a bit experimental, but The Ceili Bandits' take on this tune is fairly straightforward, which is why it's a great source to learn from.  At one point Shooglenifty shared the sheet music to 250 To Vigo on their website, which is where my mandolin tab arrangement comes from, but I can no longer find that original notation.  I did find some pdf notation here:  http://www.scottishfiddlers.com/Canberra/pdfs/250_to_Vigo.pdf

The Ceili Bandits don't play it real fast to begin with, but I've slowed down their version of 250 To Vigo to 80% of full speed, in case that helps with learning by ear.  250 To Vigo is not really a session tune- yet - but it would be a fun one to play with others.

Irish Jig Apples in Winter - slowed down recording

One of my favorite Irish music CDs is a 2010 live recording by Kevin Griffin, Eoin O'Neill and Quentin Cooper called Live at the Burren Centre, Kilfenora.  It is available from Custy's and Ossian USA.  Kevin Griffin is one of the best Irish tenor banjo players and this recording is pretty much a clinic in that style.  Problem is, he plays VERY FAST so it's not always easy to pick up on what he's doing.

A tune that caught my ear off this CD is the jig Apples in Winter.  To help with learning, I've been playing along with this tune at 70% speed.  I uploaded that same recording at the slowed-down speed onto YouTube and am sharing here so that others can know about this cool 6/8 tune.  The above notation comes form the Dusty Banjos presents Ten Years of Tunes tunebook.  It's not exactly what Kevin Griffin is playing, by any means, but it may help get you started.

Old Aunt Jenny with Her Nightcap On - Played Slow with Sheet Music Notation Transcription

An oldtime tune that I've been liking recently is called Old Aunt Jenny with Her Nightcap On.  It's in the key of G.  The tune is attributed to fiddler Estill Bingham, from Pineville, Bell County Kentucky.  It's a bit crooked and tricky.

A transcription of Estill Bingham's playing of Old Aunt Jenny is included in the book Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes by Jeff Todd Titon.  The band Notorious also recorded an uptempo version of this tune on their CD Elkins.  The transcription in the book is lacking suggested chords, but I found additional notation online that is based on Notorious' interpretation (essentially the same tune) with chords, which I have included here.

Using the Amazing Slow Downer app I slowed down the Notorious recording to 70% of full speed.  See below for audio.  Hopefully the combination of sheet music and a "play along" recording will help more people learn this great tune.

Musical Goal for 2014: Make My Influences My Influences

My musical goal for 2014 is to put in the work necessary so that my influences can become my influences.  What this really means is to focus on becoming an ear player so that things I hear my favorite musicians doing can be replicated and absorbed.

The traditional tunes I've been playing are not really an influence because I didn't listen to that kind of music before playing it, I just kinda started into it because the tunes were readily available in mandolin tab and fiddler's fake books, they fit well under the (GDAE tuned tenor banjo) fingers, and at the beginning didn't require anything more than a straight run through the melody at the proper rhythm.

No real analysis, sense of harmony or special arrangements were required to read the notation and bring these tunes "to life".  The benefit of playing all these tunes is that my fingers have gotten used to making the movements, but I haven't made the connection between finger placements and the sound that results.

Jerry Garcia

The music I listened to prior to getting a tenor banjo hasn't really found a way to merge with the way I've been learning music.  I'd like to change that.  The two bands I've listened to the most in my life are Phish and The Grateful Dead.  I feel like if I develop the ability where I can analyze the music these groups have made, especially the the theory of their melodic improvisations, then I'll be able to apply that in lots of areas.  In Phish it's more of a group effort with special attention paid to guitarist Trey Anastasio, but with The Grateful Dead it's Jerry Garcia's guitar leads that are of primary concern.

Trey Anastasio

I'm drawn to melodies which is part of the reason I'm playing tenor banjo, I think.  Another musician whose playing I would like to find a way to make into an influence is jazz guitarist Grant Green.  I'm not really a fan of jazz in the classic sense, but I've always been fond of Grant Green, who plays very clean melodic lines.  It's funny that a lot of these guys are guitar players but I don't play guitar.  I think they could just as easily be horn players, if I had been exposed to that music or if it were more prevalent.  

Grant Green

Tortoise and Medeski Martin and Wood are two other groups from whom I'd like to extract some musical knowledge.  But it could be something as simple as transcribing little bits from, say a Culture reggae song or a pop song by Arcade Fire or MGMT.  I'd like to get to the point where I can hear a chunk of melody and then instantly play it on my tenor banjo or ukulele while understanding the nature of the notes in terms of music theory.

Medeski, Martin and Wood

I don't believe in the phrases "I'm tone deaf" or "I can't play by ear".  Music is a skill which can be learned and constantly improved upon.  I'm also going to be taking lessons throughout 2014 (and beyond?), letting the instructors teach me what they think is best, understanding my musical goals, and diligently following the advice and teachings.

A New Kind of Practicing

Thus far the type of music that my playing has centered on - Irish and oldtime fiddle tunes - has caused me to think in terms of static melodic lines devoid of chords.  I'd like to continue to use traditional melodies as fodder for learning, but analyze them from the ground up in terms of structure, chord changes and improvisation.  You can essentially take any tune or song and use it as a form of study.

Listening to identify the chord changes - by number - before determining the key and before playing the melody, would be the opposite of what I've been doing.  Once you figure out a song's structure, chord pattern and key, you can then try making the chords in as many different shapes and positions on the neck as you can come up with.  Play them all open, play them all closed and in different inversions/combinations of this.  Play that same chord pattern in a bunch of different keys as well.

Then you can try and transcribe the melody of the tune while also analyzing it.  For example, does the melody start on the 5th note of the scale?  Did the chorus seem to start on the four chord?  If so, which melody note is that? Analyze the movement of the melody and chords in such a way that you can provide an explanation for everything that's happening in the song.  Understand where every note falls in relation to the scale.

Once you have the melody transcribed, try playing it using as many open strings as possible, and then play it closed.  Then try playing it in as many different places/fingerings on the neck as possible, keeping it in the same key. You can continue this exercise by playing the melody in other keys.  For example, was the melody in G-major?  Then try playing it in F or A - both in closed positions and using open strings - to see how it feels and sounds.

Once you have the basic melody worked out, apply variations to it by adding triplets, double stops, fills and other ornamentation, or just improvise over it from a jazz perspective.  You can also isolate certain phrases and transpose them to other modes.  Take that G-major lick and change it to D-dorian.  Did that change any of the intervals?

Do enough of these kinds of exercises,  while also regularly working with a teacher or mentor to keep you on track, and you're bound to see some improvement.

2013 – A Year in Music: A Look Back and A Look Ahead

My goal at the beginning of the 2013 was simply to be able to fake my way through Irish sessions, old-time jams, and other informal gatherings where music is played.  I feel like I met that goal on a short-term level, but the use of the phrase “fake my way through” implies that there may have been something disingenuous about this approach. 

During the 1^st three-quarters of 2013 I focused on increasing my repertoire of Appalachian and Celtic tunes through rote memorization.  I was primarily motivated to do this so I could build up a list of bare bones tunes that – if necessary – I could lead at the Ashland jam.  I continued to attend other jams and sessions and took part in a few intimate house sessions and special occasion jams like the ones I organized at Midnight Brewery. 

These ongoing experiences, along with the saturated exposure to traditional music at Clifftop and Rockbridge, contributed to a greater familiarity with the tunes and an increased comfort with attempting to play them on the fly.  When at home, I strived to find new ways to make my practice as productive as possible; attempting to get something tangible out of it on a daily basis.

In late summer I made a new musical discovery:  the Bonne Humeur album by The Etcetera Stringband.  This instrumental album of early Caribbean and Creole dance music – tunes from Haiti, the Virgin Islands, Venezuela, et cetera – revealed a whole new genre of music worth exploring.  With the help of a transcriber, I now have the notation for all 18 tracks on this album plus a few more in this style.

2013 was also the year where I gained more familiarity with ragtime.  I am in the process of learning over a dozen raggy tunes, including Plowboy Hop, Maybelle Rag and Doc Brown’s Cakewalk.  In addition, I’m starting to go back and learn some of the Minnesota/Wisconsin style waltzes in the Mandolin Uff Da! tunebook, which could inspire the learning of additional tunes in three-quarter time…a rhythm I had been avoiding until now.

As the year went on I diverted my attention from an ever increasing list of “tunes to learn” to try singing and playing some songs for fun, such as Wading in the Velvet Sea (Phish), She Wanted To Leave (Ween), Like a Dime (Eamon O’Leary), Ship of Fools (Grateful Dead), Lowlands (Gillian Welch), and Good Guys and Bad Guys (Camper Van Beethoven).  I hope to continue to allot some time each day for playing and singing songs.

Most recently, I’ve started to target specific areas of weakness, such as my nascent ear training.  This is being partly addressed in the form of lessons from Dennis Elliott by applying his mandolin study to tenor banjo.  I’m also starting to play baritone ukulele and have learned two tunes so far on uke:  the basic melody to Sonny Rollin’s St. Thomas and the carol In the Bleak Midwinter.  I may supplement my lessons from Dennis Elliott with occasional lessons from John Gonzalez at Fan Guitar and Ukulele.

Things may be starting to “click” in ways that I never before anticipated.  I’m hoping that this is the impetus for an upcoming domino effect of learning.  However, at every musical plateau one is reminded that there is so much more to learn.  As Curt Kirkwood says, there’s "nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds".

Fun with Ukulele - St. Thomas basic melody (Sonny Rollins)

My no name baritone uke

Thanks to John Gonzales del Solar at Fan Guitar and Ukulele I've had a baritone ukulele strung up for about a week and a half now.  It's just a cheap, thrift store, no name baritone uke but it's got a good sound to it.  I've been messing around on it and the first tune I picked out by ear was Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Playing ukulele is good complement to my study of tenor banjo because it use a different tuning.  The 4-string banjo is tuned in 5ths like a mandolin or cello - GDAE from the lowest to highest strings.  The 4-strings of the baritone uke are tuned DGBE from lowest to highest, like the 4 highest strings on a guitar.  The different tuning of the uke helps reinforce ear training interval recognition.

I'm finding that the ukulele also has its own benefits.  The uke tuning offers a better "chord" sound than a 5ths tuning of a mandolin or tenor banjo, potentially making it easier to hear chord changes and making the uke more suited to strumming and singing songs.  In addition, classic melodies that don't have a wide interval between the lowest and highest notes are very conducive to playing on the ukulele.
 
Due to the way the uke is tuned, you can easily play these melodies in a closed position, never having to utilize open strings like I have to do on tenor banjo due to the longer stretches.  Because you don't need to use any open strings when playing a melody on the baritone ukulele, it means that it's a no-brainer to transpose that melody to almost any other key.

Today I learned the basic melody to the tune St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins.  The recording below is in the key of C, but on ukulele I could instantly change it to another key by simply retaining the same pattern up the neck.  It would take me a lot longer to transpose it on tenor banjo.



St. Thomas is a jazz tune, so you're supposed to improvise after introducing the main theme.  I haven't gotten to the improvisation part yet, but one thing at a time, right?