50 Fiddle Tunes for Guitar

Transcription

1 50 Fiddle Tunes for Guitar Volume I 50 must have fiddle tunes arranged for guitar at the intermediate level Featuring standard notation Tablature and audio tracks for each piece Get ready for the next Jam With some brand new tunes! By Brae Lewis

2 Audio Tracks available on your JamAlong member page at All of the material in this book including related audio tracks are the copyrighted property of JamAlong Music Method/Brae Lewis, and may not be reproduced in any way without prior written permission from Brae Lewis.

3 Contents Angeline the baker Arkansas Traveler..8 Beaumont Rag.9 Big Sandy Bill Cheatum..12 Billy in the Lowground...13 Blackberry blossom.14 Bonaparte's Retreat Cattle in the Cane.16 Cherokee Shuffle.. 17 Chicken Reel.18 Cotton Patch Rag..19 Crazy Creek.22 Cripple Creek.23 Cuckoo's nest...24 Devils Dream.25 Dill Pickle Rag..26 Durangs Hornpipe...28 Dusty Miller...29 Eighth of January...31 Elzics Farewell..32 Fire on the mountain.34 Fishers Hornpipe...35 Flop eared mule.36 Forked Deer..37 Girl I Left behind..38 Gold Rush..39 Grey Eagle.40 Irish Washerwoman..41 Jerusalem Ridge..42 June Apple..44 Leather Britches..45 Liberty.46 Lonesome fiddle blues.. 47 Old Joe Clark.48 Over the waterfall..49 Paddy on the turnpike...50 Ragtime Annie..51 Red Haired Boy.53 Ricketts Hornpipe...54 Sailors Hornpipe...55 Sally Goodin.56 Salt River.57 Soldiers Joy..58 Staten Island Hornpipe 59 Stony Point...60 Temperance Reel.61 Tom and Jerry.62 Turkey in the straw..63 Whiskey before breakfast..64

4 Introduction What is a "fiddle tune"? You ve heard them around the campfire, you ve caught snatches of them in the music of everyone from Dave Mathews to Jethro Tull, you ve puzzled over the sheet music bristling with notes...they re everywhere. And on every instrument, just about. Bela Fleck has played them with sitar players, Charlie Daniels has rocked them out on electric guitar, and they find their way into the latest hit country songs all the time. But what are they? Where do these intricate musical jigsaw puzzles come from? The fiddle tune is truly one of our finest examples of Folk Art; the product of centuries of tradition handed down through the generations. As these mini-compositions wound their way from Ireland to the Appalachia s to the modern Bluegrass stage they underwent countless changes. Players would each add their own touch, changing a note hear, an ornament there. But the underlying character of the tune would always remain the same, reflecting an immense respect for the music by those that served it. In the musical arena, the fiddle tune is often the instrumental music of Folk and Bluegrass, or songs without words. They are by no means limited to the fiddle, although the lions share were composed on this instrument. During the evolution of bluegrass music the fiddle tune was gradually adopted by the other instruments in the band, starting with the mandolin, then the banjo and flatpicked guitar. Bill Monroe was largely responsible for the early popularity of fiddle tunes on the mandolin, with his close musical ties to the fiddle music of Appalachia. But long before bluegrass music put these tunes in the spotlight, they were ringing out over the swamps of the Deep South and the Midwest. 1

5 From the late 1800 s on there was a stream of traditional dance music brought over by anglo-celtic immigrants, largely Irish and European Jigs and Reels. These lively tunes fueled the fiddle and square dance culture of the era, back when a banjo and fiddle were considered a band. Over time the fiddle tune seeped into countless musical styles, and grew into many different families of fiddle tunes. Now we have Old Time fiddle tunes, Western Contest style fiddle tunes, Irish fiddle tunes, and on and on. But the fiddle tune remains unified as the instrumental voice of folk music, and provides a wealth of melody and technique valuable to any player. The influence of the Fiddle Tune on other stringed instruments The irony of learning fiddle tunes is that each instrument must adapt the tune to fit that instrument s advantages and limitations. When played on the fiddle, of course, you just play em like they wrote em! As soon as you attempt to render the melody on another noisemaker, the tune becomes a musical puzzle and requires a decent understanding of one's instrument to interpret them accurately. The easiest crossover is the mandolin, being a first cousin of the fiddle. The mandolin is in essence a fiddle with frets and double strings that is played with a pick instead of a bow! The tuning and hand positions are all the same. On the mandolin we alternate pick to imitate the bowing, and use tremolo for long bow notes. There is some rearranging necessary with certain fiddle double stops and shuffle bowing, but for the most part fi ddle tunes translate quite painlessly to the mandolin. On the guitar things are similar, with the exception of more strings and different tuning. In the style of Flat-picking, as bluegrass guitar is called, we pretty music treat the guitar like an oversized mandolin. Due to the absence of double courses we have more left hand ornamentation available to us, such as slides/ hammers/pulls, etc, but much of mandolin tunes can be taken straight across to the guitar. Also because the guitar is tuned so that the keys of C and G are most comfortable, guitar pickers tend to learn fiddle tunes in these keys and then capo up to get D and A, whereas the mandolin is comfortable playing in D and A without the aid of such cheaters! (Although it is generally frowned upon, I have seen mandolin used with a capo and I thought it was refreshing). 2

6 Folks like Doc Watson, Norman Blake and Dr. Dan Crary were instrumental (heh heh) in showing that the guitar could spit out these intricate tunes and nimbly as any fiddle, and gradually won the flatpicked guitar a more lead role in bluegrass music. The banjo has a strange back-and-forth history with the fiddle tune, starting with early Appalachian banjo players who interpreted the tunes in their frailing and clawhammer styles. Then there was the first rock star of the banjo, Earl Scruggs. Earl s contribution to the evolution his instrument was huge, including refining an entire new way of playing to compete with fast and loud bluegrass numbers. But his approach to fiddle tunes was more stylized than accurate, being that his roll based style could only approximate these intricate melodies. It wouldn t be until the early 60 s when two men on different sides of the country, Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith, began discovering the banjo s potential to play fiddle tunes note-for-note. This involved using the banjos open G tuning as a spring-board to re-configure the scales so that they could be played in a smooth legato fashion. Suddenly banjo players were springing up everywhere playing lightening fast fiddle tunes note-for-note, in what became known as the melodic style of banjo playing. It is fair to note that other players like Don Reno were also adapting note-for-note fiddle tunes using their own approaches, but none gained the popularly of the Melodic Style players. The Dobro was pretty music the last instrument to get on board of the fiddle tune movement, but in the nimble hands of players like Mike Aldridge and Josh Graves it became clear that the Dobro was qualified for the club. The Dobro being tuned much like the banjo, as well as picked similarly, the approach was similar to the Melodic Banjo style with the exception of a slide bar. 3

7 It is a testament to the historical and cultural value of these gems of music, fiddle tunes, that so many players on so many instruments have all struggled to master them! But whatever the motivation, the fiddle tune is one of the single best tools for developing ones technique and understanding about their instrument, as well as being about as much fun as you can have standing up! Henscratches and flyspecks: explanation of the notation We'll present these tunes in the big three methods of transmitting music: notation, tablature, and audio (mp3). In my years of teaching I ve discovered that there are basically three ways we assimilate the intricate language of music: the brain, the eye, and the ear. The brain likes the symmetry of standard notation with its logical progression of symbols; the eye likes tablature, simple and full of common sense. The ear cares nothing for fancy scribbles, and cuts to the core by demanding the song to be played and listened to, paper be damned! So, by featuring standard notation, tablature and audio tracks of all the melodies, these books will hopefully allow any musician a glimpse into the wonderful and intricate world of the fiddle tunes, regardless of their method of learning. Our personal recommendation? Learn the notes first from the music or tabs, then listen to the audio tracks for the timing (don t try to count, that will drive you nuts!), then play along with the audio tracks, and eventually bring them up to speed and flaunt them everywhere! Always remember, timing and clarity are more important than speed! Thoughts on arranging All the delightful tunes found herein are traditional pieces, some dating back possibly a century or more. I have great respect for these delicate and finely aged melodies, and took the task of arranging them for various instruments quite seriously. The overall goal was to preserve the integrity of the tune, while adding a sprinkling of instrumental style as well. In some cases we had to research several different scores for a tune, simply because there are so many variants to each tune out there! 4

8 Over time as these songs were handed from generation to generation, various fiddlers would naturally add their own take on a particular melody, as well as different geographical regions having different twists. The idea of finding the original melody was quite daunting at times, but after countless hours spent thumbing through musty fiddle tune books I feel I ve gotten fairly close. Just remember that everywhere you play these you will hear variations to the original, some with the author being quite adamant that theirs is the real way. Don t take any of this personally; just try to see it as different interpretations of a folk tale, each one colorful and unique. However, due to the nature of this volume being a fake-book where the idea is to quickly acquire a tune and have it be recognized my most, I ve done my best to hold close to the melody at all times. However there is a fine tradition of composing more liberal variations to these tunes, wherein we depart further from the melody and highlight instrumental prowess. For those interested in bulking up their collection of bona fide advanced variations, please see our Hot Variations Series books, or better yet order a custom lesson at jamalong.org. This way you can tell us exactly what you're looking for, and we'll make a video lesson for just for you! Yep, it's true, give it a try. Please be reminded that the arrangements in this particular volume are intended to stay fairly close to the original melody. But not to worry, there isn t a boring tune in here, and they all have a sprinkling of licks here and there gathered from decades of jamming and soaking up the picking of the greats. Feel free to add your own touch, just remember that the fiddle tune is meant to be played, not practiced so get out there and pick!! Notes on the Guitar styles used As far as the particular guitar playing-styles used in these adaptations of fiddle tunes, I ve stuck primarily to a traditional Flat-picking approach, staying mostly in the 1st and 2nd position (beneath the 7th fret). Most fiddle tunes adapt fairly readily to the guitar in the keys of G and C, D and A, being played with the capo. 5

9 In some instances we use a bit of cross-picking to emulate the original shuffle bowing of the fiddle part, but try to avoid it for the most part because of it s more advanced technique. The idea here is to have arrangements playable at an intermediate level while still having a clear melody and some stylistic personality. For more on crosspicking and upper-neck approaches to fiddle tunes see Notes on the audio tracks The MP3 audio tracks are intended to help you understand the timing of the tunes, and for practicing along in the early stages of learning the melodies. We've chosen a middle-of-the-road tempo for these tracks, slow enough to listen to while watching the music, as well as fast enough to play along to. (This tempo is 120 BPM - beats per minute, and 100 BPM for the one token jig, Irish Washerwoman.) Of course as you get better at each tune, there will be a point that this tempo will start to seem too slow anymore congratulations! This means you re ready to get out there and jam with other pickers! The melody and the click track that you also hear are mixed on opposite speakers, meaning you can adjust the level of melody versus click by panning from your left or right speakers. Playing to these tracks, slowly and patiently, will reward you with clean, crisp technique in the long run. When you get smoother at the tunes, we recommended that you start playing them along with real backup tracks, it s way more fun that way! We have backing tracks available on the JamAlong website, be sure to get them added to your member page :-) Have fun, and please remember that books, TAB and MP3's, however cool, are still only a stepping stone to the real thing: Jamming with others! The tradition continues. So welcome to the continuing story of the fiddle tune! By delving into this book, you have become part of the vast living music form that is Folk Music. Your mission? To take these tunes and play them everywhere, share them, adapt them, make them your own. We'll see you out jamming! 6

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68 50 Fiddle Tunes is available for Banjo, Guitar and Mandolin, and you can get back-up tracks to play along with at jamalong.org Also available: 50 Bluegrass Faves (vol 1 and 2) 50 Celtic Tunes and 50 Swing & Gipsy Jazz Tunes Or order a custom video lesson for any tune you like at our Custom elesson page

69 Once you get a few of these tunes under your belt, then it s time to start jammin on them! When you sign up for an online membership at Jamalong.org you get access to every one of our awesome video lessons, and your own member page where you can keep them all. You can also sign up for a custom made video lesson every month (yes, YOU get to pick what the lesson is about) and Skype coaching so you can jam with our instructors in real time! You can also order a backing track with a full bluegrass band for any of these tunes, so you can feel how fun it is to play them in with other instruments at full tempo... Visit Jamalong.org and get started now (530)