a group who encourage and motivate one another to stick to, and get the most out of, our practice time

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Happy New Year!

From laertes22 on 1/7/2015 6:21:32 AM

I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and that your New Year is equally fortuitous!

 I left South Carolina the day before Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with my future Mrs. in Charlotte, North Carolina.  My stepson spent the holidays with his da in Florida, so it was just me, the little lady, and the pug for the holidays.  Neither she nor I are big Christmas celebrators (for various reasons), so we didn't put up a tree, wreaths, or lights, but just enjoyed a much needed staycation.  

 I, of course, took my fiddle and banjo with me to get some good practice in.  A month or so ago, I had made contact with an Old Time fiddle and banjo teacher in Charlotte, whom I got to do some setup work on one of my banjos.  He and I seemed to hit it off over email and phone, so we decided to get together over the holidays and work on some banjo and fiddle stuff.  It was great fun, and I learned a lot about both instruments and about Old Time music in general (and the Old Time community in the Charlotte area).  It was also reassuring for me-as someone who doesn't get to play live with others, to have a professional teacher tell me that he is impressed with my playing abilities and that I am on the right track.  He seemed to really enjoy working with me, and I really like his style, so I thinking I may have someone to take live lessons with once I relocate to Charlotte.

 As far as my own practice, I worked a lot over the holidays on trying to get songs that I do know to be cleaner, as opposed to learning new songs.  I am still struggling with Soldier's Joy.  I just can't find an arrangement that I can get to sound and flow the way that I want.  It's great when I hear other people play them, but I can't find one that is me.  So, I think I am going to have to just sit down and make my own version (mainly by hacking together licks that I like from different versions I've tried).

 I think I am developing a weird fascination with Reuben's Train, and I want to learn that songs next.  Any recommendations of a good version?

 One of my goals from last year was to listen to more Old Time music.  I do think it has helped my playing, but I need to listen to more.  Towards the end of last year (Thanks largely to Jill and Aaron), I got really into Roscoe Holcomb and Dock Boggs.   Now I have been listening to a ton of Clarence Ashley (mainly because Cuckoo is my favorite song to play) and Doc Watson (because I'm from North Carolina and love good music, and he is awesome).  It is rare for me that I hear some music that stirs my soul and sends a shiver down my spine, but listening to these 4 gentlemen does that.

 Last, I rewatched the PBS documentary "Give Me the Banjo".  I bought this back when I first started frailing and didn't know much about Old Time, so a lot of it was lost on me at the time.  However, rewatching it after having some playing (and listening) experience gave me a great appreciation for some of the pioneers of banjo and Old Time.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

5 Comments
	Zischkale says: 1/7/2015 12:39:05 PM Happy New Year, G! Glad to hear something came out of meeting that Charlotte picker, sounds like good times. You're definitely in the right part of the country for old-time! I like your idea of piecing together your own version of Soldier's Joy from others. It's one of those notey fiddle tunes that is a bit more of a challenge to translate to banjo. I like Ken Perlman's version, but it strives to capture every note of the fiddle and is a bit too melodic for my banjo tastes (great exercise though). Check out Mike Iverson's intermediate arrangement, I really dig it. I've also started singing along to it, and under that I really only play the melody notes in the vocals. Nothing weird about a Reuben's Train fascination, it's as old as song itself, it's the sort of tune you can imagine not being far from something they'd have played on the akonting. Marc Nerenberg played it with a Dogon musician, seems like nothing was lost in translation. I'd say Tommy Jarrell's version, especially for the vocals and lyrics. The bootleg recording of he and Blanton Owen is great, I'll send you a copy if you'd like. Also Wade Ward--he does it in Graveyard Tuning, it'll easily convince you to retune the banjo for it. Judging by the thread you posted you've picked out some good Doc Watson music. It's all about Deep Water Blues, and any time the guy picked up a banjo it was brilliant. If you haven't gotten your hands on High Atmosphere you oughta. I'll have to rewatch the same, I really enjoyed that documentary. Also on my list is Librarian and the Banjo. I was in New Mexico for a few days, just getting back into the daily grind, lots of banjo-related stuff swarming around in my brain as usual. What is everyone else working on?
	laertes22 says: 1/8/2015 4:48:16 AM Aaron, you must be psychic. I was actually trying unsuccessfully to remember Mike Iverson's name so that I could check out his website (I think you have recommended him to me before). I checked out Mike's site yesterday and played a couple variations of Soldier's Joy that he had tabbed out. While ultimately neither of Mike's versions was quite what I was going for, playing through them made something click and I figured out how to tie some things together and finally came up with a version of Soldier's Joy that I like and can play. Now I just have to practice it.
	Zischkale says: 1/8/2015 7:22:39 AM His advanced tab of Soldier's Joy is pretty complicated, but the B-part of the easier one helped me the tune click with me.
	skiptomylou says: 1/11/2015 6:03:04 AM Happy New Year everyone - have been pondering on New Year's Resolutions (a little delayed i know) one thing i am thinking of doing this year is getting skype in order to get banjo lesson. although i love working through materials on my own and using dvds i feel maybe some feedback and guidance would bring my playing on. i got the art of the mountain banjo by art rosenbaum for christmas and have been working on some tunes from that, which has been brilliant fun, although just really got back into things last week after having a bit of a break over christmas/new year. it has a lot of aspos in it (alternative pull off, whatever) which i've never mastered. think this might be another goal for me this year. i also this year want to continue with trying to play a bit more up the neck. hopefully, getting a teacher will help with those things too. Gen - i love that Hand Me The Banjo documentary - very inspiring. hey Aaran - i stopped off in a little place called Truth or Consequences for a couple of days when i travelled through New Mexico - a good few years ago now. i thought New Mexico was beautiful. hope you had a lovely festive season best Jill
	Zischkale says: 1/12/2015 12:17:50 PM Pretty stellar name for a town, sounds like the site of some wild west showdown. It's in the county that neighbors Lincoln, but I've never been over there. Definitely beautiful country! I don't use too many ASPOs myself, but might need to work more in. Good for getting a tricky note, and also great as a rhythmic device--the Round Peakers used a lot of ASPOs. Keep us updated on the Skype lessons, I'd like to know what your experience is.
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