Yeah, good point! Are we playing for ourselves or for our audience? Well, that depends on if there is one, I suppose. I say make the audience happy with the tunes they know and love and then throw in some to keep the band happy and balance things out.
Well, I often join a local bluegrass jam here. There's no audience exceopt each other. Mostly the folks are intermediate players. Some are pretty much just starting to learn about the joys of jamming -- just playing in a social setting is a big challenge for them, in lots of ways. The best tunes for these folks to play are tunes they are most comfortable with. So every time we meet, you can be sure we will play those tunes. Some tunes are the classic fiddle tunes, taught to them in whatever version their teacher taught it to them. (That results in some interesting clashes sometimes and I think nobody notices because they are so intent on just getting through what they're doing.) Some tunes are tunes I've never heard anywhere else. One of them will have learned it and taught it to all the others. So now it's a local standard. And you know what, I've discovered that some of the old chestnuts that I'd grown a bit tired of: Old Joe Clark, Angelina Baker, Whiskey - they can be really fun to play at a slower speed with this gang. You can swing the melody a lot harder, and go really different places with them. Those tunes are now new to me again. They have strong, simple melodies which can tolerate such abuse gracefully. On the other hand, even this new awakening of old tunes can't make me like Hot Corn Cold Corn. I doubt anything ever will. But we all need potty breaks from time to time. Topher On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 10:14 AM, MinnesotaMandolin <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi there, I'm a long-time lurker brought out of my shell by this > discussion. > > My band plays 98% original music with a few covers. We only play > traditional fiddle tunes as string changing songs when someone pops a > string. Most of the guys aren't much interested in learning new ones > so we've been playing Whiskey before Breakfast, Red Haired Boy and Old > Joe Clark for literally years. It always brings the house down. I'm > sick to death of WBB but just the other day we did it to great aplomb. > So the question is who's really got the problem with WBB? I do, that's > who. > > how little are the other guys interested? I can't even get them to > fake Jenny Lynn with me and it's only got one chord! We worked up > those three fiddle tunes early in our career and there you go. > > cheers, > erik > > On Feb 4, 11:27 am, Val Mindel <[email protected]> wrote: >> Say hi to Chirps for me. He has great tunes. He plays a really good >> Greensleeves (not the tune you think), with the G run down to E. And >> is no slouch on mandolin. >> >> On Feb 4, 8:20 am, Dasspunk <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> >> > There are two tunes that I refuse to play any more. Blackberry Blossom >> > and Whiskey Before Breakfast. These tunes are butchered daily at jams >> > everywhere and make my skin crawl. I don't mind when folks play >> > them... it's fine beer break music. >> >> > But if the point of having a repertoire is to know songs that you can >> > play with others, then those two are probably at the top of the >> > list. >> >> > Eek! I just looked at that list on mandozine... sure enough, those are >> > some of the most popular tunes I've ever heard at jams. And of course >> > my two *favorites* are on there. Whatever... learn 'em all and decide >> > for yourself which ones you like. >> >> > I'm currently learning a couple tunes for a dance I'll be playing this >> > weekend with Mr. Lynn Chirps Smith. I absolutely love Snake River Reel >> > and his tune Mississippi Palisades. Also on tap are Cumberland Gap (OT >> > version), Little Dutch Girl (which Sadie Compton does a nice version >> > of) and Squirrel Heads And Gravy (which I'm finding difficult to >> > transfer to mandolin). >> >> > Brian >> >> > On Feb 3, 1:16 pm, mistertaterbug <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > > Nelson, >> > > It seems to me that the list varies depending on where a person hangs >> > > his hat (which includes geographical location, chosen era of >> > > 'bluegrass', and age group). Dennis comments in jest. I told him once >> > > that if I had to listen to "Red Haired Boy" once more time I was going >> > > to go out and kill something. There are a few more on *that* list as >> > > well. I will say though, without looking at anyone else's list, that >> > > some of the more common oldtime fiddle tunes seem to hold up across >> > > the board, plus there are a few Monroe tunes that seem to carry over. >> > > I don't think I have a really good grasp of what might be an up-to- >> > > date list of popular 'bluegrass' tunes because I engage so heavily in >> > > eclecticism. >> >> > > Bugs >> >> > > On Feb 3, 1:04 pm, J Hill <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > > > Nelson, >> >> > > > Mandozine lists what they consider to be essential mandolin tunes to >> > > > learn. >> > > > Here's the link:http://www.mandozine.com/music/essential/ >> >> > > > Jason- Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. 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