The Bubbling Hot Tub of Humanity in Blanchard, Louisiana

I try to take my mandolin with me on business trips and find a bluegrass jam in the town or city I am staying in.  It such a great thing to get out of the hotel and meet some people, and it is always an adventure.  Through the powers of the internet (especially folkjam.com) I can find a jam in pretty much any town I go to.

Well this past week work took me to north Louisiana.  I knew for sure I would be able to find a bluegrass jam somewhere in the area on a Monday night, and sure enough, Blanchard, LA, fit the bill.  Through folkjam.com I was able to contact some folks and confirm that the jam was on.

Blanchard is a one stop light town just on the other side of the Texas border and about 10 minutes north of Shreveport.  My traveling partner and I were able to easily make it to Blanchard from Dallas by the 6:30 jam start time.

In fact we arrived about 15 min early.  The jam takes place in the town hall, and as we walked up we could see that there were already a lot of people inside jamming.  In fact, there were about 10 people playing in a jam circle, and then there must have been 20 people in seats just listening and tapping feet.  I didn’t know we were going to have an audience!

My friend and I walked into the room and of course everyone turned their heads to check us out.  We were a bit out of place.  One kind soul came up to greet us and welcome us to the jam.

The jam itself was….relaxing.  The pace was slow, there was no pressure other than the audience who seemed to enjoy anything that was being played.  There were a lot of guitars and the jam improved immensely when the bass player showed up.

I had a great time just soaking in the “bubbling hot tub of humanity” as my dad would say.  Mostly gospel songs were played.  Not everyone took a break, but everyone sang.  It was just a genuine and downright joyful experience.

I think I also broke out with a couple of big improvements.  On most of my breaks I stuck very close to the melody.  I was able to utilize some tasty Monroe licks that I have been working on.  Most of all, I just played to have fun.

Here are a couple of clips I am proud of.

This first one I like because it is pure Monroe.  These are actually licks from “First Whippoorwill” but changed up just a bit.

Monroe Style Clip

This second clip is from my 9lb Hammer.  I like this one because I really let loose on it and got raw.

Blanchard 9 lb hammer

The final clip I am most proud of.  “Jumbalaya” is a pretty popular song and I have always had a terrible time coming up with a break for it.  The reward for trekking to Blanchard, LA, was this break.  It is raw, and I may never be able to summon it up again, but it was sure fun when it happened.

Jumbalaya clip

Filed under: Jam Reflections, Music & Mandolin Meditations, Music Clip, My Journal, Traveling Man

Red Haired Boy (FAST)

Well this is a long time coming, and I am really pleased to be posting this.

Attached below is recording of me playing Red Haired Boy at the “fast” level – according to my taps at this online metronome it is around 123bpm.

My first blog post that mentions the Brad Davis DVD is November, 2008.  I remember when I first got the DVDs I thought there was no way in hell that I would ever be able to play with the fast level – at least not note for note.  It is really cool that not 9 months later I am able to play along with it.

Now I still have a long ways to go, obviously.  I can’t really play this fast with the rest of the songs on the DVDs.  Also, 123bpm is not the fastest that people play in some jams around here in Dallas – they are typically 130-150.

How did I get here?  In my opinion there are some key factors that helped -

• Slow, intentional practice.  The Brad Davis DVDs are great because the slow level is really slow.  In just about every practice session I would start out with the slow and made sure I played it PERFECTLY;
• This blog – recording my progress and being able to look back at what I have done has been key.  When you get into a rut or plateau the journal helps you pick out things you forgot about and keep things fresh.  It also held me accountable when I was not practicing consistently or being lazy;
• Form – I started taking lessons via webcam with Taterbug a couple of months ago, and he immediately identified a flaw in my left hand form.  I took two months to slow things down and fix it, and now I see there would be no way I could play this fast before hand.

I want to give some credit to the mandoliniana blog for reminding me how important it is to look at yourself in the freshest, most honest mirror possible.  Also thanks to flatpicker650 for nudging me to do this and go public with it.

So, here is the clip.  In the recording I am listening to the DVD through headphones.  Its not the best I have ever played it, and its not the worst.  I always like to improvise out the Part B of Red Haired Boy, and I especially like what I did on this take.  There is a little of my stuff, and some classic Monroe licks.  Thanks and please leave comments!

Audio Clip: Red Haired Boy (Fast)

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, Music Clip, My Journal, Practice Session Notes

The First Whippoorwill

Springtime is near my darling
You say that you are going away
My heart will be with you my darling
And I’m counting now the days

I know that soon I’ll have to travel
I know I’m over the hill
I feel so all alone my darling said she’d be gone
When I heard that first whippoorwill

The flowers are blooming little darling
With the budding of the trees
I hear the night birds a crying
I know that they are warning me

Our love was planted little darling
Just like the farmer plants his grain
But there will never be a harvest
On the hills the whippoorwills now sing

Filed under: My Journal, Show Notes & Song References, The First Whippoorwill

Avalon Reprise – A Rekx Original

Well I finally got to recording a little tune that I have been messing with for a month or two now.  I recorded this using my Zoom H2 microphone and Audacity.  It took a couple of nights to get the sound somewhat optimized – and then of coarse I have to find a time when it is quiet – in my house usually around 10 or 11.

I named this Avalon Reprise because the guitar work is obviously in the style of Mississippi John Hurt.  The song is really just a mixture of 3 or 4 different John Hurt songs.  I play for my son every night at bed time, and many times I will segway from one John Hurt song, into some sort of “John Hurt Jam”, and then back into the original song.  This song is a jam I keep going back to.

It took a couple of tries to get the mandolin part down.  I am just noodling around on it.  I discovered that it is much more difficult to get a satisfactory track when you are just jamming then when you have a written and set solo to play.  I might like to go back and try a different mode like mixolydian and shoot for some Jerry Garcia type noodling.

So, the recording is not perfect, but I just wanted to get it out there and move on.  And I had a blast doing it.

Enjoy!

Avalon Reprise

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, Music Clip, My Journal

Picking and Grinning in Garland

Last Saturday I was able to go jam at the town square in historic downtown Garland, Tx.   Man, I had fun.  It was a genuine hopping good time.  Nice Texas weather, good folks.  There must have been 50 pickers out and another 50 people just there to listen.

Even better is that an independent coffee shop has opened on the square – The Generator Coffee House.  They were brewing great Bolivian beans, but I had to help myself to a quadruple espresso.  I have said before and I will say it again; nothing helps a bluegrass jam like caffeine and a little bit of sugar.

The Generator Coffee shop just opened a week ago, and already they are endearing themselves to the bluegrass community.  Not only were they giving out the first cup of coffee free, but also, they were rotating in a different bluegrass band to play inside the coffee house every hour.  A band would play, and then go outside to pick, and another band would step up.  It definitely generated a lot of traffic inside the coffee house.

I was picking and grinning until about 12:30.  I finally left at about 1:00 AM with my fingers were sore but my spirit light.  Here are some clips from the evening.

These first two clips I am proud of.  They are somewhat coherent and musical – I would not have been able to do this last year.  I am employing Monroe licks that I have learned through Taterbug.  I am still tense, but getting better

blog Garland clip 1

blog garland clip 2

The next clip – Whiskey Before Breakfast – I am proud of because of the speed at which we are playing.  It is not the best solo, but I keep up with the beat at over 120bpm.

Whiskey Before Breakfast jam clip

Every little bit of improvement is good improvement – and most importantly, I had a blast.

Filed under: Jam Reflections, Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal

Left Hand Technique

At the behest of Taterbug, I have been working on my left hand technique.  I suppose that now is a good time to do it.  I didn’t pick up my mandolin for most of the month of June, and so when I did pick her up last week, she felt like a disconnected piece of wood.  So I might as well improve my form while I try to get my feel back.

The problem is that I was gripping the mandolin like a guitar.  I was wrapping my hand around it and hooking my thumb over the top.  The mandolin needs to be held more gingerly, like a fiddle.

The ball of thumb and the large knuckle of the finger should grip the neck.  And the fleshy part of the hand should be off the neck.

It is so frustrating working on form.  You try different things – they all feel awkward.

But last night I came to a bit of a realization.

The point of good form in playing any instrument is that you are playing comfortably and naturally.

If you are not comfortable, and you are not natural, then you are wrong.

So I have been focusing on this idea, and things are coming along.  I have been avoiding the details and the visual.  Instead I look for feel and comfort.

Surely this work will pay dividends.

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal

Time To Settle Down (for a month at least)

Well, the month of June was very hectic for me.  I don’t think that I picked up the mandolin the entire month.  I certainly didn’t go to any jams.  I was able to pick up the guitar from time to time, and even got Hurt’s “Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor” down pretty well.

Well, check that – I did take my mandolin with my on a trip to Memphis and got to jam with my Dad at a dinner party.  That was a lot of fun.  We play this very chill Brazilian jazz together.  It is totally improvised and I gotta say we sound pretty good.  Well, at least the friends enjoyed it.

I went to Switzerland – while there was a lot of interesting things I did and saw, none if it was music related, and I didn’t bring my instrument with me.  I have really hit my stride with twitter – I kept a running diary of experiences on it.  I am open ears for any suggestions of folk and/or bluegrass jams anywhere in Switzerland – I know they are out there.

I go through waves and cycles in my mindscape.  The last couple of months have been heavy on bluegrass.  June was big on Blind Blake and John Fahey.  Right now I am moving into an academic mindset – listening to university lectures, being a total news hound, and learning French.  The academic mindset is hardly ever sustainable for me, and I suspect that July I will move back to bluegrass.  Maybe a kind of tough blues + bluegrass…. = Monroe!

And I am looking forward to continuing my lessons with Taterbug.  I want to put in a good month of lessons with him for July.  I also want to get out to some jams, but that is always difficult with all the things I have going on in my life.

That said, July promises to be a fun and exciting month!  New baby is imminent within weeks.  I can’t wait to see how my little one react to another little one.  In fact, there is NOTHING more exciting and fun than a new baby in the house!  July/August are going to be good months.

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal, Traveling Man

Lots of Tunes

I am a big, big fan of live music.  When I was in college my best friend had a large collection of Grateful Dead bootleg tapes.  By the end of college I had become accustomed listening to live shows only.  Today, it is quite rare for me to listen to an album.  While I appreciate the album as a completed work of art, it just doesn’t seem to have the soul and excitement that a live show has.

One of the great things about bluegrass is that it has a very strong taper tradition.  In fact Jerry Garcia himself used to tape bluegrass bands around the bay area in the early 60’s.

Now days, I am a very experienced bootleg listener.  There are certain microphones I prefer, and certain tapers I look for.  For example, any show taped by Bill Kouky is going to be excellent quality.

I just think that it is so, so cool to be able to listen to a David Bromberg show that took place in Italy last week!

The most convenient place to find live and legal bootlegs is at bt.etree.org.  You will find a lot of jam band music on here, but a lot of other stuff comes through as well….and a lot of bluegrass.  Just lately some new shows have been put up and I have had the great pleasure of listening to, and I recommend them to anyone.  Here are some of the really good ones:

Tony Rice Unit 2004-03-23 ~ Smilefest, Union Grove, NC ~ SBD DAT Master ~ uncirculated

Sam Bush 2009-05-23 Delfest 2009 Cumberland, MD

David & Nancy Bromberg – May 24th, 2009 – Vicenza, Italy

Del McCoury Band 2009-05-22 Delfest 2009 Cumberland, MD BSC1-K2

Junior Brown, Summer Camp Festival, Chillicothe, IL, 2009-05-22

CharlieHunterTrio2009-05-24-Hopmunk Tavern-Sebastopol,CA.MK22

Steep Canyon Rangers 2009-05-22 Delfest BSC1-K2

the Greencards April 18, 2009 Brooksville, FL; sbd

Infamous Stringdusters 2009-05-22 Delfest 2009 Cumberland, MD BSC1 K2

Filed under: Music & Mandolin Meditations, My Journal

Lose the Ego

I have been super busy lately.  Life, life and another dose of life.  But I have been able get in some good mandolin practice and have even gotten to a couple of jams.  And of coarse I have been plugging away with taterbug.

My practice sessions have recently taken an interesting change – for the better.  I went through about a 2-3 week period where I was really lost, but now I have nailed down a really great practice regime.

Through my lessons with taterbug I have been building a good cateloge of Monroe style licks in all keys.  I am really trying to take these licks and positions and integrate them into my mandolin vocabulary.  So, I have been playing along with some recordings of jams and applying the licks to them.  I will take a lick that is in C and transpose it to G, or A or D and try it against several different songs.

I am also working on playing the melody, and playing what is in my head.   This has been a real turning point for me lately in my playing.  In the past I feel that I was reaching for notes that I knew would not be out of key, while not really thinking about the melody I was playing.  This makes for solos that start to all sound alike and that do not represent the melody.  Playing the melody has been something that does not come very naturally to me, and so I really have to work on it.

Another aspect I have been working on is the ego.  In a lesson with taterbug I mentioned how I froze up in jam and how that tension really affects my playing for the worse.  I feel that my playing at home and alone is much better than when I am in front of people.  His response was that playing in general becomes so much easier once you loose the ego.  He really just mentioned this in passing but it struck a chord with me.

The fact is that I am so worried about “sounding good” that it handicaps me.  My own ego is my belief that I should sound good, and that other people should recognize that.  I get so nervous worrying about what other people will think.  Loose the ego and you loose the nerves.  Who cares what other people think!  Have fun!

So I have been happy with the progress I have been making and I feel that my practice sessions will lead to more progress.

Below is a clip from a recent jam.  I like this solo because I had some really good ideas in it.  I used some licks that I have been learning and applied them really effectively.  But this clip is also an example of my ego getting in the way and my need to loosen up.  This solo could have been really good, but my tenseness gets in the way.  When I listen to it, I can really hear my musical idea and my insecure ego battling it out.

Loosen up, play raw, have fun.

05-07-2009 Bluebell Irving clip

Filed under: Jam Reflections, Music & Mandolin Meditations, Music Clip, My Journal, Practice Session Notes

Deep River Blues

Artist: Watson Doc
Song: Deep River Blues
Album: Trouble in Mind

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues.
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues.

My old gal’s a good old pal,
And she looks like a water fowl,
When I get them deep river blues.
Ain’t no one to cry for me,
And the fish all go out on a spree
When I get them deep river blues.

Give me back my old boat,
I’m gonna sail if she’ll float,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues,
I’m goin’ back to Muscle Shoals,
Times are better there I’m told,
Cause I got them deep river blues.

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues,
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues.

If my boat sinks with me.
I’ll go down, don’t you see,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues,
Now I’m gonna say goodbye,
And if I sink, just let me die,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues.

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues,
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
‘Cause I got them deep river blues

Filed under: Deep River Blues, My Journal