12/10 – 19/07 – The Past Week of Practice

I have come down with a pretty heavy cold starting last Thuresday, and so it has been supressing my playing time and my motivation for writing in this journal.

I went to the Slow Jam at Charley’s last Monday.  It was a lot of fun.  Carl was really on fire and sounding great on the banjo.  I did not play very well, I thought.  I was very tense.  I haven’t listened to the whole recording yet.

Sunday I went to the Southwest Bluegrass Club’s Christmas party.  I mainly wanted to go to show off and introduce my family to all of my friends there.  With the newborn and the two year I didn’t get to stay long enough to jam.  But my son Jude really enjoyed seeing the live band play up close.

I got my first real practice session in last night.  I started out with some the Tim O’Brian arpeggios.  I am still not sold on this exercise.  I ended up just playing arpeggios all over the neck.  Next I went to my jam tunes book and played along with almost the entire second CD.

I really enjoy trying to play fiddle tunes by ear, and I am getting better at it.  First I listen to the song at a slow pace and try to get down the melody and signature licks.  The I play it slowly with the backup instruments and I read the tab and try to play it perfectly as written.  For the fast version I just jam it out.  I try to allow myself some interpretation, but at the same time if I miss a signature lick then I will go back and learn it.

I went through Liberty, Salt Creek, Whiskey Before Breakfast, St. Anne’s Reel and a couple others in this way.

I finished up the practice session playing along with some recordings of my cousin Ben.

I hope I get to feeling better.  Sniffle sniffle cough cough.

Filed under: My Journal , Charley's Jam

Freight Train

Lyrics: Elizabeth Cotten
Music: Elizabeth Cotten

Played by Jerry with David Grisman, and recorded on “Not For Kids Only.” Also played once solo and once with JGB

Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
They won’t know what route I’m going

When I’m dead and in my grave
No more good times here I crave
Place the stones at my head and feet
And tell them all I’ve gone to sleep

When I die, oh bury me deep
Down at the end of old Chestnut Street
So I can hear old Number Nine
As she comes rolling by

When I die, oh bury me deep
Down at the end of old Chestnut Street
Place the stones at my head and feet
And tell them all I’ve gone to sleep

Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Freight train, freight train, run so fast
Please don’t tell what train I’m on
They won’t know what route I’m going

Jerry Garcia Recordings
	Date		Album		Recorded By
	1993		Not For Kids Only		Garcia/Grisman

Filed under: Freight Train, Show Notes & Song References

12/09/07 – I Played Mandolin On the Radio!

My cousin Ben is a very talented singer/songwriter – check out his myspace page here. He just got back from Nashville where he was recording a new album. Sunday night Ben was scheduled to play on the Front Porch Show on 99.5fm The Wolf. This is a show where the DJ brings in musicians, mostly local, to play in the studio. Ben had an hour or two to kill before the show, so he stopped by my parents house to hang out. Well, I happened to have my mandolin and so we started jamming. After the first song Ben said, “Hey, that sounded pretty good…why don’t you just come up to the station with me?”

I got excited and of course I was more than willing to oblige. We went through a couple more songs, and then it was time to go. We only played together for about 30 minutes, and most of the songs were from his new album and so I had never heard them before. But if I know what key we are in then I can fake my way through ok…and we did sound pretty good in my parents living room.

Well, when we walked into the radio station studio my confidence went out the window and into the cold December night. I saw the fancy studio, big microphones, confident looking musicians, and the big red “On The Air” sign…and I went blank. I couldn’t remember anything from our few minutes of practice before! I quickly realized that Ben would not be able to tell me what key we were in or anything else. I would just have to look like I knew what I was doing and go with it.

What if I completely screwed up? What if we sounded so bad that he never got invited back to the show? What if my mandolin ended up killing his young and promising career?

Ben and I stepped out of the studio to tune up our instruments, and he asked me how I was doing. I had to tell Ben, “I am freaking out.” Ben said “Don’t worry…just keep it simple and stay cool.” Yes….keep it simple and stay cool.

So, we got up there and played. I indeed kept it very simple. I didn’t screw up too bad. I didn’t sound as good as at the house, but I didn’t screw anything up. The DJ was very cool and it was actually a very laid back atmosphere. By the third song, Gasoline, I was more relaxed and we actually got to jamming pretty well. Listening to the recording, it doesn’t sound as good as I thought, but again…I didn’t screw up. In fact, Ben has invited me to play with him on stage sometime….I will be better prepared.

I have to mention how cool it was for Ben to let me join him in the studio. He really went out on a limb with me. Ben put family before career, and in his business that is a risky thing to do.

Please check out his myspace page and drop him a line…or even better request his songs on your radio station.

Here are the recordings of the show:

Intro Dialogue

Song – Other Side

Dialogue 2

Song – Doin Alright

Dialogue 3

Song – Gasoline

Filed under: Jam Reflections, My Journal

Old Slewfoot…another with chords

OLD SLEWFOOT (Manney, Hausey & Webb)
A favorite bluegrass song, “Old Slewfoot” is about a clever bear
who keeps evading his rural human neighbors.

C
1.High upon a mountain, tell me, what do you see?
F C
Bear tracks, bear tracks looking back at me.
C
Better get your rifle boys, before it’s too late
F C
The bear’s got a little pig and he’s heading for the gate
G C
Chorus: He’s big around the middle, and he’s broad across the rump
G C
Running ninety miles an hour, taking thirty feet a jump
C
He ain’t never been caught, he ain’t never been treed
F C
Some folks say he looks a lot like me.

2.Saved up my money and I bought me some bees
Started growing honey way up in the trees
Saved up my money but the honey’s all gone
Old Slewfoot’s gone and made himself a home. (Chorus)

3.Winter’s coming on and it’s forty below
River’s froze over, so where can he go?
We’ll run him up the gully, and we’ll chase him in the well
Shoot him in the bottom just to listen to him yell. (Chorus)

Filed under: Old Slewfoot

Old Slewfoot…with chords

[A] High on the mountain, tell me what you see
Bear tracks, bear tracks [D] lookin' back at [A] me
Better get your rifle boys, 'fore it's too late
'Cause a bear's got a little pig and [D] headed thru the [A] gate.

CHORUS
He's [E] big around the middle and he's [A] broad across the rump
Runnin' [E] ninety miles an hour takin' [A] thirty feet a jump
Ain't never been caught, he ain't never been tree'd
Some folks say he looks a [D] lot like [A] me.

I saved up my mon' and I bought me some bees
And they started makin' honey way up in the trees
Cut down the tree but my honey's all gone
Ole Slew-Foot's done made himself at home.

CHORUS

Winter's comin' on and it's twenty below
And the river's froze over so where can he go
We'll chase him up the gulley then we'll run him in the well
We'll shoot him in the bottom just to listen to him yell.

CHORUS

Filed under: Old Slewfoot

12/04/07 – Boys Night Out Practice Session

Tuesday night my wife and baby Nola went out for the evening, leaving just me and my son Jude. Jude and I went to get some hamburgers and fries for dinner and then came back to watch this guitar instruction movie.

I still had a good hour and a half of free time after I put Jude down to bed.

This is what I did:

I started out with the “Kruetzer exercise” from the tabledit files on mandozine. This piece is pretty intimidating at first, but I found it to be a lot of fun and a great finger stretcher. More than anything though I think it is a good exercise in reading tab.

Next I went on to the “Improvisation Patterns” also found on mandozine.

• I went through patterns #1-5 two times each and at 80bpm – this speed was easy! My tone and control was great.
• I got to pattern 6 and ran into a roadblock. The pattern was a little too complicated to get through with the same level of control.
• So, I went back to patterns #1-4 and played them twice at 100bpm – again, this speed was no problem.

****BTW….for anyone who cares, I found a mistake on descending pattern number three. It tripped me up several times before I realized a notes was missing***

• I got to pattern # 5 and 100bpm was a bit of trouble.
• So, I went back and hit patterns #1 & 2 twice at 120bpm – this was tough but I was able to get through it.

Next, I decided to take advantage of the relatively empty house.

You know, a big part of what makes up the sound of Bill Monroe, bluegrass, and any old time music is the sonic milieu they played in. Musicians played in settings where they were unplugged, outside, and in a group with other loud instruments (banjo). Their style and sound was built around this.

I myself have found this to be true also. In the last couple of jams I have attended, I noticed that there is only so much you can do in these settings. By this I mean, when I am sitting at my desk in my bedroom playing to a CD and trying not wake up the baby, I can play all the soft, low frequency notes I want. But if I try and do this in a jam, no one will hear me. The result is that in a jam setting I play much more raw and I seem to find different notes and licks – and to me these different notes and licks are more raw and more authentic.

Basically I am chasing that sound. I practice for playing in jams and with other people, not for playing with my computer, right?

So, I loaded up the last Northport jam and cranked it WAAAY up. I mean loud enough to where I could not hear my own mandolin unless I really banged on it.

Sure enough, I found that different sound. I tapped into some Monroe licks and explored how they sounded. I hit those blues notes and kept it real simple.

That was real exciting, but you know the bluegrass sound is about playing loud AND fast. The Northport jam is pretty slow. So, I loaded up the recording from the last Southwest Bluegrass Club jam. Now that jam was really cooking. I had a lot of fun with it. I focused on staying lose and keeping up to speed. I did have to turn it down some because I just couldn’t stay loose and play that loud.

All in all it was a great practice session and certainly a lot of fun – and I didn’t even wake up my son.

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

12/01 & 02/07 – Weekend Practice

I got some good practice time in this weekend. Sunday the weather turned nice here in Dallas – 77 degrees and blue skies – and I got a got 2 hours of practice in my backyard patio.

I started out with some exercises, mainly “Grisman’s Daily Minimum” and went through that a couple of times. I got kind of bored with it though and moved on. I jammed to the recording of the Northport session a little bit. I just explored the neck and tried to find the melody. I also spent a bit of time on the Monroe style Blackberry Blossum which I have linked on this blog. Sunday evening I focused on fiddle tunes and playing along with my jam CD. I dare say that I might have gotten to the point where that CD seems slow for me.

I also practiced my country blues and finger style guitar. I am trying to lay a good foundation in that regard, establishing the thumb/bass as separate and independent from the fingers. I am just practicing the basics until it becomes second nature. I am really jonesing for a parlor guitar.
All in all I think it was a good weekend of practice. I just focused on playing with great tone, and enjoying the instrument.  Again, I think that technically I am up to speed – I need learn licks, practice playing the melody, and find my voice/style.

Filed under: My Journal, Practice Session Notes