stumpkicker - Posted - 09/19/2009:  05:29:42

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Hi folks,

I know this was discussed several months ago but following the thread I still wasn't able to figure out the bottom line.

When playing either of the above songs with the banjo in 'mountain minor' (2nd string tuned to C) what chords should the guitarist be using?

Thanks

Raise Your Action & Listen to Earl

janolov - Posted - 09/19/2009:  07:03:03

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Traditional modal music is often not adapted to chord accompaniment. The traditional way (before the guitar broke inte folk music!) was to play with drones, as most people play it on the banjo. However, guitar, and guitar accompaniment, is nowadays a part of the folk music and the modal songs are often played with chord back-up.

I think your guitaist has two ways to play the accompaniment:
1. The modal way. Don't play traditional chords. Search for the same notes as the banjo. If played in G the guitar should try to play G, D and C notes and sometimes change to F, C, D possibly with a A (some kind of F chord).
2. The chord way. The root chord is Gm (banjo is played in gDGCD). Then an F chord can be put in (F6, Dm7 or Dm are also possible). In Cluck Old Hen also a straight C chord can sound good in some places.

Other modal songs may require other chords, depending on the melody and the actual mode.


.

Jan-Olov

rteale - Posted - 09/19/2009:  16:05:16

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quote:

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Originally posted by stumpkicker


When playing either of the above songs with the banjo in 'mountain minor' (2nd string tuned to C) what chords should the guitarist be using?

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Capo your banjo up two frets, then he can play Am and G. Works for most sawmill songs.

Ray

Couchie - Posted - 09/24/2009:  16:45:38

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I would agree with Ray, there are some fine examples of this in the old recordings.

Don.

O=='=(::}

http://www.doncouchie.com

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 10/13/2009:  15:31:33

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If you are going to play with a fiddler capo up to A for these, but otherwise you can stay in G. Your guitarist might prefer you capo also however, as the chords for G mountain minor would be G minor and F Major - That F can be a Major Pain for some people. Played in A the, guitar would use A minor and G Major, which has a great open string twang going for the G Major chord.


technically you don't need any chords for modal tunes but tuning the guitar to all drones would be boring for the guitarist.

As to where to go from the Minor Chord to the Major - this is easy too. Start by strumming the minor chord and listen for places where the melody seems to fall away from the harmony - those are good places to use the Major chord. Dorian has a strong duotonic feel and when you hear that change you will see how the F chord seems to be AS important as the G minor (or G and A minor).

Mountain Minor was the term some early banjo teachers (Pete Seeger, Art Rosenbaum) used to describe the Dorian Mode. They didn't spell out everything but they distinguished it from plain old everyday "Minor". The Dorian scale is in fact one note different from the Minor scale. Minor chords do not sound right against Dorian tunes and I strongly recommend they be avoided. The Minor key was not used much except to bring colour to concert music until the 19th Century when the lush sound of minor chords were used to pile on Romanticism's bathos.

Western folk music of almost all eras uses the Mixolydian and Dorain modes much more than the minor. Of course you are not limited to the actual tradition but it would be nice if more people were at least, Aware that they were changing the scale from Dorian to Minor before they do it.

I'm gathering up all my writings on Modes for a chapter or two on playing in modes and playing in pentatonic and hexatonic scales - It will be a month or two before I've got it together - but I might drop a few notes on the subject in this forum before it is finished. Stay tuned.



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