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stevebo - Posted - 11/10/2009: 14:18:12
Every tab I find of "dixie" is for scruggs style, is there a claw hammer tab for "dixie"?
whyteman - Posted - 11/10/2009: 15:16:55
I play Dixie in a frailing style, but I don't speak/write tab. It's one of my favorite tunes, and I do hope to have a video up of it on my YouTube channel fairly soon.
I play it on my Nylagut/calfskin head banjo tuned down 5 half steps in the key of D. I play it kind of medium tempo and bitter sweet, not exuberantly. I add two minor chords where a lot of folks would play a major chord to add a tragic chill to the tune. I've never heard a Scruggs style version that didn't sound way too boisterous and happy.
Don.
Haul off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve.
ekistl - Posted - 11/10/2009: 16:41:58
I play it in gCGCD/aDADE. I don't have a tab, but it is one of the first tunes I was able to pick out and make a version by ear. Give it a try. Lots of hammer ons.
-eric
Life was hard for the pioneers, but every now and again, someone would get out the fiddle and make it all worse.
RG - Posted - 11/10/2009: 19:41:47
R.D. Lunceford plays a great CH version on his "Cotton Blossoms" CD...and tab book to match...
******************************************************
"It's a league game Smokey..."
Edited by - RG on 11/10/2009 19:43:15
stevebo - Posted - 11/10/2009: 20:02:14
Thanks for the info------you guys are the best!
oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 11/10/2009: 21:03:40
Get a copy of "Cotton Blossoms" and the cd that goes with it. RD also has another book titles "Drop Thumb" they are great tab books and great tabs. Ron is a great player too. It would be money well spent.
You can get the books from RD directly or from stores like Elderly.
Go to my BHO homepage and check out my review of R.D.s books and cds. I've got a few other reviews up too.
http://www.rocketsciencebanjo.com
Rocket Science Banjo - Advanced Clawhammer Techniques for beginners and long time players alike. Plus videos and 25-40 EZ Clawhammer Tunes.
& check out "How To Mold A Mighty Pinky" at:
http://www.pricklypearmusic.net
banjo brad's great banjo site
R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 11/10/2009: 21:16:46
Thanks for the kind words folks.
R.D. Lunceford- "Missourian in Exile"
Model 1865 Bowlin Fretless Banjo
****************************************************
"Drink from the Musselfork once, and you'll
always come back." -Dr. Bondurant Hughes, 1917
Alpha Omicron - Posted - 11/11/2009: 05:33:08
If nothing else, you can always just play the chords and sing the melody. Figuring out the melody on your own can be tedious, but is worth it in the end.
freddfish - Posted - 11/11/2009: 08:19:38
quote:
Originally posted by nyartist
Mary Cox has a version on her Vintage Banjo DVD that I really like playing.
Vincent Banjogh
http://www.phillevine.com
I really liked this one...she does it kind of mournful and slow, rather than the up-beat versions one is used to. Has a real good and true ring to it. She plays it in an alternate key, according to her book, but I just use open G. Works for me! Now, if you ever feel like you don't have enough enemies, and need to make a few more....try THESE lyrics: Away down South in the land of traitors, rattlesnakes and alligators,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Where cotton's king and men are chattels, Union boys will win the battles,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Chorus: Then we'll all go down to Dixie, away! away!
Each Dixie boy must understand
That he must mind his Uncle Sam, away! away!
And we'll all go down to Dixie. Away! away!
And we'll all go down to Dixie.
I wish I was in Baltimore, I'd make Secession traitors roar,
We'll put the traitors all to rout. I'll bet my boots we'll whip them out,
Chorus: Then they'll wish they were in Dixie, away, away,
Oh, may our Stars and Stripes still wave Forever o'er the free and brave,
And let our motto ever be "For Union and for Liberty!"
Chorus: Then they'll wish they were in Dixie, away, away, Fred from Baltimore "You're a hell of a good banjo player, Scruggs.....but you ain't a BIT funny..." -attributed to Uncle Dave Macon, in conversation with Earl Scruggs during their Grand Ole Opry days. I honestly don't know if it is true or not. But I hope it is...
slabounty - Posted - 11/11/2009: 08:24:31
Let me second (third, fourth, whatever) the recommendation for RD's books/CDs.
Fred, You're a *much* braver man than me ;-).
Scott LaBounty
Orange, CA
freddfish - Posted - 11/11/2009: 08:48:15
quote:
Originally posted by slabounty
Let me second (third, fourth, whatever) the recommendation for RD's books/CDs.
Fred, You're a *much* braver man than me ;-).
Scott LaBounty
Orange, CA
I think "crazy" might be a tad more apt in my case....  Got a buddy I met while he was recuperating from a Iraq War wound down at Walter Reed, and wanted to learn some banjo picking.....Army lifer, Virginian, and a Rebel through and through. Man, it used to piss him off when I would play to those lyrics. "You guys have never really gotten over that 3rd day at Gettysburg, have you?" I would say. "And 'ol Billy Sherman....now THERE was a great general!" "Hey, the Civil War ain't over," was his reply. "It's only half-time." Fred from Baltimore "You're a hell of a good banjo player, Scruggs.....but you ain't a BIT funny..." -attributed to Uncle Dave Macon, in conversation with Earl Scruggs during their Grand Ole Opry days. I honestly don't know if it is true or not. But I hope it is...
majikgator - Posted - 11/11/2009: 15:30:50
i don't care for your lyrics myself Fred ( just call me traditional) and don't know why you want to make enemies but good luck to you, you may want to tone down the praises of Sherman if you ever visit Georgia, could be healthy.
jk
Edited by - majikgator on 11/11/2009 15:32:47
freddfish - Posted - 11/12/2009: 09:02:31
quote:
Originally posted by majikgator
i don't care for your lyrics myself Fred ( just call me traditional) and don't know why you want to make enemies but good luck to you, you may want to tone down the praises of Sherman if you ever visit Georgia, could be healthy.
jk
Actually, MG, those lyrics as near as I can tell through my research, ARE traditional. At least as much as the more widely known southern version is. Bear in mind that this song (Dan Emmet, first performed in 1859...) was bastardized by both sides for their political ends. It was originally written as a "homesick" song about the South, with no political implications, and only got a confederate vibe after being altered at the wars start, 2 years later. As the air was so popular North and South of the line, it wound up being played around wartime campfires both Blue and Gray (Hell...Abe Lincoln had it played at his inauguration), and doubtless on fretless banjos as well. Kinda hard to get more traditional than that... As for making enemies, that was an attempt at humor. Just as my friend doesn't get truly angry at my occasional anti-confederate digs, I don't get mad when he teases me about driving a mini-van. There's no point in having friends if you can't joke around with them a bit. Were I to find myself down in Georgia, I would confine my opinions on the war in general and General Sherman in particular, either in jest or serious discussion, to folks who have a sense of humor and history, and also that understand that the Civil War has been over for nearly 150 years. Just my $.02 worth....have a pleasant day. Fred from Baltimore "You're a hell of a good banjo player, Scruggs.....but you ain't a BIT funny..." -attributed to Uncle Dave Macon, in conversation with Earl Scruggs during their Grand Ole Opry days. I honestly don't know if it is true or not. But I hope it is...
majikgator - Posted - 11/12/2009: 09:38:36
my point it was a homesick song - although i find myself liking political tunes enough i don't care for the pro war or lets kill the bums tunes so much, i'm glad your friends enjoy your style of humor, i know that at times my sense of humor can be taken wrong by people that don't know me. The civil war was a very tragic part of American history and as is typical didn't have much to do with the advertised reasons.
jk
BAZ - Posted - 11/12/2009: 11:24:15
You're right jk, the advertised reasons for the war far eclipsed any historical fact. With regard to Georgia, the famous quote by Sherman is, "We did 20 millions dollars worth of damage, only 10 million of which was necessary." Makes the hairs on the back of my civil war reenactor neck bristle!
www.mikebazzo.com
freddfish - Posted - 11/12/2009: 11:38:30
quote:
Originally posted by majikgator
my point it was a homesick song - although i find myself liking political tunes enough i don't care for the pro war or lets kill the bums tunes so much,
Me either, friend...although with tunes like Dixie and the Battle Hymn of the Republic, they do seem to mellow a bit with age. It IS kind of funny to consider those 2 songs as part of the same continuum as Welcome to Hell by Trace Adkins, or some of the other post-9/11 country songs, but in the broad scheme of things, I guess you have to. Funny 'ol world... quote:
i'm glad your friends enjoy your style of humor, i know that at times my sense of humor can be taken wrong by people that don't know me.
True, and for me as well. It can be a real problem on internet d-boards (present compnay and exchange excepted, o'course...) as you can't read the persons facial expressions, tone and body language. These boards can bring people together, but I think they can also keep friendships from getting started, sometimes. quote:
The civil war was a very tragic part of American history and as is typical didn't have much to do with the advertised reasons.
jk
yes...and I can't help but think that there wouldn't have been such a residual well of anger in Dixie that has proven so persistent, if Lincoln would have lived. He was no saint, but by all indications he would have extended teh hand of friendship to the South, and they would have been spared the humiliation of Reconstruction. And come to think about it, I would have been spared being branded a "no-good sink-pissin' Yankee son-of-a-b****" by my friend from Walter Reed... Fred from Baltimore "You're a hell of a good banjo player, Scruggs.....but you ain't a BIT funny..." -attributed to Uncle Dave Macon, in conversation with Earl Scruggs during their Grand Ole Opry days. I honestly don't know if it is true or not. But I hope it is...
freddfish - Posted - 11/12/2009: 13:24:14
OK, I know this is drifting the thread a bit, but this is funny enough to throw out into the mix.
A very gentle Texas lady was driving across the Pecos High Bridge in Texas one day. As she neared the middle of the bridge, she noticed a young man fixing to jump. She stopped her car, rolled down the window and said, "Son, please don't jump. Think of your dear mother and father."
He replied, "Mom and Dad are both dead; I'm going to jump."
She said, "Well, think of your wife and children."
He replied, "I'm not married and I don't have any kids."
She said, "Well, then, Remember the Alamo!"
He replied, "What's the Alamo?"
She replied, '"Well, bless your heart, just go ahead and jump, you dumb ass Yankee."'
Fred from Baltimore
"You're a hell of a good banjo player, Scruggs.....but you ain't a BIT funny..."
-attributed to Uncle Dave Macon, in conversation with Earl Scruggs during their Grand Ole Opry days. I honestly don't know if it is true or not.
But I hope it is...
geemott - Posted - 11/14/2009: 06:31:50
I think the O.P. found what he wanted, but just in case you are interested, there is a simple frailing version of Dixie in the photo album of my homepage. Standard G tuning.
Also, somewhere I have a photostat of a very old copy of this, with lyrics, and they're not exactly homesick or sentimental. Here is a close approximation, translated from the "dialect." After the familiar first verse that everyone knows, it continues:
Old Missus marry Will, the weaver,
William was a gay deceiver
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
But when he put his arm around her
He smiled as fierce as a forty pounder
Look away etc.
His face was sharp as a butcher's cleaver
But that did not seem to grieve her
Look away etc.
Old Missus acted the foolish part
And died for a man that broke her heart
Look away etc.
GeeMott
"Sir, music played on the banjo is like a dog walking on its hinder legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all." --Sam'l Johnson, LLD (not the famous one)
fretlessinfortwayne - Posted - 11/14/2009: 12:27:06
For what it's worth, Dan Emmett of Mount Vernon, Ohio, probably never stepped south of the Mason-Dixon line. A staunch unionist, he had no idea, nor did he approve, that the song would become an anthem of sorts for the Confederacy, although brass bands of the armies of both sides played it during the war. It was a favorite of Lincoln. Also, Emmett lived near a black family by the name of the Snowdens. Some have theorized -- a book was written on it -- that Emmett actually learned the tune from the Snowden brothers. Now how ironic would that be if true?
Dean
"Each one's got to have his own style. It's all creamed potatoes, just fixed a little different." -- Benton Flippen
stevebo - Posted - 11/16/2009: 21:32:27
Thanks Geemott, thats exactly what I was looking for!
Jonnycake White - Posted - 11/18/2009: 09:50:21
I play it in Double-C tuning and never have to go above the fifth fret. I didn't learn it from tab, just figured it out.
Jon W.
"The day is never dreary with the banjo's dulsome tones"
Bob Cox - Posted - 11/26/2009: 19:38:43
[/quote]Actually, MG, those lyrics as near as I can tell through my research, ARE traditional. At least as much as the more widely known southern version is. Bear in mind that this song (Dan Emmet, first performed in 1859...) was bastardized by both sides for their political ends. [/quote]
I think the Dix was a local currency in New Orleans given to the riverboat workers and is the origin of the word “Dixie”.
I also love the lament in Mary Z's version, being 8th generation tarheel (that we can document.)
Bob Cox - Posted - 12/09/2009: 18:10:41
[As for making enemies, that was an attempt at humor. Just as my friend doesn't get truly angry at my occasional anti-confederate digs, I don't get mad when he teases me about driving a mini-van. There's no point in having friends if you can't joke around with them a bit.
[/quote]
What you don't understand is that Sherman is on a par with Natzi concentration camp managers in the south.
majikgator - Posted - 12/09/2009: 20:41:32
ok Mary why was your banjo book censored, i hope not because it contained Dixie which didn't have anything to do with slavery or anything like that and i really don't know why everybody thinks the civil war was abou tslavery to begin with, kind of like saying we went to Iraq to bring the people there democracy, yeah sure, hey i've got this bridge i want to sell. anyhow if it wasn't censored for that, why the heck was it censored?
Bob Cox - Posted - 12/10/2009: 18:46:36
quote:
Originally posted by majikgator
ok Mary why was your banjo book censored, i hope not because it contained Dixie which didn't have anything to do with slavery or anything like that and i really don't know why everybody thinks the civil war was abou tslavery to begin with, kind of like saying we went to Iraq to bring the people there democracy, yeah sure, hey i've got this bridge i want to sell. anyhow if it wasn't censored for that, why the heck was it censored?
It was decorated with copies of 19th century postcards and other art, some of which were line drawings that displayed (gasp) the breast of a woman!
geemott - Posted - 12/12/2009: 08:56:06
Hey, I have the Vintage Banjo tab book, and I can't find any pictures like that in there. (Well, there are these two pages that are stuck together; maybe it's one of those.)
maryzcox - Posted - 12/12/2009: 09:50:03
The first edition had a 19th century line drawing figure of a naked woman playing fiddle (no detail).
I changed it out to the "seal of approval" pix in the second edition. It was not really a censorship issue because both pix were copyright free and it was not like they were upset at my original artwork. :) I didn't really care, and the poor ranger in charge was so harassed by the whole episode--that it seemed the best thing to do was to change
it .
There was never any problem with "Dixie" as the recording was a slow and pretty instrumental and nothing at all like a battle cry.
Vintage Banjo has been out for over 10 years now and folks still come up and tell me that Dixie is his/her favorite. :)
jamesd - Posted - 12/12/2009: 12:23:43
Mary, this topic about Dixie has stirred my interest in learning the tune, so I just sent you an order for the CD and the tab booklet. Can you sent the 1st edition?
James
maryzcox - Posted - 12/12/2009: 15:01:35
quote:
Originally posted by jamesd
Mary, this topic about Dixie has stirred my interest in learning the tune, so I just sent you an order for the CD and the tab booklet. Can you sent the 1st edition?
James
Hello James, Sorry, but there are no longer any first editions--however the book is the same except for the one pix--which--by the way--had far less anatomical detail than the mermaid inlay on my GDL. 
whyteman - Posted - 01/14/2010: 14:33:43
I've never been able to warm up to the bright brassy bluegrass versions of Dixie that I've heard over the years. For me, the tune is bittersweet, maybe even a bit dark. but it has an undercurrent of both hope and nostalgia, which are sometimes at odds with each other. Like Yanks and Rebs.
I recently posted an audio clip of our interpretation of Dixie on my music file page, and Bassora has posted the video version. I cannot personally imagine playing this tune with steel strings.
Don.
Feo - Posted - 01/14/2010: 18:29:56
Hey, I read this thread about " Dixie " , ran over to my cassette tape machine to give it a try with my low-tuned fishing line banjo and my funky banjo style ....Low tuning is an idea that I borrowed from Whyteman ... I did an off-the-cuff recording but Dixie is a tune that really deserves a nice thorough arrangement for it ... bluegrass banjo is too fast and bright for the tune ...straight clawhammer is kinda same-ish and relentless .... I don't know .... I think I'd like to hear the minstrel style banjo players try it .... here's me trying it .
http://www.banjohangout.org/myhango...97&archived=
There ya go Don , no steel strings !
banjoike - Posted - 01/14/2010: 18:51:50
Can't really beat Mary Cox's version!!
whyteman - Posted - 01/16/2010: 08:23:36
That was great, Jimmy. I think that your low fishing line sound has a more natural feel than those cello banjos that are starting to catch on. You should do a more "thorough arrangement", but please use this fragment as the template. Check out BanjerMaker's clawhammer version. It's very nicely done and not a bit relentless.
Don.
H Kimball - Posted - 01/22/2010: 14:26:46
After reading this post I sat down and picked out Dixie in Double C. No tab just picked it out. It went together fairly easily so I would encourage others to jump in and try it, don't worry so much about tab just learn it by ear! I use tab occasionally but would rather play by ear.
Bob Cox - Posted - 01/26/2010: 16:06:48
quote:
Originally posted by geemott
Hey, I have the Vintage Banjo tab book, and I can't find any pictures like that in there. (Well, there are these two pages that are stuck together; maybe it's one of those.)
Unfortunately you have the censored version, then again if you have a heart condition you may not have been able to stand the stimulation of the original!
banjered - Posted - 01/27/2010: 11:47:59
BanjerMaker, that was a fabulous rendition! http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/168212 It had the right bounce and syncopation that is really hard to capture. I aspire to your version but I guestimate I am only 2/3 of the way. You in Double "D?" Thanks!
Bob Cox posted:
Originally posted by geemott
Hey, I have the Vintage Banjo tab book, and I can't find any pictures like that in there. (Well, there are these two pages that are stuck together; maybe it's one of those.)
Unfortunately you have the censored version, then again if you have a heart condition you may not have been able to stand the stimulation of the original!
Reminds me of the old joke of the heart patient visiting his doctor, "How about sex, Doc?" Doc says, "Just with your wife, I don't want you to get too excited." 'Nuff said - Ha! TC
BanjerMaker - Posted - 01/27/2010: 13:10:59
Thanks for the compliment! Nope. I'm in Open D (Open C capoed up two frets)
Bob Cox - Posted - 02/02/2010: 18:34:52
quote:
Originally posted by whyteman
I've never been able to warm up to the bright brassy bluegrass versions of Dixie that I've heard over the years. For me, the tune is bittersweet, maybe even a bit dark. but it has an undercurrent of both hope and nostalgia, which are sometimes at odds with each other. Like Yanks and Rebs.
I recently posted an audio clip of our interpretation of Dixie on my music file page, and Bassora has posted the video version. I cannot personally imagine playing this tune with steel strings.
Don.
That is exactly our take on the tune.
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Feeds
) There is also a simple clawhammer tab to it in "Vintage Banjo Tab Book." (Probably the only banjo book whose first edition was censored a few years ago by a state park--but was reinstated later because of all the banjo players who called to protest. 
Much more appreciated than socks or a tie. 
