Mark Johnson - Posted - 08/25/2011:  08:33:56

I have cooperative pinky fingers, apparently unlike many players.  This allows me to keep my right hand with the index at the 2nd fret (or as some may say in "first position") through that part.  But some folks have a hard time with that.

A less stretchy way to play that would be all drop thumbs:

--5---------0------------------------

-----5----------------0--------------

----------------5--------0-----2----

-----------------------------------4--

Sorry for the ugly nature of the tab above, I did it "freehand".

Of course there is always the option to make it simpler.  As noted above, the melody suggests that measure 8 would be a C chord for the first 1/2 of the measure, and a D chord for 2nd half.  You could go as clean and simple as brushing those chords, to hitting some single notes from it, especially the 1st notes of each eighth note pair in my [perhaps overly notey] version.

banjoholic - Posted - 08/25/2011:  11:42:34

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mark Johnson

I have cooperative pinky fingers, apparently unlike many players.  This allows me to keep my right hand with the index at the 2nd fret (or as some may say in "first position") through that part.  But some folks have a hard time with that.

A less stretchy way to play that would be all drop thumbs:

--5---------0------------------------

-----5----------------0--------------

----------------5--------0-----2----

-----------------------------------4--

Sorry for the ugly nature of the tab above, I did it "freehand".

Of course there is always the option to make it simpler.  As noted above, the melody suggests that measure 8 would be a C chord for the first 1/2 of the measure, and a D chord for 2nd half.  You could go as clean and simple as brushing those chords, to hitting some single notes from it, especially the 1st notes of each eighth note pair in my [perhaps overly notey] version.

 

---

 You can also hit that 5th fret on the 3rd string as an alternating string hammer on with the ring finger.  I sometimes do that instead of the drop thumb as a way of varying the rhythm a little bit.  Or maybe I'm just lazy :) 

erikforgod - Posted - 08/25/2011:  15:20:58

Mark...thanks for those possible options....But I am going for the way you originally wrote it out...I can play it..just not as clean yet as I would like. I feel like I am learning alot just from this simple fiddle tune...it has sorta new stuff in it for me..

Thanks again :)

vrteach - Posted - 08/27/2011:  07:47:56

OK, it's a week late but I came up with a version this morning. I worked it out using the ABC version on the Fiddler's Companion, and I'm in A-Modal on my WL-250. Maybe I'll try a fiddle/banjo version, too.

Mike in the Wilderness

erikforgod - Posted - 08/27/2011:  16:57:53

Ok its been a week...here is my version...I am wearing my "banjamas" so my appearance is a bit goofy...but anyways...here it is mistakes and all...I think I am chuggin right along for a beginner...one must walk before he runs

VRteach - I like your version it sounds really good...you guys get really good tone when you play...I am not there yet but I will be one day.

Edited by - erikforgod on 08/27/2011 16:59:31

VIDEO: Mike in the wilderness "G" (click to view)

wormpicker - Posted - 08/27/2011:  17:32:10

Great job, Eric!  I hope you won't mind one tiny and easily fixable criticism.  I might be wrong, but I think you may be missing one beat--the first beat of the second measure (or, depending on how you look at it, the last beat of the first measure) of the A part.  That section feels really syncopated anyway, and on the fiddle those two quarter D notes are usually tied across the bar, so it's easy to get wrong.  Here's the note I'm talking about

" />

erikforgod - Posted - 08/27/2011:  18:21:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by wormpicker

Great job, Eric!  I hope you won't mind one tiny and easily fixable criticism.  I might be wrong, but I think you may be missing one beat--the first beat of the second measure (or, depending on how you look at it, the last beat of the first measure) of the A part.  That section feels really syncopated anyway, and on the fiddle those two quarter D notes are usually tied across the bar, so it's easy to get wrong.  Here's the note I'm talking about

" />

 

 

---

 wormpicker - >thanks for pointing that out...and no I dont mind at all :)   You know its funny that you say that...because it feels really "bare" in that measure the way I am playing it ( I dont have the book yet, I got the tab from mark ) and I kept listening to the way that mark plays it in his recording but I couldnt figure it out...its just the open "D" string right there missin ...Mark didnt add the 5th string in the tab either so I added it were I felt it was needed.

banjoholic - Posted - 08/27/2011:  20:18:21

Erik - I think wormpicker was referring to Erich's (vrteach) version.  I don't hear any missing any beats in your version :)  Easy to understand the confusion.  Who'd have thought two Erics would post on a thread about a Mike!

Interestingly, all the tunes posted thus far have been by people with four letter names!  Hmm.....I'm freaked out.

Josh (technically Joshua, but it makes for a better story if you ignore that part)

p.s. - I also am removing the h at the end of Erich's name as well because, well, that had to have been an accident anyhow.

Edited by - banjoholic on 08/27/2011 20:20:55

vrteach - Posted - 08/27/2011:  20:43:18

I did indeed remove a beat in my version--because it bugged me. And yup, I'm Erich with an "h" so I'm a five-letter poster.

wormpicker - Posted - 08/27/2011:  20:53:39

quote:

---

Originally posted by vrteach

I did indeed remove a beat in my version--because it bugged me. And yup, I'm Erich with an "h" so I'm a five-letter poster.

---

That's funny, because I guess I didn't listen to yours that carefully, Erich.  I really was talking about Eric's.  To me, it sounds like it's missing that beat I noted (no pun intended) in the picture, but again, I could be wrong.

Paul

pickinchik - Posted - 08/27/2011:  20:57:26

Have tab will use, great stuff in this thread! 

Mandy

erikforgod - Posted - 08/27/2011:  21:00:05

Ok I am confused ( dont worry its easy :)



Nice to meet you Erich....liked your version of the tune ( even though I am still confused )



I spelled my name "Erik" when I created my hotmail account...they wouldnt let me spell it Eric like its really spelled. So I am actually an "Eric" instead of an "Erik"....BIG LOL

Edited by - erikforgod on 08/27/2011 21:02:45

vrteach - Posted - 08/29/2011:  07:16:57

You know, I'm confused, too. I do remember leaving out the two notes that wormpicker mentions (because I didn't like them) but maybe I kept the space? I thought about from time to time over Sunday, but I largely couldn't remember the tune and wasn't near a computer with which to remind me.

Pleased to meet you Eric.

Mark Johnson - Posted - 08/29/2011:  07:47:40

I think I have some of it straight, but I'm usually wrong when I think that...

EriK: In the tab I cooked up there is a rest on the 4th beat of the first measure.  Instead of resting you just omit it and continue on to the next measure.  It's really my fault, I didn't write in the rest, it's just sort of implied.  You could think about it like this:

  1  &  2 &  3  &  4  &      1  &   2   &   3    &      4   &



--------5-----5-----x-----|----------3------3---5-----3------

----------------------------|-------------------------------------

--0------------------------|---0----------------------------5---

------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------



EriCH: while yours is arranged a little differently, I think the A part still scans the same?  As in ends up with the same # and length of measures as mine, but maybe some of the melody notes come in at different times?  I wish I had a banjo in hand to confirm, but I did my best to play air banjo along with yours and think that is what is going on.

Either way, both of you did a fine job.  

Hoping to hear one from you soon, Mandy.

Mark

banjoholic - Posted - 08/29/2011:  12:30:29

Yes, Mark is right - I was hearing the melody shifting and mistaking it for a skipped beat in Erich's version.  It's not crookified after all!

On a related note, I wonder how many crooked tunes were the result of imperfect recollection of a straight one?  Guess we'll never know...

And from now on, only one Eric/k/ch may post per thread, else we'll all end up with mike in the wilderness. 

vrteach - Posted - 08/29/2011:  13:01:09

It's interesting because I tend to squarify tunes. At least on the banjo.

On fiddle I just mess things up, and calling it a crooked version just give a mistake a cool label.

On another topic; given the name of our site owner, you guys are in the minority! Hmm, wasn't there a Monty Python skit where everything was named "Eric?"

wormpicker - Posted - 08/29/2011:  13:12:41

And more to the topic, wasn't there a Monty Python song called "Eric the Half-a-Be(at)"? ;^)

Paul

Edited by - wormpicker on 08/29/2011 13:14:59

stevel - Posted - 08/29/2011:  13:15:48

Josh's tab appears to be missing an 1/8 note in the first measure.. so either the 5th string is supposed to be a quarter note, or there's an 1/8 note rest missing right before it... at least when comparing the sheet music in the fiddle book to the tab...

banjoholic - Posted - 08/29/2011:  14:27:21

quote:

---

Originally posted by stevel

Josh's tab appears to be missing an 1/8 note in the first measure.. so either the 5th string is supposed to be a quarter note, or there's an 1/8 note rest missing right before it... at least when comparing the sheet music in the fiddle book to the tab...

 

---

Steve - that second note in the first measure is a dotted 1/4 note, which would be where the extra 1/8 note comes from.  This I suppose is one of the drawbacks to tab in that note duration sometimes has to be inferred so as to ensure that each measure has the appropriate number of beats (as Mark alluded to in his earlier post)

Josh

stevel - Posted - 08/29/2011:  15:37:55

Ah, makes sense.

Cheers.

wormpicker - Posted - 08/30/2011:  08:24:38

Sorry to show up back at the dance after the lights have been shut off, but I figured for all the trouble I stirred up, the least I could do is try posting my own attempt at Mike in the Wilderness (and "face the music," as it were).  So, on Sunday, Whitey and I joined J-Walk at his house for a little picking session.  I knew I wasn't ready to produce a presentable version of this great tune, but, with apologies to Mr. Salyer, here it is (J-Walk playing excellent banjo and Whitey providing his always outstanding rhythm guitar).

Paul

[Edit:  Sorry, glitch in the mp3 upload on the first try.  Hope this works better. -wp]

Edited by - wormpicker on 08/30/2011 08:36:52

Mike in the Wilderness

Mark Johnson - Posted - 08/30/2011:  08:41:58

Not at all.  The lights were still on... there may have only been a few of us left in the room, sort of standing around shuffling feet, twiddling thumbs, awkwardly silent.  Mostly we were waiting for someone else to post a take.  Behold!

You guys did a great job.  Paul, I'm jealous.  I wish I had the chops to pull this off on fiddle.  You three make a good trio, I hope you post more stuff of that lineup.  

I also hope that 4 posts is a critical mass, and that this thread will now be flooded with other versions of MitW.

wormpicker - Posted - 08/30/2011:  10:55:44

Thanks, Mark! You're too kind. And thanks again for the terrific TOTW choice and your excellent and inspiring recordings.

Paul

erikforgod - Posted - 08/30/2011:  14:42:53

Thanks Mark...I really enjoyed this tune and am still sloggin away at it...let us know if you have anymore tabs of some of the fiddle tunes to post out of the book... ( actually I plan on gettin the book lickety split quick!

erikforgod - Posted - 09/02/2011:  05:22:58

quote:

---

Originally posted by wormpicker

Sorry to show up back at the dance after the lights have been shut off, but I figured for all the trouble I stirred up, the least I could do is try posting my own attempt at Mike in the Wilderness (and "face the music," as it were).  So, on Sunday, Whitey and I joined J-Walk at his house for a little picking session.  I knew I wasn't ready to produce a presentable version of this great tune, but, with apologies to Mr. Salyer, here it is (J-Walk playing excellent banjo and Whitey providing his always outstanding rhythm guitar).

Paul

[Edit:  Sorry, glitch in the mp3 upload on the first try.  Hope this works better. -wp]

---

Paul - Thanks...I always to hear the way you were doing the phrasing with the tune on the fiddle....thanks a bunch.....I really thought it sucked when I recorded it....but actually I feel better about my playing now considering I have only been on this a few months now :)

Hey Mark I have an idea - <Why not start a thread dedicated to the tunes in this book "Kentucky Fiddle Tunes" and as you come out with a tab, post it and record it and we can all learn it, record it, share our different versions of it and learn from one another.....this thread has been really helpful!

Edited by - erikforgod on 09/02/2011 05:27:17

stevel - Posted - 09/02/2011:  06:31:49

quote:

---

Originally posted by erikforgod

quote:

---

Originally posted by wormpicker

Sorry to show up back at the dance after the lights have been shut off, but I figured for all the trouble I stirred up, the least I could do is try posting my own attempt at Mike in the Wilderness (and "face the music," as it were).  So, on Sunday, Whitey and I joined J-Walk at his house for a little picking session.  I knew I wasn't ready to produce a presentable version of this great tune, but, with apologies to Mr. Salyer, here it is (J-Walk playing excellent banjo and Whitey providing his always outstanding rhythm guitar).

Paul

[Edit:  Sorry, glitch in the mp3 upload on the first try.  Hope this works better. -wp]

---

Paul - Thanks...I always to hear the way you were doing the phrasing with the tune on the fiddle....thanks a bunch.....I really thought it sucked when I recorded it....but actually I feel better about my playing now considering I have only been on this a few months now :)

 

Hey Mark I have an idea - "Kentucky Fiddle Tunes" and as you come out with a tab, post it and record it and we can all learn it, record it, share our different versions of it and learn from one another.....this thread has been really helpful!

---

Eric- no offense meant, but i think there are 700 tunes in that book.  that would be asking a lot of mark, for him to tab out 700 tunes just for the sake of it, w/out any monetary compensation.

once you get used to seeing how standard notation can be worked into tab, you'll be able to come up with your own arrangements based off of the original scores in the book.