(left to right): Tommy Jackson (creator of "Cherokee Shuffle") and Tommy Magness (creator of "Lonesome Indian")
This week's tunetorial features a very popular fiddle tune that is beloved by flatpickers especially and bluegrassers in general.
The story of how "Cherokee Shuffle" came to be seems to be this: fiddler Tommy Magness (who would later play for Bill Monroe) wrote and recorded "Lost Indian" (aka "Lonesome Indian") in the 1930's. Fiddler Tommy Jackson transformed that tune into "Cherokee Shuffle", the main differences being a shift from playing in D to A, and a more varied B part with a cool descending run.
Tommy Jackson isn't very well known, but he was a huge session fiddler in Nashville. He can be heard on most of the great country music recordings produced in Nashville from the late 40's thru the early 60's... songs like Your Cheatin' Heart, I Saw the Light, Kaliga, Heartaches By the Number, Under Your Spell Again, Don't You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me and many others.
Some folks say these are the same tune, but they aren't. Cherokee Shuffle, though, is certainly heavily based on Lost Indian. (To add to the confusion, there are actually two very different old-time fiddle tunes called "Lost Indian").
Learn the Tune:
Hear It using the GrooveShark playlist to the right.
Casey Henry has posted a lesson teaching you the lead break for this tune using the "Murphy Method"--by ear, no tab! Lesson is only $6 thru the end of the week. Get it here >
Backing Tracks: Band in a Box tracks are included below at various speeds for your practicing pleasure.
This has been a difficult song for me to learn. I keep coming back to it every so often, but it still daunts me. For some reason, I just can't get the fingering to stick in my brain, and come out of both hands correctly on a consistent basis. Here is my version, worked out from listening to Bill Keith's first break on the "Beating Around the Bush" album.
This has been a difficult song for me to learn. I keep coming back to it every so often, but it still daunts me. For some reason, I just can't get the fingering to stick in my brain, and come out of both hands correctly on a consistent basis. Here is my version, worked out from listening to Bill Keith's first break on the "Beating Around the Bush" album.
That is very good Beardog, nicely melodic and very Bill Keith
I have trouble with the second part if I play too fast in melodic style but you have a nice balance between speed and melody
I find that any tune played in melodic style is harder to learn than in Scruggs style. The chord based playing style is more intuitive than melodic style, at least for me. I believe that one can become competent in Scruggs style more quickly than melodic or Reno style, for sure. When you start moving up the neck and onto the 3rd and 4th strings to play higher pitched notes in a scale, and/or start throwing in single string stuff, the difficulty level multiplies. I have great respect for pickers like Bill Keith, Tony Trischka, and their disciples, because of the difficulty of what they do, not because I like it better than good old Scruggs style, straight ahead bluegrass. And of course, Noam Pikelny is not of this world.
This has been a difficult song for me to learn. I keep coming back to it every so often, but it still daunts me. For some reason, I just can't get the fingering to stick in my brain, and come out of both hands correctly on a consistent basis. Here is my version, worked out from listening to Bill Keith's first break on the "Beating Around the Bush" album.
