schlange - Posted - 08/31/2014:  23:45:01

Watch a preview video >

In this, Tunetorial number 15, by request, Dan "Clawdan" Levenson teaches Over the Waterfall. 

The most often quoted source for this tune is the Henry Reed collection of fiddle tunes which was gathered by Alan Jabour some years ago. Alan recorded Henry playing this and many other tunes that has for years made up a solid core of the old time fiddle and banjo repertoire. It is a collection of 3 cassettes (remember them?) that was passed from person to person and to my knowledge is still available free though I’m not sure how the “tree” is followed anymore. I’m sure someone here will know. That collection is well worth finding for a fiddle reference to the tunes at least as many of us first heard them.

In this tunetorial, Dan will play the tune at a moderate adding to it as he goes but break down sections as we go. This one can be very basic or quite ornamental depending on how YOU want it to go. Dan deals with it all here in a progressive manner. Feel free to post any questions you have on it, remark on sections you would like clarified or things you might like added. Yes even the things you don’t like are fair game. It grows the tune and the community when you know what you like and don’t like as you build your own style.

This tune is tabbed out in Dan's book (tune 34 in) Old Time Favorites for Clawhammer Banjo (MB 30224). This one also appears in 3 versions (basic double thumb, drop thumb and “kitchen sink” jam versions) in Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch (MB 20190) for those of you wanting a real nuts and bolts break down of this one.

You can purchase the video lesson (for unlimited streaming and download) here on the Banjo Hangout for $6.

Get it here >

Dan and I would love to hear any feedback you have on these videos, so feel free to post or email us. Our goal here is provide a steady, affordable way for people to learn a new clawhammer tune weekly (or as often as they'd like).

It would be great to hear some of your versions so far so post them here for all to hear!

bornold - Posted - 09/01/2014:  07:52:22

Is there anyway to buy all the tune tutorials for say, a year?

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 09/01/2014:  08:18:22

Great tune choice, Dan.

I worked up the Tune of the Week (Old Time) “essay” on this in October 2013.

At that time I had the good fortune of collaborating with BHO member Stefan Curl who was trading tunes with Franklin George at the September 2013 Berkeley Old Time Music Convention in California.  

Stefan related that after playing tune “Over The Waterfall,“ Franklin George asked whether Stefan knew there was a third part.

See: banjohangout.org/archive/277009

At that time, I took a crack at the three-part version this way:

youtube.com/watch?v=we6c1hVaj_U

I just purchased your tunetorial.  Looking forward to learning your way of riding the waterfall.

V/R,

Lew

Tatersoup - Posted - 09/01/2014:  09:16:01

I'm not paying $6.00 a hit for a lesson unless it's something special i want to learn. Guess I'll go elsewhere to learn and share knowledge.

It seems a shame that BHO is becoming a pay to play site. I always felt BHO was a banjo community site with folks freely sharing their knowledge. It feels like it's becoming more of an infomercial.

Or maybe I'm just a bitter old phart.

"This is the world's largest, most active banjo community. Established in 2000, the Banjo Hangout features forums, reviews, tabs, audio and video archives and much, much more. Built for banjo players, by banjo players, this is the place to go for free banjo resources!"

Edited by - Tatersoup on 09/01/2014 09:18:12

banjo bill-e - Posted - 09/01/2014:  10:22:18

Well I see a website that is 99.99% free content with occasional optional ways to purchase additional content. But it's not forced on anyone. Where else can you go for even a fraction of the banjo information that is offered free on this amazing website?

Clawdan - Posted - 09/01/2014:  10:49:31

I always find it amusing when folks perceive that they should be entitled to something for free because it is "folk music" when we would never have most of the archives we do except for the fact that so many players were professional back in the day. Even so, as is mentioned there is mostly free content here which while free to us is not really free since SOMEONE has to pay for the work done on the site, the server space and everything it takes to make such an intricate website work and the folks who do the work (Thanks much to all of them, btw). The fact that WE don't pay directly for any of it since advertisers (I am also a paid advertiser of this site) and sponsors ("union" members, etc) cover the costs for us (yes you Tater) is a point that should not be diminished or devalued by a rant about having to pay a mere $6 for a half hour "lesson" - a portion of which goes to the site to continue to support it - when most personal in person or skype lessons these days run around $50 plus (I currently charge $65 and am now taking skype students again). So you can pay that if you prefer and work on exactly what you would want to work on, but I doubt you will like that idea either.

As noted there is a lot of free material here, and even as a professional old time musician (oxy-mornonish as that might sound) who has made my living from this wonderful music for many years now (20 full time and at least 10 before that part time) I have given much to individuals and the community both here at the hangout and around the world while sometimes hopefully getting a bit of financial remunerations for my time, work, experience and contributions to the field. Rather than list my 13 mel bay books or 10 plus recordings boths solo and band (The Boiled Buzzards) you can, if you wish, check out my credentials at my website - clawdan.com - to see more about me.

No, not everyone will want or get every tune. Not everyone will get a lot out of every tune, and you should only use what is worth it to you to work on - paid or free - but I will continue to post these tunetorials at the hangout for those who want to avail themselves of them. I'm not hurt or offended by anyone who just doesn't want to use or pay for these or the free things. To each their own. What I am surprised by (though perhaps I shouldn't be) is that some "old fart" would bother to take the time to rant about something they don't want to be part of.

BTW, Bernold, I record these the week before they appear so there would not yet be a way to get like a year's worth (or month) in advance if that is what you are looking to do. I believe they stay up for a while though. (right Eric?)

Again, for those of you enjoying these tunetorials, thank you - I look forward to seeing your versions and progress and more discussion of the tune such as Lew has posted. For the rest, enjoy the other 99.9% of the site that someone else has paid for so you can enjoy it "for free".

Play Nice,

Dan

clawdan.com

PS, Eric, Bornold may have a good idea. Some way to "subscribe" or get the year in the past (started in May this year?) as a pkg. a month at a time and make them available as a package by dvd?

Banjosnob - Posted - 09/01/2014:  11:52:28

To Tatersoup: 

 So I guess you work for free.

Edited by - Banjosnob on 09/01/2014 12:07:39

bornold - Posted - 09/01/2014:  15:34:22

Seeing that nigh everything is free, who cares if somebody wants to sell something. I pay for lessons and its totally worth it

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 09/01/2014:  15:56:18

I really think Dan's point that the website is "free" only because it's actually paid for by various means other than a required user fee is really the most salient point here. If these optional paid for lessons help to subsidize the website for all the non-payers here, what's the problem? This website as a resource is worth far, far more than the nothing so many users pay, but the people that run it do need to make a living. Or, Mr. Tatersoup, did you think Erik was just some independently wealthy fellow with nothing better to do with his time than run a bunch of free websites for people that want to get everything for nothing?

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 09/01/2014:  16:29:48

I think the original poster is free to decide whether he wants to pay for Dan's tutorial or not.

But claiming that he should either not charge or not "advertise" on the site is rather mean spirited.

Plenty of pay stuff is advertised on the BHO site. The poster is not demanding the removal of anything but Dan's Tutorials. I think this is pretty unfair to Dan and anyone else who might create such tutorials in the future.

Clawdan - Posted - 09/01/2014:  19:23:25

Thanks all for the support. Now back to the music.

johnv - Posted - 09/01/2014:  19:49:24

To each their own, BUT here in Arkansas we have a name for freeloaders Cheers

janolov - Posted - 09/01/2014:  22:42:36

I am glad for this opportunity to get inexpensive learning material.

I think, from a general point of view, that stuff you have to pay for usually is of higher quality than free stuff  (even if there are exceptions on both). Just look for "clawhammer banjo lessons" on YouTube and you will find several examples of bad lessons (but the Rocket Science Banjo is an opposite example - free material of good quality). I have bought several of Dan's books and I think they are worth the money. I have not tested his tunetorials yet, but I will gladly put 6 $ for a lesson.

Edited by - janolov on 09/01/2014 22:44:14

Clawdan - Posted - 09/02/2014:  06:07:47

Couldn't have put that better myself Jan.

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 09/02/2014:  09:09:47

Let me try and swing this back to the tune in question.

Here’s Stefan Curl taking a crack at the tune with the Third Part that he learned from Franklin George at the Berkeley gathering:

youtube.com/watch?v=OecK3aF1Sgw

zquark - Posted - 09/02/2014:  11:26:54

I have very little money to spend on banjo (not usually a problem, cause you can't commit suicide jumping out of the woodshed window) stuff, but I've found that the online tutorials I've purchased have paid for themselves many times over. I'm all for free stuff when appropriate, but some things require money to produce and distribute-where will it come from? There's a huge amount of free stuff out there:tabs, sheet music, mp3's, etc. This is great, but it is merely a set of generic directions to begin exploring....when I purchased a double thumbing tutorial from Ken Perlman, I was with a musician, whose presence and demonstration actually cleared a huge logjam in my ears, mind and fingers- a meta leap from where I was. This is why we get together and jam with others, maybe? ( in addition to the fun of it, of course).
$6 to take the lesson-how much is that in the real world? There're people on this board who live close enough for me to consider driving to their locations, and I know I would pick up something of value just playing in realtime with a real person, but I'm gonna spend more than $6 on fuel to make the trip. It costs hideous amounts of money and electricity to keep the web alive: somebody's gotta pay for it.
Part of the real value of old time (indeed, any form of roots music) is that there is a huge amount of incredible diversity based on a huge of "classical" tunes and themes. Many, of course deal with archetypal joys and sorrows of human life-that's why they're classics, but it will be noticed that the incredible diversity comes from the relative isolation of population groups, whence comes such variations as Round Peak banjo, Missouri fiddling,etc. communication was done by travelling salesman(pushing subsistence culture out of the way to make room for industrial substitutes, alas), soldiers, itinerant preachers, escaped prisoners rusticating to escape John Law......
-A wonderful example of this will be seen in the soon-to-be-great documentary, 'This ain't No Mouse Music' the musical biography of Chris Strachwitz-
I am instructed by books and online tabs, etc. I LEARN from musicians, even musicians on the web. I'll continue to try to balance web fees and gasoline purchases, hoping I run into some more banjo whackers one place or other....

RoseMcCourry - Posted - 09/03/2014:  15:04:05

I'm from western North Carolina and grew up hearing old time music nearly every day of my life since my mom is an old time fiddler, but when I moved out to sw New Mexico and picked up the banjo, I suddenly realized how isolated I was musically and how difficult it was to get lessons in the style I was most interested in. Lot more bluegrass than old time out here in these mountains in general. I'm incredibly grateful for all the online resources and high quality instruction available for free and for cheap.



For instance, The Cuckoo was difficult for me to grasp for some reason by ear and by tab, but Clawdan's tunetorial here on BHO finally helped me to really get it. Seems to me that BHO is still full of free resources which I utilize every day, and I'm glad to give back a little when I can :)

zquark - Posted - 09/05/2014:  17:37:05

Just  bought the OTW lesson for $6, and the same thing I described previously happened once again: small stumbling blocks that had kept me stumped evaporated...and the great  descriptions of the small moves, which mastered, make for wonderful complexity and brand new interest in a way old song. I've watched it only once, but I've already got more than $6 worth of stuff to think about and do....

Clawdan - Posted - 09/05/2014:  19:16:51

Thank you Zquark. Great to know that these are helping. No matter how much or how little one pays for lessons, help, coaching or advice, it isn't worth anything if it doesn't help. Are you up to posting your version yet?

zquark - Posted - 09/07/2014:  21:09:30

No, thank  you-still stepping on my wienie..cramos got my pinky.