Tobus - Posted - 01/27/2017:  06:22:56

Paul Brown's album Red Clay Country has a track (#10) titled Old Man's and Old Woman's Quarrel.  It's an amazingly intricate crooked tune, played in f#ADAD tuning, as best I can tell.  I've tried to pick it up by ear, but being unfamiliar with playing in this tuning, and being unable to slow down the track, has left me stymied.  Does anyone have tab or notation for this version?

Note: this is apparently an altogether different tune than the Growling Old Man tune in the BHO archive.

Jack Baker - Posted - 01/27/2017:  07:54:45

What is "crooked" about this tune? I never know what people are talking about when they refer to a song as "crooked"...are you talking about a different tuning?...Jack 

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Originally posted by Tobus

 

Paul Brown's album Red Clay Country has a track (#10) titled Old Man's and Old Woman's Quarrel.  It's an amazingly intricate crooked tune, played in f#ADAD tuning, as best I can tell.  I've tried to pick it up by ear, but being unfamiliar with playing in this tuning, and being unable to slow down the track, has left me stymied.  Does anyone have tab or notation for this version?

Note: this is apparently an altogether different tune than the Growling Old Man tune in the BHO archive.

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Tradewinds Ted - Posted - 01/27/2017:  09:02:16

Jack  - Usually a "crooked" tune is one that has a different number of measures (bars) than normal, instead of the usual multiples of eight.  I play a version of "Oberlin Waltz" that has 7 bars in the A part, and 8 bars in the B part.  Another option is when there is a measure (or a few measures) that are themselves a different length than normal, such as if there was a measure of 5/4 time in the midst of a tune that is otherwise in 4/4 time.

I'm not familiar with the particular recording mentioned in the original post though, so I can't help there.

Toblin - Perhaps trying a "slow-downer" program could help?

Tobus - Posted - 01/27/2017:  10:41:04

Yeah, a "crooked" tune doesn't follow a familiar, regular pattern.  It can have an extra two beats somewhere, or an extra full measure, or missing measures, etc.  This particular tune is not only crooked, but it doesn't have a regular repetition pattern of the different parts of the tune.  There's a half-measure between the A and B parts.  Then it jumps back and forth between what I hear as the B and C parts (the old man), before going back to the A part (the old woman).  It's a really cool, catchy tune, though, and I can't get it out of my head.  I just have to get my head wrapped around it firmly enough to be able to play it correctly.  It really does remind me of an old man and an old woman quarreling with each other.

You can hear a sample of it here.  It's enough of a sample to hear it at least all the way through once before going back to the beginning: 5-string.com/sound/5sp06002/Ol...arrel.mp3

I have the basic melody notes down.  It's very simple, actually.  But filling out the sound the way he does is going to take some further scrutiny on my part, and that's where I'm having a hard time hearing it at regular speed.  I don't have any slow-downer software.

Edited by - Tobus on 01/27/2017 10:42:36

Jack Baker - Posted - 01/27/2017:  11:07:27

Ok, got it and thanks...Jack 

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Originally posted by Tobus

 

Yeah, a "crooked" tune doesn't follow a familiar, regular pattern.  It can have an extra two beats somewhere, or an extra full measure, or missing measures, etc.  This particular tune is not only crooked, but it doesn't have a regular repetition pattern of the different parts of the tune.  There's a half-measure between the A and B parts.  Then it jumps back and forth between what I hear as the B and C parts (the old man), before going back to the A part (the old woman).  It's a really cool, catchy tune, though, and I can't get it out of my head.  I just have to get my head wrapped around it firmly enough to be able to play it correctly.  It really does remind me of an old man and an old woman quarreling with each other.

You can hear a sample of it here.  It's enough of a sample to hear it at least all the way through once before going back to the beginning: 5-string.com/sound/5sp06002/Ol...arrel.mp3

I have the basic melody notes down.  It's very simple, actually.  But filling out the sound the way he does is going to take some further scrutiny on my part, and that's where I'm having a hard time hearing it at regular speed.  I don't have any slow-downer software.

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Cloudmonger - Posted - 01/27/2017:  16:10:58

VLC (Video Lan Client) is free open source software with a built-in playback speed adjustment function, which does not affect tone. You can use it for MP3 or video files. Mac, Win, iOS for sure, probably available for Android as well.

I'd be interested in the tab if you work this out, it's a great tune.

Tobus - Posted - 01/27/2017:  18:23:05

Ok, I got it worked out, I think. It sounds much better on a real banjo than it does with the TablEdit playback. What a fun tune to play! The low f#ADAD tuning is a bugger to manage, since the strings are very bendy at that low tension. But it adds to the character of the old man's voice on the slides.

I'm posting on my phone at the moment, but I'll post the tab when I get back on my computer.

Tobus - Posted - 01/28/2017:  15:37:54

Here's the tab.

I've done it in 4/4 time.  But the bridge between the A and B parts is a half (2/4) measure.  And the B part ends with a 6/4 measure, with the C part being just a single 6/4 measure that repeats several times.  I could have just made it all 4/4 and 2/4, but it tended to lay out better on the page this way.  I hope it's not too confusing.  Crooked tunes can be difficult to put on paper, due to the time changes.

Anyway, the pattern is AA-BB-CCC-B and then it all repeats.  Paul Brown apparently varied the number of times he played the C part.  I guess it's the old man grumbling over and over and repeating himself, LOL.

It sounds like he was playing this on a fretless banjo, perhaps.  The notes on some of the low slides really sound like they should be "in-between fret" notes to me.

Old Man's and Old Woman's Quarrel