eickmewg - Posted - 03/08/2007:  11:24:13

I really like Adam Hurt's version of "Cumberland Gap" on his Insight CD. I already know two tunes with that title, one in G tuning and the other in Gm. Adam's version bears only a passing similarity to the sawmill tune I know and is nothing like the former. I've tuned to g#C#F#BE (for the first time ever I believe) and I was able to pick out the bare bones of his melody in 20 minutes or so, but it needs a lot of work. Adam's phasing on this tune is lovely and I'd really like to work this up in its entirety. He plays this in a lovely slow and lilting cadence. So, can anybody point me to a source for a richer tab or other resource for this tune? Fortunately, CG is the slower of a two-tune medley which includes "Johnny, Don't Get Drunk" at a much faster tempo. This is my favorite track on this CD.

Bill

Bill

'05 Lee Rose Hill 12", #165
'06 Romero 13" custom walnut, #0684

caintuck - Posted - 03/08/2007:  19:58:15

I can't point you to a source for a richer tab. I just want to make a couple of comments about the tunig. You probably know this already, but that tuning is in fourths, the same intervals as strings 6 to 3 (low to high) on a guitar. I mess with this "tuning" for frailing banjo, though I normally use gCFBbEb. When you play "Cumberland Gap " in G or Gm tuning, I assume you are playing it in the key of G or Gm. Do you know what key Adam is playing in? I ask because in a fourths tuning, knowing the key center could really help you flesh out a song.

Edited by - caintuck on 03/08/2007 22:22:25

brokenstrings - Posted - 03/08/2007:  21:30:38

I learned "Cumberland Gap" in G-tuning and the version I learned is boring.

Jessy

Frailaway, ladies, frailaway!

eickmewg - Posted - 03/09/2007:  06:34:27

Caintuck, your observation about the tuning is interesting, and not being a guitar player, I did not notice the tuning relationship. Not being strong on music theory, I could only hazard a guess as to the key. The initial chord, as I see it for the tune, would be E G# B E (or G#) fourth to first, or something like that. So what key would this setting be in? Jessy, check out Adam's version, it is anything but boring.

Bill

'05 Lee Rose Hill 12", #165
'06 Romero 13" custom walnut, #0684

caintuck - Posted - 03/09/2007:  23:39:12

Confession: I don't know the tune "Cumberland Gap". I don't know if it's a minor key or major key tune.

For that E major chord you spelled in your post, I assume you are fretting the 4th string at the 3rd fret with your middle finger, and the 3rd string at the 2nd fret. When you strum all five strings, you should have a very nice E major chord like you spelled. If that chord sounds really sweet (resonant) with a large chunk of the notes Adam's picking, then he's probably in the key of E major. There are other possibilities, but that would be a best discussed in Music Theory me thinks.

Bill Rogers - Posted - 03/10/2007:  00:51:19

What the tuning is is the standard "Cumberland Gap" tuning of f#BEAD tuned up to E. The strings have the same relationship as the 4 bass strings on the guitar -- and the chord fingering corresponds with G on the guitar. I play a number of tunes in f#BEAD--as well as "Cumberland Gap." To my ear, it's the ideal tuning for that one.

Bill

caintuck - Posted - 03/10/2007:  04:22:56

Thanks for your input Bill. So "Cumberland Gap" is played in the key of D in f#BEAD. Theoretically, I can see how that would be very interesting. I'm going to work a bit more in this tuning in the key of D (or Eb in gCFBbEb) and see what happens.

Muscially,

Dave

eickmewg - Posted - 03/10/2007:  07:06:57

This is great, I'm beginning to get a better understanding of the variety of key signatures I can use in OT. I think I'll try the f#BEAD alternative and give my neck, banjo that is, a little relief. I need to bone up more on theory. The last time I worried about any of this was in high school when I played the clarinet and that was a long time ago. Thanks again.

Bill

'05 Lee Rose Hill 12", #165
'06 Romero 13" custom walnut, #0684

BANJOJUDY - Posted - 03/10/2007:  09:51:04

Our Appalachian Music class played Cumberland Gap last week and it was in D. I recorded it - one version is slower than the other - you can play along with our group by clicking here:

http://www.siliconheights.com/appalachianmusic

Look for the March folder and you'll find the music.

I am working on this one as well and really like what I'm doing up and down the neck and also on some lower strings.

nihilist37 - Posted - 03/10/2007:  20:06:25

I think I've been playing this with the wrong tuning but i got it to sound much like AHs version using gEADE (ie sawmill with the 5th lowered a tone). I was then playing it from the Fshape chord. (actually the capo is on 2 so its a G chord so key of G)

Funnily enough I worked it out when I was trying to work out that version of big scioti on youtube (getting closer but I'm still not quite there)

MountainBanjo - Posted - 03/10/2007:  21:43:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill Rogers

What the tuning is is the standard "Cumberland Gap" tuning of f#BEAD tuned up to E.

Bill

---

Bill Rogers - Posted - 03/11/2007:  03:47:11

Lowering the 5th to f and playing in that key out G-modal tuning is one way to do it, but "Cumberland Gap tuning" is f#BEAD--and D is the usual key for the old-time version.

Bill

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 03/11/2007:  05:01:39

Cumberland Gap is one of those tunes that works in almost any tuning and it seems to me there is even more than one "Cumberland Gap Tuning".
The version my wife and I play came from a recording we made of Fonzy Kennimore. It has 3 parts and it is in teh key of G. I play it in "Old G" tuning - gDGDE.

The Whiskey Before Breakfast variations and a few tunes in "F" tuning are now available on the web at:
http://home.thegrid.net/~fjbrad/id20.html

MountainBanjo - Posted - 03/11/2007:  12:55:37

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill Rogers

Lowering the 5th to f and playing in that key out G-modal tuning is one way to do it, but "Cumberland Gap tuning" is f#BEAD--and D is the usual key for the old-time version.
Bill

---

clawhammerist - Posted - 03/12/2007:  12:55:41

Thanks for the nice feedback on my version of Cumberland Gap! I know both of these tunings--gEADE and f#BEAD/g#C#F#BE--as "Cumberland Gap tuning(s)," although the former is often also referred to as "Sandy River Belle" tuning. (FWIW, I recorded a very different version of Cumberland Gap on my first CD in gEADE.)

It's interesting to note how "guitar-like" BOTH of these tunings are, yet they are quite different from each other. As mentioned earlier, the long strings in f#BEAD/g#C#F#BE are tuned in fourths, much like the lower four strings on the guitar. gEADE is similar in that the three lower strings are tuned in fourths but, unlike in the other tuning, are identical in pitch to the lower three strings on the guitar. The first string in this tuning matches the pitch of the guitar's first string, so the full tuning is sort of like a guitar, minus the second and third strings. f#BEAD/g#C#F#BE is sort of like the bottom portion of a guitar, but in a different key. This is hard to discuss in writing! In any case, they're all great tunings, very interesting and fun to play in, similar but different at the same time....

The version of Cumberland Gap on my newer CD does indeed come out in the key of E major; I decided to use this particular setting rather than the one-step-lower f#BEAD because the tuning is quite low in either case, I play short-scale banjos with light-gauge strings, and I wanted as little "floppiness" as I could get. Of course, if I were playing this arrangement with a fiddler, I'd deal with the lower of the two options since fiddlers certainly don't play the tune in E.

Eickmewg, if I can help you decipher the tune in any way, please don't hesitate to send a message.

Cheers,

Adam Hurt
www.adamhurt.com
www.cdbaby.com/cd/adamhurt
sound samples at www.myspace.com/adamhurt

Edited by - clawhammerist on 03/12/2007 12:56:38