malarz - Posted - 04/10/2007:  09:30:42

---

My fiddle-playing friend wants me to learn the Uncle Earl arrangemnet of this tune.. I sometimes can work out the banjo part of a tune if its just banjo or maybe fiddle and banjo but am having the darnedest time trying to pick out Abigail Washburn's playing. any suggstions on other folks' versions that are similar but where it might be easier to follow the banjo?

The tune is in G but it doesn't sound to me as if she's playing "open" strings.

Thanks for any help you can be to the musically challenged.

ken

Roy Smith - Posted - 04/10/2007:  10:25:12

---

I don't know how helpful this idea is, but it works for me:

My source of last resort is the JC abc tunefinder (http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind). I'll find a version that makes sense musically and matches what my friends play, pull the .abc or .mid file into TablEdit, master the basic tune, and then clawhammerize it. I've done this successfully with a dozen or so tunes, and it's surprisingly easy. You can also use TablEdit to play it in midi output for your friend to make sure it's right before you put any effort into it.

Roy

BAZ - Posted - 04/10/2007:  10:37:43

---

There's a great version on Phil Steinmetz' cd called "Way Down the Old Plank Road." It's a great cd. I recommend it. I've been looking for a tab of this tune since I bought his cd. If you come up with a basic tab of it, would it be possible to get a copy from you?

Clawdan - Posted - 04/10/2007:  10:38:48

---

There is a version in my Old Time Fiddle TUnes for Clawhammer Banjo. You can listen to the fiddle version as a free download at the Mel Bay site to see if it is similar.

Play nice,
Dan "Ain't no bum-diddy" Levenson
Old Time Music and Dance
www.ClawhammerBanjo.us
Author of Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch, A guide for the claw-less - a MelBay Publication
and Old Time Festival Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo (MelBay 20313) - 117 tunes tabbed for clawhammer banjo with standard notation and suggested chords.
Tune list at http://www.folknet.org/dan/FestTunesBJBook.htm

janolov - Posted - 04/10/2007:  15:16:33

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roy Smith

I don't know how helpful this idea is, but it works for me:

My source of last resort is the JC abc tunefinder (http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind). I'll find a version that makes sense musically and matches what my friends play, pull the .abc or .mid file into TablEdit, master the basic tune, and then clawhammerize it. I've done this successfully with a dozen or so tunes, and it's surprisingly easy. You can also use TablEdit to play it in midi output for your friend to make sure it's right before you put any effort into it.

Roy

---

I also use this resource, but I take the music notation and try to transfer it to clawhammer (sometimes it is an advantage to know music notation). It is a good site and contains a lot of fiddle tunes and ballads.


Janolov

gailg64 - Posted - 04/10/2007:  15:57:10

---

Be aware, when jamming at fiddlers conventions that that there are at least 2 versions of Walking in my Sleep in play. Probably the more popular one, whch the Pilot Mtn. Bobcats recorded, has a a melody on the "chorus" half that requires a 4 chord (C) in the B part.
The other version has I and V chords all the way. (G and D).
Kyle Creed recorded it this way on the Mountain 301 LP "Blue Ridge Mountain Square Dance Time." He was fiddling on that record and Bobby Patterson was playing straighforward 3-finger b-g rolls. WIMS is a good example of a "transitional" type o-t to bg tune and sounds great with either clawhammer or 3-finger bg style.
G

quote:

---

Originally posted by janolov

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roy Smith

I don't know how helpful this idea is, but it works for me:

My source of last resort is the JC abc tunefinder (http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind). I'll find a version that makes sense musically and matches what my friends play, pull the .abc or .mid file into TablEdit, master the basic tune, and then clawhammerize it. I've done this successfully with a dozen or so tunes, and it's surprisingly easy. You can also use TablEdit to play it in midi output for your friend to make sure it's right before you put any effort into it.

Roy

---

I also use this resource, but I take the music notation and try to transfer it to clawhammer (sometimes it is an advantage to know music notation). It is a good site and contains a lot of fiddle tunes and ballads.


Janolov

---

Roy Smith - Posted - 04/10/2007:  16:35:26

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by gailg64

Be aware, when jamming at fiddlers conventions that that there are at least 2 versions of Walking in my Sleep in play...

---

Exactly. This happens a LOT in old-time music, which is why it's important to check your version before learning it, to make sure it matches what the other folks are playing! I've been caught that way a few times, and it's made me careful.

Janolov -- I use musical scores if I must. But .abc and .mid files, if available, import directly into TablEdit and save me the time. The imported file appears imediately in tab form with suggested fingerings that often need only minimal adjustment before I start the clawhammerizing process. And when I'm done I've got a tab I can keep.

Roy