Maybe Glory in the Meeting House at a slow tempo.

Any of these work for you?

Write some

Check out Paul Lion Sinclair , definitely and underrated fella (AKA the Black British Banjo Player). I could listen to his playing for hours

Yes,
Larry please do write something for us...Jack

Also pretty polly played on a fretless might be the vibe you are in search of

Check out “For to Lay this Body Down” by Brooks & Wood on YouTube.

Even the old timer music grows every time someone plays it
These songs came from somewhere, so in my view it’s valid to comment by composition. Down in the holler will still be there when you get back

youtu.be/Cv6uzzmiWPg?is=EoinuTmulwCNILIb

"Ashokan Farewell":
youtube.com/shorts/Cx27J6mgbzk

"(Joe) Coleman's March" - the story behind this one is dark. This is played a bit on the fast side; slow it down to 3/4 speed:
youtube.com/watch?v=FBcfXQ7S1As

Little Pink is a good one- youtube.com/watch?v=7I1MOHt2R5E

Almost anything in sawmill tuning might fit the bill.

Here’s a YouTube playlist of videos I’ve made of tunes that are modal and minor. Each has a free linked tab. This might give you some ideas/inspiration. Some are clawhammer style, some are two finger style.

Sally in the Garden, Boll Weevil, Undone in Sorrow, Cut Knife Hill, "spooky tune" Peat Bog Soldiers and Crazy Tune are probably the darkest of the bunch, at least to my ear.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL00z9mDkwwfeZYvnfGtZ46n2HDqBiqIs_&si=QkDQgoJyD6U3Fki9

quote:

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Originally posted by carlb

Any of these work for you?

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I really liked your folksy take on the Grateful Dead's "Me and My Uncle." That's much closer to the kind of sound I'm looking for. Do you have tabs available for your version? I couldn't find one on Banjo Hangout.

Here's a couple in 2FTL that would be easy to play in downstroke style...

youtu.be/dIlajJcpxmY?is=pgh1ZG66_uVRi9gq

quote:

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Originally posted by S_D

quote:

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Originally posted by carlb

Any of these work for you?

---

I really liked your folksy take on the Grateful Dead's "Me and My Uncle." That's much closer to the kind of sound I'm looking for. Do you have tabs available for your version? I couldn't find one on Banjo Hangout.

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I don't right tabs anymore. However, but here is a verse with the chords and the chord positions I use (A modal - aEAde). Maybe you can work it out from this information.

quote:

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Originally posted by jack_beuthin

Here’s a YouTube playlist of videos I’ve made of tunes that are modal and minor. Each has a free linked tab. This might give you some ideas/inspiration. Some are clawhammer style, some are two finger style.

 

Sally in the Garden, Boll Weevil, Undone in Sorrow, Cut Knife Hill, "spooky tune" Peat Bog Soldiers and Crazy Tune are probably the darkest of the bunch, at least to my ear.

 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL00z9mDkwwfeZYvnfGtZ46n2HDqBiqIs_&si=QkDQgoJyD6U3Fki9

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I love Jack's Boll Weevil Blues. I learned it and played it for ages on my basic banjo with very old strings and stuffed pot. Now I have a nylon stung hide head 12 inch fretless it sounds just beautiful, even with my less than brilliant playing.

Two potential tunes that you may find dark and haunting:

"Falls of Richmond / Squirrel Hunters" medley by Jacken Elswyth;
link.deezer.com/s/344Ss2JPR6n8fP1iZsaTz

"Twin Sisters" by Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman;
youtube.com/watch?v=dIlajJcpxmY

Take “Little Maggie” (and a number of other tunes) out of bluegrass time and tempo. It is a haunting melody indeed.

quote:

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Originally posted by carlb

quote:

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Originally posted by S_D

quote:

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Originally posted by carlb

Any of these work for you?

---

I really liked your folksy take on the Grateful Dead's "Me and My Uncle." That's much closer to the kind of sound I'm looking for. Do you have tabs available for your version? I couldn't find one on Banjo Hangout.

---

I don't right tabs anymore. However, but here is a verse with the chords and the chord positions I use (A modal - aEAde). Maybe you can work it out from this information.

 

 

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I love this method of passing the song information along. I got it about 75% worked out in the first day. Very cool rendition, Carl

Old Jim Wren - YouTube

A slow, soulful rendition of Winder Slide often scratches this itch.

quote:

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Originally posted by jack_beuthin

Here’s a YouTube playlist of videos I’ve made of tunes that are modal and minor. Each has a free linked tab. This might give you some ideas/inspiration. Some are clawhammer style, some are two finger style.

 

Sally in the Garden, Boll Weevil, Undone in Sorrow, Cut Knife Hill, "spooky tune" Peat Bog Soldiers and Crazy Tune are probably the darkest of the bunch, at least to my ear.

 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL00z9mDkwwfeZYvnfGtZ46n2HDqBiqIs_&si=QkDQgoJyD6U3Fki9

Hi Jack, is that link correct? When I click youtube tells me "That playlist does not exist". Thanks. 

In the fiddle tune realm, Bonnie Prince Charlie / Bonnie Prince Charles (Adam Hurt recording) are great, he teaches that in his patreon and in the masters of clawhammer special edition on the brainjo site. The aforementioned Sally in the Garden is also great, and takes well to interpretive timing. Both played in Double C / Double D tuning. Gospel Plow is a nice one with lyrics in C minor, double c tuning

Also Polly Put the Kettle On, Glory in the Meetinghouse, Garfield's Blackberry Blossom are good super moody mysterious fiddle tunes

Pretty much everything in the sawmill and fDGCD tuning comes out nicely dark and/or mysterious. Listen to Lost Lula by Jason Romero, and many many Adam Hurt recordings for examples of the fDGCD / gEADE "Sandy River Belle" tuning. Dark songs in the sawmill tuning include Little Sadie, Pretty Polly, The Cuckoo, Red Rocking Chair, Walkin' Boss, and many others, plus fiddle tunes like Elzik's Farewell and Cold Frosty Morning. You can find a composition by Jeff Norman called Sisyphus Hill on the internet, which is played in sawmill tuning, and is a beautifully dark clawhammer piece.

Hobart Smith's Last Chance tune in 'Last Chance tuning' fDFCD is pretty wonderfully dark, despite modern fiddlers who have changed it into a G major piece in the festival circuit.

Also explore open G minor tuning - gDGBbD. I think there's a tab for Flatbush Waltz in that tuning on this site, by Janet Burton maybe? Can't remember. My dad plays a killer version of Downbound Train in that tuning.

You could also tune to open D minor fDFAD or aDFAD and see about learning some Skip James and other blues songs that come from the open D minor guitar tuning.

Even open G/A can produce some good dark tunes; there's plenty of A modal tunes in the old time tradition that alternate between major and minor (or Ionian and Dorian to be technical) modes. Greasy Coat is a nice dirty tune that works well out of Open A. And there's plenty of bluegrass songs that include an Em chord as a prominent piece, which are played out of Open G, and would work fine for clawhammer. Ola Belle Reed used open G a lot and managed to write some very dark songs. You can learn her Undone in Sorrow in open G, or Riley Baugus' version if fDGCD.

Also listen to Nora Brown and Joseph Decosimo for inspiration – a lot of the tunes and songs they play dwell nicely in the realm of the mysterious without sounding too bright, even if they're in a major key.