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ELCBK said
@ABitRusty -I really don't need to get myself sidetracked even more (I want to learn 1 of these Mardi Gras tunes), but...
Know any good tunes, with altered tuning, about Raccoons?
Would be great to learn right now - think one ripped off half of 1 of our eave vents the other night. Glad it found out it couldn't go anywhere... or maybe it left just because Kevin banged on the wall. (lol)
- Emily
I do not..BUT..the good thing about this type of music is you can record a bunch of arpeggios and scales runs for 32 bars..make sure the in the A part bar 8 ends slightly different than bar 4.. and the B part..bars 17 through 32 are somewhat different than the A part but close enough to sound like the same tune..make sure bar 32 is the same as bar 4.. call it Racoon ate the Eve and get a composer badge! 🤔😋😉😁
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@ABitRusty -
Thank you.
Can't believe I'm actually giving that a 2nd thought - seriously, I am.
- Emily
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@elcbk me too! i like playing around with scales and arpeggios like that to a backing. every once in a while im like..wait a MINUTE... thats almost something. one workshop i watched was about tune writing.. Im not really serious about it but got interested. One thing they said was to always record...no matter how insignificant..come back later and revist that little snippett.. maybe add to it and after a while you never know...
as far as your original question there is a group of young ladies out there that play fiddle/cello called Ginger Majority...they have a post with racoon in the name thats REALLY good. sounds like a jazz and irish trad fusion tune. think youll like.
whatever we come up with tune wise we HAVE to have use either possum or racoon or greyhound in the name.. cats are over used. lol
heres a good greyhound tune... 
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@ABitRusty -
I LIKE it!
But when do the Greyhounds stop running?
Pretty great that a Dad wants to start out his new son with some fiddle music.
Ryland Burhans plays, "Raccoon Tail With The Rings All Around" (mit Theodor).
This one might be cross-tuned... poor baby. (lol)
Remember Gunsmoke?
This one's got the gum stump and the 'simmon tree!
"The Ratcoons Tail Got'a Ring All Around" - Chester, Gunsmoke 1955
Oops, sorry - it's a Hickory stump. (lol)
- Emily
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nice 00-15 there chester. THE choice for the singer songwriters. and yes ...it sounds like dad may be AEAE would be a quick guess since you mentioned it.
Hard to tell when the tune swapped to palmers gate aint it?! here is palmers gate played by The fiddler for we banjo 3.. good stuff
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@Emily - That "Raccoon Tail With the Rings All Around" baby will either grow up loving or hating the fiddle. 🤣
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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If that baby does grow up loving it... that would certainly explain some Old Time music I've heard played. 😖
One of my 2 cats has a few rings around near the tip of his tail and he's just as goofy as that song. 🤣
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@ABitRusty -
I enjoyed your Midnight on The Water, earlier in the "Song From Your Country Party" - you said you didn't cross tune for it.
After one workshop at Fiddle Hell stressed how down tuning & cross tuning changes the relationship of all the notes played (obviously for the better), I thought more about how crazy it would be to try to learn something tuned this way just from sheet music (not happening)!
Just so happens I found a fairly recent tutorial to make learning to play this in DDAD easier - if anyone would like to learn it the traditional way.
"Midnight on the Water" - Cross Tuned DDAD Fiddle Lesson from the Andy Reiner. Reminded me of your bowing style. 5 String Fiddle!!!
Vi Wickam has a great tutorial for "Black Mountain Rag" in GDGB tuning - similar to "Calico Tuning" (AEAC#)! He also talks about strings for cross tuning.
Jam with Lauren YouTube site has a series of 3 videos on "How to Cross Tune your Fiddle" - this is the 1st one, "Cross A". She uses a 5 String Fiddle for this!
...quite a few other tutorials on YouTube for learning cross tuned Fiddle pieces.
- Emily
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Ran across some great Old Time fiddle Cross-tuning from Paul Kirk's YouTube site!
Here's a sampling!
Nice cross-tuned (AEAE) video tutorial for old time fiddle tune, "Red Steer", by Paul Kirk. Good info in the video description. You'll find a link to a video where Kirk, Stephen Rapp and Sean Fen play "Red Steer" in GDGD tuning. He continues with more info on John Riley Dykes (of Tennessee), who recorded this tune in 1927 using FCFC tuning.
If you've tried any GDGD tuning, "Hell and Scissors", by Kentucky Fiddler James Day, should be easy to pick up next. Paul Kirk performs with his friends again, with more great history info and how "hell" relates to this tune.
Paul Kirk's tutorial for Old Time tune, "Lost Indian" in calico tuning (AEAC#). You'll also find a link to the video Paul, with his friends Stephen Rapp and Sean Fen, play "Lost Indian" by Texas Fiddler Alexander Robertson.
Paul Kirk's tutorial for the bowing pattern used in "Candy Girl" with AEAE tuning, where A=415 here! Also find a link to the video Paul Kirk performs "Candy Girl", by Tennessee Fiddler John Stephens. He includes some great background info in the video description.
I don't know why I seem to get attracted to the chickens. (lol)
Here's an unusual tuning - "Cacklin' Hen and Rooster Too" (FCFC).
...fried chicken, fried chicken. 🤭
Paul Kirk plays with Stephen Rapp, Jeanie Creamer and provides some great info/history about the early Old Time string band, "The Skillet Lickers" from Georgia.
...been talking about cross-tuning enough - time to strut some stuff?
- Emily
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been following Pauls youtubes for a bit now...he is the one i was talking about somewhere that uses 415 tuning on aeae.. he is really good on questions and stuff via email..so if youre wanting to get into it youve found the right place!
been talking about cross-tuning enough - time to strut some stuff?
lol...so what you gonna play!? nuff talk...get a struttin! too funny @elcbk
omg...you found an ostrich to dress up as a rooster gif..lol
****Several hours later edit****
ok @elcbk here's a slow not so jiggy A Hundred Pipers in AEAE. played a little before droning..best i got at the moment...you dint wanna hear my huntin the buffalo or booth shot lincoln ...probably just as well this one but you said strut so im a struttin...lol
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@ABitRusty -
Now you're TALKING!
"A Hundred Pipers" in AEAE?
Think you might've just convinced me to make this a priority!
Been kinda waiting for one of these tunes to speak to me.
Where did you learn this one from?
🤔... this tune's definitely got a catchy melody.
GREAT PLAYING, Greg!
Thank you!
- Emily
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ELCBK said
@ABitRusty -
Now you're TALKING!
"A Hundred Pipers" in AEAE?
Think you might've just convinced me to make this a priority!
Been kinda waiting for one of these tunes to speak to me.
Where did you learn this one from?
🤔... this tune's definitely got a catchy melody.
GREAT PLAYING, Greg!
Thank you!
- Emily
technically a celtic fingerstyle book by Glen Weisner but it seemed very familiar even then so i guess one of those tunes.. think slow it sounds like some type of shape note singin song..lol.. think its usually alot more upbeat and played as a jig/march..
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@elcbk did this one tonight in AEAE.. 2 fiddle tracks a guitar and a kick drum.. but you may not be able to hear that. I can't say I can play this really fast but took it slower than I can play.... dont really have a good old timey bowing going on but it is what it is at this point.
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Pretty Freakin' Awesome!
You have that mixed so well, wouldn't have known there was guitar or drum if you hadn't pointed it out - thought maybe double bass.
I LOVE IT!
Mesmerizing - very easy listening! I like the tempo, not up for a Square or Contra Dance, anyway. (lol)
You're probably not going to like my little bit of constructive criticism, but I'd LOVE to see your dogs or cats playing in the video...maybe still at sunset. (lol)
Is AEAE the only cross tuning you've played in, or have you tried others?
You're getting really good at this!
- Emily
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@elcbk thanks...too kind..appreciate it! to be honest up until yesterday i hadnt played that or cross tuned since last year..as you can tell.. feel like its too choppy and doesnt flow as far fiddling..but consider it a practice recording..lol.. mixing wise track 1 which is that overly loud fiddle slightly panned left shouldve had volume pulled back a bit. track 2 i just droned on strings until 2 nd repeat. feel like it worked...i intentionally made the guutar and kick drum low volume..wanted it there in background somewhere. thought the reverb was about right..thats difficult to get for me...i never can repeat from recording to recording..even if i save settings as a template. part of the learning process.
ive tried a few tunings..cant remember though..GDGD seems like one and ADAD maybe..or couldve been ADAE..and DDAD...that one on bonapartes retreat. may post that next.
if i do a video like you say it takes alot more time..more involved..but ill keep in mind for something down the road. thanks for the suggestion though! gives me something to work on! stay tuned...lol your recent postings got me motivated to revist these!
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Here's a tuning I haven't run across.
This reel,"Mother's Delight", is tuned UP a half step (AbEbBbF) by Katie Davis Henderson. Love this tune!
Katie gives a nice view of her fingers, so just slow the video down to learn it. There's also several versions of sheet music at thesession.org
Just happens to be one of the next tunes I plan to learn, just hadn't planned on changing the tuning, yet. (lol)
🤔...I'll just learn it in standard tuning, first - until memorized.
- Emily
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Shoot, I forgot I wanted to learn to play "Mother's Delight" - seeing it in the previous post just reminded me. Can't seem to keep my mind straight, lately.
@ABitRusty -
You got me hooked on learning Dirk Powel's tune, "Waterbound" - my favorite version by Dear Crow!
There's another Oldtime tune by the same name!
Thought I'd post a version of it here, I at least know is tuned GDGD - by groundhogpeggy!
WAY too happy here - Jon Bekoff on fiddle! 🤣
This probably predates Dirk Powell's tune - it's very different, more upbeat & lyrics (heard elsewhere) relate to North Carolina.
Powell's 'Waterbound" is a lonesome tune - melancholy.
- Emily
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like most everything groundhog peggy post! she is an big presonuser as well. seems like she favors cross tuning alot and always adds her mark on stuff she does.
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Does it shorten the lifespan of my strings if I'm regularly changing the tuning of them?
Is it detrimental for my strings to have tuning changed several times a day?
I know many people will have a 2 Fiddles - 1 kept in standard tuning and the 2nd is tuned up, down or crossed.
Is this just for convenience?
Good, synthetic-core strings are pricey enough, without me rushing them to an early demise! (lol)
I've been playing "Lady Dalrymple of North Berwick's Favourite" in Baroque tuning - A=415 Hz, so all the strings are tuned down a half step. I was thinking this tuning is probably the least harmful to my strings - compared to other alternative ones.
My experience (limited) with metals tells me vibration & manipulation can cause brittleness, but by whatever the hardening/tempering processes used to make the wire that's wrapped on my strings, they already handle a lot of my abuse just from normal playing - just don't know how much torture they can take. 😈
...our Violin, Viola and Cello strings are pretty amazing - for all the abuse they get!
- Emily
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