Season 322 Ukuleles ARE allowed in Bluegrass (one week only)

No 6 ...Mandouke and a Reso and midi bass...falls apart after the break cos the lads weren't paying attention !!

Jimmy C newman wrote it ,Bill Monroe did a recording as did many,many others.

 
Well, folks, I got me another Martin. This time a C1K open-box, "blemished" special for about $100 below street price. I don't know what the blemishes are other than some irregularities in the grain. Gives it additional character, if you ask me. I broke it in with this song by Fred Rose (not Carter Stanley) that just about every bluegrass band plays. Thanks again for a great week, Trent!

 
As this Season is winding down I wanted to get this song in. It's by Ralph Stanley and Jim Lauderdale, they did a few Bluegrass albums together.

 
I played stand up bass in a bluegrass band for many years and I love this music. Here's one I learned off an old Kentucky Colonels album back in the 1970s. Apparently it was one of the best-selling songs of the 1920s.
 
Another bluegrass song I learned way back in the 70s. Written by Bill Clifton and recorded by Hankshaw Hawkins.

My camera lens has a smudge. Sorry about the blur.
 
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I think I mentioned before that the only thing I know about bluegrass is the film O Brother Where Art Thou, so I decided to do a song from the movie. Unfortunately both Tiffany and I are short on time and energy this week, so you have a very rough one take effort. Still I'm pretty sure this is bluegrass, and I've learned a lot this season, so thanks.

P.s. I accidentally uploaded this to my old YouTube account. I don't have time to fix it...

 
I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome


Sorry to be so late to the party. I took me a while to figure out how to record myself, upload to You Tube, and finally post here. Whew! My first ever UU video submission!

My ukuleles were not happy with Bluegrass, and my voice really rebelled. I can't sing with that high pitched breakneck speed of bluegrass detachment. Nor do I want to. But I thought the invite was hilarious and immediately called my muse to write her own rules.

Let's see how many bluegrass rules I broke with my version.
I parodied the lyrics, I'm playing solo, non-trad instrument, I changed the melody, I have a bluesy delivery. What else?

I learned this song from a blues/jugband perspective, though you tube will give you grass after grass version. Including Mr. Monroe, Ricky Skaggs and on and on.
 
robinboyd said:
I'm still trying to get my head around what is and isn't bluegrass.
Click to expand...

I am so late to this party that everybody has already moved on to the next Season. Wish I'd been around earlier in the week to put in my two cents. The true "bluegrass" sound is often defined by 1.the instruments- bass/fiddle/guitar/mandolin/banjo/dobro or some variation thereof (no drums-although I was once in a very fun bluegrass band where we broke that rule) 2.Scruggs style banjo (NOT clawhammer!! that is an entirely different style of banjo playing and belongs to an entirely different genre of music called Old Timey). 3. the tight harmonies (especially when a man is singing the tenor part as Bill Monroe always did- that "high lonesome sound") 4. The fact that instruments take breaks (as opposed to Old Timey music where everyone plays all the time all throughout the entire song). 5. And of course the songs themselves. There are traditional bluegrass songs (like those done by Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers) and songs that come from other musical genres that have been "bluegrassified"(no it's not a real word)- sped up and played in the bluegrass style. And of course gospel songs, with their beautiful harmonies, are also a part of the bluegrass canon.
 
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One last Bluegrass tune before the outlaws take over. I guess, one crucial element of BG is the 5-string banjo. But I never succeeded in playing it.
I strum some tenor banjo, but picking a 5-string? Impossible for me! So I chose a song, where the tenor banjo feels at home, that is also done by BG artits:
Just a closer walk with thee is played by Tradjazz bands as well as by the Foggy Mountain Boys...
 
Inksplosive AL said:
Yeah great prize awesome theme, watched this trying to get ideas other than the standard Bill Monroe songs... I'm out. lol

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leave it to the young-uns to shine! Wowza, and he's playing a little Luna laminate. It's not what you got, but whatcha do with it!
 
robinboyd said:
I think I mentioned before that the only thing I know about bluegrass is the film O Brother Where Art Thou, so I decided to do a song from the movie. Unfortunately both Tiffany and I are short on time and energy this week, so you have a very rough one take effort. Still I'm pretty sure this is bluegrass, and I've learned a lot this season, so thanks.

P.s. I accidentally uploaded this to my old YouTube account. I don't have time to fix it...

Click to expand...


Seems like you've got this video on private rather than unlisted mate.

Edit: nevermind. Works now.
 
Greetings

So many great vids. Can’t watch them all but so far all are great. We have a fantastic host this week and inspiring music.

Ciao
 
Here's my first offering for this week: Cabin on the Hill, by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. For a slow song with only 3 chords, it was challenging to me, since I have a hard time getting that E7 clean. I lost count of how many takes it took to make it through with no mistakes. But I had my heart set on doing this song, and have always liked it, because I lived in a literal, real-life "cabin on the hill" during my preteen years, which was my most favorite place I've ever lived. I could've written those lyrics myself. Hope you enjoy. :)
 
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