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




Mixture of styles, Scruggs ,some frailing and some reet proper strumming
 
I noticed that too. And if you, dear reader, are wondering what Ol' Nickie & I are talking about, take a look at this puff for Wayne Erben's instruction books for banjo: Bluegrass or Clawhammer Banjo - Which is easier to learn?

"Oh, but that's banjo - how do I apply these insights to ukulele?", I hear you cry. Well, like a ukulele, a 5-string banjo has re-entrant tuning. The top, 5th, string on a banjo, is a 'drone' string, never fretted, but just plucked to provide a driving rhythm.

To apply either the frailing (aka clawhammer) or bluegrass technique to ukulele, you need to use the top, 4th, string (g on a gCEA-tuned uke), as the drone string.

Clawhammer rhythm is "bum dit-ty", (bum? pluck any string but 4; dit? strum strings 1,2,3; ty? drone - thumb-pluck 4).

If you want to learn more on clawhammer for uke, there are lots of videos out there explaining how to apply clawhammer banjo technique to ukulele using the 4th string as a drone (though one thing none of them mention, however, is that to play clawhammer uke, your strumming hand has to hit the strings on or about the sound-hole, not over the fretboard).

I don't think there's that many on bluegrass style for uke, so you'll pretty much have to try to modify the banjo tutorials for uke.

Bluegrass rhythm, according to Erbsen, is "thumb-pinch" (thumb? pick a (melody) note; pinch? play strings 1 & 4 together).

If you want to read further, you could do worse than start with What Are Bluegrass & Clawhammer Banjo Styles?.

Posted this earlier in a hurry. On my way home, it suddenly occurred to me that "thumb-pinch" is of course "dum-ching"! The signature rhythm of my good friends Tim & Jake Smithies, aka "Dead Man's Uke" (ff to 11.31 to see where Tim explains this - or, alternatively, just enjoy the show :) )

 
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All the takes I had to do last Season nearly sapped my will to live. Had to do this in one take regardless. Had a lot of fun futzing around with the recording software, though (Mixcraft 8).
 
I noticed that too. And if you, dear reader, are wondering what Ol' Nickie & I are talking about, take a look at this puff for Wayne Erben's instruction books for banjo: Bluegrass or Clawhammer Banjo - Which is easier to learn?

"Oh, but that's banjo - how do I apply these insights to ukulele?", I hear you cry. Well, like a ukulele, a 5-string banjo has re-entrant tuning. The top, 5th, string on a banjo, is a 'drone' string, never fretted, but just plucked to provide a driving rhythm.

To apply either the frailing (aka clawhammer) or bluegrass technique to ukulele, you need to use the top, 4th, string (g on a gCEA-tuned uke), as the drone string.

Clawhammer rhythm is "bum dit-ty", (bum? pluck any string but 4; dit? strum strings 1,2,3; ty? drone - thumb-pluck 4).

If you want to learn more on clawhammer for uke, there are lots of videos out there explaining how to apply clawhammer banjo technique to ukulele using the 4th string as a drone (though one thing none of them mention, however, is that to play clawhammer uke, your strumming hand has to hit the strings on or about the sound-hole, not over the fretboard).

I don't think there's that many on bluegrass style for uke, so you'll pretty much have to try to modify the banjo tutorials for uke.

Bluegrass rhythm, according to Erbsen, is "thumb-pinch" (thumb? pick a (melody) note; pinch? play strings 1 & 4 together).

If you want to read further, you could do worse than start with What Are Bluegrass & Clawhammer Banjo Styles?.

The essential difference in the two styles is the finger picks, some claw hammer players will wear a thumb pick, but almost all BG players will wear finger picks on forefinger and middle finger as well as a thumbpick ,either metal or a hard plastic variety .These are what deliver the biting driving sound ,and the three finger "rolls" are what differentiate between Clawhammer and Bluegrass styles.Also the "vamp" which is essentially plucking the strings rather than rolling them.....you cant strum with picks on....:D I think that clawhammer is sometimes more melodic and gentle ,whereas BG is often more driving , I like both
 
Lynda wrote this cool song today, but she's have issues playing in a Bluegrass style. I think the title of this one totally sounds like a Bluegrass song, so as a demonstration, I did it Bluegrass style, and this isn't only one way it could be done. I chose a waltz pattern for it, but it could be done several other ways and also be Bluegrass.

 
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Great intro video!

I just want to make one thing clear, however. I do not always use my turn indicators correctly. Often as not, I'll flick the switch for the turn and then forget to switch it back again and I'll then drive half a mile or so with it still blinking. This happens on a motorcycle when you can't hear the click-click of the the blinker.

How to pack a ukulele on a motorcycle...

ukepack.jpg
 
Here's another Flatt & Scruggs classic. Uncle Josh did some killer dobro work on the original. it's now part of the repertoire of Jerry Douglas's traditional bluegrass group The Earls of Leicester (get it? Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt?). I first heard this song when the NPR affiliate in Las Vegas played the version done by Lyle Lovett and The Chieftains on the first Down the Old Plank Road record. As you can imagine, The Chieftains' take is very different from a straight bluegrass song.

 
Three finger and some strumming (which you can't do with picks on, which are the essence of Bluegrass style banjo picking ) and my version of FMB....sorry Earl et al.


 
Great intro video!

I just want to make one thing clear, however. I do not always use my turn indicators correctly. Often as not, I'll flick the switch for the turn and then forget to switch it back again and I'll then drive half a mile or so with it still blinking. This happens on a motorcycle when you can't hear the click-click of the the blinker.

How to pack a ukulele on a motorcycle...

View attachment 108191

Ah, so you're the one! Please use your turn indicators correctly! That uke is valuable cargo, and so are you!
 
The essential difference in the two styles is the finger picks, some claw hammer players will wear a thumb pick, but almost all BG players will wear finger picks on forefinger and middle finger as well as a thumbpick ,either metal or a hard plastic variety .These are what deliver the biting driving sound ,and the three finger "rolls" are what differentiate between Clawhammer and Bluegrass styles.Also the "vamp" which is essentially plucking the strings rather than rolling them.....you cant strum with picks on....:D I think that clawhammer is sometimes more melodic and gentle ,whereas BG is often more driving , I like both

Well, I honestly had no idea what bluegrass was before this week other than that it was used extensively in the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou (good movie by the way). After this and Redpaul's musings on the technicalities of bluegrass, I can now say that my head hurts and I'm scared to try to play bluegrass because my attempt might be something else that is similar but not quite right.
 
Well, I honestly had no idea what bluegrass was before this week other than that it was used extensively in the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou (good movie by the way). After this and Redpaul's musings on the technicalities of bluegrass, I can now say that my head hurts and I'm scared to try to play bluegrass because my attempt might be something else that is similar but not quite right.

Fear not young Robin! I have it on very good authority that perfect Bluegrass technique is not a requirement for this week, it's about trying something new.
 
Hey Robin! You can do this! Here's a Flatt & Scruggs number I pounded out on the baritone. The up-tempo numbers have a folky rhythm and the slower ones tend to be waltzes. Have a go!

 
Well, I honestly had no idea what bluegrass was before this week other than that it was used extensively in the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou (good movie by the way). After this and Redpaul's musings on the technicalities of bluegrass, I can now say that my head hurts and I'm scared to try to play bluegrass because my attempt might be something else that is similar but not quite right.
you cannot possibly do worse than i'm doing! and yet... and yet... i'm having such a great time! lol!

you know trying (and failing) to bring bluegrass reminds me of my gazillion year long process of trying to bring the blues. i dunno if i ever DID get there! but i do think i got better at it! of course it did literally take years, and several frisbee fred blues seasons, to even begin to move in the right direction! but again, it was always fun to try!

speaking of trying, and i know i am indeed very trying :rolleyes: i was trying to come up with a different strumming pattern, to bring on my next bluegrass attempt, and while i was practising it, this song wrote itself...

next up, i will either try and bring something a bit brisker and chirpier OR maybe i'll just listen to everyone else for the rest of the week, soak up the bluegrass fabulousness other people are bringing, and spare trent's eardrums anymore BEV torture!!

 
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you cannot possibly do worse than i'm doing! and yet... and yet... i'm having such a great time! lol!

you know trying (and failing) to bring bluegrass reminds my of my gazillion year long process of trying to bring the blues. i dunno if i ever DID get there! but i do think i got better at it! of course it did literally take years, and several frisbee fred blues seasons, to even begin to move in the right direction! but again, it was always fun to try!

speaking of trying, and i know i am indeed very trying :rolleyes: i was trying to come up with a different strumming pattern, to bring on my next bluegrass attempt, and while i was practising it, this song wrote itself...

next up, i will either try and bring something a bit brisker and chirpier OR maybe i'll just listen to everyone else for the rest of the week, soak up the bluegrass fabulousness other people are bringing, and spare trent's eardrums anymore BEV torture!!

At least I know that blues is blues when I hear it. The only way I have of telling me that a song is bluegrass is if somebody tells me it is. I have no feel for it whatsoever. That's not to say that I don't like it, it's just that it's totally opaque to me. Having said that, I have found a song that I have on good authority is bluegrass. Unfortunately it needs 3 voices, but I'll see what I can manage.
 
The essential difference in the two styles is the finger picks, some claw hammer players will wear a thumb pick, but almost all BG players will wear finger picks on forefinger and middle finger as well as a thumbpick ,either metal or a hard plastic variety .These are what deliver the biting driving sound ,and the three finger "rolls" are what differentiate between Clawhammer and Bluegrass styles.Also the "vamp" which is essentially plucking the strings rather than rolling them.....you cant strum with picks on....:D I think that clawhammer is sometimes more melodic and gentle ,whereas BG is often more driving , I like both

Help! I am completely bereft of thumb picks and finger picks! I'm with Robin on this one ... it took me most of yesterday to pin down what Bluegrass actually IS. And, having found out (vaguely!), I haven't got the faintest idea how to do it. Thank heavens that the great Mr. Monroe (up in Heaven) is not demanding accuracy!
 
Help! I am completely bereft of thumb picks and finger picks! I'm with Robin on this one ... it took me most of yesterday to pin down what Bluegrass actually IS. And, having found out (vaguely!), I haven't got the faintest idea how to do it. Thank heavens that the great Mr. Monroe (up in Heaven) is not demanding accuracy!

Don't get too hung up on what exactly bluegrass music is. It doesn't matter who you ask because no one agrees completely.
My definition of what bluegrass or mountain music is would be fast pass, three-part harmony, using guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass with an instrumental break.
Lots of gospel songs are sung in this genre too.
Just look up bluegrass songs and you will find more than enough music.

Take "Ill Fly Away". That song, in my mind, is typical bluegrass and typical gospel. It can be sung fast or slow. If you bring it slowly will it still be a bluegrass song? IMO yes.

Here is a perfect example.........and what is that?????? A uke????!!!!

OMG, you better call Bill!

 
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