I'm so excited about the great turnouts we've been having at FolkHarmonic, the possibilities are growing as we add in harmonies and layers and instruments. Thank you for being a part of our community! So, I recorded all of Brother Drop dead then realized that I'd played a different intro than the one on the hand out. So I re-recorded it. Then I realized the intro that I'd just re-recorded didn't work with the outro, so there will be some variation to what your chart says. We'll go over it in class next week. Moral of the story is I should follow my own advice more.
UKULELES Below are 3 different ways to play a Major 6 chord. The sound that is most "Western Swing" A6 is the first shape, placing the YELLOW dot (root note) on the 2nd Fret. If you are using the 2nd shape put the Yellow dot at the 5th fret, or if using the 3rd put the yellow dot at the 9th. I'd like everyone to try to use the first chord shape for Brother Drop dead if possible. IF you're finding it too much of a struggle, keep practicing the new shape, but feel free to use the others until you get more comfortable. More advanced players should be using the first. (you know who you are :) GUITARS once you've got that solo line in your head try experimenting where you place it on the finger board and what octave its in. On the recording for FolkHarmonic theres one guitar doing what is tabbed out for you, another is playing the whole riff up the octave. Hint: Start solo one on the 5th fret of the hi E string to get the upper octave. OR Hint: Start solo one with your 2nd finger on the 7th fret of the D string. Improvising kickstarters - Scales and RiffsWe'll be using an A Major Pentatonic scale as a FRAMEWORK for improvising in this tune... if that name seems like a bunch of gobbledygook/mildly terrifying to lets break it down into a more manageable concept. A - is the starting note & key Major - its a happy sounding!!! Yay! Penta - Five Tonic - Note Scale - Group of notes so basically what we've got is a group of five notes that sound happy... (this is a very simplistic definition... my theory teachers from uni might be a bit scandalized at this explanation)
Using a transcribed solo to figure out the rules (and where you need to break them)Now that we've got a frame work we need to be aware that while these notes sound right MOST of the time, there are certain places where we need to break the rules. For example when we are playing the D7 chord in Brother Drop Dead there is one note that clashes a bit. Check out the Guitar solo transcribed below, as well as the original recording (NOTE: if you want to play along with the original recording you'll need to move everything up a semi tone ... or one fret, or use the 2nd file posted here. NIFH KEY: ORIGINAL KEY:
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Girl in the War... Updated Mp3's & Polka DotsBelow are is the score for the vocal harmonies, as well as each individual part and MP3s with Ukulele and one voice. Please ignore the Soprano/alto/tenor markings... they are just to keep things organized, but don't actually indicate which voices should be doing what. Listen through and sing along with the parts to find the one that is best suited for your voice... if you'd like to challenge yourself try learning more than one. Note the I've given harmonies for the whole song here, we won't be singing harmony on every line, but this allows us to pick an choose the lines best suited to highlight. BASSES.... There is a line here that should be a sung underneath during the epic vocal breakdown... I don't know if its something you'll actually be able to do. have a listen through and try it. I'm open to suggestions.
Western swing classic... Shut up and drink your beer.
Charts & Chords for Western Swing
Moveable swing chords handouts:
Thank you everyone for such a stellar turnout tonight! FolkHarmonic is off to the races, I can't wait to hear what we can build over the next 6 weeks. We started the term off with a Josh Ritter tune called Girl in the War, from his album 'the Animal Years'. Here's what the original sounds like: FolkHarmonic arrangement:Below are the lyrics and chord chart as well as 2 recordings. One is just ukulele and the melody, the second is the "full arrangement"
Here's a quick recording of the counting exercise we did today as well. I tried to use different mice and pan the tracks so you can hear each part in the mix.
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Ali RomanowFolkHarmonic Director Archives
May 2020
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