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Got any musical tricks ?
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Subject: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Les B. Date: 20 Apr 05 - 11:55 AM A fretless banjo player the other evening had a neat little trick he did as part of playing "Cluck Old Hen" - a high up the neck lick that sounded like a chicken clucking. It got me to thinking about all the special effects that can be done with various instruments: 12th fret harmonic chimes on guitar or banjo as clock ticking sounds on "Grandfather's Clock" - string plucking with the left hand on fiddle in "Pop Goes the Weasel" and other tunes - crossing the low strings on guitar to achieve a snare drum sound for marching songs - doing bird imitations on the fiddle for "Listen to the Mocking Bird," etc. What are the musical tricks that you do or have seen done, and with which songs?? |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,cromdubh Date: 20 Apr 05 - 12:13 PM I've seen my uncle playing using his wedding ring to play a kind of slide guitar. It was very effective because he suddenly return to normal playing without any break. Also seen him deploy a third hand capo, which is divided into six, allowing the player to leave certain strings open. It made for very interesting sounds. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Leadfingers Date: 20 Apr 05 - 12:26 PM Lea - You mention Grandfathers Clock - I have in the past played 'The westmister Chimes' as an intro , all on harmonics . Works easiest in the key of G and EADGBA tuning ! |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Leadfingers Date: 20 Apr 05 - 12:27 PM OOPS - I really meant EADGBE tuning ! |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: wysiwyg Date: 20 Apr 05 - 12:37 PM On autoharp, strumming close to the pins produces a tone reminiscent of early-model electric guitar. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Herge Date: 20 Apr 05 - 01:41 PM When playing the four poster bed on the fiddle, the left hand plucks the strings whilst the bow is tapped once in each 'corner' of the fiddle. Sounds and looks quite good. Herge |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Hamish Date: 20 Apr 05 - 03:39 PM Sometimes - I said sometimes - I try playing the right notes. Catches 'em off-guard. ;-) |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Bill D Date: 20 Apr 05 - 04:37 PM when playing "Silver Bell" on autoharp, I put on 3 heavy brass pics and on the slow part, tap out the melody like chimes. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Bill D Date: 20 Apr 05 - 04:46 PM ... Here's one. I've seen Joel use anything from a knife to a salt shaker to fret the fiddle while he plucks it. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 20 Apr 05 - 08:38 PM I've got a band around my hat, and my feet hum! |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Once Famous Date: 20 Apr 05 - 08:51 PM The lead guitar player in the country rock band I used to play on could play a hot twangy lead on his Tele completely behind his back. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Bee-dubya-ell Date: 20 Apr 05 - 09:49 PM I've seen a pair of musicians play a fiddle with hammer dulcimer hammers. One fingered the notes while the other hammered the strings. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Clean Supper Date: 21 Apr 05 - 06:10 AM In the jaz band my Dad was in they used to do a routine wherer the drummer drummed the upright bass' strings while the bass player frettesd them. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,eric the red Date: 21 Apr 05 - 07:52 AM The Dubliners had the best trick tune, the Octopus jig. Barney would fret the banjo while John leaned over and picked at the same time as fingering the fiddle whilst Barney did the bowing, then Ciaron would stick a whistle in Johns mouth while he fingered it, amazing. eric |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Nobby Date: 21 Apr 05 - 07:53 AM I can play a bodhran with a machete. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 21 Apr 05 - 07:54 AM Two people playing one piano accordion - one to each side. This has also been done with concertinas. Playing a piano accordion blindfolded. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Nellie Caltt Date: 21 Apr 05 - 08:16 AM Playing a piano accordion with a sledge hammer. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST Date: 21 Apr 05 - 11:09 AM Re Octopus Jig, The Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra used to do a similar thing with another piece, anyone remember what it was? It may have been classical. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,WYS Date: 21 Apr 05 - 11:16 AM Oh yah, hamering. I hammer my autoharp with spoons and arpeggiate chords that sound very dulcimer-like. But at what point is a trick a skiffle? I saw Lonnie Brooks (Jr. I think) do a great blues number playing the electric guitar with his mouth (left hand still fingering). ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Bill D Date: 21 Apr 05 - 11:57 AM does anyone remember seeing Harmonica Frank Floyd playing guitar and playing harmonica with the harp stuck IN his mouth? Bizarre, but he made it sound good. I saw him once at the Smithsonian Festival in about 1975. (Maybe I just thought it sounded good because my attention was distracted by the red, white & blue checked shirt and striped pants he wore!) |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 21 Apr 05 - 08:15 PM I just remembered. I had a relative, a cousin of my mother, who had been captured and badly by the Japanese in WWII. He had no teeth, so he used to take out his falsies (teeth!) and play a very small harmonica totally inside his lips, held by his gums. He also had a dog who loved to sing along with him - on command, it would howl more or less in tune (well, good enough for blues!) while he played (a normal) harmonica. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Les B Date: 22 Apr 05 - 01:15 PM A couple of weeks ago the great Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers played a concert here. She did a train song with a bow stroke she learned from old-time Kentucky fiddler Ralph Blizzard - sort of brushing the bow from bridge toward the nut to achieve a rhythmic chug-a-chug sound. Very effective, and she said it was defintely not taught as part of classic violin technique. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: open mike Date: 22 Apr 05 - 02:21 PM http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fid1.htm there used to be a band calle Fiddlesticks who often did that percussive thing on the violin--with chop stick like sticks while the strings were being fingered by another player...the web link is to a page of word origins describing the term fiddlesticks. another thing that alters the guitar sound with amazing results is the E-bow...magnet thingy which activates the strings without plucking them...and produces a sustained sound. see: http://www.ebow.com/ |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 23 Apr 05 - 01:08 AM Old Time schtick - difference between jazz and blues????
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Dave Hanson Date: 23 Apr 05 - 05:03 AM The great Irish traditional singer and whistle player Packie Byrne used to play two tin whistles at the same time, that was pretty good. eric |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 23 Apr 05 - 08:02 AM An old violin trick is 'double stopping' - bowing 2 adjacent strings together. It can be used to simulate bagpipes. A pipe organ trick is 'pumping' or 'throbbing' the wind-chamber. When a large number of stops (ranks of pipes) are selected, and staccato chords are played on one hand on one manual (keyboard), the sudden drop in pressure can, under the right circumstances of playing these staccato chords at the right tempo, cause a throbbing of the sound volume which will affect all the pipes fed by the bellows thru the wind-chamber, and actuated by all the manuals and pedals. There is usually a 'compensating bellows' fitted, designed to open when the pressure drops, to try and stabilise the sound pressure, but under the right circumstances, you can work around this and get the compensating bellows to get 'in phase' with the throb, accentuating it instead of cancelling it. Incidentally, when the blowing pressure drops, some ranks of pipes are affected more than others in having slight pitch changes dues to blowing pressure changes - modifying the sound slightly. There is always a mechanical way around any mechanical safeguard system! |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Fullerton Date: 23 Apr 05 - 04:45 PM I can read & write music upside down. I've learnt to read and write text as well.... upside down. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: breezy Date: 23 Apr 05 - 05:30 PM 2 whistles from yor nose |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: gnu Date: 23 Apr 05 - 08:35 PM At the proper time of night I set my Hran down and begin to "play" a number of things. Bottle, cardboard box, frying pan, pot, whatever. But, the best is an aluminum beer can... I can make 'em sing with my tipper... seriously. And I can go through a few beer cans in a session. NNWW. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Mark Cohen Date: 23 Apr 05 - 11:44 PM I can go through a few beer cans in a session, too. Aloha, Mark |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Nellie Clatt Date: 24 Apr 05 - 04:10 AM Eileen Ivers ? Irish fiddler ? I think not, Eileen Ivers is an American fiddler who just happens to play Irish music. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 24 Apr 05 - 04:49 AM We have Ted Eagan who uses an empty beer carton in the manner of a drum as part of his act. He is currently the Administrator of the Northern Territory - a role equivalent to an Aussie State Governor. If you hear his recording of 'The Stockman's Boy', it is used very effectively. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,van lingle Date: 24 Apr 05 - 10:19 AM While playing acoustic guitar you can get a snare drum effect by sliding your flatpick under the low E string near the soundhole and then over the A string and while keeping the point of your pick in contact with the fingerboard bring in up so it's perpendicular to the strings then slide the pick up beyond the 3rd fret and depress the 2 strings together like your playing a Low G. I use this for fast jigs in G like the Kesh. In order to get a decent sound you might have to adjust your lefthand fingering and do a bit of muting with both hands. You can also catch the G string on the upstroke and hit it a couple of beats or if your really nimble play a triplet on it. Like I say it's takes a bit of experimentation. vl |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Big Al Whittle Date: 24 Apr 05 - 03:00 PM pigsty hill - the drummer used to play his drum sticks all over the floor of the stage brownsville banned used to start playing and then one of them would stop and then another and then another - until the whole trio had stopped playing, but the music continued (they had been skillfully miming to a track) - meanwhile the band would light a primus stove make egg sandwiches an play a game of darts! for a while paul downes when he split from Phil Beer used to gig with this other banjo player and they would play duelling banjos, and they would swap hands so that one hand was fretting what the other guy was playing and vice versa. the Morton fraser harmonica gang had a similar sort of thing - with several of them playing a big harmonica |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 24 Apr 05 - 07:22 PM 'Trad Irish' music has a few pieces such as 'Fox Hunt' and 'Battle' (possibly of Aughrim?) that include many appropriate sounds generated on normal instruments. Can't remember everything all at once you know.... |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 24 Apr 05 - 10:42 PM Well, there was the time we needed a snaredrum sound for the Highland Games so we laid uncooked linguine in the bodhran and tapped it smartly on the side while holding it horizontally. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Kaleea Date: 25 Apr 05 - 05:21 AM Speaking of Grandfather's Clock, when my band plays that tune, I pick up my whistle & play the "tic toc" sounds, then on Listen to the Mockingbird, I play a slow trill on my whistle as an answer (as in Q & A) to that line of the chorus. I love to do all kinds of fun "tricks" while performing. I sometimes play my Mountain Dulcimer with a small psaltry bow, then turn the bow upside down & use it as a hammer on the strings. I've been known to cross hands with a band mate & we strum each others instruments. Sometimes I have the stage lights turned very low or off/black lights, & use picks, bows, hammers, mallets, instruments & such which I have painted with glow-in-the-dark-paint(got it at the local discount house) & wear white gloves & shoes. It's most effective with other band mates joining in, clicking a mates bows/sticks together during the tune, add a couple of steps this way or that & such. I remember some of the old time performers doing some pretty crazy vaudeville type stuff, so I just use my imagination & go wild. I often insert a funny word or line when playing old time songs at the Care Homes--" Gorilla my Dreams, I Love You" . . . or with a fun & wild crowd, "I'll be feeling you in all the old familiar places . . ." (they've been known to scream in laughter over that one) |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST,Les B. Date: 25 Apr 05 - 01:29 PM Guest Nellie Clatt: I won't disagree about Eileen Ivers being Irish or American. I got the impression she was raised in America by Irish parents. What I'm really wondering about is how she won seven all-Ireland fiddle championships ? Can anyone from around the world enter those competitions ? I'm confused. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: John Hardly Date: 25 Apr 05 - 01:38 PM I've heard rumors (and so probably true) that when catspaw plays Wabash Cannonball he makes a train whistle sound as only he could. I don't really hear it as a train whistle, and he seems to sound it at very random times, but .... well .... come to think of it .... he uses the same sound effect during "Listen To The Mockingbird". Never smoke or have otherwise open flames around him during those two songs. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST Date: 25 Apr 05 - 03:01 PM When I walk on stage and start playing I can make the audience disapear. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: GUEST Date: 25 Apr 05 - 06:33 PM LOL...yeah, I can do that one pretty effectively meself. So can more than a few. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Dave Hanson Date: 26 Apr 05 - 02:50 AM Guest Les B, I suspect anyone can enter these things, I remember Tony Sullivan winning the All Irish tenor banjo title twice in the 70s and he's English. eric |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Les B Date: 26 Apr 05 - 08:05 PM Eric - thanks for that info. I've noticed that various all-Ireland winners seemed Irish-American. Here, at our state fiddle contests, players from surrounding states can enter, but are barred from going on to the final two or three rounds, so that the winners are truly from Montana. |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: chris nightbird childs Date: 26 Apr 05 - 08:26 PM Yeah, I got one. I play original material. ; )~ - Chris |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: Chris Green Date: 26 Apr 05 - 08:33 PM The one I want to learn is where some bloke pays you large quantities of dosh for playing music you want to play! |
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Subject: RE: Got any musical tricks ? From: chris nightbird childs Date: 27 Apr 05 - 12:58 AM Yeah, I heard about that one... |
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