Show off tunes

Subject: Show off tunes
From: Pete
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 03:30 PM

Does any one have tunes they play to 'show off'. I play 'The 4 poster bed' on the fiddle and tap the body of the fiddle with the bow end during the second part. I can remember seeing and old film (I think it was a Laurel & Hardy one) where a group of fiddlers swung their fiddles like pendulims whilst playing 'The Grandfather Clock'. How do you show off!

Pete

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Colin The Whistler (inactive)
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 03:40 PM

Now pete I would'nt call that a show off tune

Colin

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Les B
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 05:34 PM

Sometimes one is expected to play certain tunes that the audience thinks are "show off" tunes (wherein they show off to their friends their knowledge of what's hot !?!) If you play a 5-string banjo there's always someone who wants to hear "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" or "Dueling Banjos" (which are relatively easy) and if you're a fiddler it's always "Orange Blossom Special" (which fiddlers say is hard) or in some cases "that pretty tune from the Ken Burns Civil War TV Series" ie: Ashokan Farewell (which is fairly easy). I'm longing to learn a real hokum, show-off tune, but haven't managed to find anything I can wrap my fingers around.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Colin The Whistler (inactive)
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 06:08 PM

Look guys..and anybody else who tunes in...You don't need show off tunes..The problem with such tunes is that when somebody picks up an insturument for the first time , they'll fiddle and bugger about for a month or two and then try to play them. A Show Off tune is only good in the hands of a good player..Normally they are fairly easy tunes anyway !!' The Wind That Shakes The Barley' on the Whistle, McLeods, Farewell to Erin..(Sorry for concentating on the whislte) every instrument has it's own...Did novice player's suss these tunes out or did good player's suss these out..I argue the latter. But then if your a good player you don't need them !!! (except when your drunk, still on your feet and winning on points and your trying to pass yourself)..

They are good for session work when good people are playing with a mix of talent and also good for novices to get a feel of ornamentation, again, when you or mucking about in the spare room, but if your spend your time learning 'show piece tunes' you'll not get the musical maturity thats required of a good player...You'll not get one tenth of the way of playing the thing right and because a couple of non-belivers calp, you run the risk off getting big headed and then snowballing down a slippery slope.

Pete..good thread..Jesus my heads light after that.!!!

Does anybody know any good jokes about Banjo's or have I seen that thread somewere before

The only Joke I can tell you is that you probally wont here to much more from me when I get my next Phone Bill

Thanks & Slainte Colin Ballygally

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Sam Pirt
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 07:21 PM

I play accordion so some of my 'show off tunes' are Jeans Reel, Masons as well as a couple of original compositions like Stomach Steinway Man by Ian Lowthian. By the way The Floggin Reels also a good tune!!

Bye, Sam

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: reggie miles
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 07:25 PM

I once met a guy by the name of Bob, just Bob. Who when he introduced himself said he was the best jaw harp player west of the Mississippi. So to prove it he played Orange Blossom Special on the jaw harp. This really blew my mind as I have only ever been able to twang the crazy things and make a boing or a yoing or maybe at best a dwing dwong in a rhythmic way but never exact notes. His demonstration of his abilities convinced me to include him in some shows we were doing at the time. Reggie

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Jo Taylor
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 08:36 PM

Sam, can you play Jean's Reel like Phil Cunningham? Can I join you? That would be my choice too, I thought of it before I opened the thread, & you've beaten me to it :-).
I agree, Colin, that you don't NEED 'show off' tunes but don't you get a buzz when you've played a difficult tune well? Or when the audience get a buzz off you doing it? Not arguing, just discussing!
Jo

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Colin The Whistler (inactive)
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 09:05 PM

Jo...Yes..But Buzzing can get pretty stale after 33 when you've been buzzing since you were eight. Liam Og O Flynn and Paddy Kennnan were perhaps the pest Irish pipers God has ever produced. (Billy Mc Cormack from Carrickfergus is close behind them) Their work reflects a maturity of playing that dos'nt come from a quick buzz but from years of style, influence and maturity, listening and learning. Their playing is like a game of chess , ...well thought out...and then delivered with excelance and ruthfulness ,to be admired and aspired to by the next generation ... who ultimtely will do it better..THAT'S THE BUZZ! EVEN WHEN YOUR PAST IT!!!!!

Slainte Ballygally Colin Ballygally

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: A Celtic Harper
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 09:23 PM

Q: What's the difference where a possum's been hit in the road and where a banjo player's been hit? A: The Possum was on its way to a gig.

Q: How can you tell when the stage is level? A: When the banjo player drools from both sides of his mouth.

Q: How can you tell when there's a banjo player at your door? A: He's the one delivering the pizza.

Q: How do you know it's a banjo player delivering the pizza? A: The knocking gets faster and faster and louderand louder.

(.....sorry - got these from the banjo player in Country Current, so I guess these are as good as banjo jokes get! - regards - A Celtic Harper

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 09:46 PM

Ya know Colin, it ain't about buzzes or technical prowess as there is always some better, it's not about who's the greatest os all time or so on.....it's about those people in front of you being entertained and happy. I love schoolkids. I try to work a medley of tunes they know that will also showcase an instrument. With kids too you can work up some things so that a small group of their number can all have a chance to "show off" too. Works with adults too. Most of the general public hasn't paid enough attention to the most common instrument let alone the less used ones. Educating them is a bigger thrill than wanging your way thru a tecnically brilliant performance.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Arkie
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 10:56 PM

Leroy Troy, the Tennessee Slicker, flips, twirls, and twangs a banjo much in the manner of Uncle Dave Macon. He is sure fun to watch. He claims it takes a lot of room for him to play a banjo.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Mark Clark
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 11:15 PM

Show off tunes often get me into trouble. That's because I usually attempt them late at night while three sheets to the wind. Still, Merle Travis' tune "Saturday Night Shuffle" makes a grand show tune on the guitar. Also, "Blue Smoke" and Doc Watson's tune "Doc's Guitar." I confess I still like to play Etta Baker's tunes from the old '50s recording "Instrumental Music Of The Southern Apalachians."

Surely there are others.

- Mark

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 11:43 PM

OH MARK....."Sweet Etta" kinda' gets forgotten sometimes...thanks for bringing up an often left out Great.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: alison
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 02:44 AM

Was it someone here who claimed they could play Lannigans Ball on the whistle and jig at the same time?

I'd like to see that.......

Slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: puzzled
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 04:15 AM

I agree that "it's about those people in front of you being entertained and happy". I personally try to keep songs simple because i think that keeps the people happy. But i have found that once or twice a night, at least, the crowd likes a show off tune.
But. . . I have also found that the technique or the tune that the crowd thinks is a show off piece is usually some simple little trick that is easy to pull off.
So i satisfy their need to hear "some fancy playing" because of the ovation i get from them. It's keeping them happy.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: alison
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 04:30 AM

I think its important to keep your audience happy.. but you also have to be happy with what you are doing yourself.....

How often have you seen a band which is technically brilliant but DULL to watch.

Personally I'd rather watch (and play in) bands that look as though they're having fun... keeps the spark.....

When the fun has gone out of your playing.... and you're just going through the motions, (I feel one of Art's songs coming on **grin**)... it's time to try something new and more challenging, or get some new songs, otherwise you get stale.. and your audience will know it.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Sam Pirt
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 05:18 AM

If you think dancing while you play is cleaver you should see Natalie Macmaster (fiddle) and Tracy Dares (piano) from Cape Breton dancing while they play!!

Bye, Sam

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Herge
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 04:31 PM

I have a bluegrass book with a photo of three musicians doing 'the octopus'. That is all playing there own and anothers instrument (if you can work that out!) I'll try and explain - a fiddler plays the left hand of his fiddle and the right hand (picking) of his pals banjo. The banjo player plays the left hand on the banjo and the right hand of his mates guitar. The guitarist stands behind them playing the right hand of his guitar and bowing the fiddle that is tucked under the banjo players chin. Follow that?? I think the Dubliners did this as well with a whistle stuffed into someones beak as well!

Colin at which school of excellence would you learn this??

Herge

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 07:55 PM

Sam's right. I have seen Natalie MacMaster, and she is incredible. To be able to literally leap around the stage and dance that well, or play that well, either one, but BOTH TOGETHER!

My show off tune tends to be Ashokan Farewell, but the only one I impress is myself, that I made it all the way through (on either guitar or fiddle) without too many squawks, or on a good night, Sweet Sunny South on the guitar.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: BK
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 09:46 PM

I'm not a fancy picker; the closest I ever come is "Soalin'." Generally, the audience seems to love it, and I certainly agree that the audience enjoyment is what counts. Cheers, BK

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Ian Stephenson
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 07:50 AM

I can vouch for Sams showing off tunes -you should try accompanying him when he plays masons apron at quadruple speed!

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Sam Pirt
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 08:09 AM

Cheers Ian!!

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 10:27 AM

The "Entertainer" works out pretty good on the guitar if there is not too much noise and the audience is listening. It would not work on St. Patricks day in an Irish Pug.

When I do substitute teaching for the elementary music teacher in grades K - 6, the kids seem to be quite impressed with small instruments regardless of what you play. Uke's, Penny Whistles, are favorites, while songs like Green & Yeller, Abyoyo, Rattling Bog, etc., usually go over big.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Roger the zimmer
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 10:47 AM

UK jazz/blues singer George Melly still does "Frankie & Johnny" with actions but when he was younger and slimmer he used to "die" at the appropriate point by throwing himself off the stage & landing in a paratroop roll before climbing back to finish the song. In some venues getting back was more difficult and the band had to "vamp till ready" for some time for his reappearance. Will Hastie, reeds player for a time with one of the many versions of the Temperance Seven, used to do a "Roland Kirk" , playing two penny whistles simultaneously , one with each hand (NOT taped together pace the tw thread!), but no doubt that is old hat to folk pw players. Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller, of course was a tremendous blues one man band and on one track he adds simultaneous tapdancing and guitar playing to his multiple skills. Lenny Hastings, much missed drummer with the Alex Welsh Band wore a terrible syrup (wig) and when he had a few drinks taken often climaxed a drum solo by whirling it round on one of his drum sticks. I'll draw a veil over his Adolf Hitler/Richard Tauber impressions... Not folk, though, sorry!

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Bert
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 11:00 AM

I'm not a good enough player to do any show off tunes. But for a show off song I use "The Sow Song"

Bert.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Vixen
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 01:03 PM

I think the most impressive show-off tune I've seen was in the Harpo Club my dad belongs to. It's made up of men aged 50 to 80, mostly over 70 (I'm allowed because of my dad) playing harmonicas in a member's living room. Now picture one of these dudes playing Orange Blossom Special on two harps, swapping them as needed, playing cross-harp as necessary. It was phenomenal. I don't think he missed a note.

I don't do show-off tunes--as soon as I try to show off, I fall flat on my face. My best show-offs have occurred when I was concentrating so much I didn't know what I'd done. The audience always managed to let me know, though!

Just my $0.02!

V

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: puzzled
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 02:00 PM

My favorite form of showing off is to do rhythmn behind the two pickers in my band when they are burning. I love to hear the audience applause for them. And I don't hessitate to holler their name out or whoop it up when i agree that what they just played was fantastic. And when they are both on at the same time, that's even better. It makes me smile.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Mark Clark
Date: 15 May 00 - 09:07 PM

Sometimes I'll pull out "Devil's Dream" as a show off tune. I play it in A but without a capo. It's one of those that you kinda need to stay up on to do though, at least for me.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 May 00 - 10:13 PM

Can't believe this has gone this far without a mention of "Black Mountain Rag", and "Doc's Guitar" is a close second. Worn out poo-ba show offs include Orange Blossom and Listne to the Mockingbird. Another good/difficult one for fiddles is Blackberry Blossom; I call it the Spider song, because that is what my left hand looks like!

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 15 May 00 - 11:11 PM

If you want a challenge on fiddle try The Acrobat's Hornpipe in Bb, not necessarily too hard and certainly not that fast, but it needs good clean intonation on the chromatic runs. I posted the tune a few months back.

If you're a double bass player you can always pivot it around on its stick - as long as you remember that you have a bug attached. Audiences almost demand it on a 50's number.

Have fun, John

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 May 00 - 12:12 AM

I detest the Acrobat almost as much as the Mathemetician. Kevin Burke can do both, at the speed of light.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: MK
Date: 16 May 00 - 12:19 AM

Shouldn't every tune you perform be, a show tune?

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Bugsy
Date: 16 May 00 - 07:38 AM

March Rain, by Michae Chapman.

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 May 00 - 10:46 AM

Michael, in view of your recently posted sound files... That's easy for you to say! *BG*

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: MK
Date: 16 May 00 - 12:24 PM

Thank you Mark.*G*

But semi-seriously, should every tune you perform be a show-off tune, regardless of the amount of "flash" within the song?

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Mbo
Date: 16 May 00 - 12:27 PM

Well since I don't really play in public, I don't show off! At least I don't think....maybe all you HearMe listeners could tell me what songs I show off on? (it certainly ain't The Fields of Athenry!)

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 May 00 - 11:16 PM

Michael,

Yes, you're right. We should clean and polish any tune we plan to perform for others. Being a folk performer doesn't excuse one from responsibility for quality control. In can be mighty dreary in a jam session or song circle when someone calls a "show off tune" they've almost got right. Tends to bring people down.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 17 May 00 - 02:42 AM

A real show-stopper in Irish music is "The Glen Road To Carrick." It's not a gimmicky tune by any means, but a very exciting 5-part reel, and challenging to the player. Play it well and it get's an ovation, even in a noisy pub.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Jim Krause
Date: 17 May 00 - 11:04 AM

For years I struggled to find a way all my own to show off, to find an original Orange Blossom Special if you will. At age 21 I thought I would be the next National Flatpicking Champ. Went to the contest, saw how far all the top guns had come, and chucked that idea. Next I was going to be the National Fingerpicking Champion. Then I saw how far all those top guns had gone. I knew clawhammer banjo wasn't going to get it, and I knew I would never be the next Vassar Clements, or Mark O'Connor, so I thought about it for quite a few years, and decided to do what I do best, sing.

I still needed an Orange Blossom Special. And I hit upon the idea of yodeling. Learned how to yodel while doing a janitor job. I'm sure my supervisor thought I had taken complete leave of my senses when he found me early one morning about the break of still-dark-outside, bending over and scrubbing out a toilet in the ladies' john, and yodeling at the top of my voice. Is there any other way to do it?

When I felt confident enough to spring my new found skill on an unsuspecting public, a noisy bar on the north side of town, I tore the house down. Surprised? Yup. Tickled pink? You betcha. And it works every time. Oh yeah, I wrote the song I yodeled. Quite aptly it is called The Yodeling Cowboy.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Peter T.
Date: 17 May 00 - 11:17 AM

I recently dusted off a tape of Doc Watson and family at Newport, and it had two versions of "Beaumont Rag", one with the young Clarence White -- is it hard to do, Doc Watson experts out there? Sounds pretty impressive.
Oh yes I remember the question I wanted to ask: There is a guitar version of John Philip Sousa's big march that I heard once and never again -- the guy did everything but eat the guitar on the record. Does anyone know who did this -- I would love to get it.....yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: bbelle
Date: 17 May 00 - 11:31 AM

A "show off" tune should be one from the heart. It's a tune that you play, sing, play and sing, with which you are so intimate that it's as if there's no one else in the room except you and the song. Your audience will know, unless they're a bunch of tin-eared morons. Playing at breakneck speed or singing at the top of your lungs, because you don't know any other way, is often viewed as "without finesse." A grand example of this is Bill Sables playing and singing "Rubenstein" or "Christmas in the Trenches." I was awestruck with the intimacy of the music with the musician. That is what a "show off" tune is ... moonchild

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 17 May 00 - 11:58 AM

Cap't Bob - The Entertainer is a favorite show-off tune for pianists of all skill levels. The problem is...most people play the Joplin rags too fast. Like Moonchild said, "playing at breakneck speed is often playing without finesse."

Mary

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 17 May 00 - 12:43 PM

EVERTHING I play is showing off!!

It's all smoke and mirrors folks!!

{~`

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 17 May 00 - 01:35 PM

Peter T, I know that Guy Van Duser did an awe-inspiring version of Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" a number of years ago, on nylon-string guitar. Very discouraging for the rest of us guitar players who thought we were pretty damn good until then.

I think the point of this thread was to look for the "barn burners" that impress with speed and flash, not depth. Orange Blossom Special for fiddle, Dueling Banjos for any combination of instruments (Martin Mull did a version years ago called "Dueling Tubas"), "Crossroads" for electric power trio (which ultimately led Clapton to question whether he wanted to continue playing with Cream), etc. Whether that "wow!" factor is desirable or not is a matter of personal taste.

I used to do Beaumont Rag with another guitar player, and it invariably got the desired "yee hah!" from the audience. I felt like a whore.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: phil h
Date: 17 May 00 - 01:50 PM

The major show off piece heard in sessions in England in recent years has been 'music for a found harmonium',originally by the Penguin cafe orchestra I think but made famous by the Patrick Street recording. The young box wizzards haul that out to establish their credentials at sessions. Do they play it in the rest of the world too? Phil

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 17 May 00 - 01:59 PM

Talk about SHOW-OFF...I tried to write The Entertainer in italics and didn't turn off the italics!

Whistle Stop - Horowitz used to play Stars and Stripes Forever for an encore, but later stopped doing it because he felt it detracted from his concert. Anybody else have this experience? I'm sure I would have been one in the audience yelling "Yee Haaa."

Mary

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Bert
Date: 17 May 00 - 04:21 PM

Right on there, Moonbaby! That Bill-yerbuggah-Sables is just one big show off - but somehow he seems to do it WITHOUT showing off.

Bert;-)

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Wesley S
Date: 17 May 00 - 05:24 PM

Soddy - If you like to yodel there is a fella that used to sing - yodel - with a local group called "Cafe Noir". They did a lot of Django gypsy jazz material. I think his name was Randy Irwin but I could be wrong. Check him out.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Kim C
Date: 17 May 00 - 05:25 PM

Anytime I can yodel.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Peter T.
Date: 17 May 00 - 06:35 PM

Thanks Whistle Stop, Guy Van Duser! got to look it up. I wonder if he has any albums.

You didn't say if Beaumont Rag was easy or hard to play. There are expert whores you know....
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 18 May 00 - 08:05 AM

Guy Van Duser has a number of albums out, by himself and with clarinetist Billy Novick. Both outstanding musicians, and a lot of fun to listen to.

Easy, hard, I don't know. The notes themselves aren't hard, but we tried to goose it a little to give the crowd what they wanted, so I broke a sweat (like any expert whore)?

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 May 00 - 08:33 AM

I wouldn't call the Entertainer a show-of tune, exactly, but yes, it certainly gets a response from the audience. It is just one of those tunes that everyone loves. I have been playing it on guitar for 30 years (and one day I will get it right).
"Maple Leaf Rag" , now that IS a show-off tune.
I don't see anything wrong with playing show-off tunes if you are performing for an audience, playing them in a session is perhaps a tad egoistic.
How about show-off songs ? I guess mine would be "Bottle of the Best". I would love to be able to do Adam McNaughtan's "Scottish Song" or his "Hamlet", but don't have enough years left to learn them ....

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: zander (inactive)
Date: 18 May 00 - 10:14 AM

I play mandolin and tenor banjo and to show off I play a couple of tunes without making too many mistakes. peace and love, Dave

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Caitrin
Date: 18 May 00 - 04:53 PM

Gershwin's "Summertime" has just become my show-off tune. It's not especially hard, but it works well with my voice and shows off my low range. Also, I enjoy singing it, and it shows.
A good friend of mine plays guitar, and we'll occasionally do Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" to show off the fact that we can sing harmony together. Again, it's a case of really liking to sing it...that shows, and it makes the song more enjoyable for the audience, I think.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 19 May 00 - 12:31 AM

Yes, Phil H, I heard "Music for a found harmonium" played on the West Coast ten years ago at the Plough and Stars pub in San Francisco by fiddler Nollaigh Casey, with Michael Black on guitar. You don't hear it too much at sessions around here, but on that rare occasion, it's pretty exciting to listen to. Reminds me of another tune that was all the rage around then among Scottish fiddlers: "The Clumsy Lover."

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Gypsy
Date: 19 May 00 - 12:31 AM

Dave, if you remember to repeat a mistake, it is no longer a mistake, but a NEW arrangement! Love to strut with Redhaired boy on hammered dulcimer, really suited to the instrument. So is Lark in the Morning, and The Butterfly

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Racer
Date: 19 May 00 - 03:08 AM

I once heard Wierd Al Yankovic talking about learning "Purple Haze" on the accordian and blasting it across his neighborhood with the help of a mic and an amp. Apparently, when he was in his teens, he felt kind of detached for learning such an unpopular instrument. I can understand his feelings.

I think that if I ever hear "Purple Haze" on an accordian, I can definitely say I've lived. I will have lived it all by that point.

The best way to please an audience is to play the same crap that they hear five-hundred times a day on the radio.

Those are my thoughts.

-Racer

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Grab
Date: 19 May 00 - 09:00 AM

Aren't we all doing this to perform? and so every tune is "showing off", if you like? Mind you, if you're just out to show off and not actually behind the music then it's bound to fall flat.

Most impressive is surely something done as an unusual arrangement. So regular tunes for jew's harp, arrangements of complex stuff for single guitar, etc.

Grab.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: gillymor
Date: 20 May 00 - 08:41 AM

I don't try to learn knucklebusters any more, I'm more interested in songs and melodies but I still love to hear them. One in particular being Bensusan's "Le Lac de Abbesses" which is also very musical. Two that I still play are Kottke's "Stealin'" (which contains a bit of Doc's Guitar) and Fahey's "Last Steam Engine Train" played at bat out of hell speed.

Frankie

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 04 - 06:37 AM

Have any of you heard Harriet Bartlett play Jean's Reel?? Watch out Phil Cunningham is all I'm saying!

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Leadfingers
Date: 10 Mar 04 - 08:35 AM

The Lark In The Clear Air might not seem much like a 'Show Off Tune'
but try doing it ib six keys on ONE whistle. If you play a C start on the E which puts you in the Key of A ,A is the start not for D , D for G, G for C, C for F and F for Bflat. The only octave jumps are the first note in each key and it NEEDS the D in the third octave when in F. Thats the note that wkes the dogs up !

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: GUEST,Barry
Date: 10 Mar 04 - 09:47 AM

The trouble with SHOW OFF tunes is that eventually (in most cases) you will come across someone who plays it better than you and you die!! Modesty is the best policy.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: Scoville
Date: 10 Mar 04 - 10:01 AM

Among my dulcimer friends, "Cherokee Shuffle" was the tune that marked your rise to the level of Really Good Player. It's actually not too bad to learn but it sounds like a million bucks once you have it down.

My all-time favorite was the guy who performed at Glen Rose (home of the Texas state dulcimer championships) in, I think it was 1997, and played the William Tell Overture--the whole thing, not just the Lone Ranger famous part--by bouncing a pencil on the strings.

Subject: RE: Show off tunes
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 10 Mar 04 - 10:17 AM

A young fiddler in this area, who has won several national titles, uses Limerock and The Hot Canary as his show pieces. He played Hot Canary, at my insistance, in the customary fiddle jam, while the final scores were being tallied, in a contest here in Mountain View, and the other fiddlers stood back and looked at each other, and then gave him as big an applause as the audience. He is an exceptional musician and in his hands both pieces are a joy to hear.