Sabino Canyon Jam and fun

Greetings Bluegrass Aficionados: 

This coming Saturday, Nov. 8th is a huge celebration at Sabino Canyon.  You are invited to come pick bluegrass as part of the festivities.  

WHAT: The US Forest Service’s 50th Celebration of the Congressional Wilderness Act.  They need lots of bluegrass pickers to come help them celebrate.  There will be three pick’n sites – one by the front entrance, a second by the vender booths, and a third deeper into the canyon.  

WHO: There will be 3000-5000 celebrants, political speakers, over 25 vender booths, and NO MUSICIANS!  We’re solving that problem!  This is an invitation to all DBA and workshop players to come pick.  This includes individual pickers who want to form impromptu jams and established bands!  Newbies, intermediates, and experienced players are welcome.  

WHERE: The first staging area will be at the visitor’s center at Sabino Canyon.  As more players come in, we’ll expand to the two other sites.  The forest service will provide vehicles to help us haul our instruments to the other two sites.  

WHEN: This coming Saturday, November 8th from 9am to 3pm.  You will want to get there early (even 7am).  You can play for as long as you want and go between the three pick’n sites.  Parking will be non-existent, so you’ll want to have a loved one drop you off and pick you up.  

WHY: This is a great opportunity to play music in a beautiful setting to thousands of appreciative people.  Plus, this will help the DBA continue our warm relationship with the US Forest Service, which could grow into more occasions to play in the future.  

HOW: Send Doc Simpson a confirmation email (crimeshrink@gmail.com).  This is only to give us a rough estimate for who is coming.  You can show up last minute without a reservation.  As always, we desperately need bass players to show.  

Come on!  We’re talking November in Tucson!  This is some of the best weather of the whole year.  So, put down that remote control, get off that couch, and come take in the majestic beauty of God’s creation while playing great music.  It truly doesn’t get any better than this.  

Doc Simpson

St Anne's Reel

Here's mandolin tab link for the song:
http://mandolinsessions.com/?p=465
Guitar:
http://www.bluegrassguitar.com/pdf/StAnnesReel.pdf
Banjo:
http://billevansbanjo.com/blog/st-annes-reel-banjo-tab
Here are backing tracks at different speeds to play along with:
http://www.banjohangout.org/rss/PlayingStyles-Newest-ID9.xml 70bpm

Enjoy and search around on these links, there's a lot there for you to work with
Jeff

Test for email

Hey all let me know if you get an email letting you know about this post.
Thanks
Jeff

November Progression list

Here is the list of songs associated to each progression for November:

1)Wreck of the old 97

2)Great Speckled Bird

3) New River Train

4)Sittin on Top of the World

5)Jesse James

6)Workshop Blues (original I wrote this morning)

7)You are my sunshine

8) NOTE: I changed this progression beginning with this month (oct) song

it is now

1 1 1 1

1 1 5 5

1 1 1 1

1 5 11

November song-Driving nails in my coffin

If you need the actual progression for each number, refer back to the archive in September.

Two chord songs for beginning jam

Two Chord Songs:
My Homes Across the Blueridge Mountains
John Henry
Little Liza Jane
Hot Corn, Cold Corn
Jimmie Brown, the Newsboy
Katy Daly
Little Bessie
Little Birdie
Pretty Polly
Rain and Snow
Reuben's Train
Sally Goodin
Shady Grove
Shortenin Bread
Train, Train, Train
The Train that Carried My Girl From Town
These are the songs we'll be working on for a while in my Beginning Bluegrass session. We'll be transposing all of the songs into G for now, so get use to using your Circle of Fifths chart.
Jeff

Scales; use with Circle of Fifths

Scales and Keys

Scales are used in all music and use a basic theory to derive certain qualities. Let’s discuss how a Major scale is made. There is a basic theory that uses whole steps and half steps to derive at a scale in a certain key. The Major scale is made up using:

     Whole     Whole     Half     Whole     Whole     Whole     Half    

Do            Re            Mi       Fa           Sol              La            Ti          Do

Using this concept lets look at the C scale

     Whole     Whole     Half     Whole     Whole     Whole     Half    

C               D             E            F              G               A             B            C

The C scale uses no sharps or flats. Please refer to the “Circle of Fifths” chart I provided you. In the beginning of every song on the Staff lines there is a Key Signature, noted by showing sharps and flats or none. This tells you what key you are in. Let’s look at the key of G; a bluegrass favorite.

     Whole     Whole     Half     Whole     Whole     Whole     Half    

G              A               B          C              D              E               F#         G

Note that there is 1 sharp, F. Look at your “Circle of Fifths” What Key signature shows 1 sharp? Yes, G. It also shows which note is sharped, F. This also means that any F(low F) is sharped unless otherwise noted.

Now for Pentatonics we don’t use the 4^th or the 7th, so in the Key of G we throw out the C and the F# leaving five notes(tones) or “Penta(tonic)” You can also see this on your Circle of Fifths chart. Find G and go clockwise 5 positions including G. Also note the 2 notes you threw out C and F#; the C is the note counterclockwise to G and the F# is the note after your fifth note. This works for every scale. Another handy way to use the “Circle of fifths”.

Circle of Fifths

DBA Circle of Fifths

Start on you root or key of the chord progression. To determine your I-IV V progression go one counter clockwise from the root; that is your IV chord. Then go one clockwise from the root; that is your V chord. To change keys in a song, determine the root chord and follow the previous procedure. The inner circle determines your minor chords from the root or in that key. The minor directly in from the root or key is the Relative minor or vi chord. Go one counterclockwise from the vi chord and you have the ii chord minor of the progression. Go one clockwise from the relative minor and you have the iii chord minor of the progression. The seventh chord in the progression is usually major in bluegrass. O your progression is I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-VII;  with I-IV-V always major and ii-iii-vi always minor. The seventh is Augmented or Diminished in theory but usually major in Bluegrass. The relative minor shares the same scale as the major root but starts on its own namesake. The staff lines show the key signature; starting with C, there are no sharps or flats. Going clockwise you gain and retain one more sharp that is in that keys scale, until you get to the bottom of the circle, F#. Same with going counterclockwise from C, but this time you gain Flats up until Gb. Clockwise is Circle of Fifths, counterclockwise is Wheel of Fourths. Always look at the Key Signature to determine that songs key, it’s not always the first chord.    –Jeff-

Marana DBA Workshop 10/22

Hey all,
Great workshop last Wednesday. This week we'll all be back as Dave will return to continue his progression workshop. I gave an introduction to some new jammers and will continue with the Slow Jam and Theory portion of the Workshop.
Remember our First Annual Campout/Flyfishing/jam will be coming up on November 10 at Deadhorse State Park near Cottonwood AZ on the beautiful Verde River. I will give Fly Casting lessons for those interested followed by daily jams. On Thursday we will travel to Wickenburg for the Friday-Sunday Wickenburg Bluegrass Festival. There will be no Workshop that week on November 12!!!
Go to this link for Deadhorse info and reservations:
http://azstateparks.com/parks/DEHO/index.html
Follow this link for info on the Wickenburg Festival(scroll down a little to November)
http://www.wickenburgchamber.com/event_type/annual/
If you don't want to camp there are plenty of lodging opportunities in both Cottonwood and Wickenburg, so don't feel left out! Cottonwood is just across the Verde River from Deadhorse State Park.
Hope to see you all there!

Bluegrass Rhythm Guitar

Hey all,
This blog is all about rhythm. I know most of our musicians at our workshops are guitar players. Most of you guitar players strive to become Flatpickers. But do you really know how to play rhythm? I mean really play rhythm well? Be honest. I thought so. Your rhythm playing makes up over 90% of the song. Your guitar not only makes up the tonal quality of the chords but also the driving percussion. Your rhythm  is what makes the other instruments sound good on their breaks. There's a great little guitar course out there produced by "Flatpicking Guitar Magazine" called "Essentials". It's an 8 part course. Do you know what part one is? Rhythm guitar; yes, for a Flatpicking course. Do you know what part 8 is? Rhythm again.
Just a little tidbit of info to absorb over the next week or so. Here is a link to some basic Bluegrass Rhythm to help you along your way to be a top notch rhythm player.
http://youtu.be/iPxu-xyFUxo
Here's a link to the course I was discussing, it would be a great supplement to bring to your guitar teacher for you to structure your lessons on.
http://www.flatpick.com/Flatpicking_Essentials_s/2015.htm
Have fun, see you all at the workshop,
Jeff