Maybe it's because I've been thinking of Spencer & Rains since my last post. Maybe it's just because I simply don't know many G tunes. But "Stumptown Stomp" has been on my mind recently.
"Stumptown Stomp" comes from the playing of Eck Robertson, who many consider to be the first commercial country musician. He first recorded for Victor in 1922, with "Sally Gooden" and "Arkansaw Traveler" being the first two sides released.
Between 1922 and 1930, Victor released a total of 16 sides of Robertson's fiddling. He wouldn't be recorded again until 1963, when Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tracy Schwarz of the New Lost City Ramblers paid him a visit. Those recordings were later released in 1991 on County Records 202, Famous Cowboy Fiddler, which included Robertson's playing of "Stumptown Stomp."
The tune seemed to bubble to the surface in my local old-time circles after it was included on Spencer & Rains' 2015 album, The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol 2. It didn't take me too long to get the general gist of it by ear, but I could never quite grab the final phrase of the B part.
Over the last week or so, I've been noodling with "Stumptown Stomp" again, but I still couldn't catch the last little bit. Today, I came across notation attributed to Howard Rains and meticulously tabbed out the two-measure section that has vexed me all this time.
Of course, it was much simpler than my ear kept telling me. I sat there during my lunchtime practice session and repeated the phrase and the tune for 30 minutes straight. I even used a metronome. And that led to a bit of an epiphany.
As I wrote in January, one of my goals this year was to improve my rhythm. The primary way I've gone about that is to focus on simpler tunes and less complex bowing. I also started recording myself again, so I can better critique my own playing. I'm already starting to see good results, after a recent tune get-together where I managed to play on the beat for most of the time.
What I haven't done is play with a metronome. At least, not with the fiddle. I've done some recent work with the dreaded ticking time machine of despair while playing banjo, but I could never quite get myself locked in while bowing. I always thought it was because it was hard to hear the metronome over the sound of the fiddle right next to my ear, but today I realized it was something else: speed.
While working on that trouble spot on "Stumptown Stomp," I set the metronome to a dreadfully slow 80 bpm. The click ... click ... click ... click ... suddenly stood out as I worked through the tune. I kept thinking, "Slow Bow to the Beat." Repeating that phrase over and over, it began to morph into "Slow Boat to the Beach," which sounds really nice amid these final gasps of winter in Northeast Ohio.
So that's my new mantra, "Slow Boat to the Beach." Not only will it remind me not to rush my fiddling, but it'll also put a happy picture in my mind's eye.
Between 1922 and 1930, Victor released a total of 16 sides of Robertson's fiddling. He wouldn't be recorded again until 1963, when Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tracy Schwarz of the New Lost City Ramblers paid him a visit. Those recordings were later released in 1991 on County Records 202, Famous Cowboy Fiddler, which included Robertson's playing of "Stumptown Stomp."
The tune seemed to bubble to the surface in my local old-time circles after it was included on Spencer & Rains' 2015 album, The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol 2. It didn't take me too long to get the general gist of it by ear, but I could never quite grab the final phrase of the B part.
Over the last week or so, I've been noodling with "Stumptown Stomp" again, but I still couldn't catch the last little bit. Today, I came across notation attributed to Howard Rains and meticulously tabbed out the two-measure section that has vexed me all this time.
Of course, it was much simpler than my ear kept telling me. I sat there during my lunchtime practice session and repeated the phrase and the tune for 30 minutes straight. I even used a metronome. And that led to a bit of an epiphany.
As I wrote in January, one of my goals this year was to improve my rhythm. The primary way I've gone about that is to focus on simpler tunes and less complex bowing. I also started recording myself again, so I can better critique my own playing. I'm already starting to see good results, after a recent tune get-together where I managed to play on the beat for most of the time.
What I haven't done is play with a metronome. At least, not with the fiddle. I've done some recent work with the dreaded ticking time machine of despair while playing banjo, but I could never quite get myself locked in while bowing. I always thought it was because it was hard to hear the metronome over the sound of the fiddle right next to my ear, but today I realized it was something else: speed.While working on that trouble spot on "Stumptown Stomp," I set the metronome to a dreadfully slow 80 bpm. The click ... click ... click ... click ... suddenly stood out as I worked through the tune. I kept thinking, "Slow Bow to the Beat." Repeating that phrase over and over, it began to morph into "Slow Boat to the Beach," which sounds really nice amid these final gasps of winter in Northeast Ohio.
So that's my new mantra, "Slow Boat to the Beach." Not only will it remind me not to rush my fiddling, but it'll also put a happy picture in my mind's eye.
Comments
Post a Comment