The breakdown of “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom,” a tune rooted in Civil War history, explores its origin linked to General James A. Garfield. The song’s melody, distinguished by a raised 4th (C#), poses challenges for players. Practice methods, scales, and soloing strategies are discussed, aiding in mastering this unique composition.
Continuing the series of “songs I should know, but don’t” today I’m covering the classic mandolin fiddle tune Big Mon by Bill Monroe. This tune is a pretty straight forward, and fast, bluegrass jam favorite. If you have a mandolin or fiddle playing buddy – this can be a great tune for some “twin” parts […]
Today’s mandolin song breakdown is on the Tim O’Brien tune the High Road. I was introduced to this tune in the Seattle bluegrass jam at Outlander Brewing late 2022 I believe. The more I play this song, the more I just love the melody. To me it feels like an old time fiddle tune wrapped […]
Today’s mandolin sheet music song breakdown covers the standard fiddle tune, Old Joe Clark. The simple melody and chord progression make this great tune for beginners and more advanced players alike. Today I’ll be focusing more on the basics of this song and providing a few different melody options. In a future post, I’ll provide […]
I heard Chinquapin Hunting for the first time around 2015, then didn’t hear it again until maybe a month ago. I forgot how much fun this tune is and it’s a shame how under called it is at jams – so today I’m going to cover Chinquapin (pronounced Chick A Pin) Hunting. In case you’re […]
For some reason, Clinch Mountain Backstep is a tune that I sort of ignored for a while because it wasn’t being called at my local San Diego too often. When I moved to Seattle however, it was played everywhere. The first festival I went to in Seattle, that tune got called at least 5 different […]
Salt Creek is a good ol’ standard bluegrass fiddle tune. I think I’ve played Salt Creek at nearly every jam or festival I’ve ever attended. It’s truly a standard to get down and generally a pretty fun tune even for a big jam. In this post, I’ll dive in to the chords, melody, harmony, and […]
Goats. They get stuck sometimes in high mountain tops – but this Billy, well he got stuck in the lowground. Anyway, bad jokes aside, Billy in the Lowground is a great fiddle tune that I love to play. This is a great jam standard that I’ve heard in just about every place I’ve ever jammed […]
My buddy Orion introduced me to June Apple tune a while back but I honestly forgot about it for a while. Lately I’ve been hearing this song pop up in jams again though, so I figured I’d break it down. While the progression and melody are pretty easy to grasp, there’s a lot you can […]
Cherokee Shuffle is a great jam standard tune that seems to be called at jams all over so it’s a great one to get down. It’s sort of unique in that the chord progression contains a minor 6th chord which isn’t too strange – but definitely less common. Sheet Music for Cherokee Shuffle Here’s a […]