Redwood City Old Time and Bluegrass Jam Report - 01/29/2009

1/29/2009 Jam Report
Old Time and Bluegrass Jam
5th Quarter Pizza, Redwood City CA

UDPATED 2/2/09: Added names that I figured out after-the-fact. TY to Mando Mike and Ran for the assists.

Short summary (my own):
Three hours of great jamming. Having a bassist around is always a treat! New folks every week, new tunes every week, top-notch jamming every time, and lots of old friendships being renewed. I do wonder what happened to all the mando players, though... Oh, and Ragtime Annie has a "C" part. Who knew?

In attendance:
4 guitar (George B, Linda Grace, Chris, myself)
3 banjo (Robert, Autumn, Patrick, and Aron from Ran's jam class)
2 dobro (Patrick, new guy)
2 fiddle players (both new to me. I promise I'll learn your names!
1 electric upright bass (John E)
0 mando

Partial setlist, not ordered correctly:
Blackberry Blossom
Red Haired Boy
Sitting on Top of the World
Bury Me Beneath the Willow
Wildwood Flower
Katy Daley
Ragtime Annie
Temperance Reel
John Hardy
Little Maggie
Maiden's Prayer
Kitchen Girl
Cherokee Shuffle
Clinch Mtn Backstep
Bill Cheatem
Red River Valley
City of New Orleans
Wheels
Paradise
Arkansas Traveller
Lay Me Down a Palette on Your Floor

Bluegrass / Old Time Jam Report: 1/22/2009

Bluegrass / Old Time Jam Report: 1/22/2009
5th Quarter Pizza, Redwood City CA

In attendance:
7 guitar (Myself, George B, Martin L, Lyn(?), two new guys and Mason's buddy with the D18)
2 mando (Mason & Dan)
2 fiddle (Two gentlemen new to the jam)
1 upright bass (Lou M)
2 banjo (Jerry and a new banjoist)

Short summary:
A good group of folks! Some of us were obviously pretty new to bluegrass/OT, some of us were old hands and quite skilled, some of us were just trying to hang on.
Lots of BG/OT, plus some americana/folk and jug band! I love it.
We started on time and were out the door at 10:30. A solid three hours of jamming...

Some songs played (incomplete, no particular order, no warranty)
---
Bury Me Beneath the Willow
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Hard Times Come Again No More
On and On
Old Dangerfield
June Apple
Cherokee Shuffle
Blackberry Blossom
Big Sandy River
Salt Creek
Bill Cheatum
Blue Night
Red Haired Boy
Mississippi Sawyer
Earl's Breakdown
Catfish John
Iris Dement tune
Emmylou Harris tune
Foggy Mountain Top
Katy Daley
Better Times A' Comin'
Arkansas Traveller
Cora is Gone

Quick Link: Yet Another Old Time Fiddle Tune List

Here is an interesting list of old time and bluegrass fiddle tunes. This list is nice because it includes some lyrics for tunes that often get played without them. The page contains interesting historical information about the tunes as well.

No tabs, though, and not guitar-specific.

Jam Report: Wednesday, 01/14/2009 Lintpicker's Revenge

Another lovely winter Wednesday at Fandango.

Vibe summary (my own): "To hell with mandolins! We'll just add more (banjo/guitar)!"

In attendance:
Mike B (Martin HD28-12 and banjo)
George B (thrift store special fingerpicked)
Autumn, Bob, Robert, Jerry (banjo)
Yours truly (Michael Kelly Rose Trio guitar)
Zippy (fiddle)

Three 'new folks' or folks who were new to me:
A gentleman on fingerstyle folk guitar
Autumn's quiet guitar buddy, who sits outside the circle even after repeated pestering to join us. Don't be shy, now!
A woman on guitar, reportedly a jazz guitar teacher. She threatened to bring in her accordion next week. I think she thought we might have tried to run screaming, but we didn't.

Some tunes played (no particular order):
I'll Fly Away
Golden Slippers
Old Home Place (damn you, B7, damn you to hell!)
Hard Times Come Again No More
Teardrops in My Eyes
Old Cabin Home
Simple Life (ricky skaggs)
blackberry blossom (this one started out slow, and just ran away from us)
theme time
cherokee shuffle
sowing on the mountain, reaping in the bounty (a.p. carter by way of woody guthrie)
earl's breakdown (plus explanation of 'scruggs pegs')
old country church (?)
how mountain girls can love
denominational blues

Notes:
* Banjo Bob (as opposed to Banjo Robert) has a fancy new axe. Looked like mahogany back, with 'stealth' in mother of pearl on the front at the base. I allowed as to how there was never seen such a strange beast as a stealthy banjo. In any case, stealthy or not, it sounds real nice and bright.

* Jerry, Mike B, George B and I ended up in the laundromat after Fandango gave us the boot. I recall picking/singing a couple, but couldn't give you a list.

* coming up: Thursdays at 5th quarter! No rest for the wicked!

Quick Link: Jack Tuttle's Guitar Lesson Mp3s

Here is a winamp playlist containing links to all of the mp3s from Jack's guitar books that he has posted to his site: tuttle_online.m3u

Am I too retro, still using winamp (v5.08c baby!)?

Quick Link: Right Hand Technique for Guitar

Here's a good vid on how to improve your right hand technique on flatpick guitar. Vid by Brad Davis. He's pretty damned good.

Oh, and here's a take on Blue Night which is pretty straight forward for beginners.

EDIT: damn, that crap is difficult

EDITx2: Another fairly simple bluegrass lead: Roll On Buddy, and Roll On Buddy variation #2

Jam Report: First Thursday at 5th Quarter

Last night was the first 5th Quarter Thursday jam. I think we had a pretty stellar turnout for a completely unknown promoter type (me) and mostly untested venue.

I think at its height, we had about 12 folks there. There were a number of Fandango folks, and quite a few folks I had never met before. The jamming was of pretty high quality, too. I'm very pleased that everyone could make it out.

I'll keep promoting the jam in various venues, online and off, in hopes of keeping the number of participants high. One idea I've had is to ask Jack down at Gryphon to mention the jam to his students. I'll also continue to try and get the jam on all of the various jam lists on the internet.

I didn't keep a song list this time, but I will next week.

---

EDIT: better jam report from my post to fandangojammers:

Last night was the first 5th Quarter Thurday jam! Here is a quick report.

First of all, while I'm typically terrible with names, I am trying to learn at least the names of the regulars. If I screw yours up, please yell at me.

I showed up at 5th quarter at around 6:30 to have dinner and prep 5th quarter's owner/manager, Hassan, as to what all was going down that night. Dan (mando) and daughter showed up just after 7, and together we rearranged the back room to accommodate about fifteen or so folks. Hassan had turned on the heat (!) in the back room, so it was downright toasty.

About the room: I think max jam occupancy will probably be 20 or fewer folks. The room is long but somewhat narrow, carpeted, and low-ceilinged. The acoustics are decent; I was able to hear folks taking their solos all the way across the circle.

Patrick W of www.scbs.org showed up early with his dobro and saw. We chatted a bit about the upcoming Bluegrass on Broadway show ( http://www.scbs.org/events/bob/ ) and the state of bluegrass on the mid-peninsula in general. Other early arrivals included Jerry and Bob/Robert (which one of you is Bob and which Robert? I'm so confused). An excellent mando player also showed up early; his was a new face and I didn't get his name. Mando-rascal Mike joined us, as did George B a bit later. Guitarist-who-was-new-to-me-whose-name-I-should-be-remembering arrived fairly late in the evening with his D-18 and played the fiddle tunes real nice.

All told, I think we had about 12 folks turn out last night, with a max count of about 10 folks jamming simultaneously. There was some good cross-pollination of groups, and introductions being made.

Thanks to Mike for the pitcher of beer!

We wrapped up at about 10:45. Thanks to everyone who helped put the room back in some semblance of its original arrangement.

Some songs I remember being played, in no particular order:

Cherokee Shuffle
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Blackberry Blossom
Rose of Old Kentucky
June Apple
Salt Creek
A Maiden's Prayer
White Freightliner Blues
Turkey in the Straw
Red River Valley
Earl's Breakdown
Themetime
Waterbound
Some singing tune with Gb in it.
Dark Hollow (in Bb)
St Anne's Reel

PS: We need a stand-up bassist and some fiddles! :-D

Quick Link: The Mother-Lode of Old Time Fiddle Tunes for Guitar

All I have to say is holy crap.

I haven't looked at all of them yet, but I'm drooling in anticipation.

EDIT: This is also pretty sweet, and has a wider variety of instrument types...

EDITx2: Even more tab. Good god. Its a good thing I've got some time left on earth to learn all of this.

EDITx3: Sheesh. Those are ASCII, though. New Years resolution: learn 5 new tunes a month.

Quick Link: Temperance Reel Tab for Guitar

Here are a couple of takes on the old Irish reel:

Temperance Reel #1 [PDF]

Temperance Reel #2 [PDF]

There are also a number of tabs of this tune available out there on the net - clicky

I like this tune a lot, but no surprise there: I'm a sucker for Em.