davidbeinct
Member
It’s pretty common for fingerpickers to move melody notes around in a phrase, and I have questions. First I’ll give a concrete example from a song I’m learning now. It’s Freight Train and I’m learning it from John Miller’s Elizabeth Cotten series.
The melodic phrase I’ll use as an example is sung “…won’t know wha-at route I’m on.” It’s played over a bar and a half of C followed by a half bar of G7 (the fourth to last and third to last bars in the verse) either fully contained in those two bars or finished on the first “and” of the penultimate bar.
The first time she plays this phrase is all pinches. The second time the melody notes lag behind the bass in the first bar of the phrase. In the second bar she pedals the open G interspersed with the melody notes so that the last melody note, the C fretted at the first fret of the B string, doesn’t get played until the “and” of the penultimate bar in the verse. Under her singing she curtails the pedals sooner and gets the C in the “and” behind beat four.
Questions-is she, along with other players like say Mississippi John Hurt, making these decisions on the fly, or thinking them out, or a combo? How can I as still a relatively new player, get to the point where I can make these decisions? How can I teach myself to hear in the music where the melody notes are coming in relation to the beat? I find it very difficult, I feel like I have to listen to two different things at the same time, the bass and the melody.
All the best, David.
The melodic phrase I’ll use as an example is sung “…won’t know wha-at route I’m on.” It’s played over a bar and a half of C followed by a half bar of G7 (the fourth to last and third to last bars in the verse) either fully contained in those two bars or finished on the first “and” of the penultimate bar.
The first time she plays this phrase is all pinches. The second time the melody notes lag behind the bass in the first bar of the phrase. In the second bar she pedals the open G interspersed with the melody notes so that the last melody note, the C fretted at the first fret of the B string, doesn’t get played until the “and” of the penultimate bar in the verse. Under her singing she curtails the pedals sooner and gets the C in the “and” behind beat four.
Questions-is she, along with other players like say Mississippi John Hurt, making these decisions on the fly, or thinking them out, or a combo? How can I as still a relatively new player, get to the point where I can make these decisions? How can I teach myself to hear in the music where the melody notes are coming in relation to the beat? I find it very difficult, I feel like I have to listen to two different things at the same time, the bass and the melody.
All the best, David.
Oh, dear...you're overthinking it...just a bit...lots of people play and sing crooked...just listen to a bunch of Southern Old Time Fiddlers and singers...especially the ones that always played alone, never in a group or with dance bands...Elizabeth Cotten was self taught...not hindered by musical knowledge...and played Lefty with an upside-down Righty guitar...unless you're going to do the same, just play the song with your own interpretation...and enjoy yourself.