I have listened to a ton of it and have done my best to emulate it when I can get away with it...I would call it a mix of rhythm and melody. To me it fits the duo style perfectly. I am content to do some dry chopping in a full band since that seems to be what the straight-ahead contemporary bluegrass calls for, but in any other context it is much more enjoyable to play around with the rhythm and see what comes of it.
I was once in a jam with some local guys who are somewhat...rigid...in their approach to bluegrass. I was sort of noodling with the rhythm and one of the guys said, "Just play it straight." Hell, I thought that was what I was doing. ________________________________ From: Mark Halpin <tomas...@yahoo.com> To: Taterbugmando <taterbugmando@googlegroups.com> Sent: Fri, June 18, 2010 9:28:42 AM Subject: All about Mrs Haley Some of my favorite Tater ventures have to be on 'The Speed of the Old Long Bow' and t'other John Hartford old-time-fiddler-tribute albums... i dont dance much but i knows they do make for fine jogging musics. >From one of the old Co-mando interviews Mr. Tate tells that John Hartford was looking for something along the lines of what Ela Haley was doing on mandolin. Hers how its put in the interview 'Haley's wife Ela played taterbug (or roundback for you yanks) mandolin on the recordings. She played simple chords with a heavy- handed rhythm and that's what John said he really wanted me to do. I thought it was a very primitive way to play mandolin until I started to notice Ela seemed to be playing the melody line, but with chords. In other words, her right hand played the melody, her left played chords. It's sort of the same thing tap dancers do I guess.' Now, given that those Ed Haley recordings seem to be both rare and pricey i have'nt much of chance to hear what exactly is going on with the original recordings, i'm actually just going through the some mp3 samples at the moment and i'm beginning to hear the sound i associate from the Hartford albums. Now i'm wondering if anyone here, not just Mr Taterbug though it'd be interesting to hear his views, have paid much attention to Ela Haley's playing or have tried to adapt it into their own playing? If so, what attracts you to that style of playing, any observations about it, in particular i'd wonder how do you think it sits with the Monroe style? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to taterbugma...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to taterbugmando+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to taterbugma...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to taterbugmando+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en.
