I have both double CD sets (Forked Deer and Grey Eagle) and have studied on 'em. I love playing duets with a fiddler--and do so often-- so these records are a road map to that destination. Like Mike mentions, Ela does seem to be playing the melody with her right hand which makes good sense. When playing with just a fiddle player, I feel free to steal off any other typical instrument's role. I like to mimic a claw hammer banjo with a kind of shifting chord melody, or steal off guitar runs... double the melody, or whatever; but Ela's style is definitely in there too.
Sign me up for trios too. Myself, my fiddler Paul and Bob Black sat down one night and played as a trio for about 4 hours straight. With no guitar player to hold us back, them were some lively tunes! Bob has great rhythm sensibilities himself and it was a joy to play off each other. I also find it interesting that--for whatever reason--my love of the duet seems to be shared with a number of folks on this list... it's nice to know I'm not alone! Brian On Jun 18, 8:28 am, Mark Halpin <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en.
