Play the music, not the instrument.
~Author Unknown
It's like this. Anything in four is played in an alternating picking pattern...well, sort of. Okay, in a 4/4, anything on the beat is played with a downstroke. Anything off the beat is played with an upstroke. A string of sixteenth notes would be played with an alternating picking pattern. Down, up, down, up...you get the idea. I find it very natural to play in this way. The pattern naturally gives stress to the expected beats. No big deal. And, this is cool, you can even kind of get away with playing in this pattern in a 3/4. But not so with the jig.
A jig is in 6/8 (A slip jig is in 9/8, but that is another post.). And since it's stresses land in different places, not just on 1 and 4, you have to change the picking pattern. An alternating picking pattern just won't cut it. Nope.
Down.
Up.
Down.
Down.
Up.
Down.
That would be one measure. Say it. Think of a jig and sing those words on the pitches. It gets really complicated if there are dotted rhythms or sixteenth notes. Yeah. Anyway, I am having trouble making the switch from the 4/4 alternating pattern into the "duddud" of the jig. And this takes me to the lesson on Thursday.
My first jig is the Irish Washer Woman. Trust me. You know this one. It is the archetyal Irish jig (mp3 on hammered dulcimer). It is a good jig for the beginning "jigger." But the pattern is difficult, almost counter-intuitive. As I was struggling through it, the mandoguru said "You know. I can tell that once you start thinking about the tune you mess up the pattern. Don't think. You have to lose yourself to play this music."
So, the mandodoxy connection with my spiritual life is pretty clear this week. Loss of self. Right. There it is again. I have to get out of the way.
Posted by tripp at January 27, 2007 10:51 AM