Q&A | More "Wrong" Singing & Learning by Ear
Added 2018-03-14 12:00:01 +0000 UTCDaniel has a fascinating question about singing in foreign accents and Adam needs a word of advice on transitioning from tablature to learning by ear.
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Comments
I'd also like to point out that the tune of Cumberland Gap (according to renowned folklorist Bascam Lunsford) originated in Britain and went by the name "Bonny George Campbell." Check that out if you get a chance, I should also teach yall to play Bonnie George myself.
Clifton Hicks
2018-05-24 15:47:23 +0000 UTCNot wanting to flog a dead horse but I just thought of this problem with singing in your own accent. Clif is singing his native songs therefore his accent goes well with the words of those songs. Different regions not only have different accents but use different words more commonly than other regions. Therefore if you sing an American song using the American words it feels more natural to sing in an American accent. I'm currently learning Cumberland Gap. When I have it down on banjo I intend to change the words from commonly used words in America to commonly used words in England, especially the Midlands, in order to preserve my accent. Hope that helps!
Bobby Banks
2018-05-24 15:06:33 +0000 UTCThat's my attempt at "Hook and Line" which is a very early Kentucky hoedown number. It is similar to Rocky Island and VERY similar to Shout Little Lulu.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-17 19:23:43 +0000 UTCThat tune you're playin' at the beginning sounds like Rocky Island. I would love to learn to play that! It always makes me want to get up and do some Appalachian flat footin' in mah livin' room!!
Christina Petro
2018-03-17 18:17:17 +0000 UTCI'd say sing how u think sounds best the way u like it, that's the main thing, also i like learning by ear and of utube, and changing little bits of the tunes i learn to way l like it.
louie goodwin
2018-03-17 08:31:46 +0000 UTCAny chance you could teach us some of this stuff?
Micheál Mac Labhrás
2018-03-15 18:34:47 +0000 UTCRegarding learning to play by ear: Clifton doesn't seem to recommend learning music theory, but I know that it's helped me a ton. I generally think in terms of scales and intervals when picking out tunes. Most of these banjo tunes use pentatonic melodies, so once I find the tonic, or root key, of the song, I can mess with a minor or major pentatonic scale to figure it out. Might help to figure out the melody on just one string, and once deciphered on the neck, you can go about finding the economic way of playing it using multiple open strings.
яна стойкова
2018-03-15 17:34:19 +0000 UTCDefinitely worth pointing out that most of these common folk songs, when played on the banjo, only require one finger at a time on the fret board and that finger seldom wanders more than 3 or four frets in either direction--indeed, MANY of the songs I play are played entirely on one fret.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-15 09:26:22 +0000 UTCAll of your advice makes sense and is encouraging to think about. The community all chiming in with their own experiences was very helpful as well. I'll be challenging myself to learn some songs by ear this month.
Adam Segar
2018-03-15 08:58:51 +0000 UTCAdam, if you want to play by ear, I'd recommend just starting small, and trying to find your way through a simple melody. Nothing fancy, start with just the melody, the way a first grader would play it with one finger on a piano. Here is a concrete place that you can start. Tune your banjo to standard G tuning (gDGBD). Try to find the melody for "I'll Fly Away". As a hint, start the first note ("ONE bright morning...") on the second string (B), without fretting it. The second note ("one BRIGHT morning...") is the third string (G). This is a song that I taught myself to play by ear. I can tell you that you should be able to play the melody without going above the third fret on any of the strings. It's going to be slow and difficult and annoying at first, but if you hunt around the different strings and frets at random, I'll bet you can find the notes. Don't expect it to be lots of fun immediately. In my opinion, the best way to teach yourself almost anything is to just give yourself a problem to solve, and then go and solve it. Even if the initial problem you gave yourself wasn't that useful in its own right, it forces you to explore the problem space and spend time thinking about it. Best of luck!
Nathan Rosenquist
2018-03-15 03:09:08 +0000 UTCReminds me of that great movie about an Irish motown band called The Commitments. "The Irish are the blacks of Europe..." etc.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-15 00:03:52 +0000 UTCEveryone has an accent! haha
Micheál Mac Labhrás
2018-03-15 00:02:03 +0000 UTCWell said, Michael! Love the anecdote about your Irish friend "mastering" Afghan folk music--further proof to me that we humans are cultural transmitters first and foremost and that accents have likely been in a state of incomprehensible flux from the dawn of language.
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-15 00:02:03 +0000 UTCOn Clifton's mention of American bands singing in phony Irish accents: when the 'Americana' thing hit Ireland a few years ago, a number of groups cropped up singing in American accents. One I can think of off hand has since distanced themselves from that, though in fairness I think they did a pretty good job. (See Old Hannah - The Glen Sessions if you want to hear it) Also check out the English band from Newcastle Rob Heron and the Tea Pad Orchestra. They make a living giving American roots music a British twist.
Micheál Mac Labhrás
2018-03-15 00:00:16 +0000 UTCThe issue of accent (and dialect) is a pretty complex and thorny one, especially in folk music and folk-heavy genres. Accent is as closely tied to singing traditional or 'primitive' music as it is to ordinary speech, whether we are talking about border ballads or folk songs from Apulia. It complicates things further that specific accents and speech patterns are so widely used as shibboleths that indicate group membership, or quite often in the music world, authenticity. I'd agree with Clifton though that the best thing you can do is just sing the way you talk--unless you're really trying to copy a sound for academic or artistic purposes (or to make a buck). I once met a graduate student in ethnomusicology in Ireland who, as part of his research, had apparently mastered (to my untrained ears) a folk music style from Afghanistan, including not only the language, but (again to my ears) but all the finer sounds and intonations that went with it. It was mind blowing.
Micheál Mac Labhrás
2018-03-14 23:54:47 +0000 UTCI don't have an accent that I am aware of so my regular singing voice seems so boring! It sounds so much better if ah throw a lil' bit of southern twang in thar! ;D
Christina Petro
2018-03-14 22:43:31 +0000 UTCKeep me updated and share a clip in our Community section here if you'd like. I am interested to hear some of the titles of the folk songs you sing, also, do you accompany these songs on 5-string banjo? If so, what tunings etc.?
Clifton Hicks
2018-03-14 19:29:55 +0000 UTCThanks for the response Clifton, it really helped with being confident in my own voice and accent. I've been practicing singing in my own accent all day and have actually made a lot of progress. What you said in regards to Adam's question helped as well, in that separating yourself from other peoples music while you work on your own is what helps make it your own. Cheers.
Daniel Hester
2018-03-14 19:17:41 +0000 UTC
