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It was a wonderful Christmas here in the Virginia Piedmont.  The weather was gorgeous and unseasonably warm (who needs a white Christmas- snow is cold).  Nevertheless we had a fire in the living room, then another in the family room where we went to enjoy the presents.  I bought a TV for the family, so we sat around and watched movies and snuggled all day.  Everyone needed the break.  We then went to sleep.  I slept for ten hours!  I was the last to sleep and the first to wake.  Everyone else is still in bed.  Allowing our bodies and minds to relax has done immeasurable good for our spirits.

- Zurf

Bluegrass was started by a fellow named Bill Monroe and was what he called originally "that high lonesome sound."  It is essentially the love child of old time country music and Scots highland music.  A Scots fiddler would find himself/herself quite comfortable at a Bluegrass jam. 

The Appalachian mountains stretch from the Green Mountains in Vermont down through New York where they are called the Catskills down into Pennsylvania where they are called the Appalachians into Maryland where they're called the Catoctin Ridge and into Virginia where they're called the Blue Ridge and into Tennessee and North Carolina where they're called the Smokies.  Same range.  They are among some of the oldest mountains in the world, and prior to a couple ice ages ago were higher than the Himalayas.  Now they are old and tired and worn down by glacier and mostly civilized by cities and highways, but some of the old magic is left.  And that old magic expresses itself in music.  The very roots of this mountain range can be expressed in the key of C is seems. 

The land was settled by Englishmen and Italians and Germans for the most part, but the wilds were expanded into by Scots and Irish.  There was so much intermarrying, we actually frequently refer to them as Scoth-Irish ancesters here.  No one quite remembers the old timer's nationalities from six or eight generations back.  As they moved across the land, expanding the very edge of western civilization facing immeasurable odds and dangers, they brought music with them.  The mountains liked the music, and the Appalachians forevermore will be known by the reels and jigs of old-time Appalachian Mountain Music. 

Bill Monroe took that music, added some guitar and banjo and some old-time style Country lyrics sung in a tenor voice, and you've got Bluegrass.  It's a mixture of personality, music style, leftover magic, whatever instruments were laying about, and geology. 

The very best bluegrass band I have ever heard play live was a family band called "The Bluegrass Brothers."  You can here samples of them here: http://thebluegrassbrothers.com/  When I went to see them, they did two sets and got two standing ovations from a usually stoic audience that I can only recall ever giving a standing ovation to the goodbye concert done by The Johnson Mountain Boys.  I was worried that the mandolin player and the bass player were going to have to be carried off stage.  Whatever they had in them, they poured out in their singing and playing. 

- Zurf

p.s. I concur on the "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" series.  I listen to it frequently.  It contains instrumentals and a capela, and everything in between. 

p.p.s.  A bluegrass concert is likely to be the only spot where you will hear the musicians sing about the lauditory benefits of Floyd Country moonshine and heartfelt worship of Jesus in the same set - knowing the guys on stage are fully aware of each.

"Me and Paul" by Willie Nelson

"Me and Bobby McGee" by Kris Kristofferson (Bobbie McGee was the receptionist at Sun Records when Kris Kristofferson was still their janitor)

"Be My Yoko Ono" by Barenaked Ladies

"Brandy" I have intentionally blotted from memory the artist who performs it

"The Ballad of Billie Somethingorother"  You know, the one with the bridge. 

Liberty Valence was a crooked sherriff.  The "Man who shot Liberty Valence" is a washed up drunken former gunfighter who did it on the sly when a 'better man' took the fore in a duel with Liberty Valence.  The 'better man' didn't stand a chance.  The washed up drunk couldn't stand to see Liberty Valence kill another good man, so strapped on the iron one last time, stood well behind the 'better man' and killed Liberty Valence with an incredible shot.  Only Liberty Valence saw him and knew who killed him because everyone else had their eyes on the 'better man.'  The 'better man' knew he didn't get a shot off and figured it out on his own.  The 'better man' became first the sherriff, then the mayor, and then a Senator.  He was known far and wide as "the man who shot Liberty Valence", but he knew better.  The story begins and ends with the 'better man', as a Senator, being one of only a handful of people who attend the funeral for the drunken, washed up gunfighter.  When he was asked why he was there, he finally told the truth of "the man who shot Liberty Valence."  It was a great short story, a passable movie (if memory serves Jimmy Stewart plays the Senator with great compassion, John Wayne plays the drunken gunfighter), and not a bad song.  I think the song was the theme song of the movie.

Same joke, just grosser.

- Zurf

Everybody's Talkin' - Harry Nillson

False on both counts.

I am oddly well rested today and still have some shopping to do. 

The person below me has learned to play and sing a new (to him or her) Christmas song this year.  (mine was Christmas for Cowboys)

- Zurf

Don't think you're going to play like Clapton or Malmsteen by tomorrow.  There's been a bunch of folks write in to say, "I've been playing for a year but I still can't ...."  Well no kidding.  You've only been playing a year. 

So, if you're brand new, then I would suggest that you set some REASONABLE goals for yourself for short duration.  Something along the lines of within one month be able to strum the G and D chords cleanly.  Within three months, add G7, A, Am, E, E7, and C to that list.  With those chords, you're ready for songs. 

That's not to say you shouldn't START by trying to play songs.  Note that the goal is to play those chords CLEANLY.  Start by playing songs with a few open chords knowing full well that they're going to sound muddy and you're going to be slow getting from chord to chord. 

By the end of the first year, being able to play those chords cleanly and being able to get between them smoothly at a slow, constant tempo, and I'd say that you had a very successful first year at learning to play guitar.

The item that I hate the most and has helped me the most is a metronome.  Learn to play at a constant tempo (except, of course, when the song's tempo is supposed to change).  If you mix in a metronome to your practicing in the first year, and can strum open chords and get between them smoothly and in time, then you've done super, exceptionally, wonderfully well.   The point is, take it easy on yourself.  There is no short way to good guitar playing.  It takes consistent practice.  Probably 15 minutes a day every day to start, but very soon afterwards you should be bumping that up to 30 minutes.  And hopefully very soon after that you'll be making progress and will discover that what used to be 15 minutes of torture turns into a whole evening whipping by leaving you wondering where the time went.  And with really sore fingertips. 

From there, the world is your oyster.

An enchanting story.  I wish I had the talent to take something like that and put it into a song.  My nickname is "D", and a buddy of mine suggested that I write a song called "Life in the Key of 'D'".  What a great idea, but I have come up completely dry with a whole life.  You've got one note and a great song out of it.  That's talent, and here's to you for having it and putting it to good use!

- Zurf

Not yet, but Jets60 may as well live next door considering how widely spread we all are.  His town is on the same road as mine and only about fifteen miles away.  Lord only knows how many kilometers that is, but I'm going to say 28 just because - could just as easily be 20 or 35 for all I know, or care. 

I am fairly certain that I have not been passed on the street by Don Corleone unless he has been doing some SERIOUSLY long distance travel. 

'Al From WV' is a friend of mine, but we knew one another first and then I recommended he check out Chordie second.  If you get the chance to meet only one person, Al would be a good one.  He's about as fine a fellow as you're likely to come across this side of the river. 

- Zurf

I'm finally getting barre chords to a point where it takes less than the better part of an evening to play one. 

I used advice from this site to start getting them.  First, practice them over and over and over and over.  Practicing getting to them and away from them to the next chord.  Practice using them in a song with a metronome.  Second, be sure you have good posture and that your thumb is on the back of the neck where it belongs rather than wrapped up around the neck.  Also, stick your wrist out.  Third, finger strength.  Use a stress ball or other finger conditioner to get more finger strength.

Practice
Posture
P-strength

- Zurf

There are some misrepresentations of Intellectual Property law in the advice above.  If you want to protect your songs from improper use, I recommend consulting an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction and with a specialty in Intellectual Property law. 

I am not an attorney, but it is my understanding that by publishing the material publicly and claiming it as your own creates an enforceable copyright.  Putting the little C in a Circle is a demarcation that something has been copyrighted and is usually accompanied by information about who owns the copyright, but is not obligatory. 

However, that representation could be a crock of crap.  If you're serious about it, get real honest-to-goodness legal advice.

- Zurf

That is one of the wierdest and most endearing things I have ever read.

- Zurf

p.s.  Love the song.