Here is a fun song that is quite easy and fun to play and sing. It's in mixolydian mode... You can tell it's mixolydian because it ends on the open string (zero fret) which is the key/tonic note, in this case a G. I've tabbed it here in the key of G, the key in which it is commonly played. I used the reverse mixolydian tuning of DGG instead of a more usual mixolydian GDG....because it is way easier to tune to this reverse DGG tuning if you are starting from DAA or DAD.If it's too low for you to sing in G, then just bring it up everywhere one whole step to EAA and play it in the key of A instead.
--> By the way, since this a tune in mixolydian mode, you can play from this tab exactly the same way while tuned in DAd!
I like the lyrics with the man complaining about his wife always crying. Heck, if my husband was telling some girl that someday they'd get married, I'd be cryin' too!
Just stumbled across your blog. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you say "Oh, My Little Darlin'" is commonly played out of G! Until I went to a dulcimer festival some years ago, I'd never heard it out of anything but A. My band plays and sings it, but we transposed it down to G, because it was too high for us to sing comfortably (especially the harmony) in A. So, things come full circle, I guess.
- Sean R-B
Hi Sean, nice to see you here!
ReplyDeleteI suspect that there are many 'fiddle tunes with lyrics' that start out mostly on fiddle played in A, but evolve into being being played on guitars and mixed instrument groups in G to accommodate voices. This song seems like a fiddle tune to me, and yes in my mind it would sound rather "A-ish" for fiddle.