Techniques in practice: Old Joe Clark
Lesson time: (2min 30sec)
Another classic bluegrass tune, which brings together many of the techniques taught on the course
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Beginning Mandolin with Tom Bekeny
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Ojo Clark - An Old Timey Fiddle Tune
Okay, the next piece I'm going to show you is a tune, an instrumental , a very standard old tune that probably everybody who plays bluegrass knows.
Why This Tune?
This is another good one to know for:
- Getting involved in jam sessions
- Playing with people
It's called Ojo Clark from Old Timey Fiddle music, again in the key of A major.
Playing the Tune
I'll just get right into it and play it for you. The tab I wrote off for you has a couple of spots that are really just a tiny bit different, but you'll be able to get the basic idea.
Important Note
One thing you'll notice is that if you play this music long enough, it's hard to stick to exactly one way of playing something.
So, maybe you can pick up this discrepancy by ear and learn the two or three little wrinkles I put in there that are different from the tab. You can pick those up by listening to the DVD.
About the instructor
Tom Bekeny is a mandolinist, fiddler and seasoned mandolin teacher who has performed and taught in the U.S. and abroad for over 40 years - so when he breaks down how to play, you are learning from someone who has spent a lifetime both on stage and in the lesson room. He was the mandolinist in such San Francisco Bay Area bands as Done Gone, Tenbrooks, and an early version of the Grant Street String Band with Laurie Lewis. He has appeared with Peter Rowan, the Rowan Brothers, David Grisman, George Cole, vocalist Lua Hadar, and Jerry Garcia. Tom has played mandolin with the highly acclaimed Kathy Kallick Band for almost 20 years and has held the fiddle spot with California's premiere traditional bluegrass band, High Country, since 1988. He has recorded with many of these groups and was featured in the Summer 2009 issue of Mandolin Magazine. Tom also plays in the wildly popular trad bluegrass "jam" band, Bangers and Grass, alongside west coast bluegrass luminaries Jim Nunally, Steve Pottier, Bill Evans and Chad Manning. Beyond bluegrass, Tom plays jazz mandolin with his trio The Missing Man Quartet (MM4), which plays straight-ahead jazz with original arrangements drawing material from the world of jazz and Great American Songbook standards. He released a solo CD project ("Jazzolin") in 2013, on which he plays mandolin and fiddle backed by drums and bass. read more