Traditional Southern Appalachian Mountain Music
Augusta Heritage Center is where I first learned to play old-time music on the fiddle at a workshop with Gerry Milnes in 1988. Some of the people I met that week continue to have the greatest influence on my own playing: Bruce Greene, Melvin Wine, Clyde Davenport, Gerry Milnes.
Earlier influences:
The Darlings from The Andy Griffith Show
Flying W Ranch
Notes on the Teaching and Learning of Old-Time Fiddle, by Michael Frisch
the last 10 seconds of Tanya Tucker's Old Dan Tucker's Daughter (1974)
I've been to visit with Clyde Davenport a couple of times at his home. I've learned several fiddle tunes from him, and I'm starting to learn some of the banjo tunes he plays. When I first visited Clyde, I played the tune Puncheon Camps which I'd learned from a tape of him. Afterwards he said to me "You got that tune, but you're playing it all wrong!" And he was right -- I had all the notes, but it didn't sound right. He proceeded to show me some of what I needed to do to play the tune.
Old-Time Fiddle Tunings
What really matters here is the intervals between the strings. Many old-timers tuned their fiddles lower than A = 440 Hz, sometimes as much as 2 whole steps lower.
| strings | notation | intervals | key | name (typical tune) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDAE |  |
P5 P5 P5 | G/A/D/C | Standard Tuning |
| GDAD |  |
P5 P5 P4 | G | Gee-Dad Tuning |
| EDAE |  |
m7 P5 P5 | G | (Glory in the Meeting House) |
| AEAE |  |
P5 P4 P5 | A | Cross Tuning, High Base |
| AEAC♯ |  |
P5 P4 M3 | A | Black Mountain Tuning (Jack of Diamonds) |
| AEF♯C♯ |  |
P5 M2 P5 | A | (The Original Grey Eagle played by Marcus Martin) |
| ADAE |  |
P4 P5 P5 | D | D Tuning |
| AEAD |  |
P5 P4 P4 | D | Old Sledge Tuning |
| DDAD |  |
P8 P5 P4 | D | Dee-Dad Tuning (Bonaparte's Retreat) |