Chords for Big John Mcneil - Canadian Fiddle Lesson by Patti Kusturok

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G#] _
_ [F#m] _ _ _ _ [G#] _ _ _
[F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [F#m] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] Big John McNeil is one of those tunes that, it's one of those need-to-know tunes.
If I had to say which tune I've played the most in my life, I would say it's a toss-up
between Big John McNeil and the Red River Jig.
They're pretty much the two that, being a Manitoba fiddle player, you're always asked to play.
Big John is actually a Scottish tune.
I believe Peter Milne was the name of the composer.
It's very, very old.
_ They actually call it the Metis National Anthem, along with the Red River Jig in Manitoba.
It's a great tune.
It's got a lot of feel to it. _
We'll do the basic version.
On the advanced tutorial, there's a ton of stuff that we can do, so you'll have to check
that out after.
Here's the basic version.
Now, a lot of this tune is arpeggios and scale notes.
It's pretty much 95% made up of that.
It's in the key of A, so we have a lot of high threes.
High three on the G, high three on the D. _ _
Let's tackle it.
Right from the [F#] beginning, we have a pickup note, an open A.
Here we start with our first arpeggio.
Now, I would suggest you use your fourth finger when you get to the A notes instead of going
to open A.
Open A is not wrong, but I think it's easier if you can keep your bow on the one string.
So we go. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Now, we throw in an F sharp there, which does not belong in the A arpeggio, of course, but
it's based around that A arpeggio is what I was trying to say.
So we're playing open A, then one on G.
There's [C#] that high three, and then one on D.
There's your A arpeggio, an F sharp, and an
E, so two and one.
Slurred on an up bow. _ _ _
_ High three on the G _ _ [Em]
to the one on D, and then here's your four on D.
_ Back to one on D, [A#] back
to high three on G, and [E] one on D, and then [F#] two, one, _ and back to three on G, _ [Em] and one
on D.
_ [A] So that's a lot.
Here we go.
Try that again. _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F#] _ I would [B] recommend leaving that first finger on the D down so you can get to there quickly
with the bow, but like I said, open A is not wrong, but I like four on D at that point.
So when you get going faster, you're just putting a finger down as opposed to moving
your whole bow.
So let's try that little section again.
Here's the advanced tutorial for Big John McNeil.
This is a great tune to play.
Square dancers love dancing to this one, and speed is quite the factor in this one.
So you'll be woodshedding it for a long time before you get up to square dance speed, let
me tell you.
But it's a lot of fun to play with.
A lot of people play it in jam sessions.
_ And you've learned the bare bones over on the basic tutorial.
Now I'm going to show you how you can dress it up and add a bunch of stuff into it, especially
the second part.
The second part has a few options that you can do.
So _ _ _ what we can do is add some double stops right off at the beginning.
[A] So we can go.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
So what you're doing is blocking the G and the D string with your first finger and playing
the C sharp with your E note.
So C sharp on the G string, high three with your first on the D.
And then when you go
up to this first on D, play it with your A.
You're opening.
_ So a lot of people refer to this as playing on three strings at once.
So it's not really three strings at once, but you're double stopping.
_ _ You're alternating each time.
So when you're going fast, it does seem like you're maybe hitting all those at once, but
you're really not.
And it's not that difficult.
So it's just going. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Just [F#] letting that A ring out when you're on the D and keeping that first finger down.
I'm not [A] moving it. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#]
We [C#] talked about the four, five, six slur there.
If you're doing this double stop thing, you may want to lower yourself on the bow.
Don't worry about the [G] up bow slur [Bm] and maybe do some _ bow [F#] lifts.
You can come down on some down bows. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [N] _