Water Bound

A few weeks back, I began jotting down the names of tunes that my longtime musician friends play when they jam together. I not-so recently set about joining them somewhat regularly (How do you like that English? lol), but still don't know that many tunes by ear.

That being said, I figure if I'm ever going to get anywhere I'd better learn a few of their favorites before they get tired of hearing me say, 'Sorry, I don't know that one.' (On the other hand, the upside to not knowing a tune on the fiddle is that I can snatch up my little Stewart mandolin banjo and attempt to follow the guitar player. I know, I know, I should be trying to figure out the tune on my fiddle, right? It's just that it's a lot of fun to play the mandolin-banjo too!)

Of course, then there is the matter of key. It seems that there are many tunes that are commonly played in more than one key. Ugh! So, the last time we met, I jotted down several of the tunes that I liked (and, more importantly, seemed do-able!) in the keys that my friends prefer to play them in.

Here is one of those tunes - Water Bound (or 'Stay All Night' as some might know it) in the Key of A. I think this is quickly becoming one of my favorite tunes.

One quick note: In the 5th measure, the 'A' quarter note followed by two 'A' eighth notes shuffle, sounds really great if you use a pinkie finger 'A' on the 'D' string for a doublestop. If you're not quite up to using your pinkie yet, then simply drone on the open 'E' string for these notes (as indicated in my drone version file). I do, however, encourage using your pinkie finger.