Here's an ancient tune with roots in various European countries, notably used in US Civil War days as the melodic anchor for a song about morphine (hence the enduring title). This version of the old chestnut is transcribed from the hot twin-fiddling of Frank Hall and Bob Herring on the classic Easy Street Stringband album Money in Both Pockets. This album has been a favorite and a big inspiration of mine for decades, and lucky for us all, it has been reissued on CD. Do yourself a favor and order this terrific CD from County Sales.
The band has graciously given permission for me to post a short clip of the cut from the album:
Listen to Easy Street Stringband playing Soldier's Joy
This audio clip features the tune played twice. The tablature generally (not exactly) reflects the first time through in A1 and B1, and the second time through is reflected in A2 and B2. I've averaged the variations slightly to make a nice whole for use in teaching. A1 uses driving saw strokes, emphasizing rhythm over melody. A2 accents the melody a little more, using long down stroke slurs. Down the road, of course, it's good to alternate these variations and others to add interest and variety to one's playing.
Some words on left-hand technique might make the A part a little easier to assimilate. Note that the fiddle is tuned to the raised bass D tuning (ADAE). The first, third and fifth measures of A1 all employ a D chord doublestop on the two lowest strings... the low A string is stopped at the fifth "fret" with the ring finger to make a D note, and the D string is stopped at the fourth fret with the middle finger to make an F# note. Together, these notes are 2/3 of the D chord triad (D, F#, A), and then when you saw-stroke up to the open A string you are in effect shuffling on the whole D chord. But I digress... my point is that the D/F# "dyad" on the lower strings should be held throughout the measure, without lifting the ring finger. Your learning of this phrase will be hastened if you first work on the doublestop and get to where you can play it in tune reliably.
Mark Feddersen, Easy Street's bass player, tells me the band was influenced by the "old sounds" from players around Lick Creek, VA, including Beverly Thomson and Hick Edmonds. You might enjoy reading this Old Time Herald article about the music of the area, and be sure to listen to the MP3 audio file included on the page.
Much of the character of Frank and Bob's playing on the Easy Street album comes from their strong use of the "pushed shuffle" as I call it, or the "Tommy Lick" as Brad Leftwich calls it, after the revered North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell. Notice the instances in the tablature where the second and third notes in a measure are slurred with an up-bow, followed by two saw strokes. These are the pushed shuffles, and they are a primary ingredient in the old-time fiddle sound influenced by the music of the Round Peak area in Surry County, NC.
For printing or viewing in Acrobat or Adobe Reader, download this PDF version.
A big THANK YOU to Easy Street Stringband for inspiring me for so long, and for allowing me to use this recording here!
Before working with my transcriptions, please be sure you've reviewed the page How to read fiddletab. Comments, suggestions and/or corrections are always welcome... write me at: doug at oldtimefiddle dot us