How do you play the first bar of the third part of The Butterfly? I know there are any number of variations, but the common version seems to have something like:
b3 b a/2 g a/2 | b3
Sometimes you see the first two notes written out as three notes.
This sort of dotted quarter - eighth I always find challenging. Maybe its just me, but playing a roll followed by (say) a cut and another base note is a little much. (The Kesh has the same thing, I think.)
I note that on Clips & Snips that Jason King seems to play it fairly straight (although the repeat of the third part is cut off). There’s a nice fiddle version here:
http://www.dhebert.com/inthegrooveworkshops/tunelist.html
She seems to play it fairly straight the first time through and then gets fancy on the second time through.
Anyway, any comments on how you play this will be gratefully received.
– Scott
The way you presented the ABCs is, for me, the bones of it. I usually do variations of the repeats after the first go, and mix it up a bit. It just begs to be played around with.
Here’s a possibility (pardon my poor ABC skills):
dBe B2A G2A l BAB BAB dBA
Toss in cuts, taps, slides, or triplets as seems fitting.
I play it like this version, which was the same as the Bothy Band’s version
(from ABC Tunefinder–I couldn’t link it)
X: 43
T:Butterfly
C:E Minor / Traditional
Z:chords 1997 by John Chambers <jc@trillian.mit.edu>
D:(Bothy Band: 1975?)
H:Original version from Tris or Dan; chords from JC’s version, for
which he lists the Bothy Band in his D: field; whether the Bothy Band
used these chords is not clear, although they’re very close to the
chords Ann worked out for it.
M:9/8
L:1/8
R:Slip Jig
F:http://www.slowplayers.org/BASS/tunes/Butterfly43.txt 2004-08-29 22:55:53 UT
K:Em
|:"Em"B2E G2E "D"F3|"Em"B2E G2E "D"FED|"Em"B2E G2E "D"F3|"G"B2d d2B "D"AFD:|
|:"Em"B2d e2f g3|B2d g2e "D"dBA|"Em"B2d e2f g2a|"G"b2a g2e "D"dBA:|
|:"Em"B3 B2A G2A|B3 BAB "D"dBA|"Em"B3 B2A G2A|"G"B2d g2e "D"dBA:|
Then I add a little ornamentation here and there
Thank you both for your replies, appreciate the suggestions.
Right now I’m playing it like the posted Bothy Band version with just cuts between the repeated Bs. I’ve tried various other things (such as rolling the first B) but they don’t seem to fit well into the strong rhythm of the tune. Although that’s probably more a comment on my playing ability than on the suitability of the ornament.
– Scott