Filling In

[Kelteglow]

As with a previous Blog I am trying to play along with Musicians singing various songs .Several times recently I have been asked to  ,"fill In"  with music between their verses  .Fiddle players ,.Whistle Players and others seem to do this fairly easily .I would love to do this .I know  which key the music is in  .Do any of you have any tips that would help me improve ?  For example  .Do I just make up a tune that matches?  How do you know what to play? Thanks Bob

[Anglo-Irishman]

Bob,

I find it easiest to bridge the gap between two sung verses of a song by simply playing the melody of the last line of the verse.

The next step up would be playing the melody of the last line with the same harmonies as you used to accompany the singer's (fiddler's or fluter's) last line. This is what I often do when accompanying myself on the concertina or the 5-string banjo.

On the guitar, at which I'm not as proficient, I usually play just the chord sequence that I used to accompany the last line of the verse, using the same rhythmic structure (picking patttern). You can, of course, do this on the concertina, too.

 

When you've mastered that, you can try and be inventive and compose your own bridges - but be sure you don't put the soloists off by messing too much with the harmonic and rhythmic structure of the piece!

 

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

John

[Isel]

As an addition to that John says, I use to develop the following steps:

- follow the singing line (even during someone is singing, but quietly ) by using a partial melody with only the more bass notes I could reach.

-In the bridge you can follow doing this whiles other instruments play the melody.

- in some parts of the melody I can shift between playing the main melody as well or try the melody by thirds.

 

I thing the sound of the concertina allows to apply the "less is more" principle , so even doing very simple arrangement the effect will be nice . This applies especially when several instruments are playing in unisonous, so a litle contribution in terms of harmony is welcome.

 

After you had gained more confidence trying simple arrangements, finally, I thing the most funny is getting carried away by the song, and try to develop some inventive as John said (forgive me...  but don't worry so much if some dissonance appear as a result..that is not terrific!

[Isel]

Perhaps you will   find usefull this pdf about chordings that Brian Hayden wrote:  " All-Systems Duet Workshop Tutor ", which you can find here

 

I find particularly usefull  just the last page!!, as points out to a more general focus in accompaniment than to the specific duet features.

[Anglo-Irishman]

On 10/5/2019 at 12:16 PM, Isel said:

I find particularly usefull  just the last page!!

Absolutely! Read through carefully - it gives you all you neeed for improvising accompaniments.

John