Track 11 - Pig Roast with Cory

Regular readers of this blog may remember a fiddle tune I wrote earlier this year called "Pig Roast with Cory" - the tune was written in remembrance of my good friend Cory who passed away in January. While writing the tune I did my best to pack as much of Cory into it as possible (more on that here). This past weekend I went down to VA for a memorial pig roast in Cory's honor. Cory's funeral was a pretty dark occasion for all of us, so the idea was to have an event that celebrated, rather than mourned, Cory. I will say it was a pretty great success in that department - I really think Cory would have loved it!

In light of that event, I thought I'd do a bit of an update on "Pig Roast with Cory." After listening back on that tune, I've decided the first recording was a bit to somber in tone for a tune meant to recall happy times (i.e. Pig Roasts with Cory). I therefore re-recorded the tune with a couple of tweaks to lighten things up a bit (though, importantly I didn't change the melody). First off, I decided to play it slow and bouncy (sensu Dwight Diller) to give it more of a groove. Second, I backed the tune up the second time through with a major-chord-heavy progression on the guitar (more on backing minor pentatonic tunes here). The chords I came up with are pretty nifty:

"Pig Roast with Cory" chords:

A part (x2):
A     A     A     A
A     C     A     A
A     A     A     A
D     D     D     D
​Em  E     A     A

B part (x2):
A     A     A     A
A     A     Em  Em  E    E
A     A     A     A
D     D     D     D
​Em  E     A     A

Those aren't typos - E minors ("Em") are immediately followed by E majors ("E"). If I had to pick one chord for both beats I would have picked an E major, or possibly E7, but the melody hits a G over that chord (suggesting a minor 3rd) and I'm still a bit uncomfortable with the clashing notes there....plus those chords in quick succession are kinda cool.

"Pig Roast with Cory" - an original fiddle tune by Jeff Norman (me). Played twice through by me on my Buckeye tuned to aEADE; guitar accompaniment the second time through using a 12-fret Epiphone Masterbilt in standard tuning. Tune and recording Copyright 2017 - Jeff Norman.

I like that recording a lot better than the original - kinda sounds danceable even! I think Cory would have enjoyed playing it that way. Though I didn't group this tune in with the original list of 10 tunes to include on my "album" of original fiddle tunes (here), I thought I'd add it in after the fact - so "Pig Roast with Cory" is now track 11.

Next week I will: 1) try not to post so late : )...and 2) perhaps record another track for the album - only 2 more left to finish it out! See you then!