Tennessee Waltz Basic Melody Tutorial

[Anonymous]

I just do not understand the slur you are putting on the second part of this waltz right after the E note (you hit an up bow E on the A string and the open E as well),,,then right after do these slurs. ive watched it over and over. can anybody help?

[Roland White]

Hi Sherlock, Roland White Forum moderator. Although I haven’t checked into that exact song I can give you some tips in a general way for slurs. First I must emphasis how subtle Casey executes his slurs, often times anywhere from 1-3 notes glided through so smoothly that they are hard to detect. But after a lot of listening and working on slurs these past two years they are coming easier for me. What I have learned is it takes a lot of practice with slurs to make them sound smooth in a tune. I utilized practicing my scales with slurs first one, then two then 3 notes all with one bow motion. I would also try to do scales in 2 octaves usually in 1st position and using all 4 fingers. This will give you more flexibility when trying to add difficult slurs to your tunes. Remember also that slurs and ornaments are meant to be interpretive to the music and sometimes you feel like using them and other times you don’t. This will assist your creative side and making an arrangement you can handle but is nice. Have fun trying do do a little less and it will slowly lead to doing more with slurs.

[Casey Willis]

Hi there, Sherlock. If I’m looking at the same part of the performance video as you (about :48 seconds in), I’m linking 5 notes together on an upbow. That is if you count the first finger slide down from the F# to the E as three distinct notes.

So the 5 upbow notes I’m playing are as follows:

E (fourth finger on the A string)
E (open)
F# (first finger on the E string)
F (low first finger on the E string)
E (open)

It’s tough to hear the last three notes since I’m sliding the first finger on that lick. Also, the first E note is a half note, followed by a grace note E and then the three descending 1/16th notes.

I think I cover that lick in the advanced melody…have you checked that video out? Hope that helps!!

Keep us posted.

[Author]

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