Lessons from “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”

Here are a couple of good points to pick up from “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” by Kenny Chesney, as played by Michael Sanchez. His web site is Violin Tutor Pro.

Joe Venuti used to say he used his first finger as a capo. This made it possible to move anywhere on the neck of the violin and play a lick he already knew. He had the lick ready in a closed position. It could have been Bb. Then, he could go up the neck, to Ab, for example, on the D string, and play the same lick.

The video below shows a way of using the first finger as a capo on the A string to get different intervals on the E string.

You can also notice the interval of the Bb and the Ab. (Not just an A as the player/teacher is saying.) That’s a littleĀ  dissonant. That interval is a minor seventh. If he was really playing an A natural it would be a major seventh. Now, that interval is very dissonant! Jazz cats use it.

Michael Sanchez explains the interval of Bb on the A string and G on the E string veru thoroughly. Notice that he really places his third finger very close to the second finger, not the fourth finger.

An excellent demonstration of how to play this lick from Kenny Chesney’s She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.

Jackie Tar Hornpipe in Fiddle Tab

Pardon me if you have heard this from me before: I like hornpipes to have a swing rhythm. Many fiddlers play some hornpipes with a swing feel, and others they play like a reel or hoedown.

Consider Sailor’s Hornpipe. I hear no one playing it as a swing rhythm hornpipe. Same with Fisher’s Hornpipe. Most fiddlers just blast it out as a fast reel. Well, I’m not comfortable with that.

The hornpipe you find here is usually played with a swing feel to it. In other words, it’s treated as a fiddle hornpipe. I often include it in a medley with Drunken Sailor. Now that I put these words to print, I’m thinking of including Sailor’s in the same line up. Let’s just keep it very nautical!

Jackie Tar hornpipe in fiddle tab
Fiddle tab of Jackie Tar Hornpipe

And here is a good printable pdf of Jackie Tar.

A video of Jackie Tar as a hornpipe with a swing feel.

The Dutchman’s Pipe, a Grassapelli Tune on Video

This is just the tune by itself. I play through it a couple of times on video.

Ten Penny Bit Rhythm Trick

There is a favorite trick fiddlers do in jigs. We change the accented rhythm to imply a time of 3-4 instead of the normal 6-8 jig rhythm.

This lasts for only a few beats. Rock players and jazz cats do this to. So did classical music composers. It’s a good trick.

In the video performance of Ten Penny Bit you will hear the trick done two times in the A part of the tune, the second time it is played.

Ten Penny Bit Rhythm Trick from Elan Chalford on Vimeo.