Might be possible, if you have enough âDough-Broâ⌠$$$$$
Discuss the Banjo lesson: Shove the Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire
I do have the dough, but Iâm not sharing any of it, and I have a brother, not sharing him eitherđ¤Ł
Archie, I love the Pig foot on guitar. Canât stop playing it!
Love the tune. This will be my first full tune in the single-string style. I have only played an occasional lick like that to this point in my journey. Maybe I should do something easier first that sounds Irish.
This is a great one to start on!
Heck yeah it is
I donât know how many of you have started on this tune, but I did a couple days ago and it is kicking my butt into next Tuesday. This single string stuff looks easy but looks, they be deceiving.
I find myself just staring at the tab and my fingers just wonât get to pickin. I thought melodics were bad (oh and thanks for throwing that in too Ben ), but I think single string is my true nemesis.
I do so love that tune though and I feel somewhat obligated to learn it, so learn it I will, whatever it takes. Iâll report back later on my progress⌠like next year or something.
Single-string has a learning curve at first, but once you overcome the basic hurdles youâll be fine.
I think itâs wonderful that you have found a new challenge! How cool it is to work on something completely new!
Remember when holding a roll in time was the huge goal, or playing a melodic riff seemed an impossibility? How about those new fingerings that brought about thoughts that maybe you just didnât have that kind of dexterity? âŚshould we even bring up attaining any speedy tempo here?..
I have confidence you will rise to the challengeâŚGood luck and happy picking! .
Good luck learning the single-string. This too, was a challenge for me & still getting better at it. Almost all of my playing in the past was so-called Scruggs-style and I really didnât get introduced to single-string or melodic banjo until I found Banjo Ben. It was at that point, that I discovered that my index finger needed much work. Songs that have helped me enourmously are âDevilâs Dreamâ, âCattle in the Caneâ, June Apple" which are all kind of mid-tempo songs, but demand ALOT out of the thumb and index finger! Honestly, itâs helped my playing on so many levels.
I also love the Video-Share on the forum. It gives Meli and I something to work on. Weâve been so busy here around EasterâŚhavenât had time, but hopefully this next week we can start posting more of our lesson progress. Whatâs that you say @Maggie ? Youâre posting a Video next week too? Looking forward to it!
OK guys well, whatever⌠she said fondlyâŚ
Oh and Neil, youâre funny
It suddenly occurred to me, that âShove the Pigsfootâ has nearly the same melody lines as the old Civil War song âBattle Cry of Freedomâ. With some slight modification, this song is a âTwo for Oneâ Special deal!
It also sounds a little like the tune from the movie Cold Mountain named âRuby with the Eyes that Sparkleâ. Iâm loving the challenge of learning it! Thanks Ben!!
Wow, youâre right. Now itâs a THREE for one Special ! Beautiful Melody to be sure.
Shove The Pigâs Foot A Little Further In The Fire, a.k.a.:
Shove The Pigâs Foot (A Little Closer To The Fire)
Shove That Pigsâ Foot
Shove (Push) The Pigâs Foot A Little Farther Into The Fire
Ruby with the Eyes that Sparkle - From the movie Cold Mountain, apparently Hollywood renamed it after they found out it was copyrighted.
Iâve been wondering what the title meant or implied. I had visions of you guys at the camp barbecuing that pig of course and Oh whatâs that, get his foot in there a little moreâŚ
I just found a reference to a âpigâs footâ being a blacksmithâs implement used to hold a workpiece which is being heated in the forge and a story on Banjo Hangout mentions this as well with lyrics to the first part: âShove that pigâs foot into the fire, do it now Miss Liza, shove that pigâs foot into the fire, do it now Miss Lizaâ. Iâm not sure of any other context related to these lyrics.
Yet another reference on Clawhammerbanjo.net tells the story of a slave who had stolen a pig haunch from his master and hid it under his bed sheets when his master came a calling for him to play a fiddle tune and when he noticed the foot still exposed from the sheets, made up message on the spot to his wife to cover it up by playing and singing:
âShove that pigâs foot further in the bed
Further in the bed
Further in the bed
Shove that pigâs foot further in the bed
Katie, Katie, Katie, canât you hear me nowâ
Thereâs various speculation on how it morphed from âin the bedâ to âinto the fireâ.
A Celtic Songs & Anthems article cites an origination explanation found in 1830âs British military medical journals describing how a freshly severed pigâs foot was used by field surgeons to practice the digital block technique of repairing finger and hand battle wounds of officers. Sorry enlisted guys your digits and hands just get amputated I guess. Hungry and bitter soldiers often acquired these pigâs feet before the surgeon could get their hands on them and simply cooked them for much needed nourishment and âshove the pigâs foot a little further into the fireâ became their own battle cry of sorts, thumbing their noses at the upper classes supposedly resulting in many botched surgical repairs on officers. Camp musicians (fiddlers I presume) came up with the joyous melody. Lyrics were never mentioned.
Well, there you have it. What, I donât know, but⌠there it is.
Interesting⌠It sure would be cool to know the origin of some of these old fiddle tunes.
Fresh pigâs feet for surgery? How in the world did this even become a thing? I sense some shenanigans afoot.
Shenanagans afoot, ha, good one . Yep, busted. I totally made that last one up, I couldnât resist, it was fun to write though. Dang, Iâm good. Or⌠no one read it. Thanks for that, I wasnât sleeping at night.
Would be a good fiddle tune name
Hmmm, that actually would be a good any bluegrass tune name. I call dibs on that title.