Cool Fiddle, I’ll put up a guitar rhythm track around thanksgiving, add a guitar break on Christmas eve, throw down my vocals (if needed) on Christmas morn…if you get done earlier then let me know as I tend on relaxing in the meantime. 
Oh if ya’ll are interested here is a 200bpm track for reference to help get a break closer to the target speed:
http://www.kompoz.com/compose-collaborate/home.track.project?trackId=215714&projectId=33553
Slowing it down added almost a minute to the length of the song. Add a couple more breaks and we’ll be at Grateful Dead length.
Truckin’ ! 
Like the doo dah man!
Alright, since we are still a month out on getting this one running, how about we do an instrumental in the meantime?
Any suggestions Larry? I started working on “Cuckoo’s Nest” yesterday and am about halfway through learning it…wanna learn it and put it together? If not Cuckoo’s Nest then maybe we can do another that someone might want to do?..Let me know.
I’ve been out for the last few weeks roaming the earth with an old military buddy (3 weeks of travelin’ drinking beers and seeing sights)…from drinking a beer at a pub at ground zero to taking a yacht out on Erie and docking at Put In Bay - now I am settled in back home and ready to pick up the guitar again after not touching one for nearly a month!
Here is a nice version of Cuckoo’s Nest for those who have never heard it:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i6p8fauVYg&feature=related[/video]
Yep, netgrass #3 never quite got off the ground. I don’t have a break worked out for Cuckoo’s nest, but I don’t mind learning it. It’ll just take a while for me to get it down.
Larry we can do something else outside of Cuckoo’s Nest if you want.
Some fiddle Tunes I like playing and working on are:
Big Sandy
Dixie Hoedown
Sweet Georgia Brown
Jerusalem Ridge
Lonesome Fiddle Blues
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Back Up & Push
Angeline The Baker
Blackberry Blossom
Cattle In the Cane (or corn)
Beaumont Rag
…and a few others!
If there are any of those that suit your fancy or something else then let me know and we’ll throw um down.
Oldhat
I’ve got guitar breaks worked out for about half your list, Oldhat, but when it comes to mandolin, I’m pretty much going to be starting from scratch. I found a mando tab for Cuckoo’s Nest a couple of nights ago and I can get through it at about 140 bpm right now. It’ll probably take me another week or so to get it smoothed out and up to speed.
Well you are doing it faster vs. what I am doing it at. I guess I have about 10-12 hrs in it and can do it at around 100 bpm with no issues, so once I play it around 100-200 times over the next week or so I will be able to get it up to speed…one part is really kicking my butt and that’s what is keeping me from getting faster…it will come, sounds like we might end up at the same place in a week or so…any idea of what speed we want to get up to? Also are you playing this out of D?
I have a question, since the chord progression of what I call being played out of “D” goes like this:
D, A, C, G, D
D, G, D, A, D
What is the proper term when you play out of a major such as D and you play the flatted 7th? Ryder also had that flatted 7th but what is the proper music “terminology” for it? I mean do you simply tell others you may be playing with "Hey we are playing out of D and using a “flat 7"” or should you say something else to let them know?
Oldhat
Sounds like on the video you posted they are playing around 220 bpm, but the faster we go, the longer it will take me to learn it. Let’s see where we’re at in a week. The tab I found is also in the key of D.
When I play a song with an unusual chord in it I usually just say, “If you’re looking for the odd chord, it’s a C” If I said flatted 7th, I imagine I’d get more than a few confused looks.
— Begin quote from "ldpayton"
I imagine I’d get more than a few confused looks.
— End quote
I’ll give you one anyway… 
Got myself up to about 170bpm and then weaned myself off the tab player today, but if it’s just you and me on this project, Oldhat, we’re gonna need more than one break each.
Maybe we can get someone else to chip in?
Mike? Shawn? Fiddlewood (he must of shut off the electric again) or Oz with bass?
Oldhat
I found some tab for “Cuckoo’s Nest” and I wouldn’t mind trying to record a break, if’n y’all don’t care. It doesn’t sound real fancy and only has one A part and one B part so it wouldn’t take long to memorize and get up to speed. What kind of speed are y’all shootin’ for?
All I have is a go pro camera with no mic, so I have no idea what the sound quality is gonna be.
Oldhat, did you make up a break for guitar, or did you find one? The reason I ask is we may be trying to play the same one.
Got my version from here:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmPb7EAG8h0[/video]
Also listened to Steve Kaufman’s version and ganked some stuff from it…mine, at least on the 1st go round follows the video’s for the most part.
Oldhat
I saw that one. I think I’ve found a different one. I’ll see what I can come up with.
Well, all right, Shawn! Good to have some fresh input into our project. I’m currently practicing at a speed somewhere between the two videos Jesse has posted. Today, I’m trying to push through the 200 bpm threshold, but the going typically gets slow for me above 200. It seems like most people don’t do this song extremely fast, though.
Once i got into learning this song I was pretty impressed how many different “bluegrass fundamentals” are in it. I think this is a great song to learn for all and I will say why:
It is not to fast, it uses typical “picking”, throws in cross picking, arpeggio’s over 4 strings, does alternate picking alternating between two strings, and is a nice sounding tune.
There are not a lot of songs that incorporate most techniques we as bluegrass players learn in a single song and this is a great practice song to practice on fundamentals,
The part that is kicking my butt is the arpeggio’s over the D chord, it uses an extended D and to alternate pick over 4 strings is kinda got me a bit finger tied…sure I could “sweep it” instead but that just wouldn’t be fundamentally sound for bluegrass would it?..so I will play that part over and over 100 times until it comes natural.
Larry do we want to throw up a scratch track at the target speed to practice against?
ADDITION TO POST - Hey don’t you think that 160 BPMs is enough for this one? I tried it at 200 and it is flying, feels like it loses something at 200 where as 150 - 160 the melody really stays intact - and it is a pretty melody at that speed or even slower.
Shawn, by no means do I mean to insult you, but what speed can you obtain and we will make that our target speed?
I’m okay with doing the song at a more moderate pace. I found a tab based on a Chris Thile break that has so many triplets in it I figured it would take me forever to learn, but I may see if I can learn if we’re going to slow down a bit.
How fast is the guy playing in the second video? Seems to me like he might be in the 160-170 bpm range, but I haven’t clocked him.
Yeah, he’s (last video) up around 180. We could set the pace at that if you want? I didn’t put him on a radar gun or anything but I am sure he is close to 180.
I say we top out at 200, shoot for 170-180…is according to how many breaks we end up with…as of now there are 3 of us…I think I will shoot Ben a message and see if he will add in Banjo or Dobro…or would you like to add in dobro Larry? I say as of now we do our parts one time by doing - Guitar-Mando-Guitar-Split Break For last (start with mando then either I will or TNTalyor adds in guitar then back to mando to close).
Sound like a plan? Just bouncing ideas around.
Oldhat