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Squirrel Hunters

Key: A Mixolydian (&/or A Dorian)

Traditional

= 90

From John Hartford’s playing

(or Am, or Em)

***

( ) ( ) ( )

(or Am, or Em)

***

(or A)

A (or Am)

***

A (or Am)

(or A)

***

** Measure 2 (or 6) is

sometimes like this:

Transcribed and typeset in ABC by Pete Showman, from the playing of John Hartford (fiddle), with Mark Schatz

(Bass), Mike Compton (mandolin) and Chris Sharp (guitar), playing at the Kentucky Folk Festival at Berea College in

Bardstown, KY in 1998. Apparently John got it from Samuel Bayard’s "Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife," tune

no. 220. See Watch the video to see John’s smooth bowing and

fingering; there are good closeups of the fiddle. (rev. 2: 3/20/2016)

Notes on the Mode(s) and Chords

*** These C notes often sound half-way between C and C , but I think usually more towards C . As I hear John’s

playing it’s partly A-Mixolydian (C#) and partly A-Dorian (C natural), though some transcriptions push all the C’s

one way or the other.

The mode of the tune is often ambiguous, e.g. there are no C notes in the first two measures, so you can’t tell if it’s

A-Mixolydian (major) or A-Dorian (minor) -- and as noted above, when they do occur they sound halfway between

natural and sharp. The typical A-Mixolydian "A & G" accompaniment shown is what I mostly hear, but the chords

could also be "Am & G", as for A-Dorian. Ideally accompanists could play A chords without the third (C) note, to

make them ambiguous too.

The D chord at the ends of the parts is not typical for A Mixolydian (more like D major) but it seems to be what’s

played -- even though in John’s fiddle chord the A note seems to dominate over the D (suggesting an A key). You

could also play an A chord (and make the lower note of the melody chord ’E’ instead of ’D’).

Some transcriptions substitute Em for the A chords at least in the [A] part; do that if you prefer.

Pete Showman Mar 20, 2016

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