Japanese bluegrass artist Yoshihiro Arita has a new book designed to help Japanese players become familiar with more common bluegrass material. Titled Bluegrass Standard Book, it contains 56 songs and tunes that are chosen regularly in jam sessions all over the US.
Hiro is a highly-respected guitarist and banjo player in Japan, and here in the states among those lucky enough to see him perform. He has developed a remarkable technique and facility with both instruments, and his 1996 album, Whale Dance, showed a new direction for banjo, blending the traditional bluegrass instruments with jazz tunes and arrangements, along with some great grass.
Bluegrass Standard Book presents each selection across two pages, with all lyrics shown in English. The basic melody of the songs are offered in standard notation on the left hand side, along with the chords. The lyrics appear on the right, or for instrumentals, tablature for guitar.
He explained a bit about what inspired him to write this book.
“My intention in making this book is to encourage anyone who would be interested in bluegrass, but has no connection to the music community, and no idea what tune to start practicing and learning from. I had arranged the music with the idea that anyone who would play non-bluegrass instruments from winds to keyboards could learn these melodies.
The layout of the music is designed to be used in real time jam sessions in mind, like the Real Book is in jazz. Each tune( song) has a short blurb about its historical background or ideal recorded resources. Athough the book is written in Japanese, the main portion of the book is music and TAB.
I feel that Japan is having a new phase for potential popularity of bluegrass. There are more contemporary pop artists who reflect bluegrass-oriented elements in their music. I have taught at a jazz college for more than two decades, and many of my former students are now in the mainstream scene and contributing to the bluegrass sound with those artists.
I am hoping this book will cultivate the growth of bluegrass popularity in the future.”
On that same theme, the opening section of the book contains information, in Japanese, for those unfamiliar with bluegrass music, including diagrams of common guitar chords.
Songs and tunes include:
Alabama Jubilee
Angeline the Baker
Arkansas Traveler
Beaumont Rag
Big Mon
Big Sandy River
Big Sciota
Bill Cheatham
Billy In The Low Ground
Blackberry Blossom
Cattle In The Cane
Cherokee Shuffle
Cluck Old Hen
Cuckoo’s Nest
Daybreak In Dixie
Devil’s Dream
Down In The Willow Garden
Down Yonder
East Tennessee Blues
East Virginia Blues
Eighth Of January
Fisher’s Hornpipe
Flop Eared Mule
Foggy Mountain Special
Forked Deer
Gold Rush
Golden Slippers
I Saw The Light
Jerusalem Ridge
John Henry
June Apple
Kentucky Waltz
Liberty
Little Cabin Home On The Hill
Little Maggie
Lonesome Road Blues
Nine Pound Hammer
Old Joe Clark
Puddy On The Turnpike
Ragtime Annie
Red Haired Boy
Red Wing
Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms
Sally Ann
Salt Creek
Shady Grove
Shenandoah
Sittin On Top Of The World
Soldier’s Joy
St. Anne’s Reel
Sweet Georgia Brown
The Kitchen Girl
Turkey in the Straw
Wayfaring Stranger
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
The book is published by Rittor Music, and can be purchased from their web site, or from Amazon. It sells for ¥3,000, or roughly $19.50.
Bluegrass Standard Book seems perfectly suited to its purpose, and we hope it can help more Japanese speakers come to bluegrass music.
