Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Beaumont Rag (key of C)

Named after the town of Beaumont, Texas, and popularized by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys--Beaumont Rag is an immensely popular fiddle tune.  I mean, immensely popular among fiddle tune players.  I doubt most regular folks would recognize it.  But I hear it a lot at jams and contests and on records.

Originally recorded in the key of F, many guitar players like to play it in the key of C (or D with a capo on the 2nd fret).  I've recorded these tracks in C.  I may record it in D and/or F later.


The chords for Beaumont Rag (in C):

A part:
| G | G | C | C | G | G | C | C |
| G | G | C | C7 | F F#° | C A7 | D G | C |

B part (identical, except for the stop):
| G | G | C | C | G | G | C (stop)| |
| G | G | C | C7 | F F#° | C A7 | D G | C |

You'll notice that the ending phrase is quite busy from a rhythm perspective--F F#dim C A7 D G C.  It can be simplified by leaving out the F#dim (like this F F C A7 D G C), or simplified even further by leaving out all the swing-style substitutions (like this F F C C G G C).

Some Youtubes of it:



11 comments:

  1. Thank you. This is most helpful. Much better than Band in a Box.

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  2. These practice tracks are amazing and have really helped my playing.
    Don't suppose you can direct me to a recording that relates to your pdf of Beaumont Rag?
    Stevie UK.

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    Replies
    1. Stevie, here's a recording of that arrangement:

      https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9461920/Beaumont%20Rag%209-11-11.mp3

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  3. absolutely loving this website. much more fun to play to a backing track that to a metronome. keep up the good work...and thank you!
    tune request: lonesome fiddle blues

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  4. Fantastic, Dave. Continue to love your site. What program did you use to create tab for Beaumont Rag? Keep 'em coming.

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  5. Beaumont Rag pdf missing as well as others

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  6. do you have a recording of the pdflove the arrangements

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, yes the recording on the left sidebar is this arrangement of Beaumont Rag. If you're on tablet or phone, you'll probably have to load the desktop site to see it.

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  7. I'm a fiddle player and love this site. Thanks for sharing it!

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