Session 6: “Soldier’s Joy,” “Sullivan’s Hollow,”and “Pleasure of a Single Life”

from: Flatpicking Old-Time Fiddle Tunes with Scott Nygaard

This lesson is part of the workshop Flatpicking Old-Time Fiddle Tunes with Scott Nygaard.

Get immediate access to this lesson and all of the lessons in this workshop when you purchase.

About This Workshop

Explore playing traditional American fiddle tunes on the guitar from the perspective of an old-time square dance fiddler, with an emphasis on phrasing, rhythm, and melodic improvisation that is constant but never extreme. You’ll learn 12 tunes in four keys and get examples and ideas for melodic variations for each tune.

The Flatpicking Old-Time Fiddle Tunes Workshop Includes:

12 great old-time tunes to play in the keys of A, D, G, and C
Instruction on articulations and fingering designed to create powerful phrasing and rhythm
Variations on the melody for each tune and advice on creating short melodic variations that maintain the integrity of the melody
Notation and tab in downloadable PDF form provided for all tunes
Six 1.5–hour live Zoom sessions, held every other Tuesday, from 5 P.M. to 6:30 P.M. PST (8 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. EST), starting on April 1, 2025
High-quality video recordings of each session, posted on Peghead Nation within a week of each session, so you can review what you've learned and revisit them after the workshop has concluded

Workshop fee of $200, participate live or view recordings on your own schedule.

Session 6: “Soldier’s Joy,” “Sullivan’s Hollow,”and “Pleasure of a Single Life”

In the last session of Flatpicking Old-Time Fiddle Tunes, you’ll learn three tunes: Tommy Jarrell’s version of the popular square dance tune “Soldier’s Joy,” the quirky Mississippi tune “Sullivan’s Hollow,” and John Salyer’s “Pleasures of a Single Life.”

North Carolina fiddling legend Tommy Jarrell has a distinctive, syncopated bowing style, and Scott uses his version of “Soldier’s Joy” to demonstrate how to approximate some of his phrasing. The quirky D tune “Sullivan’s Hollow” comes from Freeny’s Barn Dance Band, one of the great Mississippi string bands recorded in the early 1930s. There’s a nice, contemporary version by Rayna Gellert, fiddler in the string band Uncle Earl. “Pleasure of a Single Life” is a lovely, but infrequently played tune in the key of G. It comes from John Salyer, an eastern Kentucky fiddler who was recorded at home by his sons in the early 1940s. There’s also a great contemporary version by Dirk Powell.

Soldier’s Joy

Tommy Jarrell

Tommy Jarrell Video

Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham

Sullivan’s Hollow

Freeny’s Barn Dance Band

Uncle Earl

Pleasure of a Single Life

John Salyer

Dirk Powell

Tommy Jarrell’s “Soldier’s Joy” Notation/Tab PDF Download (Available to subscribers)

“Sullivan’s Hollow” Notation/Tab PDF Download (Available to subscribers)