Four Potatoes

[YooperMichigan]

Hey folks I've heard this term "four potatoes" and I'm not sure exactly what it isor why it is called this? It seems it involves a slide from the second fret to the fifth fret on the D string ... at least in songs such as June Apple or Salt Creek ... any help here ... thanks folks.

[Jed C]

Well it really depends on how hungry you are.....I prefer 6 potatoes. Hope this helps.

[Stefan Jadefjord]

It is a term used in jam-situations for fast songs. It´s a four beat count-off before the rest of the band comes in. Count: one-potatoes, two-potatoes, three-potatoes etc...

It can also be used to finnish a song.

[Dave Engel]

The count-off (can be any time signature) is played on an instrument, like a B hammer on on to a C and then 3 C quarter notes. Watch Orin Star's Whiskey Before Breakfast video on you-tube. He explains it there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L9fBPUswjU&feature=related
Dave

[YooperMichigan]

Thanks Folks!!

[Roger Ferguson]

Playing "potatoes" is really a fiddle term - it refers to the daa da da daa da da (quarter - eighth - eighth also ... "run puppy run puppy") - this bowing pattern is to bluegrass fiddle like the down-up is to flat picking. I don't know where the term "potato" got in the mix, but we see this used as an intro to fiddle tunes all the time and each daa da da is a potato. So sometimes you have four potatoes sometimes an eight potato intro. It's not uncommon to hear someone say to the fiddler, "How bout you give four potatoes", etc.

[Greg Yavorsky]

Stephanie: As an instrumental intro, this method allows the player of the instrumental to set the pace he/she wants to play the tune at, rather than counting in and then starting the instrumental melody cold. In "folk" music (fiddle tunes, bluegrass instrumentals etc)..."proper theory and terminology" are rather far in the background

[Jim Yates]

Four potatoes is a common term for fiddle tunes. It's 1 2& 3 4&, 1 2& 3 4& on the key note with a third added most of the time. Some of our local fiddlers also call it "a little bit for nothing," which makes about as much sense as "four potatoes". It's a good way of getting everyone started at the same time and is especially good when you have step dancers.

[Greg Yavorsky]

Stephanie I appreciate that you live in an ordered world & have a studied approach to music.
When you say "I wish people would count off normally," in many fiddles circles the term potatoes is normal. I have had the opportunity to jam with and hear some wonderful musicians who don't come from a background of music theory....but are first rate and very authentic musicians. As a guitar player, like you, I appreciate knowing the chord structure, but is it up the the authentic player of a melodic instrument like the fiddle, to know what chord structure the guitar back up should play? I think there is a lot of great music being played at kitchen parties in Cape Breton or in Irish Pubs by folks who don't know the Nashville number system, and could care less. There is a common language and it is the music, and if we have to stretch a little to get it...maybe that's a good thing. "Potatoes" is really no big deal

[Stefan Jadefjord]

I am not sure I get your point here. I don´t think Enya would count off her songs with "potatoes", educated or not.

[YooperMichigan]

Great Thread folks I have learned a lot Thanks!!

[Bruce Bushaw]

I heard this explained by Wayne Henderson in a workshop once. The most important point is that it is not 'potato'es, but has to be dialectic 'tater's. Then if you remember Lawrence Welk - "one-and-a, two-and-a, three . . . ," well the fiddlers were hungry and didn't see much point in 'and-a,' so it became 'one-ta-ter, two-ta-ter, . . .

I also find it useful when practicing with a metronome: if I just jump into a song, sometimes I get it terribly wrong (3:2 or 2:3 time???), but If I play a few rounds of 'taters (usually just on the root note of the song's key) to find the 'groove' and sync with the metro, everything goes fine after.

[Craig W Snow]

Another plus with this is that "tater" does sound as snobbish as potatoe. We wouldn't want people to think we're getting all uptight.