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Bluegrass Vocals Lessons: “Think What You've Done” (Trio Arrangement)

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This page contains a transcription of a video lesson from Bluegrass Vocals with Michael Daves. This is only a preview of what you get when you take Bluegrass Vocals Lessons at ArtistWorks. The transcription is only one of the valuable tools we provide our online members. Sign up today for unlimited access to all lessons, plus submit videos to your teacher for personal feedback on your playing.

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[MUSIC].

All right, this song,
Think of What You've Done,

is great song by the Stanley Brothers.

And the Stanley Brothers are very
much a part of the brother duet

tradition that we've been talking about.

But you can't really talk about
bluegrass trio singing without including

them as well.

Because they did great trios and
quartette along with their duet work.

And so, it's a great example
of trio sound they get.

We'll get to another one later, too.

Anyhow, so in the key of C.

[SOUND].
It take you through the melody.

Is it true.

So, the melody is here in the middle.

So it's typical stack,
there's gonna be a tenor part above and

a baritone part below.

[MUSIC].

And when you're listening

to the trio recording,

it's really helpful.

Obviously, have heard

the three parts by themselves and

that's what we're

gonna provide you here.

But, if you get to know a singing
group like the Stanley Brothers.

One thing that I'd I try to tune in
to when I'm trying to hear this,

is the individual timbre of the voices.

Now, Carter Stanley, who sang lead,
has very distinctive voice and

it's quite different sounding from
Ralph's, who sang the tenor parts.

Carter's got this kind of this great sort
of warm, sort of mellow, almost a croon.

And Ralph has,
of course got this wide open tenor.

It's a very sort of kinda really kind
of spooky melody sounding tenor.

So, we listen to the Stanley Brothers,
that's one thing I encourage you to do.

Is to try to track,
not just the note you're hearing, but

the sound of their individual voices.

And as you listen to more Stanley Brothers
music you'll get to know their voices.

It's pretty easy, when it comes to them.

All right, so
let me take you through the verse.

And this is a solo melody sung by Carter.

And it's pretty typical format, where you
have the verse sung just by one person.

And then the trio harmony
comes in on the chorus.

So, heart to heart,
starting on the low three,

one, two, three and sliding right to five.

[MUSIC].

Now, I'm gonna draw your attention
to what's going on at the end there.

It's like a flat three,
then a natural three.

Then move down to two, so really,
it's much more common to go,

really, so three, then flat three two.

But here he goes, really through, and does
that typical like we've seen this before.

Through, It's really common in
bluegrass to end a phrase, through.

Just a little quick drop by
a half step and right back.

So anyways, I love picking
up on the particularities of

a particular singer and we've been
talking about that all along too.

But you can really get a lot,
a window into the singer's outlook.

And kind of aesthetic world by really
try to pay a lot of attention to those

littles moves.

That, you know, may seem insignificant but
if you try to do them with your voice.

First of all, it's gonna kinda get you,
use your voice in ways you might not

automatically, she learns
something new to do.

But, again, just so
much is communicated in little details.

It's a song little different ways one time
versus another or one singer to another,

but you can learn so much from that.

[SOUND].

All right, so let me start,

I'm just gonna sing it through with
the chords starting on the verse.

So, recorded version of
the song starts on the chorus,

but we're going to do the verse
through the chorus here in the lead.

One, two, three.

[MUSIC].

I kind of missed interest
on that last line,

but one thing I wanna point out.

That it's pretty typical

is that the lead singer in

a trio format will often

sing the pick up notes.

And then have the trio harmony
coming on the downbeat and

that definitely happens here.

So Carter sings.

[MUSIC].
And then it's not until the word true,

which is also on the chord change
that the harmony parts come in.

So, if you're leading that,

if you're singing lead you wanna be really
definitive about that opening line.

Because the other singers
are gonna be following you.

And if you're singing with them, you can
do something a little with your head or

bug out your eyes.

[MUSIC].

Just to make it really clear where you're
coming in, whether you syncopating.

Or are coming in riding on the beat, but

these are all something
a lead singer typically does.

And there's certainly
a situation like this for

the harmonies parts are waiting
after this pick ups to come in.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]
Okay, so

here's the chorus.

I'm gonna take you through the tenor
part sang by Ralph Stanley.

[MUSIC]
One, two, three, four,

starting on the four note, four chord.

So [SOUND] so, just a word about
that harmonically this part what

give this song its sort of its distinctive
sound is that Ralph's starting on

that note that's in the chord, the four,
[MUSIC]

and then he raises up a step which takes

it out of the chord just
kind of suspension, so

there's a little bit of textural
difference to the chord,

then it's resolved when you lost you,
three two one.

That's taking you right back into
the one chord, right on the nose.

So, true that I've lost you.

And then the second line
am I not the only one.

Very typical Ralph move, five five, then
five down to two then back up to three.

Only one
[MUSIC]

and then always pain and sorrow, so

basically the same sort of thing
in the third line, except for

he's hanging on the four note
which is the chord tone and

when he goes up to the five
he's on a new lower word.

So it's not like true, he doesn't do
the slide like he does in the first line.

It's just all pain and sorrow and then
[MUSIC]

think what you've done.

[MUSIC]
Bass is the same as the second one.

Here's the tenor part, one, two.

[MUSIC]
True that I've lost you,

not the only one,

all pain and sorrow,

think of what you've done.

Beautiful.
[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]
All right, so this is a great

Stanley Brothers number.

And of course the Stanley Brothers are
part of the brother duet tradition that

we've been studying.

But you can't really talk about trio
singing without also mentioning them,

because they often would add a third or
sometimes a fourth singer and

do these great harmony stacks.

And just some of the classic
bluegrass harmony singing is

from the Stanley brothers,
or just gorgeous stuff.

So here's a good sort of accessible,

I wanted to get started with
Think of What You Done.

I think the first version I ever heard
of this was actually by Hot Rise.

And then, of course, I found my way back
to the original Stanley Brothers and,

anyway, it's a good song for jams.

It's pretty straightforward,
a lot of people know the harmony parts, or

can kind of jump in on something like it.

So let me start by taking
you through the lead.

This is sung by Carter Stanley, and
Ralph Stanley sings the tenor parts.

Now as I mentioned, that when your
listening to any of these recordings,

really any harmony singing,
I find it really useful

when I'm studying a group to not to
just listen to the notes their singing.

I mean, that's obviously important, but

to really try to tune into the particular
sound of each singers voices.

Now the Stanley Brothers,
it's pretty easy because Ralph and

Carter have really
different sounding voices.

Carter Stanley has this very sort of
mellow croon that's very distinctive.

And Ralph has this very
kind of wide open sort of

reedy tenor sound that's
kind of Appalachian.

Sort of spooky high voice and

it's pretty much as easy as
it gets to tell them apart.

So that can be a really good
way of listening to this.

I want you to go back to the original
recording and listen to that,

especially once you've studied the parts
individually with what I'm showing you.

Go back to that original recording and
see if you can hear it.

Not just the notes, but
tune into the sound of their voices.

That's can be generally very helpful.

All right so, key of E.

[MUSIC]
I'm gonna start by just singing through

the verse, even though the original
recording does start with the chorus.

Don't need to go through it twice here.

So, starting on the three.

One, two, three, heart to heart.

Dear, how I need you.

Like the flowers need the dew,

loving you has been my life blood.

I can't believe we're really though.

Actually I'm gonna talk
about the end of here.

This is an interesting ornament that
Carter does that's sort of unusual.

He goes, we were really, so
it's flat three first then three to two.

Really through, and
then that typical bluegrass

ending that we've been
encountering before.

We just land on the root and then
quickly dip down half step and back up.

So it's much more common to go,
really through.

We've seen that move a lot at the end
of phrases in various performers.

3, flat, 3, 2, 1, but this is hitting the
flat 3 first and then natural 3 then 2.

So it's just one of those little
quirks that it's great to try

to sing it because for one,
it's probably not what you'd naturally do.

And so when you try to sing something
that's a little bit unfamiliar,

you really learn something
about how you use your voice.

And again,
you sort of expand your toolkit,

the range of ways that
you can sing a song.

But also it

can help really kinda get into the world
of whatever singer you're studying.

So anyways, and there's plenty of that
in the world of Carter Stanley and

of Ralph Stanley.

So anyhow, let's go on to the the chorus.

So is it true that I've

lost you?

Am I not the only one?

After all this pain and sorrow,

6, 5, 5, darling, seven, one.

Darling think of what you've done.

[MUSIC]
So here's it together, verse then chorus.

[MUSIC]
1, 2, hear to heart,

dear how I need you,

like the flowers need the dew.

Loving you has been my lifeblood.

I can't believe we're really through.

Is it true that I've lost you?

Am I not the only one?

After all this pain and sorrow,

darling think of what you've done.

[MUSIC]
All right, well it's not the ideal key for

me to sing it in, but
it'll hopefully give you an idea.

And once again,
use these recordings I've provided.

And you can download them and

then again if you can put them in
a pitch shifting app of some sort.

You can get them in whatever
key is ideal for you.

And that's an important part of learning
to sing is finding out where the sweet

spot is in your range and
adjusting a song accordingly.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]
All right and finally that baritone part,

is typical as a baritone part,
it doesn't have quite as much detail and

as much movement as Louie and the tenor.

So therefore our harmonic support,

I'm going to go back up into our
original octave for this version.

Two, so starting on the six.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

So two, then I've lost you.

Not, seven on the five chord,
of course, not the only one.

All this pain and sorrow,

think of what you've done.

End with the cords one, two.

Two then I've lost you,

not the only one.

All this pain and sorrow of course,

think of what you've done.

All right, so of course,
as you're starting to learn this song,

definitely start with the lead.

And then you can perform this song
all the way through, just the lead

on the verse and the chorus without the
tenor part and the baritone part in there.

But that's the core of the song,
so you definitely start there.

And then, probably I would
add the tenor part next and

then the baritone part third.

And as usual, as you've gotten a chance to
sort of wrap your mind around these parts

and practice singing along with the
various recording options I've given you.

Where you're basically replacing the
missing part then submit a video here and

let me know how it's going, and
I'll be happy to help you through this.

[MUSIC]

Playing:		Looping:		Adjust:
space	play/pause	I	set loop start point	[	move start back 1 sec
←	back 10 secs	O	set loop end point	]	move start forward 1 sec
→	forward 10 secs	L	start/stop looping	SHIFT-[ or ]	move end
↑	rewind to beginning	C	clear loop	CTRL-[ or ]	move both
H	this help	F	full screen toggle	ALT-[ or ]	next/prev section

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