Ever listen to singers butcher the Star-Spangled Banner? Sure. We all have. They take a song you all know and turn it into their own versions. Their own special, ornamented, augmented, showy, terrible versions.
You've heard the same thing in bars and coffee houses. A band will trot out it's own version of a standard, and you'll think, "It doesn't go like that." I'm not talking about radical changes here, like the Byrds or Sneakin' Out who morph a tune into a whole new genre, I'm talking about folks who yield to the temptation to ornament a tune just to show off technique.
"Four score and seven, glorious years ago (so long ago) our great forefathers -- I'm not talking 'four,' but 'fore'! -- brought forth to this, our broad, spacious, verdant continent, ..."
Are you impressed? Me either. That's what musical over-ornamentation always sounds like to me, too.
I have intermediate mandolin players ask me, in workshops, how they can fill their versions with fancy techniques. I say, "Play the melody."
Beginners hear this, nod, and go away thinking, "Play the melody." More advanced players shake their heads and go away thinking, "No wonder they have this guy teaching beginners' workshops. He doesn't know anything."
Admittedly, you'll never get famous that way and have to be content playing dances.
