Pike County Breakdown- What is Bill doing?

[9lbShellhamer]

I'm trying to figure out why Bill sounds like he's blazing on this tune. To me it sounds like the tune is only played about 140 bpm but he sounds so fast. Is he playing 16th notes a lot? Is he just using staccato? Maybe its just his classic rhythm and timing. This could be the tune that finally convinces me to download one of those slow downer apps to break his break down. Thanks much for any insight...(his breaks starts at 2:15)

[sgarrity]

Bill Monroe said at one time and I'm paraphrasing here, "I don't try to play fast but I can play quick." Or something along those lines. If someone knows the exact verbiage, please correct me. This is classic use of his tremolo style. The second time through he does that cool doubling of notes as he's playing an arpeggio across the strings. It sounds much harder than it looks. With some practice you can get there.

[almeriastrings]

Yeah. If you look at his right hand, it is in near constant picking motion, generating a continuous series of notes... even though (in this tune) the left hand is not really doing too much at all. As Shaun says, this is classic Monroe style, as is playing out of a basic 'chord shape', something he also did a lot. Also look out for the 3-2-3 licks on the second string, another thing he used a lot (must have worn dings in the fretboard in that position!). There is plenty of good tab for for this one out there.

That Monroe version is quite sedate... often it is plated quite a bit faster than that. Here's another one at a more typical pace:



and, a friend of mine of banjo here, where you can also see a nice mandolin break:



In both those clips you get a good view of that right hand motion.

[ralph johansson]

I dont hear anything fancy, except one spot where he appears to rip through the strings in one downstroke. It's a nice relaxed tempo. The studio recording is dominated by the mandolin, and there Monroe seems to alternate between an open position approach and working out of a closed chord shape.

[9lbShellhamer]

Almeriastrings, thanks for mentioning the note about playing out of chord shapes. This is something we touched on briefly during Monroe mandolin camp this summer and I haven't really worked on this as I've been focusing mainly on repertoire building along with double stop work and doing octave variations. It's something I want to really study in the future

[AlanN]

The Rye Boys mandolin sounds great.

[stevedenver]

boy, talk about big red....sheesh......somewhere a bull is looking for a target

[DataNick]

boy, talk about big red....sheesh......somewhere a bull is looking for a target

Hey, those are my buddies, The Central Valley Boys! They put on a great show and have many matching eye-popping outfits like that. Love the sound my man Peter Hicks gets out of his fiddle!

Really great bunch of guys as well!

[JeffD]

I dont hear anything fancy, .... It's a nice relaxed tempo. .

My impression as well. Straight forward, but sounds brilliant.

[stevedenver]

no offence meant Nick

[DataNick]

no offence meant Nick

None taken Bro! When you first see those guys on stage, they do kinda get your attention...LOL!

[Mickey King]