Hot Bluegrass breaks

[itstooloudMike]

OK, let's get serious for a minute. I am a guitar player who is working hard at becoming a mandolin player. And I'm getting much better at chords, and playing the few fiddle tunes I have learned. But every time I watch some utube video demo of a mandolin, I hear the players whipping out these cool bluegrass licks. The problem is, I'm not too familiar with bluegrass music just yet, and have no idea what songs I am hearing. So, I want to learn a few bluegrass breaks that will impress myself and any freinds willing to listen. I tend to learn quickly from video lessons. Is there a good online source for free video lessons which concentrate on flashy bluegrass licks? I know, this is shallow and self indulging. But I want to be able to whip out a few licks that at least make it appear that I know what I'm doing. Where should I be looking?

[Tobin]

I think most of us went through that fascination at some point! Truth be told, those "cool bluegrass licks" can vary widely in style, depending on what it is you're playing. They are actually very simple, but can be difficult to grasp at first. And to be honest, even after you know what they're doing and understand the hows and whys of it, they can still take a long time to master.

I'm sure there are lots of places you can find tips and tricks and examples of bluegrass licks, though I'm not a video-learning kind of guy, so I can't help with sources for that. But if you can pick it up via tab/notation and written descriptions, one off the top of my head is the "hot licks for bluegrass" page at Mandozine: http://www.mandozine.com/music/joecarr_hotlicks.html (You'll need the TablEdit viewer to open the .tef files, which I highly recommend, as they have a wealth of music on that site.)

But it's one thing to simply copy someone else's lick. It's another thing entirely to understand what they're doing and be able to quickly create your own. A lot of the bluegrass licks are pretty simple arpeggios or even just double-stop progressions using tremolo and a few bluesy notes thrown in as you walk it up or down (minor 3rd or minor 7th notes played over a major chord). Picking one note at a time is OK, but what tends to dazzle people is throwing double-stops and tremolo into the mix, selectively, for effect. You can get a lot of mileage off of that.

Pete Martin has some stuff on his site that can help with a more rounded understanding of how it's done: http://www.petimarpress.com/books.html Check out the one on creating double-stops, as well as the improvisation book.

[JeffD]

I'm not too familiar with bluegrass music just yet, and have no idea what songs I am hearing. So, I want to learn a few bluegrass breaks that will impress myself and any friends willing to listen.

Listen a lot to bluegrass music. A lot a lot. Let it seep in. Total immersion. Let go of your resistance. Let it take over and bluegrass up your soul. Then go to every jam you can, even if its just to listen.

Get to the point where its not a matter of sharing cool bluegrass licks with your friends, but its the other way, sharing the very occasional non bluegrass piece that you used to play, with your new bluegrass buddies.

Since you are a musician, the superhighway between your ears and your fingers is already built. Just have to add a few new exits.

[Denny Gies]

Listen to JeffD, then listen to a lot of bluegrass, then listen to some more........it will come. Another idea is to find one break you like and try to duplicate it. Often learning one break will open up some ideas for other breaks. Good luck.

[AlanN]

There is no silver bullet, either a video or a tab/piece of music, imo. You gotta listen and absorb. If I had to pick one 'hot' solo in the modern era, an example would be Picky Ricky on One Way Track. Listen to that one.

[Mandomax]

AlanN has never steered me wrong- embedded here for ease of listening:
One of my personal faves is Don Rigsby ripping it with LRB on Bootleg John:

[onassis]

Banjo Ben Clark has some some useful vids w/ hot licks for common keys and closed position, moveable licks.

[Mandoplumb]

I am in total agreement with the " listen then listen some more" crowd. Ralph Stanley calls bluegrass music the hardest music in the world to play,because you must "feel" it not just play it. If you weren't raised bluegrass then it takes a heap of listening to the point of obsession to catch up!

[Ivan Kelsall]

I agree totally with Mandoplumb above. Over here in the UK,going back to 1963,Bluegrass music was almost totally unknown & unheard. When i heard my first Bluegrass,it was a 'have to play' music for me. It took 3 years or constant listening over & over & over......... & practicing every hour i could manage,all day at weekends,before i got to playing a banjo well enough to start a band with 3 friends of mine.You have to immerse yourself in it 100% so that it almost becomes instinctive. Chord wise,''Trad.'' Bluegrass music isn't that hard,but putting the chords together 'cleanly' takes some time &practice. Don't try to run before you can walk. None of the top players did that & they're doing ok !. Trying to play things that you don't fully understand isn't the way to go. Learn 4 or 5 good tunes/songs & learn the breaks on the recordings as well as you can.Then,if you're in a jam session,you can always ask for one of those tunes to be played & try your hand at something you've been playing & know pretty well. The very first tune i ever played in public was ''Southern Flavor'' - one of Bill Monroe's tunes & i'd already been playing it for over 2 years. Trying & failing isn't good for one's confidence,& learning tunes really well,& understanding what you're playing,helps with the next tunes/songs along the way. Take it in easy steps & you'll make it just as we did,
Ivan

[Killian King]

I listened to a lot of the Grateful Dead and saw a lot of shows back in the 80s (it's a sort of requirement for most UC Berkeley students).

Listening to the mandolin solo in the Boone Creek song above, it really struck me how "mandolin like" so much of Jerry's lead playing was.

It's no wonder I feel drawn to the mandolin.

[danielpatrick]

While I don't consider myself a killer mandolin player, you can check out my page http://www.mandolinsandbeer.comI teach some licks I've learned over the years. There is tab available on the latest ones as well. Pete's Petimar page as mentioned above is a great resource for sure!!

[BrianWilliam]

+1 to mandolins and beer!