Good BG song to learn w/picking & strumming

[CSIMelissa]

Hi all!

I am taking lessons and while I have a good instructor, bluegrass really isn't his thing and that's the direction I would like to head. What would be a good song I suggest he and I learn that would involve some picking and strumming? Nothing too super mega ultra complicated because I'm still a beginning/intermediate player.

I'm not super familiar with bluegrass as a genre so I thought I'd get some suggestions on something widely known that we could try.

Thanks!

[UsuallyPickin]

Well ... Ms Melissa .... all songs have picking and strumming. You strum, or chop, the chord structure and you pick the melody. Whether it is an instrumental , which will have a great many melody notes / tones , or a vocal which will have a simpler sing-able melody. It would appear to me that you need to listen to some Bluegrass Bands ........ Whether it is Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys or a more modern band. One of the Parling Lot Picker books with accompanying CD may be what you are looking for. Check out Dix Bruce's books. You might also consider taking lessons over a SKYPE connection on your computer so you can study Bluegrass as you learn to play mandolin. Ear training Lesson #1 If you can hum it you can learn to play it. Patience Padawan it all comes with time and study. R/

[AlanN]

She'll Be Comin' 'Round The Mountain When She Comes

Simple, everybody knows it.

[Timbofood]

Gold Rush, it's sort of the mandolin equivalent of Cripple Creek for the banjo.
Back when I taught I used that and, "Liberty" both pretty straight easy to learn and then embellish as you improve. Once students figured out how the tunes worked, I cut them loose to learn on their own like I did. There were no mandolin teachers around here back then.
Not necessarily "picking AND strumming" but, after learning the basic tune, that can be incorporated.
Was that any help?
UsuallyPickin makes the best point: "get the tune in your head then, teach your fingers where to go." The other basic premise of my teaching technique.
Then of course there's the Harold Hill "think" method.
"Think the minuet in G, and you'll play the minuet in G", thank you Meredith Wilson.

[hatta]

Man of Constant Sorrow is a good one. This video about strum patterns has singing and strumming at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZOv1-wc28 Tabs are plentiful. Even non-bluegrass fans know and love this one.

[DataNick]

+1 to Timbofood and I would add any of the more popular bluegrass fiddle tunes (Red Haired Boy, Salt Creek, Soldier's Joy, The 8th Of January, etc.)

The first fiddle tune I learned on the mandolin that is really quite manageable(easy) is Angeline The Baker...Bert Casey's "The Mandolin Primer" has an accompaniment CD that has these kinds of fiddle tunes in different speeds for practice (60bpm, 80, 100, etc) If you can find it, a great resource...if you can't PM me and I'll get the tracks to you. There are some free online resources as well...

Good Luck and keep at it!

[Ma.Mando]

Wabash Cannonball
Rocky Top

[9lbShellhamer]

With Lyrics,

Rollin In My Sweet Baby's Arms

Instrumental
Old Joe Clark

Have Fun!

[Timbofood]

Angeline the baker, will use double stops nicely, though not strictly speaking "strumming". It's a good learning tool, double stops are a fine thing to have in the tool box.

[CSIMelissa]

Thanks all!

[Mandoplumb]

Maybe if you want to learn BG you need a teacher that likes and teaches BG.

[bohemianbiker]

Hi all!

What would be a good song I suggest he and I learn that would involve some picking and strumming? ...



This is a question I often have, altho usually in other types of music. I posted a question along these lines in the classical section back in July, and got some great responses (link below).

I'm no expert on playing solo, but what I have found when doing so is that people seem to like songs when you mix up notes and chords. So much mandolin sheet music I see is often just single notes, with the chords written at the top for an entire measure or more. The traditional fake book approach. That's different than what I look for, which is sheet music where the arrangement uses chords and/or double stops, mixing it up with singles notes, all within the same measure. And these types of measures throughout the whole song. For example, a measure in 3/4 time might be as follows: a 3-note chord might be a dotted eighth note, followed by a single note that's a 16th note, and then a double stop for an eighth note, followed by an eighth note which is a 4-note chord (perhaps different from the 1st chord or the double stop), followed by four single-note 16th notes. Something where the arrangement is really mixed up already for the mando. Like chord-melodies (if I understand the term correctly).

I suppose I need to get serious about ear training and do it myself ... but if anyone has specific examples of sheet music along these lines in bluegrass or any genre, I'd love to see it. Thanks. bb

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?117111-Sheet-music-for-solo-mandolin

[Grommet]

Hot Corn, Cold Corn.

Scott

[JeffD]

That's different than what I look for, which is sheet music where the arrangement uses chords and/or double stops, mixing it up with singles notes, all within the same measure. And these types of measures throughout the whole song.

I have rarely seen that.



I suppose I need to get serious about ear training and do it myself ...

What I do sometimes is mark up the sheet music with the double stops or chords I find.